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August 5, 2014
Most people would take being called the “Biggest Loser” an insult.
But not Gerald Lebouef of Bourg.
That’s because the 49-year-old has been crowned Louisiana’s “Biggest Loser” of body weight percentage for trimming 113 pounds in six months.
And he doesn’t mind that title one bit.
“I have a lot more energy. I’m exercising more. It was a great thing to do,” he said.
As part of the statewide hospital weight loss challenge to fight obesity called Geaux Lite Louisiana, Lebouef went from weighing 337 pounds on Oct. 1, 2013, to 224 pounds April 1, 2014. The winning player was also part of the winning team as Terrebonne General Medical Center’s 270-member team won the award for most weight lost, losing an astonishing 1,900 pounds, collectively. That’s just shy of a ton!
And as if his plaque and $1,000 winner’s check wasn’t enough, Lebouef has lost 13 more pounds in the months since the competition. Apart from his own willpower, Lebouef gave credit to the support he received from his family.
“Just the fact that I’m healthier now, I’ll have more time with my family. They were just real supportive of me during the diet. They sacrificed a lot with me being on it. It’s great. For them to support me, it really was a big deal,” he said.
Lebouef also thanked his son Garret for backing him along the way.
“It always trickles down at some point. You lead by example. If [members of your family] see you making good, healthy eating habits, they can’t help but be like, ‘I want to feel that way. I want to have that kind of energy,’” said Jennifer Lodrigue, financial councilor and team captain of TGMC’s Geaux Lite Louisiana group.
Lodrigue, a loser of 120 pounds herself in a 16-month span four years ago, has helped Lebouef and his 269 teammates with her own personal experience.
“Just coming from where I’ve come from and knowing what these people would have to go through mentally, emotionally, physically, working with them was an honor. I believe in paying it forward. I had been doing that previously, and this just gave me an opportunity to reach a greater amount of people in a shorter span of time,” said Lodrigue.
The important part to remember is that there is no such thing as failure in a journey to living a healthier lifestyle, Lodrigue said.
“It’s baby steps to living a healthier lifestyle journey. Every day is a decision. Every choice you make is a decision,” she said. “It’s not something that you just wake up tomorrow and it’s fixed. These are struggles that you’re going to have for the rest of your life. You need to learn what your bad habits are and try to replace them with good habits and try to intervene before you get to the point where you completely fall off.”
Lodrigue said the 270-team members included hospital employees, family and friends, residents from the community and community partners, as well as their employees. They had stiff competition from 6,000 Geaux Lite Louisiana competitors statewide but came out on top.
“We had weigh-ins on Fridays and Mondays with varying times to allow our participants to get in and do their weigh-ins,” she explained. “We used the weigh-ins as an opportunity to get in and talk to our team members, see what was working for them, what challenges they faced and tried working through it from there. We also had a bridge run on Sundays at sunrise to try to kick start their week on a good foot.”
But the Geaux Lite Louisiana competition is just a short-term endeavor. For long-term weight loss success, TGMC’s Weight Management Center provides services outside of the constraints of a competition.
Many of TGMC’s Geaux Lite Louisiana team members were also clients of the medical center’s Weight Management Center. In fact, TGMC’s top five losers were all clients of the program.
Holly Dufrene, Weight Management Center coordinator and registered dietitian, said the program can be geared to anyone who has the desire to lose weight whether it’s a little or a lot as long as they don’t have health conditions that would prevent them from entering the program.
“They receive nutritional counseling and health coaching and we see them through their weight loss journey. They see us weekly. We monitor their progress. We check their weight and check to make sure they’re following protocol appropriately to have successful weight loss,” she said.
Membership runs about $500 per month, according to Dufrene. There is a $100 consultation fee at the initial meeting. Food products as part of the program cost about $100 per week and multi-vitamin and multi-mineral supplements cost about $75 per month, according to Dufrene.
Join TGMC’s team and help support the effort for a repeat in the 2014-15 Geaux Lite Louisiana challenge at https://www.geauxlite.org/.
Gerald LeBouef lost an incredible 113 pounds as part of the Geaux Lite Louisiana challenge – losing the greatest percentage of weight of any man in the competition. He’s even lost 13 more pounds since the six-month competition ended in April. Above are before and after pictures of LeBouef.
