Published: July 04, 2009 09:34 pm      

Contest challenges people to lose weight

Wellness coaches host program for second year

Money can be a great motivator.

For 13 Kokomo residents, it was one of the motivators to lose weight in a challenge offered by local wellness coaches John and Sandy Pulis.

John Pulis said the total weight loss for the 13 people was 191 pounds, and they awarded $754 in cash prizes.

Now, they’re enrolling people for the second challenge, a 12-week program beginning July 8. Cost is $29, which will help pay prize money to the three participants with the highest percentage of weight loss at the end of the program.

“It doesn’t pay out by the most pounds lost, it’s by percentage of body fat lost,” he said. “That way a person with 10 pounds to lose is competing the same as a person with 100 pounds to lose.”

Each week, the coaches will tackle a weight loss topic, such as the importance of protein in the diet, choosing healthy snacks, how to boost the metabolism, the difference between good carbohydrates and bad carbohydrates, the importance of exercise and how to make good choices when dining out.

“It’s amazing how much people don’t realize about the common, everyday things we put in our body,” John Pulis said.

Each person will be weighed weekly and have complete body measurements taken three times during the 12 weeks. John Pulis said participants can follow any weight loss program, such as Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig or others, and he and his wife will help determine which is the best program for each person.

“The only thing we request is people do not do starvation diets, or drugs. We’re kind of pushy like that. We’re about losing weight in a healthy way.”

The program is open to anyone, but space is limited. Sessions begin at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday and run for 12 weeks. Classes are at Trinity United Methodist Church, 1701 S. Locke St., Kokomo.

For more information or to pre-register, call Sandy Pulis at (765) 419-0567.