Students work to lose fat, win title

Amanda Antor lost 54 pounds with a 12-week program at the Recreation & Wellness Center, winning her the title of UCF's Biggest Loser.

She will soon begin training to run the Walt Disney World Half Marathon in January 2011 — a long way from being out of breath every time she walked up a staircase.

The program, based on the NBC reality series, The Biggest Loser, helped 16 students lose weight and lower body fat through weekly workouts and team challenges.

Besides not being nationally televised, the main difference from the show was that no participants were eliminated in UCF's version.

Two personal trainers were assigned to both the Red Team and the Blue Team.

To determine the winners, the program had a three-part scoring system with weekly challenges, weigh-ins and a nutrition log.

The Red Team won the most team challenges while the Blue Team lost the most weight.

"Mainly, it's just the title and the fact that I've lost 54 pounds, and that's totally good enough for me," Antor said about the Blue Team win.

Pushing through the pain of shin splints, the junior cardiopulmonary sciences major has run in three 5k races this semester and shaved over 10 minutes off of her three-mile racing time.

She hopes to lose 46 more pounds to make her total weight loss an even 100.

Antor said she learned different workouts and training techniques that she never would have thought of on her own.

Jessica James, one of the two trainers for the Blue Team, said she is very proud of both teams and thinks they will continue to lose weight and live healthy lifestyles.

"They've all seen the differences from dropping dress sizes to losing weight," said the junior criminal justice and legal studies major. 

One of the most important lessons that Antor gained from the program was learning correct portion sizes, she said.

"You would be absolutely shocked sometimes at what a portion size of something is," she said.

Antor vowed to stop drinking alcohol and carbonated beverages when she got accepted to the program. 

James said, "I think not giving into temptation was hard for them because they are college students, and they do have friends that like to go out and eat."

She said it was also challenging for some participants to stay positive when they didn't lose the amount of weight that they wanted.

Corri Osborne, a junior anthropology major on the Blue Team, lost 48 pounds, the second highest amount of weight lost in the program.

She signed up for the program after seeing a sign for it at the RWC on the day applications were due.

Osborne said the biggest challenge for her was coordinating school and workouts.

The program taught her that any schedule can be accommodated.

In the course of the rigorous program, an old ankle injury gave her difficulty because of overuse, but she worked through it. 

"The trainers and medical support staff ensured it was kept under control," Osborne said, "which actually let me know how much I'd been using it as an excuse to not work out before."

Trainers and participants will be having a wrap-up party this week where the winners will find out what the prizes are. 

While the challenges differed for each trainer and contestant, one thing they can all agree on was that lifelong friendships were created, Antor said.

"These are people that understand what I went through, so that definitely helps to have friends who went through the same experience as me," she said.

James said the best part of the program was seeing the contestants push through and how happy they were when they reached their goals.

Osborne said that working out with the group and training with inspiring professionals made her first semester at UCF both memorable and enjoyable.

"I already miss our little gym family," she said.

Antor said that signing up for UCF Biggest Loser has definitely been one of the best decisions she's made in her life.

"This was a once in a lifetime chance," she said.