Biggest loser

Christine Dick didn’t plan on going on a diet.

“I weighed 176.4 and was perfectly happy,” says Dick, who lives near Clark Fork, Idaho. “I just figured I was going to be overweight the rest of my life.”

Then she read an article in the Bonner County Daily Bee about “Sandpoint’s Biggest Loser” competition. She doesn’t have a TV, so she had never seen the NBC reality show of the same name. But the 38-year-old mom of three decided to sign up.

And now, she’s a big loser herself.

She shed nearly 38 pounds during the 12-week competition, which mirrors the reality show. And she was crowned one of the local contest’s first-place winners earlier this month. Besides dropping several pant sizes, she also took home an $800 prize.

“There’s no miracle pill,” Dick says. “There’s no magic way to do this. There’s no shake or drink that’s going to do this for you. It’s all about the calories going in and the energy going out.”

This was the third time Sandpoint-area residents had staged a “Biggest Loser” competition, but this most recent session was by far the most successful, says Annette Carr, a 37-year-old bus driver for the Lake Pend Oreille School District.

In total, the 32 participants lost 538 pounds during the three-month program, an average of nearly 17 pounds per person.

“It was awesome; we had so much fun,” says Carr, who has lost about 35 pounds during the competitions. “The determination I’ve seen on everybody’s face has really fueled me more than anything.”

Natalie Litzell, a certified personal trainer in Sandpoint, worked with the group for the past 12 weeks. They followed a similar diet and exercise plan to the one on the TV show.

“It’s very low-impact aerobics, strength training, weight training, core stability training and lots of motivation,” Litzell says. “To keep people coming back for more, you have to make each exercise session fun.”

Participants had to commit to once-a-week workouts with Litzell. But she also offered “boot camp” exercise sessions two times a week.

“I’ve encouraged them to work out on their own,” she adds. “Exercise is such a negative word for a lot of people.

“We encourage movement. As long as you’re moving your body, you’re burning calories.”

And calories are the big focus for this group.

Under the “Biggest Loser” diet plan, you’re supposed to take your current weight and multiply it by seven to figure out how many calories you need to lose weight. That means someone who weighs 200 pounds would be allowed 1,400 calories. That is far below what many health experts say is a safe number, one that allows for moderate weight loss of one to two pounds per week.

But both Dick and Carr say they feel good and have experienced increased energy on the plan.

All of the participants have worked on cutting down on salt, sugar and carbohydrates. And they’ve learned how to make healthier food choices, Litzell says, all through the most difficult time of year: the holidays.

“Guess what?” Litzell says. “Next year, there’s going to be another Thanksgiving and another New Year and another Christmas. … You take the word ‘diet’ out of your vocabulary, and it seems to make it a little bit easier. If you’re craving a piece of chocolate, you have a piece of chocolate. It doesn’t mean you have to eat the whole candy bar.”

Dick has kept a meticulous food journal throughout the competition, making note of every bite she eats. She threw out her salt shaker and limits added sodium in the food she eats.

Plus, she says, she doesn’t have breakfast until she has logged 10,000 steps on her pedometer. And, she allows herself one day a month to have some of her old favorite foods.

She also has learned the importance of portion control, a big deal for someone who says she used to down a half-dozen cookies or half a pizza in one sitting.

“Portion control was way out of whack,” she says.

At 5-foot-2-inches, Dick says she still would like to lose a bit more weight. So, she already has signed up for the second go-around of “Sandpoint’s Biggest Loser,” which kicks off Friday.

Carr plans on sticking with the program, too.

“I’m going to keep going,” she says.

Litzell hopes the local version of the “Biggest Loser” catches on in other cities.

“My ultimate goal would be for every ZIP code to have this incorporated in their community and in their lifestyle,” she says. “It’s so easy and it’s so doable.”

Losing weight is a challenge, of course. But the real goal is to keep it off.

The physician who works with “Biggest Loser” contestants on the TV show has been following participants from the program’s first season, according to a Los Angeles Times report. He found that participants had kept off almost all the weight they had lost.

That’s better than the average population, among whom some 80 percent gain back their lost weight in the first year.

Litzell hopes her group will be successful in keeping it off.

“They’ve learned a lot of valuable skills they’ll take with them the rest of their life,” she says.