Biggest loser
Tristan Schmid, host, List-en Up!))

Schmid: Welcome to List-en up, the Angie’s List podcast. I’m Tristan Schmid.

The success of the reality TV show The Biggest Loser has inspired many folks to lose weight, and it’s encouraged fitness centers across the country to start their own weight-loss competitions. Even businesses and local governments are using various incentives to motivate their employees to lose weight and become healthier. Certified fitness trainer Kelsey Taylor recently launched a Biggest Loser contest here at the Angie’s List fitness center, which is open to all of Angie’s List’s 323 employees.

Taylor: I started the Biggest Loser to kind of get everyone jumpstarted for the New Year, and I thought that if we kicked off something like this, it would be good. I figured maybe I’d get 15 or 20 people to commit to it and I ended up with 44.

It’s a twelve-week competition. It teaches them how to eat, it teaches them how to control their portions, and it helps them develop healthy workout ethic. I try to help with their dietary needs, with their training as far as cardio and strength, and I come around to the desks of people and take away their bad sodas and pour them into the sink, which hasn’t gone over well with a couple of people, but they knew they didn’t need that soda.

Schmid: The winner of the first weigh-in was Eric Hartz, associate editor for Angie’s List magazine. Eric joined the Angie’s List Biggest Loser contest as part of his New Year’s resolution to lose weight and exercise more.

Hartz: I lost, I think, nine pounds in 14 days. I feel like that’s pretty good. I don’t know if I can keep that pace up, but it feels pretty good.

Schmid: Eric reveals the secrets to his weight-loss success.

Hartz: I started working out pretty much every day. I didn’t lift a lot of weights, but I started out with cardio, riding a stationary bike. Then after about a week of that, I moved on to the treadmill. Now I do between two and a half and three and a half miles on the treadmill at least once a day. Sometimes I even go back for another 10 or 15 minutes later in the day. And just eating right is the other big thing. I’ve been eating a lot of chicken, vegetables, natural fruits, and brown rice. Not a lot of cheese, bread, potatoes — all the things I like. But I feel like this diet helps. It’s mostly about being disciplined and knowing exactly what you’re taking in.

Schmid: Discipline is part of the formula for fitness at Curves International, the largest fitness company in the world with 4 million members. I spoke with corporate communications director Becky Frusher.

Frusher: We have done “Survivor Island,” or “Survival of the Fittest,” where they are on quote-unquote a “desert island,” which is a big poster in the club. They have to do certain things to stay on the island. One of them is work out three times a week. They can bring in their buddies and get credit for that. And then whoever’s left on the island at the end gets in a drawing for a prize.

Schmid: Curves also offers “Curves Complete,” an online subscription weight-loss and fitness program for both women and men. Frusher says fitness programs and contests help people lose weight and increase the probability that they’ll keep that weight off.

Frusher: Any time that you’re being accountable, you’re keeping a food journal, you’re tracking your progress, you’re getting affirmations back — you know, email saying “great, you’ve lost 10% of your weight.” The same is true within the club. That’s what they’re getting from their fellow members, they’re getting it from their staff, and actually we call that the “Curves Community.” It’s a phenomenon the founders didn’t ever foresee when they set up their facilities. But because Curves are small, they’re usually in a circuit, a small circle, and the women talk a little bit while they’re working out and they get to know each other, that support helps them to not only lose the weight but keep it off and keep coming back. Any time you’re part of a community where people are working together in a common goal or a same goal, you’re going to have a lot better success.

Schmid: Through his website fatmanunleashed.com, New York City’s Israel Lagares keeps track of his weight loss and gets support from people who discuss their similar goals online.

Lagares: They throw their weight out there, they throw their number out there. They don’t care, because it helps them. The community thing, the whole “having a community” behind you, that’s great. I go to another blog and I ask them a question or comment on his blog, on his post or her post and she’ll respond, that kind of community I love, because it’s having a conversation. Having friends and having somebody support you does help. That’s why I blog, because of the accountability and the community.

Schmid: Like my co-worker Eric Hartz, Israel was a college athlete who found it all too easy to gain weight after he got out of school. He now works out at home, but he used to have a membership at Bally’s Total Fitness.

Lagares: I’m not a big fan of gyms. They’re great for some people: it helps you get out of the house; you’re motivated with other people around you. But for really huge people, it’s kind of embarrassing to work out in front of people. You feel self-conscious and you don’t want to be in front of other people.

I had tried other things for losing weight: dieting, crash coursing, I did all kinds of stuff, and nothing stuck. One day I decided to put myself out there and write about my experiences and put my picture up on the web for people to see. I figured that by doing that, I’d be held accountable for having to lose the weight. It’s kind of worked so far: I’ve lost about 50 pounds.

(interlude)

Schmid: We’re not too far into the New Year, but many of us have already broken our New Year’s resolutions to lose weight or get fit. I’m training to go skiing in the spring, and I’ve definitely had difficulty motivating myself to exercise, especially on these frigid, overcast winter days. So what can we do if we’ve fallen off the fitness wagon?

Taylor: If you have slipped up and you didn’t stay as strict as you wanted to, don’t look at it as a slip and fall and you’ve broken your hip. You’ve not broken your hip. You can get back up. Just dust yourself off, regroup, get it back together. Try not to be so strict on yourself. A lot of people make really stringent, tough to meet goals like “I’m not going to eat this, I’m not going to eat that.” You’re still going to want your favorite foods, so try and give yourself just a little bit of your favorites, but just cut back. Say “I’m only going to have a treat once a week instead of every day,” like you’re used to having — you can’t have a Ding Dong every day, that’s just not going to work. Just have it maybe once a week, then maybe you can start to have it once every two weeks. And find different ways to reward yourself other than food. Go out and buy a size smaller pair of jeans that you can now fit into. That’s a better reward than rewarding yourself with food.

This whole Biggest Loser thing is really inspiring. It’s so much fun working with people and seeing them get on the scale and saying “Oh my God, I didn’t think I’d lose this much weight!” I really want this to work out well for everyone involved, and hopefully this will inspire some of their other coworkers to get involved, and maybe next time we’ll have maybe 80 contestants. That’s what I’m looking for: I’m looking for big, big numbers!

Schmid: Have you participated in a weight-loss contest? Did it help you keep the weight off? Let us know! Send us an email to podcast at angieslist.com, or add a comment by clicking the “comments” button next to this episode’s title on our website, angieslistpodcasts.com.

Until next time, this is Tristan. Thanks for taking the time to List-en!