Nazareth’s ‘Biggest Loser’: Week Three

owner and wellness coach Christine Simpson left us with an ominous comment at the end of when she said, “Week three is usually where people start to get in trouble.”

To top it off, this last week before the holidays included plenty of baking and office holiday parties.

“It’s so hard this time of year!” said Amy Pidgeon of , one of five brave souls allowing Nazareth Patch to follow their progress through a four-week weight-loss challenge.

Some participants maintained their weights this week, but that’s OK -- in Simpson’s eyes, breaking even is better than gaining.

“My message to them is: just think of what you were eating a year ago,” Simpson said. “And they all say, ‘That’s true.’”

Overall, Monday’s meeting saw a total loss of 23.2 pounds among 11 people. One challenger, who is not being followed by Patch, lost a whopping 10 pounds this week alone!

Before the weigh-in, Lori Easterday was in the top slot (by percentage lost) with 3.09 percent, followed closely by Donna Burton with 2.99 percent. Did this week’s weigh-in shake things up?

Before we get to the results, here are a few healthy tips that some of the participants are following:

• Replace milk with soy milk.
• Replace smaller meals with fiber bars or healthy shakes.
• Make the time to exercise, whether at the  or a , and even if it means waking up at 5 a.m.
• Some participants are even combining another system, like Weight Watchers, with Simpson’s tips and the challenge.

And now, here are the results of this week’s weigh-in for our five participants:

Donna Burton of broke even this week -- no loss, but no gain -- and she didn’t have to pay the $1-per-pound penalty for gaining weight.

“That’s OK,” Burton said. “I was surprised last week that I lost 7 [pounds]!”

Jeanette Skrapits of missed another meeting, bringing her to $10 in penalties to add to the winner's earnings at the end of the challenge.

Lori Easterday of Nazareth started this week in the lead, and that's exactly where she stayed following a loss of another 2.2 pounds!

“I drink water, water and more water… although I did have some wine this week,” Easterday admitted with a smile.

Pidgeon was reported last week as missing the meeting, but it turns out she was just a little late. Combining last week with this Monday’s weigh in, Pidgeon is down 2.7 pounds!

“I’ll take it,” she said. “It’s so hard this time of year, [but] I’ve been going to the gym every day.”

Pat Cosgrove, of Effort, is our non-Nazareth challenger, and this week she maintained her numbers from last week.

“There was cookie-baking day this week,” she admitted. “This time of year is rough!”

Rough as it may be, there’s only one more week in the December weight-loss challenge.

The final weigh-in is Tuesday, Dec. 27, and will feature the “after” photos of each of our brave participants, so be sure to check back next week for the final results!