Losing Big Gains Health and Prizes

First Place Team - The Untouchables - Marcha Woolford & Anthony Askins (Anthony was also the 1st Place Individual winner in the Men's Division)


First Place Individual (Women's Division) - Janet Welham (right). Janet's team, The Super Losers, came in second place for Teams. Also pictured - Brie Breland, MHW Executive Director.


Second Place Individual (Men's ) - Richard Cole


Second Place Individual (Women's) - Darlene Brown


Cambridge, MD – The two team members of “The Untouchables” were true to their team name in the recent ‘Lose Big, Gain More’ Challenge. Team members Anthony Askins and Macha Woolford, both from Cambridge, took the lead early on in this 11-week weight loss challenge, and on Wednesday, May 25, won the title of Biggest Losers and the $1000 grand prize. Together the team lost 14.4% of their total body weight. Not too far behind were the second place “Super Losers”, Janet Wellham and Jeff Harris of Berlin, at 12.8% weight loss, and third place “Cambridge Belt Busters”, Tom Ross and Jack Hailey at 8.7%.

The “Lose Big, Gain More” Challenge was presented by Maryland Healthy Weighs (MHW) to raise awareness of the association between obesity and chronic disease and to lose weight by increasing physical activity and eating healthy while having fun. Eighty people on 30 teams from across the mid-Shore participated in this 11-week weigh-loss competition. Over 80 percent of the participants finished the competition. Together the participants lost a total of 720 pounds!

Individual winners for the women’s division included Janet Wellham in first place with 17.2% weight loss, Darlene Brown in second place with 12.1%, and Alicia Leoni in third place with a 9.9% loss of total body weight. In the men’s division, Anthony Askins took first place with an 18.7% weight loss, Richard Cole was in second place with 14.5% weight loss, and Thomas Gray in third place with 12.2%. The first place individual winners each took home $250. In addition to cash prizes, the second and third place individual and team winners received gift certificates for Vernon Powell athletic shoes and gift certificates to four local farmers markets.

“The recent data shows that 68 percent of Americans are either overweight or obese and the number of Americans with three or more chronic illnesses has increased 85 percent within the past ten years as a result of obesity and sedentary lifestyles”, explained Dr. Michael Fadden, Medical Director of MHW. “With the ‘Lose Big, Gain More’ Challenge, we wanted to get the word out about how obesity really does affect our lives and to make the community aware of ways to get healthy.”

In addition to the award prizes, Maryland Healthy Weighs is donating a dollar per pound lost to two local fundraising events: the Dorchester County Relay for Life and the Dorchester County MS Walk.

Maryland Healthy Weighs is an HMR Program offering medically supervised weight-loss services on the Eastern Shore. HMR, Health Management Resources, is the nation’s leading provider of weight treatment services to the medical community. For more information on the weight loss programs at Maryland Healthy Weighs, contact the staff at 443-205-4421 or go to www.MarylandHealthyWeighs.com.