Northbrook Woman Wins Five Seasons' "Be a Loser" Contest, Drops 16 Pounds in Five Weeks

For weeks, Teresa Marie Kasper had a secret that she kept even from her husband and two children.

And it was only after she received a special gift on Christmas Day that she unwrapped it for her loved ones too: she was chosen by Five Seasons Family Sports Club in Northbrook as winner of its 2015 “Be a Loser” Contest.

Much like the popular “Biggest Loser” reality television series over the past decade, being a loser in this case really amounts to being a winner. At 246 pounds, Teresa is looking to gain greater health by losing weight.

Her goal is to shed more than 100 pounds from her 5-foot-2 frame. On January 2nd she started with an orientation at the club, located at 1300 Techny Road.

The 54-year-old Northbrook woman receives a prize package worth more than $12,000. It includes a one-year family membership to the club, two one-hour training sessions per week, an activity tracker, nutrition counseling, Five Seasons fitness gear and a weekly goal-setting workshop.

On Christmas, Five Seasons Fitness Director Patrick Kamara notified Teresa that she had won.

“It was the best gift,” she recalled. “There has never been anything else like it under the tree. I have reached a point where, intellectually, I know what I should be doing, but I need help putting all the pieces together. Even knowing the best way to start, I knew I needed help.”

After she was interviewed a few weeks earlier at the club by Kamara and Five Seasons Chief Club Officer Lina Lubbat, Teresa tipped off her 21-year-old son, Anthony, that she was a finalist. But only after getting word that she had been picked did she share anything about the contest with her husband, Peter, and her 16-year-old daughter, Amanda.

The Five Seasons staff is excited to help Teresa achieve her fitness turn-around, said Lubbat.

“The start of the year is frequently a time when many of our members re-evaluate the various areas of their lives, so Teresa will be in good company here as we provide her with the tools to improve,” Lubbat added. “We have a warm, encouraging community and we’re excited to welcome Teresa and her entire family as they share this journey together.”

Teresa has been overweight for as long as she can remember, but at 140 pounds in high school, she was fit enough to hike up to the historic Peruvian site of Machu Picchu.

Her son recently undertook the same trip, and it underscored for Teresa that “my kids don’t see me that way” in terms of being able to go on such excursions. A major motivating force for her is to be able to enjoy activities with her children in the years to come.

As a young adult, Teresa back-packed the Continental Divide, went scuba diving, kayaking, rappelling and rock climbing.

Over the years, through her pregnancies and other events such as the deaths of family members, her weight continued climbing. “When you’re morbidly obese,” she said, “you don’t go rock climbing and do all those things.”

Since first learning of the “Be a Loser” contest in November, Teresa has been working on losing a bit of weight, so 246 pounds likely did not represent her heaviest point.

She is especially pleased to receive guidance from Five Seasons trainers, including Michael Matthews, who is working most closely with her, because one of her biggest fears is getting injured. Over the past two years, she broke her right ankle in one mishap and fractured her left wrist in another.

As of early February, after five weeks and by averaging close to two hours of cardio daily while maintaining a 1,200-calorie diet, Teresa had lost 16 pounds.

She goes to Five Seasons four days a week and works out at home as well. On each club visit, she uses one of several pieces of cardio equipment and enjoys the sauna. During workouts with her trainer, she tosses tires, uses the weight equipment and even tried the TRX suspension training system.

Five Seasons Northbrook is one of six Five Seasons clubs throughout the Midwest—the others are in Burr Ridge, Ill., Indianapolis, Indiana; Dayton, Ohio; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Crestview Hills, Kentucky. All six clubs are engaging in the ‘Be a Loser’ Contest, having received 42 applications overall and selected one individual for each club who has committed to participating in a year-long health, wellness and fitness program.

Last year, Mark Wright, a 27-year-old member of the Five Seasons Family Sports Club in Cincinnati, lost 190 pounds after embarking on the program at 467 pounds. Along the way, he has accomplished physical feats that he never imagined possible, including his recent completion of the Cincinnati Half Marathon.

Five Seasons is at 1300 Techny Road and is online at http://fiveseasonssportsclub.com/northbrook/ and can be reached at 847-897-5030. In addition, Teresa has dubbed her fitness journey “Teresa’s New Leaf” and is chronicling it at http://teresasnewleaf.blogspot.com/

PHOTO CAPTIONS:

Teresa Marie Kasper, winner of the 2015 “Be a Loser” contest at Five Seasons Family Sports Club in Northbrook, is flanked by her personal trainer, Michael Matthews (left), and Five Seasons Fitness Director Patrick Kamara.

Lina Lubbat, Chief Club Officer at Five Seasons Family Sports Club in Northbrook, greets Teresa Marie Kasper during a Jan. 13th visit to the club.