Looking Good Cottonwood has had a banner year.
According to Trevor Faust, supervisor of the Cottonwood Recreation Center Fitness Center, 260 community members registered for the 12-week contest, which challenges participants to lose weight and offers prizes to winners.
Ultimately, 105 of those individuals made it to the contest’s end. Along the way, they were required to register for weekly weigh-ins.
“LGC 2017 was an absolute success [and it was] a pleasure to walk through this process with you,” Faust, who runs the program, said during the program’s after-party event April 19 at the Rec Center. “So far, it’s the best year we’ve had.
“It’s truly a passion of mine to see others try, and succeed.”
The winner in the men’s category, Steven Wilkens, lost 55.6 pounds — nearly 25 percent of his body weight.
The winner in the women’s category, Denise Steinert, lost 34.6 pounds — over 21 percent of her body weight.
The final tally lost by all participants at their weigh-ins came to nearly 1,900 pounds, which Faust said easily beats the next best year. Wilkens, a Lutheran minister by trade, said that it was “absolute determination” that allowed him to so effectively change the composition of his body, though he credits a looming birthday with much of the credit.
“When I read about this, I was like, ‘Whoa,’” Wilkens said. “The whole goal was looking sexy at 60.”
Wilkens also headed the aptly Lutheran-named team “Winning Sheep,” which together went on to win the team category of the contest, losing a total of 136.8 pounds between five people.
Steinert, a mother and home-school teacher, said that she was able to “stay more disciplined than I am,” but added with a laugh that she hadn’t “started exercising until the last four weeks.”
Regardless, Steinert said that an active lifestyle and no eating after 7 p.m. helped her shed pounds.
