Two people who helped contestants become healthier though the Olds Lifestyle Challenge say it was well worth it.
The challenge may be offered next year, possibly even expanded to more contestants.
The 12-week contest, in which participants tried to lose the most weight and become more healthy wrapped up Thursday night (Sept. 4) at the Ralph Klein Centre. It was organized by Simply for Life and supported by the Olds Albertan.
Colleen Roy was declared the winner, having lost 16 inches and 31 pounds.
Kristin Gammon, a registered dietician with Simply for Life (SFL), gave the contestants nutritional advice and laid out meal plans for them. Drew Taddis, a true form fitness specialist, served as their trainer, giving them workout exercises, etc.
Gammon says the idea for the challenge came from Danielle Corbett, an SFL franchisee for Calgary and Airdrie. She's run similar challenges in Airdrie for years. They expanded to Olds in November so they decided to run the challenge here.
Gammon says the Olds challenge went well for a first time.
“I think that it kind of got the word out after the first story ran in the paper. People were reading it and following the story, so I think it was successful,” she says.
Gammon was pleased with the change in the contestants.
“I was very impressed. Any time anyone makes any sort of a (positive) lifestyle change that big, it's a big deal,” Gammon says.
“It's definitely not easy. If it was easy, then I wouldn't have a job. They made some huge changes and they've done amazingly well, so it's been a really good 12 weeks.”
Gammon is not sure whether the contest will run again, but she appears to be leaning that way.
“I guess we'll see,” she says. “We'll kind of put our feelers out and see if people are interested to do it again. It's good. Talking to the contestants, it's things they wouldn't have necessarily decided to do on their own and this kind of pushed them to make those changes. But now they're feeling so good that they're going to continue, so it's definitely changed some lives. I think it's really valuable.”
If the challenge is offered again, Gammon is not sure whether it would again have three contestants or possibly expand to six.
“It was a good group,” Gammon says. “In Airdrie we've done six and that was quite good. But it's a lot of time, too. It's Drew's time, it's valuable. It's time making meal plans, it's time face-to-face in the office. It's definitely a lot on our end to support that many people, so three was a good number.”
Taddis was also impressed with the way the challenge went.
“I was seeing them twice a week. I went away for two weeks and then I came back and that was when I saw some big changes,” he says.
“Anyone who's going to change their lifestyle to work out twice a week and see a nutritionist once a week, those are big changes that they weren't doing. So that's significant alone, besides whatever progress they made.”
He liked the way everyone got along and bought into it.
“It was great to be a part of it,” he says. “I don't usually work with other organizations, but it was cool. Danielle was fantastic, so was Kristin, so it was nice to be a part of their group. This was their thing, they invited me and it was fun.
“The contestants were great; we had a good time. After they got to know each other, they'd joke around during workouts, give me a hard time a little bit. It was fun, just a good time. It was a good way to change their lifestyle.
“I think a lot of times people think it's miserable to come and work out and change your nutrition,” he adds. “Sometimes you have people who just expect you to give them something, and these guys weren't like that. They were happy to come to the workouts and grateful for the meal plans and were happy to be a part of it, so it was nice to work with people like that.”
