Collin Lueck
Editor
Calling themselves “Die Lard… Wit’s A Vengeance,” the team from Wit’s End Day Spa took top honors in the inaugural “Solution to Your Resolution” Merrill community weight loss challenge. The “Die Lard” team members lost a combined 108.3 pounds, or 9.27 percent of their body weight, over the 12-week program.
Team members are Thea Witucki, Cassie Schmidt, Nikole Houghtaling, Nicole Henke, Julie Depasse and Turena Johnson. Johnson was also the top female loser, dropping 10.68 percent of her body weight during the challenge. The biggest male loser was Isaac Buntrock, who lost 7.62 percent.
A total of 67 people on 13 teams participated in the weight loss challenge, facilitated by Kindhearted Home Care. In all, participants lost a total of 604.5 pounds.
“We will definitely do it again,” said Kindhearted Home Care owner, Diane Goetsch. “It was very successful, we were surprised by the amount of people. The participants really enjoyed it. The feedback we received was that it was motivating and fun, the team encouragement was a big piece of it.”
During the challenge, weekly results were posted on the Kindhearted Facebook page. The competition featured specific weekly challenges related the healthy eating and exercise habits.
Working with others on a team helps motivate people to stick to their weight loss goals, noted Kindhearted Fitness Director Ashley Millenbah. After the challenge wrapped up on March 30, it will be up to the participants to maintain those healthy habits.
“This was a kickstart for everybody,” Millenbah said. “Doing something for 12 weeks creates a habit, and we hope it created healthy habits.”
In the fun spirit of the challenge, all the teams came up with clever names. Taking the award for the most creative team name was the “Flab-U-Less 5” team consisting of Beth Badeau, Sara Zastrow, Darla Vachavake, Diane Goetsch and Sharon Karow.
