Pearson’s persistence wins Fittest Loser Challenge

Bob Pearson was a house painter with a problem: he hated doing baseboards.

It wasn’t the painting that was the issue. It was getting down on the floor.

At 5-foot-8, Pearson’s 296 pounds were too much to carry. So Pearson applied to be a part of the Daily Herald’s Fittest Loser Challenge in an attempt to get his body back in order.

The plan worked. Pearson was accepted, participated in the three-month contest at Schaumburg’s Push Fitness, worked with trainer Josh Steckler three times a week, went to a weekend ‘boot camp’ and completely changed his diet. Three months later, Pearson had lost 78 pounds, winning the competition and getting his old self back.

“I’m glad I sent that essay in,” said Pearson, 38, from Hampshire. “This has changed my overall sense of well-being. Everything is easier, and that makes Bob happier. Crawling on my knees getting baseboards done is a lot easier. Carrying five gallon paint cans up two flights of stairs is easier.”

Pearson ended up losing 26.4 percent of his body weight, which was the competitive criteria for winning. Losing 78 pounds in three months is amazingly close to losing a pound a day.

Pearson was identified quickly as the early favorite to win the competition because he didn’t wait for the contest to start before getting into a weight-loss regimen.

“When he was chosen as one of the five finalists, we sent out an email telling everyone their trainer would be contacting them within a few days,’’ said Steckler, co-owner of Push Fitness. “Bob must have called us five times within those three days to find out who he would be working with — all the other contestants waited patiently for their phone call.

“After he found out he was working with me, he stopped by the studio unexpectedly one day to introduce himself,” he said. “It ended up being more like a pop quiz for me — ‘So how do I start losing weight?’ ‘What foods should I be eating?’ ‘What kind of exercises should I be doing?’ The contest hadn’t even started yet.”

For the first time in the three-year history of the contest, the contestants got to know each other well through emails and working out together at boot camp. Pearson quickly developed a reputation as the guy who was going to do whatever he could to win the contest.

“Bob used everything to his advantage,’’ Steckler said. “On one particular weigh-in day, Bob pulled up in his truck and we noticed that the windows were extremely steamed up. When he walked in, he was wearing several layers of sweats and we realized that he was driving around with his heater cranked up so he could “sweat out” any extra weight before getting on the scale. That was not advice he got from me.”

The contestants worked with Dr. Paul Mikulski to ensure they were losing weight in a healthy manner, and Pearson was on the phone to Mikulski on a regular basis, trying to find out if there were supplements he could use to advance his weight loss.

When Pearson was announced as the winner of the contest at a wrap party at John Barleycorn in Schaumburg on May 11, he cried as he said his “thank yous’’ to friends and family, trainers and doctors. The effort had taken a lot out of him.

The question for all the contestants is “what’s next?”

“We used to have push-up contests in the house, and usually my brother Bobby used to win,’’ said Pearson’s 11-year-old son Dominic. “Now my dad is able to do a lot more.”

“I used to beat him by 10 or 11, now he is beating me by 10 or 11,’’ said 13-year-old Bobby Pearson.

As winner of the contest, Pearson gets a trip for two to Mexico provided by Funjet Vacations. He’ll also receive another three months of free training at Push Fitness to help him maintain his weight loss. But he knows he will have to find a new inner motivation to keep losing weight.

“That is my biggest fear,’’ Pearson said. “During these last three months, it has been like brainwashing. I am dedicated. I know what to do, what to eat, what is healthy and not healthy. I still have a long way to go. I still want to lose another 40 pounds by the end of the year. I know I can do it now, and I know I will do it.”