The Palm Beach Post
PALM BEACH, Fla. — The county's fire-rescue department lost basically three grown men. The sheriff's office lost what adds up to about two. And both organizations are celebrating.
Heck, the fire chief is bragging he lost more.
That happens when weight loss gets competitive and the men lost are actually pounds of fat — hundreds of pounds.
On Thursday, Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue claimed bragging rights over the sheriff's office at the end of a monthlong weight-loss competition.
The firefighters, with some 45 competitors, dropped a collective 4621/2 pounds, and had a fat loss calculated at 108 percent.
The sheriff's employees, with about 70 men and women on the team, lost a mere 289 pounds, and almost 55 percent fat.
After no small amount of ribbing, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw proclaimed all to be winners, with a trimmer, and presumably more fit, staff.
"We had employees who really took it seriously," Chief Steve Jerauld said.
"The competition is a great motivator. Both organizations have a certain level of internal pride."
Neither Jerauld nor Bradshaw was among the competitors in the contest that began Jan. 12.
Jerauld, a rail of a man, confessed to losing a pound during the face-off and stuck to his routine at the department's gym.
"It's important to set an example," he said.
Bradshaw said when the competition began that he'd cranked up his own fitness routine and had already winnowed 32 pounds from his frame.
The competition had big winners, such as firefighter and paramedic Mike McClane, who lost 35 pounds in those weeks and has kept going. Today, he's down 55 pounds, he said.
The competition, billed as the Biggest Loser, an ode to the television show of that name, started with trash talk and escalated to sabotage involving delivering the opponent doughnuts and burgers.
The two agencies plan to make this Biggest Loser challenge an annual event.
So, naturally this one didn't end without some jabs.
Perhaps stung by the loss, Sheriff Bradshaw had this to say about Palm Beach County Fire-Rescue:
"Obviously, they've got more time on their hands than we do."
Then they broke for lunch.
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