Thinner Three Amigos

And this is neither a census update nor a police report.

The 63 participants in the local “Biggest Loser” weight-loss contest shed a total 1,144.55 pounds, or the weight of about six average adults, in the last three months.

A team called “Three Amigos” — comprised of Minnesota State Patrol Trooper Jon Froemke, and Koochiching County Sheriff’s Deputy Gary Jensen and Chief Deputy Brian Jespersen — won the contest. Together, the “Three Amigos” lost 20.94 percent of their body weight.

Jensen was also the individual “Biggest Loser,” with a loss of 31.32 percent of his body weight. The contest was based on percent of body weight lost for both the team and individual challenges.

“Our team meetings, they were pretty serious,” Jespersen said sarcastically. Apparently, they said, all laughing while telling the story, Jespersen and Jensen caught Froemke with a bag of popcorn during the competition and gave him a good razzing. And he was made to put the popcorn back for the good of the team.

“Basically, if it tastes good, spit it out,” Jensen joked of their new diet plan. “No saturated fats, no chips, no bread, low sodium, no pop, (drink) water.” They also exercised — elliptical, racquetball and cross country skiing helped them attain their goals.

“The hardest was just resisting all the cravings that you normally have,” Froemke said, making puppy-dog eyes as he talked about having to bypass the steak aisle in the grocery store.

They all agreed that they felt better physically at the end of the competition. And being on a team among buddies helped keep them honest and motivated.

“The team thing definitely helped keep it going,” Jensen said. “You didn’t want to be the weak link on the team.”

“If it hadn’t been for that, there would have been a lot of days I probably would have said ‘Heck with that,’” Froemke agreed.

Froemke said he was “forced into it (the competition) by these two knuckleheads,” pointing to Jensen and Jespersen. “They looked at the patrol for the fattest guy there and they found me,” he joked.

Each of the 21 teams included three people. Jensen said they rejected a potential third teammate before selecting Froemke.

“Somebody else wanted to start a team, but we didn’t feel she was big enough to be on our team,” Jensen joked. “We wouldn’t let her be on our team and we picked up Jon instead. She didn’t have enough weight to lose.”

They said they chose teammates with extra weight to lose in order to gain an advantage over those without as much excess. They clearly had the competitive spirit from the beginning and had a plan to win.

For their success, the “Three Amigos” won the first-place prize of $787.50. Jensen won an additional $510 for his individual accomplishment.

Second-place team “CBF,” comprised of Fran Harmel, Charlene Harju, and Bill Tomczak, won $472.50; and third-place team “Defeated and Ashamed,” including Betty Bergstrom, Bruce Bergstrom and Jerry Jensen, won $315.

Each contestant paid $25 at the start of the contest, and the $1,575 collected was divided 50 percent to the winning team, 30 percent to second place and 20 percent to third place.

The individual biggest loser kitty, which is the $510 that Jensen won, came from penalty payments made by teams that gained weight during the week. Each team member would pay $5 if their team did not lose weight during the week.

Contestants were given a weekly update of the status of all teams in the competition, along with the “top 10 biggest losers” individually. No specific weights were shared in the contest, it was all based on percentage weight loss.

Only a very few individual contestants gained weight during the three-month contest. Regardless of personal setbacks, each team lost weight during the contest.

The overall combined weight lost for all contestants is 9.07 percent of their original total. And while the contestants didn’t quite reach the goal of an overall 10-percent loss, Falls Fire Chief Jerry Jensen, who originated and ran the contest, was proud of the contestants.

“Overall they were pretty motivated all the way through the whole competition,” Jerry Jensen said. “Over half of (the contestants) lost over 10 percent, that’s pretty big.”

The contest started with a total weight of 12,615.2 pounds for all contestants, which dropped to 11,471 pounds last Friday at the final weigh-in.

Contestants were weighed each Monday at the Falls Fire Station during the contest. Results were recorded and Jerry Jensen compiled the information in a spreadsheet to track the group’s progress.

For those who want to continue in the program, Jerry Jensen has set up a “maintenance list,” where contestants can sign up to be weighed each month and have their results tracked.

He said that response from the community has already encouraged him to start another similar competition.

“Even longer would probably be better” Gary Jensen said, noting that the 14-week contest was more like a “sprint.”

His teammates and others at the fire station said that while it may have felt like a sprint to Jensen, it was hard work for everyone.

BIGGEST LOSERS individual TOP 10

Place Team Name % Body Weight

1 THREE AMIGOS GARY JENSEN 31.32%

2 CBF BILL TOMCZAK 26.62%

3 DEFEATED AND ASHAMED JERRY JENSEN 16.77%

4 THREE AMIGOS BRIAN JESPERSEN 16.48%

5 BP TEAM WAYNE LEPPER 16.27%

6 TWO GUYS AND A GAL TED BROKAW 16.23%

7 MANNAUS 3 JULIE MANNAUSAU 15.66%

8 BORDER BRATS LARAE WATSON 15.66%

9 DEFEATED AND ASHAMED BETTY BERGSTROM 15.64%

10 DAYCARE DIVAS JUDY KEENEY 15.53%