'Adjustment period' a challenge for contestants
The intrepid adventurers known as the 2011 Fittest Losers have been on their quest for three weeks, and they have lived to tell their initial tales.
Five Daily Herald readers are aspiring to lose the most weight (by percentage) in a three-month competition sponsored by Push Fitness, a facility in Schaumburg. Their lives have been altered, not just in terms of exercise, but in diet and attitude.
They each have their own personal trainer to work with three times a week (next week the trainers will tell you what they think about their participants) and they have been forced to eat five times a day as part of the special Push diet plan.
Here are their tales of victory and woe:
Kristen Kessinger of Volo (with Michelle Amsden)
“This third week has really been the week I've started getting used to the routine, from the daily workouts to the meal plan. I'm no longer craving junk food (except for pizza, which I do still miss!), and I feel like something's missing on my rest day when I don't get a workout in.
“The most difficult part of this whole process has been realizing how far off track I'd let myself get. When I saw myself in the video clip on the Daily Herald website, I didn't recognize myself. I was absolutely disgusted and couldn't watch more than one second.
“I have most enjoyed learning that I am capable of so much more than I ever believed I was. I can run — not very far, but it's a start. To challenge myself to improve quickly, I've signed up for a 5K in April. I can also lift weights heavier than I ever had before, and even when my brain thinks I absolutely can't do any more, my body keeps going. It's amazing to see how much you can really do if you push yourself.
Dee Levine of Hoffman Estates (with Steve Amsden)
“Steve has set a high bar for this 59-year-old contestant. When I think my body is going to fail me during a workout, he has faith in my ability. I can do more than I ever thought that I could. I couldn't even walk up one flight of stairs without having ankle and knee pain, and I did nine flights of stairs twice with Steve and nothing hurt, even the day after.
“Some of my blood work had values outside the normal range and that was a wake-up call that changes needed to be made ASAP.
“The hardest part has been figuring out how to budget my time to prepare five meals a day. I just stopped doing laundry.
From a workout standpoint, the most remarkable thing is that I can do things I never thought I could do, like the stairs. I even ran this week for the first time in I don't know how long.
Jayne Nothnagel of Bloomingdale (with trainer Mark Trapp)
“I thoroughly enjoy having a personal trainer. I feel it is a luxury. It's an hour that flies by — it's an hour that flies by filled with dripping sweat, challenges and a professional trainer that has the patience of a saint. I give Mark and Dr. Paul Mikulski kudos for getting me off vast amounts of sugar and salt. I placed my weekly coffee sugar in a bag and was embarrassed and shocked to look at it.
“So far my family is very supportive because I warned them that this is important to me and that I need their help. My husband needs pizza — I told him I couldn't do it, but he could order one — but he told me he could NEVER do that to me.”
John Novak of Mount Prospect (with trainer Wade Merrill)
“I'm still in one piece, but there is soreness in areas of the body that I didn't know I had. I have received a good deal of phone calls and e-mails from friends expressing their support.
“Things have been very crazy from a scheduling standpoint. My life has always been on the go, so throwing more into the schedule has not been easy.
“What I thought would be the most difficult, changing my eating habits, has turned out to be the easiest. What has been difficult are the workouts themselves. Wade never lets me coast. He always talks about the ‘good pain' and I keep telling him those are two words that don't go together.”
Bob Pearson of Hampshire (with trainer Josh Steckler)
“This Fittest Loser competition has been one of the hardest things that I have done in my life. This has also been one of the best things that have happened to me. The past three weeks have been an “adjustment period” for me, learning how to juggle all the workouts, eating five meals a day, working, and doing my “Dad Duties.”
“I honestly can say I was embarrassed at my photo and beginning numbers. That also keeps me motivated. I'm already feeling better, and starting to notice some difference. I know I have everything in place to succeed. It's up to me to stand tall and take control of my life.”
<b>Status report for our contestants</b>
<b>Kristen Kessinger, 28, of Volo</b>
Current weight: 251 pounds
Weight lost this week: 3 pounds
Total weight loss: 12 pounds, 4.5 percent
<b>Dee Levine, 59, of Hoffman Estates</b>
Current weight: 238 pounds
Weight lost this week: 3 pounds
Total weight loss: 11 pounds, 4.4 percent
<b>Jayne Nothnagel, 52, of Bloomingdale</b>
Current weight: 200 pounds
Weight lost this week: 4 pounds
Total weight loss: 13 pounds, 6.1 percent
<b>John Novak, 46, of Mount Prospect</b>
Current weight: 307 pounds
Weight lost this week: 5 pounds
Total weight loss: 17 pounds, 5.2 percent
<b>Bob Pearson, 37, of Hampshire</b>
Current weight: 275 pounds
Weight lost this week: 5 pounds
Total weight loss: 21 pounds, 7 percent