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INUVIK
Inuvik residents who challenged each other for the title of Inuvik's biggest loser wrapped up their friendly competition June 28 with a lot of laughter, cheers and jokes during the final weigh-in meeting at Aurora College.

Top three finishers Loretta Dalton, left, Stephen Charlie and Marina Simon show their pride in being Inuvik's "biggest losers" for 2012 after the group's final weigh-in and meeting June 28. - Laura Busch/NNSL photo

"Some people in the community wanted some type of motivation and accountability for weight loss to get in shape for the summer," said Cynthia Wicks, who organized this year's competition.

Stephen Charlie earned the honour of being the biggest loser during the eight-week competition. Charlie lost a staggering 35.4 pounds within the last three months.

Charlie said that the biggest changes he made were in what he ate. He chose a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet, which he said was challenging for the first two weeks or so, and then became much easier.

He also cut out all processed foods, which Wicks said is most of the battle when it comes to being healthy and getting fit.

"The cheap stuff and the fast stuff is bad for you," said Wicks. "We need to eat less processed and more natural whole foods that aren't manufactured – just things of the earth like vegetables and meat and other things that have not been touched by man's hands."

The group focused primarily on healthy eating, while still encouraging participants to up their weekly exercise routines. Exactly what those exercise routines consisted of was up to the individual.

"I don't like exercise just for the sake of exercise," said Charlie with a smile. He said that his main form of exercise during the past eight weeks involved going out on the land to hunt, fish and hike.

The main benefits of meeting as a group was the atmosphere of healthy competition, said Charlie.

The group met every Thursday evening beginning on May 3 where, along with the weekly weigh-in, guest speakers shared their weight-loss stories and healthy living tips.

The competition enjoyed more participation than anticipated, said Wicks. Twenty-five people signed up for the contest, and while 12 participated in the last weigh-in, she estimates that about 70 per cent of participants stuck with it for the entire eight weeks. The 12 who made it to the Aurora College foyer last Thursday collectively lost more than 150 pounds.

The goal of the competition, aside from motivation to lose weight, was to learn more about healthy living, said Wicks.

"We want to teach people a lifestyle, and we need to learn more about that. Really focusing on the nutrition – 80 per cent of it is nutrition for weight loss."

Aside from the weekly meetings, people were on their own during the week to maintain the goals they had set for themselves. This was appropriate, said Charlie, since now that the competition is over, everyone is responsible for maintaining their health on their own.

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