Anytime Fitness of Albert Lea, along with many area supporting co-sponsors, has kicked off its second annual “Lose It Big Competition.” The competition began Sept. 14, with 10 teams of five people weighing in steadily throughout the day.

Each team has a team captain along with a team name. Team names selected are: Albert Lea Seed House Burning Lipids, St. John’s Heroes, Mrs. Gerry’s G-Force, Alamco A-laminators, Calorie Busters, Montessori Mayhem, Alamco’s Catch Us If You Can, Losers R Us, Fat Burners and Pounds Off.

Contestants had the privilege of questioning Amy Pleiming, local Hy-Vee dietitian, who came in to offer nutrition tips along with weight loss tips to help these individuals with their goals.

Each team also has the chance for a 45-minute session with Michael Lee, Ace Certified personal trainer of Anytime Fitness, where they are able to ask specific questions geared toward the individuals of their team and weight loss training. Team captains have been coordinating times for their team’s session with the personal trainer with several of the teams already having met with Michael.

There are a few twists this year with challenges offering each contestant the opportunity to earn an extra pound to be used at the final weigh in. If a contestant participates in a challenge, they are given a pound to be taken off at the final weigh-in. Nineteen contestants who earned that extra pound at our challenge held Sept. 23.

During the challenge, contestants earned points through three separate events, and the contestant with the least amount of points total from all three events was the winner. Although a contestant may have done really well in one or two events, that did not mean they would be the winner.

The first event was how many strides they could do within a 30-second period. Dana Smerud of the Fat Burners earned one point having 148 strides.

The second event was wall sits. This actually went on a little over six minutes. Paige Shaw of the Burning Lipids received one point for being the last contestant to go down in wall sits.

The third event was walking lunges with weights. Again Paige Shaw earned one point having gone 260 feet doing walking lunges carrying two, 15-pound dumbbells. Paige went further than all other contestants.

The winner of Wednesday’s challenge was Reid Olson of Pounds Off who earned a total of nine points after all three events. The second place individual was Ann Gadbois of the Fat Burners who earned 10 points. The third place winner was Paige Shaw of the Burning Lipids who earned a total of 11 points.

Monday was the second weigh-in for these contestants. The next challenge will be at the Freeborn County Fair Grandstand on Oct. 5 at 6 p.m. Mega Force Sound and Light Show will be there providing music and motivation to all participants. People are encouraged to come show their support and cheer for their team or individual.