Who will be the fittest? Lots of motivation in weight-loss competition

Jayne Nothnagel sent out an e-mail to the four people who were about to join her in a three-month ordeal.

In the e-mail, Nothnagel asked the simple question: Can we encourage each other through this difficult endeavor?

Nothnagel is one of five contestants in the Daily Herald's Fittest Loser 2011 competition, a weight-loss contest that will hopefully change the lives of a handful of Herald readers.

The five are from varied walks of life — customer service, teaching, nursing, public relations, painter. Three women and two men. Their ages range from 28 to 59. What matters most is that their weight ranges from 213 to 324 pounds, and each of them thinks that is too much weight.

They have a common goal, and it is not to win the contest. Their goal is to get control of their lives by gaining control of their weight problem.

For three months, the competitors will work with individual trainers from Push Fitness in Schaumburg, which sponsors the contest. They will work at Push three times a week, and work out at home every other day. They will completely change their diet and will receive other treatments as prescribed by the trainers.

Fittest Loser is a competition, and the person who loses the most weight by percentage from their starting weight will be the winner.

This is the third year the Daily Herald and Push Fitness have sponsored the Fittest Loser competition. In the two previous years, the winners were women. In 2009, police officer Lisa Notarnicola lost 42 pounds and made it down to 142 pounds. Last year, hairdresser Jan Vitullo lost 47 pounds, down to 185 pounds.

Most of the 2011 competitors were avid followers of the previous competitions, so they have some idea of what they are about to do. But that doesn't mean they know exactly what's in store.

Here are the five contestants for the 2011 Fittest Loser contest:

Kristen Kessinger

Kessinger, 28, stands 5-foot-5 and weighs 263 pounds. She works as a public relations assistant manager for an association in Rolling Meadows.

She considered applying for the contest each of the first two years but wasn't ready to face the embarrassment that comes from letting her friends know she was in a contest to lose weight.

“I know everyone can guess how much I weigh,” Kessinger said. “I'm totally aware that people will know what I am doing. But I believe it is worth it.”

Kessinger of Volo has two motivations. She and her husband want to start a family, but her doctor advised her to lose significant weight before that happened. Also, she is in a wedding in May and chose the smaller of two possible dress sizes “and it turned out to be much smaller than I thought it would be. It is hanging on my closet door, and I look at it every day.”

Kessinger has her husband, parents and two brothers paying attention to her every move. They are willing to participate in the very special diet prescribed to the competitors.

“As an adult, I have never been thin,” Kessinger said. “I want to know what it is like to go into some of those stores for smaller people.”

Dee Levine

Dee Levine, 59, of Hoffman Estates, promised to be the most motivated competitor in the contest.

“I had followed the contest the first two years, and it was an easy decision to enter this year,” Levine said. “I got the paper at 5 a.m. and had my entry in by 6:15 that morning. I knew it was something I wanted to do.”

Levine is a nurse at Sherman Hospital in Elgin, and she is in charge of inspecting car seats for new parents as they leave with their brand-new babies for the first time. But at her size (5-4, 249 pounds) she said sometimes it is difficult for her to squeeze herself into the vehicle to complete the inspection.

Levine has a huge support team: her husband Al, her three adult children and Al's two adult children from a previous marriage. She, too, has a wedding to get ready for, and she wants to be able to go for lengthy walks with Al, who is retired and enjoys his daily exercise.

She also has a mantra she uses to maintain her motivation — S.T.I.

“That's ‘shirt tucked in,'” Levine said.

Levine's father, a World War II Army veteran injured in the Normandy invasion, suffered lower body paralysis and spent 50 years confined to a wheelchair. He gave her the advice that she plans to use for the next three months.

“He taught me if there is something you want bad enough, put your mind to it and you will succeed,” Levine said.

Jayne Nothnagel

Jayne Nothnagel, a 52-year-old customer service representative for Waste Management, admits that she has battled with a weight problem “all of my life.”

“I have an ongoing battle to maintain my weight,” said Nothnagel, who is 5-6 and weighs 213 pounds. “I go with common sense and healthy eating, but what holds me back is the lack of willpower.”

Nothnagel, of Bloomingdale, said she is victimized by night hunger, when she ends up eating the things she has tried to avoid all day long.

Conducting her personal business in the public eye is going to be one of her best motivators to succeed in the competition, Nothnagel said.

“It is a concern, but I think it is a real positive concern,” Nothnagel said. “I want to succeed, and it will make me think before I put something unhealthy in my mouth.”

Nothnagel's support system includes her husband and an adult son and daughter. She has an exercise room in her home, which she said she will spend more time in during the next three months, and she also plans on calling on her competitive spirit to see her through.

“I'm very competitive, but I'm not as concerned with the final prize as with doing this and being successful at it,” Nothnagel said.

John Novak

John Novak, a 46-year-old assistant principal at Hersey High School in Arlington Heights, had a horse running in the first Fittest Loser contest in 2009. A former student, Eric Ronzio, was in the first competition.

“He told me it was extremely tough, but well worth it,” Novak said. “He said it had made a definite impact on him. He kept a lot of the weight off and was very happy he did it.”

Novak is 5-11 and weighs 324 pounds. He is 46 years old and very active, but only in a “I have a lot of things to do and places to go” kind of way. It causes him to eat on the run almost daily.

“That is a major problem for me,” Novak said. “I will eat anything that is close and quick. Usually I am throwing something down in the car as I am going to the next place.”

His weight ballooned in college and has never diminished. Before entering the contest, his athletic endeavors were limited to playing basketball twice a week.

“We call it ‘old man basketball,'” Novak said. “It's not real competitive.”

Novak, of Mount Prospect, said he has the support of his wife, who is a nurse and works at Prospect High School, and his two teenage sons. He said they plan to change their diets “a little” in support of dad.

But Novak also has an entire school watching what he is up to.

“I'm OK with that,” he said. “It gives me a little more motivation.

“I deal with a lot of athletes in activities and we tell them, ‘You do the best you can and whatever happens, happens.' I think that is going to be my philosophy. I'm going to try to put 100 percent into this and whatever happens, happens. It is a contest, but it is more of a contest within yourself.”

Bob Pearson

After two years of reading about others in the Fittest Loser competition, Bob Pearson of Hampshire decided to try it himself.

“I'm sick and tired of being tired,” said Pearson, a 37-year-old painter and home inspector from Hampshire. “I'm sick and tired of every January having the same resolution of losing weight and having it never come true. I think, if I get the right help from Push Fitness, I can make it come true this year.”

Pearson is 5-8 and weighs 296 pounds. He said the weight starting piling on once he got out of high school, and his upcoming 20-year high school reunion serves as a motivator to lose weight.

He also recently found out his wife is pregnant, and that surprise revelation has him thinking he needs to get back in shape so he is ready to help out with the little one.

Like Novak, Pearson is always on the run, and fast food was the staple of his diet, which will change dramatically under the watchful eye of the Push program. “It comes down to making nutrition more important in your life,” he said.

Pearson's family, including his wife and two sons, have gotten into the game plan. They have installed a poster board in the kitchen with his diet and exercise plan.

“My wife is just so happy that this is happening,” Pearson said.

As for the public attention that is involved in Fittest Loser, Pearson said: “Bring it on.”

“The more people that know, the better I am going to do,” Pearson said. “It brings pressure on me to do well.”