900 Pounds Dropped in Mayor's Weight Loss Challenge

After three months, roughly 17 events and countless hours spent in fitness centers across Oak Creek, participants of the inaugural Mayor's Weight Loss Challenge gathered Saturday to see the results of their labor.

The final tally: 899 pounds lost since the time about 140 people weighed in at the beginning of the challenge in November.

For the first attempt at an initiative aiming not only to get residents fit, but also build community, Mayor Steve Scaffidi said it was an overwhelming success.

"It was a great wrap-up to what I thought was a fantastic three months," Scaffidi said after an awards ceremony at Wheaton Franciscan.

"Nine hundred pounds is a lot of weight to lose during a time of year that people don't normally do a lot of things. We had 17 events that involved a lot of exercise, and moving around, and sweat, and people were really invested in it."

Included in the nearly 900 pounds lost were several individual success stories.

Jeff Sageser was the male winner with 46.4 pounds lost, or 16.14 percent of his body weight. The female winner was Leslie McFarron, who lost 42.3 pounds (21.75 percent of her body weight). The top team lost a combined 94.6 pounds between its six members.

More success was found anecdotally: a pregnant woman took the challenge and maintained her body weight despite the baby growing inside of her. She plans on competing in the Tough Mudder race later this year, just a few months after her baby is due.

Another woman overcame arthritis to lose 16 pounds. "Instead of using her arthritis as a reason not to exercise, she used it as a reason to exercise," said Leslie Flynn, one of the organizers of the challenge.

Scaffidi, too, achieved his goal of losing 20 pounds. He posted regular updates on his progress throughout the challenge.

Weight loss challenge participants "needed a push, and we were happy to provide the push," Scaffidi said. "I needed a push. I respond to peer pressure and competition like anybody."

• See more photos from Saturday's awards ceremony on the Mayor's Weight Loss Challenge Facebook page.

The mayor purposely picked winter months to do the challenge because of the holiday season and the food temptations that go along with it. A Wisconsin winter and lack of opportunities to be outside also makes it difficult to stay fit, Scaffidi noted.

As it was, organizers pushed through less-than-ideal conditions in a variety of ways, whether it was a Thanksgiving morning walk at Oak Creek High School, a Zumbathon at the East Middle School or events staged at Oak Creek exercise facilities.

While the challenge is officially over, organizers plan to continue fitness events and workshops in the coming months. Next month, a workshop on eating healthy at fast food restaurants is planned. A Zumba event with a movie afterward will be held over the summer on the Oak Creek High School football field.

The challenge wasn't just about losing weight, either.

An underlying goal of the initiative was to build community, and it's one of several planned in the upcoming year to engage residents and allow neighbors to get to know each other. Scaffidi hopes the second edition of the challenge, which will begin in September, will have participation from throughout the region.

In addition, events typically had a charity component. At Saturday's finale, for example, participants donated their over-sized clothes that no longer fit to Goodwill.

"The community aspect to it was phenomenal," Flynn said.