Detectives are biggest losers in challenge
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on December 13, 2005 1:45 PM
A weight-loss challenge pitting five detectives from the Wayne County Sheriff's Office against five officers at the county jail ended with the detectives winning by a "slim" margin.
The contest was the idea of Monika Barkley, a Wayne County woman who participated in a nationwide weight-loss challenge sponsored by the "Dr. Phil Show."
Ms. Barkley recruited the two teams, who agreed in September to see who could lose the most aggregate weight over a 12-week period.
On Saturday, the contestants weighed in. Together, the two teams lost 229.5 pounds, with the detectives losing an average of 24.5 pounds per person and the jailers losing 21.4 pounds.
News-Argus/Phyllis Moore
The winning "losers" in a three-month weight loss challenge were members of the Wayne SheriffĂs Office detective team, from left, Officer Joe Allen, Det. Buddy King, Sheriff Carey Winders, coach Monika Barkley, Det. Daryll Overton and team trainer Kelly Davis. Missing is Det. Owen Jackson.
Maj. Ray Smith of the detention team was the biggest individual "loser." Smith shed 34 pounds.
"My goal was to lose 40. It's all about health. We're all winners," he said.
Contestants on both sides said that they would continue to try to lose weight, even though the contest is over.
"I'm going to continue on," said Det. Daryll Overton, who missed his personal goal by 11 pounds but still lost 29 pounds in all.
"I enjoy coming out and working on it. It makes me feel better," Overton said.
"Instead of going home each evening, doing nothing, I have to go and work out. You have to push yourself but once you get here, you're glad you're here," said Cindy Williford McCullen, a member of the detention squad.
Teammates Lee Albertson admitted she struggled down the stretch.
"I kind of fell off at the end. But I'm happy with what I have done. I would like to keep it up and do more," she said.
Sheriff Carey Winders was a member of the detectives team. The sheriff said the challenge helped him lose 26 pounds.
"I had some new suits I bought years ago, I couldn't get into, but I never threw away," Winders said.
The competition's timing didn't help, Winders said. The approach of the holiday season isn't normally a good time to be watching your weight.
"We all complained because it was a bad time of year. But in retrospect it's a good time. If I wouldn't have been on the program at that time, I would have weighed a whole lot more. Everybody makes the New Year's resolution to lose weight; we're already ahead of the curve for January."
Winders joined his fellow competitors in thanking Ms. Barkley for taking the time to motivate them.
"Everybody feels good about themselves," he said.
Winders said he has additional motivation to continue to lose weight. His wife has a wager with Clerk of Court Marshall Minshew whether the sheriff will stick to his regimen.
"He (Minshew) said that I wouldn't keep it off for a year. She came home and said, 'You better keep it off!'"
Ms. Barkley said the most important thing for the competitors was not the number of pounds lost but the new habits they formed that would help keep the extra weight off.
"I would love to have been able to send them on a trip around the world," she said. "But the grand prize really is to keep them following the keys that they can use for the rest of their lives."
DiCarlos Ford of Gold's Gym, who served as trainer for the detention team, said the change in the competitors was more than just physical.
"I have been watching most of them come in. Just to see the change ... So many people think it's a physical thing. I have seen them change inside to where they're a different person. They're happy. Their lives have changed."