Washington Auto Mall wins Biggest Winner contest, but all teams were really winners
Tom Northrop, Observer Publishing Co. publisher, is brushed by a dodgeball as he leaps to escape it during the Corporate Biggest Winner competition Jan. 29.
Members of the Washington Auto Mall team work out at Wilfred R. Cameron Wellness Center in South Strabane Township.
Members of the Washington Auto Mall team work out at Wilfred R. Cameron Wellness Center in South Strabane Township. The Auto Mall team won the event, with members losing 6.4 percent of their weight.
Members of The Meadows Casino team work out at Wilfred R. Cameron Wellness Center in South Strabane Township.
Members of The Meadows Casino team work out at Wilfred R. Cameron Wellness Center in South Strabane Township.
Bridget Vilenicia, Observer Publishing Co. circulation director, fires away at the Under 40 team during a friendly game of dodgeball.
Arlea Hoffman, Observer Publishing Co. digital marketing manager, laughs while keeping her eyes open to avoid dodgeballs during the final day of the Corporate Biggest Winner competition
There have been days over the past month when Dana Phillips dreamed of sinking her teeth into a Tim Horton vanilla cream-filled doughnut and washing it down with a double double coffee.
But Phillips and her Washington Auto Mall teammates who took part in the Washington Health System Wilfred R. Cameron Wellness Center’s Biggest Winner Corporate Contest didn’t indulge in doughnuts – or any other sugary confections – during the four-week weight loss competition.
Their healthy eating and exercise regimen (they spent hours in the Wellness Center with personal trainer Kenny Rosenbauer) paid off. The Washington Auto Mall team has been crowned the Biggest Winner.
Competitors from seven teams battled for one month to lose the biggest percentage of total body fat. The Auto Mall team members lost 6.4 percent of their body fat. Overall, the six teammates lost 79 pounds, an average of 13.1 pounds per person,
“We bonded together, put our minds to it and said from the beginning that we are winning,” said Phillips, human resource manager at the Auto Mall, who lost nearly 10 pounds. “The competition got progressively harder every week, but I was in it to win it. At no point did I feel like quitting. I had a team relying on me to pull my weight. I feel so much better physically and mentally.”
The Wellness Center sponsored the Biggest Winner competition as a way to raise awareness about the positive impact that exercise and diet have on a person’s overall well-being, and the importance of healthy employees. It is the first time the Wellness Center targeted companies in the Washington area.
About two-thirds of Americans are overweight, which contributes to chronic disease and ballooning health-care costs.
Winning team members Danny Burt, Sarah Johnson, Ryan Komorowski, Amy Nelson, Phillips and Nicole Zidek won a one-month membership to the Wellness Center. But many contestants said they were happy they participated, win or lose.
Kevin Brogan, director of marketing at The Meadows Casino, which came in second place, said the best moment of the competition for him occurred when he stepped on the scale during the final weigh-in and discovered he lost 20 pounds, nine percent of his body weight.
“The competition was both physically and mentally challenging. Physically, our trainer pushed our bodies through some crazy exercises. Burpees anyone? Mentally, we had to continually refuse the desire for that late night snack,” said Brogan, who aims to lose another 20 pounds. “I learned that all of the excuses made to not work out are simply excuses.”
Louise Schultz, corporate wellness manager for the Wellness Center, said the gym was pleased with positive responses to the program. She said several competitors, inspired to continue their fitness journeys, joined the Wellness Center, hired a wellness center personal trainer or joined group training.
“We are hoping this positive experience will help encourage employees who were not able to participate in the program to make the choice to start their personal fitness journey,” said Schultz.
The competition fostered friendly competition among the teams – the Meadows, the Wellness Center, and two teams each from the Washington Health System’s Washington Hospital and Observer Publishing Co.
The Meadows, for example, good-naturedly attempted to undermine the efforts of the OPC teams by sending pizzas to the newsroom during lunch.
Observer-Reporter photographer Katie Roupe, a member of the O-R’s Under 40 team, said she didn’t lose as much weight as she had hoped (she did lose almost 10 pounds and 8 1/2 inches), but she implemented a healthy eating and exercise plan and she plans to run a 5K in April. Her husband, Ryan, a former personal trainer, designed a training program so Roupe can continue working out.
“I am so happy I had the opportunity to participate in the Biggest Winner,” Roupe said. “I also have to mention that one of our team’s favorite parts of training was our trainer, Joe Cavaretta’s corny but hilarious jokes that he would tell us during training.”
At the conclusion of the competition, some teams participated in a dodge ball game, a welcome change for competitors who spent the month using an array of equipment, including kettle bells, medicine balls, spin bicycles and rowing machines, and participating in interval and weight training.
Said Liz Rogers, editor of the O-R, who participated in a Wellness Center individual Biggest Winner competition last year, “This year’s competition only served to reinforce what I learned during last year’s Biggest Winner: to push myself. I feel better and stronger than ever. And even though the competition is over, I’m still training and maintaining a healthy diet.”
Sarah Johnson, a member of the winning Washington Auto Mall team, said she plans to continue to eat clean and use her gym membership.
“I lost more weight than expected and it is very noticeable,” said Johnson. “I’m a lot stronger than I thought I was.”
The Wellness Center plans to hold the corporate competition again next year.
Results:
1. Washington Auto Mall (lost 79 pounds, 6.4 percent weight loss)
2. The Meadows (lost 81.8 pounds, 5.67 percent weight loss)
3. O-R Over 40 (48.4 pounds, 4.79 percent weight loss)
4. Cameron Wellness Center (48.5 pounds, 4.34 percent weight loss)
5. O-R Under 40 (45.8 pounds, 4.32 percent weight loss)
6. Washington Hospital Team 1 (45.6 pounds, 3.7 percent weight loss)
7. Washington Hospital Team 2 (46.2 pounds, 3.44 percent weight loss)