TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR
Kindhearted Home Care recently announced the winners of their fourth annual “Solution to Your Resolution” community weight loss challenge. The event, which begins annually in early January and runs 12 weeks, is designed to help participants jump start their New Year’s Resolutions to lose weight. Teams of four to six people compete to see which team can lose the most weight, computed as an average percentage of weight lost per person on the team. Teams sign up and come up with their own team names, and prizes are awarded for best team name, the team that lost the most weight on average per person (first, second, and third place winners) as a percentage of their total weight, the female that lost the greatest percentage of weight, and the male that lost the greatest percentage of weight.
“This year we had seven teams with 40 participants,” said Diane Goetsch, owner of Kindhearted, “with 392.5 total pounds lost, collectively. The average participant lost an average of 10 pounds over a span of 12 weeks, but some people actually lost a lot more than that.”
“Due to the pandemic, participation numbers were down,” said Sara Doerr, Office Manager at Kindhearted. “But we are very happy to still be able to hold this community challenge for those who wanted to participate.”
“I think it’s a great way to kick off the new year with the support of your friends and yet make losing weight a fun event,” Goetsch said.
“This year it was also a great opportunity to shed some of that extra COVID weight,” she said. “Some are calling it the COVID-15, that extra weight you gained during the pandemic. It’s like the freshman 15, when you were a freshman in college. Because people have gained weight during this time.”
The winner of the best team name was: “Drop it Like it’s Hot.”
Dani Ludwig was the female winner for losing the greatest percentage of weight, and John Kraegenbrink was the male winner who lost the greatest percentage of weight.
The first place winning team was: “The Five Alarm Fatties.” “Kick Start” was the team in second place, with “Sassy by Summer” taking third.
“Great job to all participants, and we hope that you learned different techniques during this 12-week weight loss challenge,” Doerr said. “Congratulations to all of our winners!”
“We like to give Merrill Chamber gift certificates as prizes so the winners can be putting that money back into the community,” Goetsch said. “Especially this year with COVID, the local businesses really appreciate it.”
“Winning participants are able to use the Chamber Gift Certificates at the local Merrill business that they choose,” Doerr added. “During this difficult time, it is always great to support the local businesses that support our community year around.”