For two months, UTC junior Andrew Byrum has been competing in The Genghis Grill Health Kwest. He was one of 61 diners representing the restaurant's locations across the country. The contestants were on a quest to improve their nutritional habits while competing for $10,000.
Byrum didn't come in first place when the contest closed Friday, but he still came out a winner. The UTC student lost 30 pounds (5.8 percent of his former weight), took 4 inches off his waistline with daily exercise and is back into clothes he outgrew two years ago.
To recap the contest: Contestants had to pledge to eat at least one meal a day at Genghis Grill, eat two other healthy meals and snacks, exercise daily and blog about their experiences. Voters read their blogs online to vote for favorites.
Although Byrum placed 36th out of the 61 contestants, he came in ninth in fan votes with 17,090. The winner, Colleen Breitenberg, drew only 12,000 votes but had a higher weight-loss percentage (16.35 percent of her previous weight).
Byrum said he's taking three things away from this experience.
1. He's changed his nutritional habits.
"I am still eating fruits and veggies along with whole grains. But the biggest change that has occurred is my portion size. Portion size can determine if you lose weight or just maintain your weight. I learned that no matter how much I work out, I still have to limit food intake."
2. The contest was a great jump-start to an exercise routine.
"The hardest part of the contest has been to continue to work out," he said.
"After losing so much weight in such a short amount of time, it's easy to just sit back and say, 'Look at how much weight I've lost. I think I deserve to take a break from working out.' But through the encouragement of others I have been able to continue to work out."
3. He's been happily surprised by positive feedback. He said he's heard from blog readers, diners he encountered each day at Genghis Grill and even readers of this column who emailed him with words of encouragement.
"I could definitely tell which blogs were everyone's favorites. I received plenty of tips on what to eat and how to work out in order to lose the most weight. It was days like that when I was able to go work out harder than I ever had before," he said.
"I also got feedback while eating at Genghis Grill. It made my day when someone would recognize me and come up to talk to me. I couldn't have asked for better support during this contest."
If you want to congratulate Byrum, his email is andyvideographer@gmail.com.