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My road to becoming Pope's "Biggest Loser"

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Jon LaDue
  • 43rd Airlift Wing Public Affairs
POPE AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. --  I was announced March 14 as Pope's first ever "Biggest Loser." 

That's right, after eight weeks of nutrition trials and tribulations and fitness accomplishments and shortcomings, I have managed to win the competition.

I lost 28.5 pounds with a final weigh-in of 194.5 pounds. Winning the competition was great. 

I got a nice little trophy, a "Biggest Loser" T-shirt as well as other little prizes. Perhaps the greatest tangible prize for winning was a certificate for a free one-hour Swedish massage, although I have never had a massage and I'm not sure what the Swedish have to do with it. 

At one point during the ceremony the second-place winner came up and congratulated me and said she didn't know how I did it. All I could tell her was that the biggest thing that helped me was to get into a routine. Yes, you must exercise continually and yes you must eat healthier, but without a routine, it makes it very hard to consistently do what your body needs day-after-day. I told her I make all of my meals for the week on Sundays and reduced my rations, which helped as well. 

With the competition in the rear view mirror, I look back and it didn't seem hard to me. Aside from my trip home to Wisconsin, everything seemed to come pretty easy after the first few weeks. It was all just a matter of staying consistent. No matter how dumb I felt on the elliptical, I still managed. Even on days where I was less than enthused to workout, I just went for a lower intensity but still committed myself to at least 30 minutes. 

Sitting in my office somedays I would look over and see the box of everyone's favorite thin mint cookies and I would break down and have them ... but only two, never more. That is one fact I have realized. It is fine to eat whatever you want. As long as your doing everything else right, you eat in moderation and only "treat" yourself sparingly. 

Another lady at the ceremony said she saw me at the Balancing Nutrition class and thought to herself, "Why is he here, he's so skinny?" I didn't classify myself as obese before the competition and I really don't look "fat" in my uniform. But the fact is I wasn't comfortable with where my body was at or the direction I was heading. I truly believe now that for the first time, in a long time, or maybe ever, I have control of my body. I feel healthier for sure. In fact, I took a short road trip last weekend and I had a couple of tacos for sake of convenience. Ironically, it was nice to feel sick from eating fast food then going through withdrawals by not. 

If you ever see me in the gym and I'm sporting my Biggest Loser T-shirt ... just remember it represents more than just participating in a competition, it's representative of a lifestyle change. Throughout the time that I've been writing these articles, I have said I wanted to be Pope's Biggest Loser. It took me a couple weeks to get used to putting my picture on the top of a page with the words "biggest loser." A statement like that could leave me up to ridicule forever. Can you imagine if you walked around high school and told everyone you were trying to be a big loser? It wouldn't go over very well. After losing more than 25 pounds, three inches off my waist, increasing my physical fitness score and once again fitting into my preppy "muscle shirts," I am the Biggest Loser and I'm darn proud of it. 

I was one of those people who never stuck with a diet plan long enough to actually see results, someone who let their physical fitness slip into mediocracy. If this competition has given me anything and if there is one thing I'd like to pass on, it would be that more than any one diet fad, or workout regimen, the easiest, safest and most efficient way, in my opinion, to lose weight and become more healthy is a complete lifestyle change. It doesn't have to be all at once, but sticking with it is the important part. I will probably not eat rice flavored rice cakes for the rest of my life nor will I continue to ignore my passion for stuff crust pizzas. What I hope to acheive more than anything else is a balance between where I was two months ago and where I am now. Either way I will never forget how I became Pope's Biggest Loser.