‘Biggest Loser’ returns to campus
Emily Rowe is no stranger to people looking down on her for her weight. When Rowe was in high school, she didn’t make her dance team because of her size. She was humiliated.
“I went to the audition and there were some girls on the team that were like, ‘We’re not going to let you be on our team. We have an image,'” said Rowe, a junior majoring in interior design and speech communication. “It’s hard enough to get through high school, but to go through high school overweight and having people comment on that — it’s so discouraging.”
Rowe is one of the contestants in USU’s Biggest Loser Competition. She said she applied to be a contestant on NBC’s reality TV show “The Biggest Loser,” but didn’t make the cut. She’s tried diet programs such as Weight Watchers, however, said she quit the program after two years, because it was expensive and she was satisfied with her weight at the time.
Rowe said one of the things she likes about the USU competition are the mentors assigned to each contestant.
“They’ll just say, ‘Is there anything that I can help? Do you want me to work out with you?'” she said. “I think that’s going to be the biggest part, because it just shocks me that they just want to help.”
USU’s Biggest Loser Competition began a few years ago as a project by college seniors who wanted to lose weight. The contest is based on a point system in which participants compete to earn points. The person who earns the most points wins the grand prize.
Rowe said many girls feel they have to be skinny, but there are people on the other side of the spectrum who do not take care of themselves and gain a lot of weight.
People who are overweight tend to lose confidence quickly and as a result, value themselves less, she said.
“You just have to hold yourself with confidence, because if you have confidence, people see past that,” she said. “They’re like, ‘Oh, she knows what she wants and she’s going after it.’ That’s how I want people to see me.”
She said the competition is all about lifestyle change and being healthy instead of dieting. A lot of students don’t have time, because they have to focus on school, she said.
“The thing about the Biggest Loser Competition is that you have a team behind you,” Rowe said. “You have people with a common goal coming together, and when that happens, you’re likely to succeed.”
This year, the grand prize is a one-year membership to the Sports Academy. The nine-week competition started in January and will end in March. Throughout the competition, contestants meet twice a week for educational sessions with doctors, dietitians and nutritionists. They also take part in activities such as yoga and kickboxing.
“Our number one goal is to help people lose weight healthily because a lot of people are doing it too fast,” said Kedric Glenn, a sophomore majoring in exercise science who helps to manage the competition through the Aggie Health Club.
Glenn said there are more people signed up for the competition this year, and the organizing committee is bigger, as well.
Aside from the Sports Academy, other sponsors include USU Dining Services, Jamba Juice, Chick-fil-A, Aggie Blue Bikes, Anytime Fitness, Cache Valley Fun Park and The Pita Pit. Prizes include gift cards, a mountain bike, block meal plans, free smoothies and bowling passes.
The competition will end with an award banquet to show contestants the progress they’ve made throughout the competition.
“We’re here to help you develop a healthier lifestyle, and that’s something that each one of us can be more conscious about,” Glenn said, “like the decisions we make — deciding not to eat out and deciding not to grab a cookie when you can grab a carrot instead.”
Penny Rodgers, who works at Terrace Grove Assisted Living, said the competition has given her more understanding about losing weight. She said, as a nurse, she wants to look healthy when she goes for interviews.
“If I lose one pound today, I’m one pound better than I was yesterday — one pound happier and one pound healthier,” she said.
Karen and Jerry Boehme, the only married couple in the competition, said they found out about the competition through an announcement in The Herald Journal, because the competition is open to the public.
“We just recently moved back to Utah from California and thought that this will be a good way to lose some weight and get reacquainted with the campus,” said Karen, chief financial officer at Sunshine Terrace Foundation. Both Karen and Jerry graduated from USU in the 1970s.
Karen said the only disadvantage of trying to lose weight as a couple is that since men and women lose weight differently. Her husband can eat more food and still lose weight, she said, however, doing it together allows support and decisions about restaurants and foods can be made together.
“Just keep it fun and focus on anything positive,” she said. “If you slip back, then just let it go. If your spouse slips back, don’t criticize or bring negative comments into the situation.”
Glenn said the competition has the potential to continue annually in the future.
“Technically, if we are able to change lives, it could save lives in the future,” he said.
– nadiah.johari@aggiemail.usu.edu