Pounds a weigh in Madelia

Residents lose

a collective

1,371 pounds

in eight weeks

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

MADELIA -- The City of Madelia just might want to start calling itself the "City of Losers" as 198 participants in the 2004 Fight the Fat campaign surpassed the eight-week campaign's 1,000-pound goal by 371 pounds.

It was the second year in a row that the Fight-the-Fat goal of 1,000 pounds was surpassed, and five participants from the 2003 campaign were recognized for having maintained their campaign-end weight throughout the year.

This year's group actually had made the goal at the end of the sixth week when they topped the campaign's goal by 111 pounds. At the end of the seventh week, the participants were averaging an individual 5.98-pound weight loss for the campaign, Madelia Community Hospital Administrator Candace Fenske said.

As participants gathered late Sunday afternoon at the Madelia Elementary School for the final weigh-in, spirits were high.

"I thought it was a great program," said Pam Stokes of Madelia who lost 21.25 pounds, 1.25 pounds over her personal goal. She and her co-workers at Tony Downs Food Co. participated as a team.

"It was my first time, and I definitely want to keep on going. I'm going to continue on my own."

That's what Wayne Krosch of Vernon Center plans to do, too.

"I lost 16 pounds which is just what was recommended, two pounds a week. I really didn't work at it. It was a matter of cutting back on calories. I quit going back for seconds and cut out the sweet roll I used to have every morning," Krosch said.

"I feel I'm over the hump, and I hope to keep it going. I really haven't cut out anything; I've just cut down. When my wife and I go out for a steak, we split it."

Krosch participated as a member of the Wholesome Losers team.

"We encouraged people to work as a team," Fenske said. "The lowest number of team members was five and the highest was 20. We've found that if it gets over that number, it's really not workable."

"The team dynamic is important to having this program work. That's why organizations like Weight Watchers and others have been as effective as they are because it's done as a group activity. They encourage each other, and there's the social aspect of it," explained Dr. Jeff Kotulski of the Fairmont Orthopedic Group who is acting as a consultant to the program and also doing a two-year study on the effectiveness of the Fight the Fat program in maintaining a lower body weight.

"The two most important things you can do is to park at the far end of the parking lot when you are shopping -- fight for those spaces far out, not for the ones close in -- and switch those 12-inch plates in your cupboard for 9-inch plates. Those two things will make sure you lose weight," he told the group.

The first week the group lost a total of 453.75 pounds, but the weekly total had slipped to 80 pounds by the fourth week. Then, it rebounded in the fifth week for a 260-pound finish in the final week.

"That's characteristic of this type of program," Fenske said. "The most weight will be lost in the first week, and then it dips to a low and rebounds again. Part of it is that the easiest pounds are lost in the first couple weeks, and then it becomes tougher to lose pounds until late in the program. It also indicates that enthusiasm can ebb and flow, as well."

Speakers were brought in to talk about weight loss, and donations from Madelia firms were sought to provide motivation, Fenske said.

One of the speakers, Dr. J. Michael Gonzalez-Campoy, who is medical director and CEO of Minnesota Center for Obesity, Metabolism and Endocrinology in Eagan, told the group during his visit he no longer says the "diet" word. Now, he stresses portion control and exercise by walking "10,000 steps a day."