As Dump Your Plump, the 8-week weight-loss/fitness competition at Fort Meade, goes down to its final hours, we talked with a member of Dead Weight, the team in first place on the home stretch.
At the start in January, Matthew Wise, 31, weighed 295. “I’m at 250 now,” he says. Another member lost 17 lbs. And the other two dropped about 15 lbs.
The foursome, civilian youth program workers, has competed every year of DYP. Wise says he, Alonzo Coley, Fran Jamison and Jim Dey ate their way through the winter holidays, made too many fast-food runs and bulked up in time for the start of the third year.
Halfway through this year’s contest, “we all weren’t doing so well. We needed to step it up,” Wise says. That meant stricter adherence to diet and more exercise.
The hardest part? Not cheating on a diet that has junk, burger runs and meal-size snacks off-limits. “Resisting the temptation to grab a slice of pizza when it’s right here in front of you, it’s the hardest,” he says.
Exercise? Twice a day. For Wise, a.m. is a half-hour stationary bike and abs, p.m. is an hour of running or other aerobics.
Motivation? “We don’t want to finish second again,” he says.
We'll find out how this turns out. Meanwhile ...what motivates you in your weight-loss and exercise plan?
