RUMFORD—Missy Gallant says she’s never watched “The Biggest Loser” on t.v., but she thinks that the Greater Rumford Community Fitness Center’s Biggest Loser competition sounds “Awesome and is good for the area.”
She’s looking forward to having a nutritionist and a coach, saying,“I want to be healthy and I’m ready to change my diet and exercise.”
Losing 30 pounds is her goal and she thinks “A diet high in protein and less carbs” is best because “Protein is good and keeps you satisfied.” She doesn’t know her teammates but she joined a house team.
She hopes she gets Dawson Walton for her coach because she has him for a personal trainer at the GRCC and “he’s great”. Also, “It’s neat that restaurants will be giving out chips” to use so that contestants can get points taken off at their weigh-ins. “It’s going to be fun, everybody getting together,” she says. She’s been watching her weight for some time now anyways.
The sound of kids playing basketball in the gym mixes in with the noise of the crowd of about 30 contestants as more arrive. “Hey, hey!”, GRCC director Gary Dolloff yells out to get the group’s attention. He introduces himself and says “I’m gonna be running this program and what I’m gonna do first is list the teams.” The roll-call consists of 21 teams of 4-6 people per team. The cost is $40 and that includes 24-hour access to the gym, coaches, and a nutritionist.
“My goal for this thing is to change peoples’ habits and to get them to the gym working out and eating better.” He hopes that “the biggest thing is you’ll find that working out with your friends will remind you about not eating that twinkie at midnight,” and “that working out with your friends will push you to be healthy.”
On December 28, teams will find out who their coaches are. “I’m not gonna let you guys choose your coaches, it might be a trivia contest or some sort of contest,” to see who gets which one of the 9 coaches. Dolloff says that for “All the coaches, fitness has been important of their life and they’re all volunteering to do this.”
The first weigh-in is during the week of Jan. 5, with three other weigh-in’s until the final on April 1.
A Facebook page where “You can ask your coach and nutritionist questions,” will also be available. And a nutritionist will recommend menu plans for five days at a time on the page. “My goal is to keep your desire up to keep going with this,” and “to start off 2016 and do really good things fitness-wise and to get you feeling better.”
Local restaurants Gatch’s, Hotel Rumford, Brian’s Bistro, and Dicks have agreed to offer healthy meal choices. The restaurants will give some form of receipt for the contestants to show that they’ve eaten one of the healthy meal choices. “You can bring the chip to your weigh-in and get points off,” Dolloff says.
The person who loses the most weight percentage-wise will win the grand prize. Prizes will also be awarded to the winning team and the winning team’s coach.
“What is it?” asks one of the contestants. “I don’t know yet. It will be announced and you’ll very much enjoy it,” he reassures the crowd.
“I’m really excited about this,” Dolloff says. “It’s a good fundraiser for us and it’s something different that hasn’t been done here. “That gym downstairs will be open 24 hours,” so, “No excuses whether its 12 at night or 5 in the morning. You’ll have access to the gym, you’ll have access to your coach, and the nutrition piece that is also vital.”
As he passes out participation waivers and facility use forms for the contestants to sign he has to raise his voice once again to get the excited crowd’s attention. “Listen!, Make sure you have your papers turned in. And stop on the way out at the front desk; we take credit, checks, cash, but we don’t take kids!”
mhutchinson@summediagroup.net
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