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District Biggest Loser builds healthy lifestyles
Story by Lether Meyer
District’s Biggest Loser is a competition including 108 staff members from the Plymouth School District. The competition is based on the hit reality TV show The Biggest Loser.
Don’t be fooled, the competition is not just about weight loss. The idea of the competition is to motivate and boost staff members’ drive toward a healthier lifestyle. A few of the PHS staff members are included in this competition. PHS secretary Shirley Giliam, Math teacher Kay Granberg, counselor Charles Hansen, math teacher Catherine Jordan, Spanish teacher Laura Koebel, math teacher Deborah Krebsbach and physical education teacher Christine Ludvik.
“I thought I would like to show some school spirit and maybe lose one or two plus pounds. I want to feel good,” said Hansen. “I’m a competitive person and being on a team and working through teamwork makes me not want to let my team members down.”
“I decided to compete because I wanted to change my lifestyle and I decided it was time for me to do something about it,” said Gilliam. “So far I’ve been very successful; I’ve cut back portions and increased the amount of time I exercise.”
“I chose to compete because I wanted an incentive to get in shape,” said Koebel. “I lost a little bit of weight, just around 4 lbs.”
“My driving force or goal is to be able to hold my grandchildren on my lap, my daughter is having twins,” said Gilliam.
“The competition is based on points so that there is a level playing field,” says PEP group coordinator Wendy Schlies. Schlies is responsible for putting together this competition. Teachers are first put on teams. Every week there is a new winning team. The award for the weekly winning team is a troll trophy. There are also other weight loss prizes given out to the team that wins each week such as a free paid day at the YMCA. Each week you go online anonymously and write down your gains or losses. There are no diet plans although you are required to work out at least 3 times a week for 45 minutes.
A total of 450 lbs have been lost within a five week period so far in the Plymouth School District.
“It’s a great competition,” said Koebel. |
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