Locals Shed Pounds in 'Weight No More' Competition

Fitness Director Rusty Shafer says 72 people at the Route 1 fitness center recently shed a total of 1,343 pounds. What were they doing? Competing in Latitude's second edition of “Weight No More.”

The weight-loss competition is similar to the hit TV show, “Biggest Loser,” to help people lose weight and get healthy.

At the end of the highly charged and demanding 12 weeks of competition, Jay Medailleu of Peabody (with the help of his trainer Alex Foote) came away the winner, losing a total of 60.8 pounds. Shafer said that equated to 27 percent of his body weight.

Shafer said the program consisted of six teams (12 people per team), training twice each week with a personal trainer, along with weekly weigh-ins, of course.

"The main focus of the program is to create a sense of competition to help motivate and drive health and weight loss," said Shafer, announcing the winners recently.

The team challenge was decided by less than a pound -- Red Team trainer Foote and Blue Team trainer Shafer were separated by a
mere .22 percent at the final weigh-in, Shafer said. The scale, however, was tipped in favor of the Blue Team, which shed 324 pounds collectively.

Medailleu, by the way, was on the Red Team.

Shafer said the other team trainers participating in the competition were Sergio Reyes, Kunal Jhaveri, Delight Corvi and Kyra Williams.

“Weight No More” will be held again in April. Non-members are welcome to participate.

Latitude Sports Clubs also has locations in Andover, Bradford, Methuen and Salisbury.