Know the enemy: Meet the Yakima weight-loss team

Almost 1,400 miles away are eight people who want to destroy Yuma, well, not really Yuma, but the official Yuma Weight Loss Challenge Team.

The weight-loss challenge is a competition between the two communities after members of both communities found themselves ranked in the top 10 of the fattest communities in the nation.

Through Dec. 19, members of the two teams will battle it out for bragging rights - and a chance to make both communities healthier places.

Meet the members of the official Yakima team:

• Regina Bedolla, local health care worker

• Dave Edler, Yakima mayor and local pastor

• Eli Moreno, local pastor

• Mike Shepard, co-captain and publisher of the Yakima Herald-Republic

• Renee Smith, hair stylist

• Evie Thompson, stay-at-home mom

• Monroe S. Wilks, retired city worker

• Lorrie Zeutenhorst, co-captain and bookkeeper

When Yakima Herald-Republic Publisher Mike Shepard noticed his community was on the list, that's when he started thinking about how to help.

"It's not the kind of list any city wants to be on," he said.

After the Yakima vs. Yuma Weight Loss Challenge was born, Shepard started assembling winning team that could represent the community.

Shepard said the news that Yakima was eighth on the list was "disappointing."

"I just took it as a challenge," he said.

Shepard said he has two reasons motivating him to drop the pounds.

"I could stand to lose the weight," he said. "And going public with it, if you don't mind going public in any way."

His team has a competitive streak in them, he said.

"I will tell you, our team, especially the women, seem very competitive," he said. "We're not aiming to finish second."

Team member Lorrie Zeutenhorst said she joined the team after seeing an article in the paper.

"It was just the competition (and) knowing that we were the eighth fattest city," she said that helped motivate her to join.

She said she likes the idea of being a part of the community and getting healthy at the same time, while helping to motivate others.

Her plan will include Weight Watchers for portion control, and aerobics and jogging, she said.

And with trips to the gym five to seven times a week, Zeutenhorst said she plans on helping her team win.

For team member Renee Smith, a local hairstylist, her decision to lose weight is motivated by a family history of heart disease and diabetes.

"I'm at the age where I really have to watch that so that's one of the reasons," Smith said.

And Smith said they're confident they'll come out victorious in the end.

"I think we're ready to kick some Yuma booty," Smith said. "We have a real diversified group, and we're gung-ho on this."

When the Yuma Sun wished her and the Yakima community team good luck, Smith replied, "Your team's going to need the luck."

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Stephanie A. Wilken can be reached at swilken@yumasun.com or 539-6857.

WEIGHING IN

How the community teams looked at the end of week one:

• Yakima, with a total of 1,788 lb.: lost 36 lb., a 2.0 percent weight loss

• Yuma, with a total of 1,839 lb.: lost 46.6 lb., a 2.53 percent weight loss