The Biggest Losers are the Biggest Winners

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Katherine Roling
  • 71st Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  Results for Vance's Biggest Loser weight-loss competition were released April 15 during the reveal ceremony in the base auditorium. The Racing Rabbits, Tech. Sgt. John Wade and Maj. Karrina DeGarmo were named first-place winners in the team, male and female categories respectively.

Sixty-one teams made up of four contestants competed for first, second, and third place, and prizes were also awarded to the top three individual winners. Prizes were determined by the highest percentage of weight lost, and not the actual amount itself.

Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett attended the ceremony and spoke to the 245 participants from Team Vance about his campaign, "This City is going on a Diet." He then congratulated the Vance AFB members for their dedication to weight loss. According to Kellie Jensen, Vance's fitness program manager, the base competitors lost a total of 1,593 pounds.

In the team category, first place went to The Racing Rabbits. Sergeant Wade, Virginia Wade and Major Dianne and Gary Stroble claimed victory for the competition by losing a total of 72.8 pounds, tallying their team weight-loss up to 8.71 percent. The Racing Rabbits each earned a spa package.

The first-place female winner of the Biggest Loser Competition was Major DeGarmo, who lost 20.6 pounds, or 12.52 percent of her body weight. Sergeant Wade, from the Racing Rabbits, won first place again in the individual male category. He ended up losing 18.9 percent of his total body weight, or 40.8 pounds. Major DeGarmo and Sergeant Wade both earned a Texas vacation package.

Mayor Cornett spoke about his own personal struggle with maintaining a healthy lifestyle and discussed his challenge for the citizens of Oklahoma City to lose weight. In fact, when he was first elected, he found that "Everybody wants to feed the mayor."

Realizing how much weight he had gained, the mayor decided to do something about it. When he saw Oklahoma City on the list for the most obese cities in the country, he started considering the long-term effects of obesity on health care costs and absenteeism. As a result, Mayor Cornett wanted to change the city's approach to dieting. "We weren't talking about obesity in Oklahoma City," he said. "It was silly to think obesity would go away if we ignored it." For a New Year's resolution, he put the whole city on a diet, which soon got people talking.

The Chunky Monkeys came in second place in the team category, losing a total of 65.2 pounds, or 7.95 percent of their body weight as a team. Lt. Col. Stephen Wisser, Maj. Chad Teske, Capt. Paulette McKenzie, and Kathy Burge all earned a spa package.

Third place for the team category belonged to the Vance Vixons. The team members were Tawny Dotson, Wanda Halvorson, Monica Perkins, and Sandy Little. They lost 53.5 pounds total, or 7.91 percent of their body weight as a team. Their prizes were clothing gift certificates for $100.

Individual second place winners, Kim Winfield and Colonel Wisser, won bed and breakfast stays in the Oklahoma area. Kim Winfield managed to lose 17.5 pounds, or 11.54 percent of her body weight, and Colonel Wisser lost 37.5 pounds, or 15.68 percent of his body weight.

The third-place female was Wanda Halvorson, who shared the title with male contestant Keith Christopherson. Wanda Halvorson lost 10.6 percent of her body weight, or 25 pounds, and Keith Christopherson lost 15.2 percent of his body weight, which was 41.4 pounds. Both received MP3 players.

Sergeant Wade gave credit to his family, friends, and coworkers in the Equal Opportunity office for providing him the support and food needed to shed pounds. That support gave him the confidence he needed, and he remarked at the beginning, "Get ready to write this article because I'm going to win!" Months later, he shared first place with The Racing Rabbits and also became the male individual winner.