Contestants lose more than 1,000 pounds in Romulus Mayor’s Challenge

ROMULUS – Six individuals earned prizes by losing weight during the Mayor’s Fitness Challenge at the Romulus Athletic Center (RAC).
Romulus business owner Bill Junge lost 35 pounds in eight weeks and took first place in the Men’s Division. Lori Tavtigian of Belleville lost 30 pounds to lead the Women’s Division.
Both won one-year family memberships and free fitness classes for a year at the RAC.
Romulus residents Gary Harris and Yvonne Kraft each lost 27 pounds and were runners-up in their respective divisions. Each won year-long individual memberships.
Finishing third were Amanda Britz (18 pounds) of Belleville and Mike Blatney (14 pounds) of Romulus. They won 30 free fitness classes.
Prizes were presented to the contestants who lost the highest percentage of overall body weight. Three of the winners were congratulated by Mayor LeRoy D. Burcroff and RAC General Manager Andy MacKay. Others received their prizes separately.
Receiving honorable mention were April Ruot, Tina Woods, Jean Tsouris, Venus Little, Deborah White, Julie Wadsworth and Kevin Terry. All registrants received two free fitness classes just for registering.
MacKay said a total of 247 competitors combined to lose well over 1,000 pounds.
“As a group, losing half a ton of weight is a great accomplishment,” said mayor Burcroff. “The number of people that participated is very encouraging. We only get one body and we should treat it as a temple, as the saying goes.
“We’re looking forward to a healthy and prosperous community here and in the surrounding communities. I am pleased that the RAC is available and contributed to their success.”
Junge, who lives in New Boston and owns H & J Manufacturing in Romulus, had a multi-pronged approach to losing 12.58% of his body weight. The 40-year-old said he eliminated carbohydrates – including bread – from his diet, ate very little sugar, had virtually no alcoholic beverages over the two months and joined a basketball league at the RAC. He also started running and did some weight lifting and bike riding.
Years ago, Junge was captain of his high school basketball team in Whitehouse, Ohio, and then he played Division 3 basketball at Defiance College. Since then, he played in pickup games to stay in shape. He also coaches his two sons’ youth teams.
“I got involved in work and family and it took me away from the gym quite a bit,” he said. “I hadn’t played basketball in three or four years and was looking to get back in shape. Joining a league has been great.”
Married 17 years, Junge said he had a family membership at the RAC for about six months when he saw the Mayor’s Fitness Challenge advertised.
“I wanted to lose weight anyhow,” he said. “I’m a competitive person. Putting this competition out there helped me do it.”
Women’s Division winner Tavtigian said she uses the phone application “My Fitness Pal” to keep track of her weight-loss efforts, calling it “the best thing ever invented.”
Tavtigian said she also worked out at the RAC and ate fewer carbs. Coincidentally, a year ago, she lost the same amount of weight, but finished fifth in the Mayor’s Fitness Challenge.
Runner-up Harris, a 15-year Romulus city employee, works in the Finance Department at City Hall, where he handles accounts payable and assists in water billing. He said he varies his workout efforts at the RAC.
“A lot of the time I spend at the RAC is with my 5-year-old son in the swim area,” he said. “Keeping up with him in the pools for a couple hours keeps the heart rate up. We’d also go up on the track and do a few laps. When I had time to go to the RAC by myself, I lifted weights using mainly the free weights and a couple of the machines.”
Harris said he also uses the My Fitness Pal app to track caloric intake and calories burned during exercises.
“The diet part of losing weight for me is the most difficult, so tracking what foods were high in calories kept me from overindulging,” he said. “Other than switching from soda to water, I didn’t quit consuming anything – just had less of it.”
“I would definitely recommend the RAC to others – and I often do,” he said. “I also would recommend the Mayor’s Fitness Challenge to others. I used the challenge as a motivation to lose weight, which I wanted to do anyway. A little competition was a nice way to get started losing the weight.”
MacKay said the first Mayor’s Fitness Challenge of the year is timed to help keep people in tune with their New Year’s resolutions to lose weight. He said the program encourages people to have a healthy lifestyle. The next Fitness Challenge is scheduled to begin in October.
For more information on programs at the Romulus Athletic Center, visit www.romulusathleticcenter.com or call (734) 942-2223.