Weight-loss program helps Bonaventure community stay motivated

               ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. (Feb. 23) -- Week 5.  A lonesome scale looms against the wall of the closet-sized office awaiting its next nervous victim.  One by one students, faculty and staff step up to face the numbers.


For Jacqueline Bailey these days tend to be nerve-wracking, but she’s lost four pounds by eating healthier, working out and participating in Bona’s Biggest Loser.

“There’s an intimidation factor that comes from being weighed in front of others,” she said.

Bona’s Biggest Loser, a 10-week weight loss and wellness program, encourages the students and faculty of St. Bonaventure University to get healthy, said Carrie Fidurko, the campus recreation assistant.

Fidurko founded Bona’s Biggest Loser after she heard of a woman doing a similar weight-loss program at her job.  Fidurko said the program proved successful there, and she thought it would be a great idea to do with students and faculty.

Bona’s Biggest Loser requires groups comprised of three members that each have a body mass index, the measure of a person’s weight to their height, of 25 or higher.  The members weigh-in every Wednesday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Sandra A. and William L. Richter Center. Their weight from week to week gets recorded in their group’s file to show progress, said Fidurko.

Bona’s Biggest Loser uses incentives to keep participants motivated.  Individual and group prizes alternate from week to week.  Individual prizes include yoga DVDs, yoga mats, food scales and cook books.  Team prizes are $10 iTunes gift cards, movie tickets and The Biggest Loser books.  At the end of the 10 weeks, members on the winning teams will be awarded a $75 gift certificate to Sports Locker on West State Street in Olean.  Another $75 Sports Locker gift certificate will be awarded to the person who has the highest percentage of body weight lost by the end of the program, said Fidurko.

Bona’s Biggest Loser hands out prizes as incentive and motivation, but for some members they make all the difference.  Sophomores Alex Bulszewicz and Bailey said they joined specifically for the prizes.

“I work out every day anyways, so I might as well try and win some prizes,” said Bailey, an education major.

“The prizes were the biggest draw,” Bulszewicz said.

Bulszewicz, a biology major and member of the women’s rugby team, said her group “BAM” hasn’t won any prizes, but its members keep pushing each other to work out, eat healthier and lose weight.  Getting weighed in front of someone pushed her to work out every day, but she is still having some trouble losing weight.

“The dessert bar is the devil for me,” she said.

Bona’s Biggest Loser plunged into its fourth year this spring semester and 39 participants are enrolled in the program, said Fidurko.

Bona’s Biggest Loser even had repeat members.  Sophomore Erik Jones said he joined because he had a personal goal to lose more weight.  He participated in Bona’s Biggest Loser in 2010 and dropped 20 pounds.

Jones, an elementary education major, said he’s taking the program seriously and has lost nine pounds in five weeks by eating healthier at the Hickey Memorial Dining Hall and walking.

“I feel great because I have so much support from everyone.  It’s nice to have that,” said Jones.

Rebecca Weitzel lost seven pounds so far participating in Bona’s Biggest Loser this year. She said she feels better, but she realizes she has 13 more pounds to lose before she reaches her goal of dropping 20 pounds before swim suit season.  Weitzel, an elementary education major, also participated in Bona’s Biggest Loser in 2010 and lost five pounds.

The university puts about $600 a year into Bona’s Biggest Loser.  The program runs from January 26 to March 30, said Fidurko.

“Every year a few people stand out and do well.  I find myself wanting them to win,” said Fidurko.