Week 1 Recap

This week added an extra challenge for all Largest Loser competitors. Not only did they transition their every day eating and exercise habits, but they also lost an hour of sleep on Sunday, March 9th with daylight savings time. However, this did not stop our troopers from reporting at 8am to workout, weighing in, and attending their lecture on nutritional behavior.

"Nobody said it would be easy but somebody said it would be worth it." Wise words from the blue team!

 All teams worked hard this week, with numbers to back up their efforts. There was a total of over 300 lbs lost, with the red team leading the percentage of weight lost with 3.0%! The orange team (also known as the warrior team) followed with a total percentage of 2.7% weight lost, and the blue team took third place with 2.6% total weight lost.

Victory goes to the red team with a total of 3.0% weight lost this week!

Each team had something to say about their successes and challenges this week.

The red team placed first in total weight loss at 3.0%!! They give credit to their spirited trainers and to each other. This is what they had to say about  their week:

Team Red had an awesome week. Everyone on the team worked his or her butt off. Each and every member of this team motivates and encourages each other to keep going and never give up. We had a fantastic weigh-in on Sunday and we are looking forward to the next. Each workout gets better and better, we are finding our own ways to get through each session. We have the best trainers and each of them brings something very unique to our workouts. The Red Team has great camaraderie and are excited for each new workout. Vince and Lisa give the best feedback, advice, andrecommendations for each person to help get through some of the tougher exercises. All in all we are ready to win and we are totally psyched to lose weight and gain control of our lives once again!!!! Great job RED!!! Let’s ROCK!!!!

The second place orange/warrior team has an exciting and unique vantage point, as all members have done the Largest Loser program in the past. Here is what they had to say about starting the program again this season:

Warriors Week 1: This week was a time to reconnect and recommit. Tuesday's assessments proved we have some strong people on our team holding planks and wall sits for more than 4 minutes. Thursday was quite a surprise! After ten minutes of running, we met Pam in the Gaylord room to "get real". Pam and Jess helped us get rid of excuses and face some of the reasons why we eat. This journey for the Warriors is going to be quite different from past experiences. The focus is not on our one hour training sessions, but on the other 23 hours in the day and the choices we make. As one team member pointed out today during the lecture, "We can't have it both ways". This is not a ten week weight loss program, this is about making changes that will last a life time. The Warriors did great on the scale this week. Can't wait to see what Jess has planned for us this week!

The blue team took third place, but as you can see, it was not easy. They worked hard for their achievement! Here is what they had to say:

Team Blue rounded out their first week with awesome team workouts.  With a variety of workouts Team Blue's trainers pushed us to the max.  We dripped what I would imagine to be a "combined" 1 gallon of sweat but no matter how tired we got, no matter how much we sweat, no matter how much our legs felt like J-E-L-L-O we ended our first week working hard.   Thanks to our trainers for encouraging us to push our bodies to the max...in a safe way. Team Blue had some great successes when it comes to weight loss.  "Nobody said it would be easy but somebody said it would be worth it."  123...Go Blue!!!

The green team noted the following weekly highlights:

Most weight: Robert 17.6, Ralph, 6.2, Laura 5.0
Biggest food accomplishment: 

• Managing the calories.
• Steve dropped all diet soda.
• Robert: What the heck is that? Oh, he says cut all sugar. ALL sugar. 17 lbs of sugar! Zoiks!! Way to go buddy!! 

Biggest workout accomplishment:

• Lisa swam a mile.
• Amy and her daughter took the dog for a long walk.

Team vow & mantra for week:
Eat Right, move more

Finally, the yellow/shadow team had some thoughts as the only non-competitive team in the program. As you will notice, competing against other teams is not their aim, but they certainly competed against themselves with impressive results this week:

Shadow Team (with the leadership of Terri and Johnny) came out of the box strong with everyone posting weight loss at the March 8th weigh-in.   Assessment night was a wake-up call and the assessment strongly identified where we are not!!!!!   Austin was the assessment star with a long 'wall-sitting' and too many push-ups to count.  We were all in a state of envy.  

Our group of eight is a very supportive group largely consisting of older individuals and we are not focusing on the competitive nature of the program.   Emotions heard around the 'water-cooler' included:  inspiring, invigorating, happiness.  As we all know, HAPPINESS IS AN INSIDE JOB!

Trainer Terri Tully with Jack Moresko of the yellow/shadow team.