While her knees ached, her heart was motivated. Enough so that Judith Bruns shed 27.8 pounds (12.24% of her original body weight) in just 12 weeks to win the 2012 Biggest Loser Contest at Lifestyles Fitness Center at Bayhealth Milford Memorial.
“My motivation for entering the Biggest Loser Contest was the fact that I was looking for motivation! Three years ago, I decided that I needed to get my health and knees back so I joined Lifestyles and lost 83 pounds. When this year’s Biggest Loser Contest arrived, I knew this competition would reinvigorate my dedication to weight loss and a healthy lifestyle, since I’m a competitive person at heart,” said Bruns.
Bruns credits the Lifestyles’ exercise specialists, Michele, Eric, and Alex for inspiring her to her to weight loss success. She says the ‘early bird’ workout enthusiasts at Lifestyles were also great inspirations.
“It really did matter when I would miss a day and the next day everyone asked ‘Where were you yesterday? We missed you!’ That is a great inspiration and shows what a great group of people come to the fitness center,” said Bruns.
The 40-year-old Bruns admits to coping with aching knees but also realized her knees hurt only as much as her 70-year-old mother’s knees. Bruns devotedly went to Lifestyles 5 or 6 days each week for 60 minutes. She did cardio aerobic exercise every other day. On alternate days she would do 30 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of a weight program that was designed especially for her by the exercise specialists at Lifestyles Fitness.
Bruns still eats what she enjoys but now consumes smaller portions. She has also discovered that sugar-free gum is a great way to help deal with midday cravings for snacks. Bruns has developed more healthy recipes, including replacing ground beef with low-fat ground turkey.
In all, there were 12 contestants at Lifestyles’ Fitness at Bayhealth Milford Memorial who lost a combined 163.6 pounds. First runner up in the Biggest Loser Contest was George Ehrmann who lost 27.4 pounds or 11.86% of his body weight. Second runner up Beth Tapia lost 20.6 pounds or 10.83% of her body weight.
Judith Bruns (center foreground) is the 2012 Biggest Loser at Lifestyles' Fitness at Bayhealth Milford Memorial.