Pounds flying off Fittest Loser contestants

Our five contestants in the Fittest Loser Challenge all continue to lose weight and get more fit. They are now in the home stretch, with only three more weeks of training left. The race to see who can lose the greatest percentage of body weight in 12 weeks is closer than ever:

Rob Bohanek: 249 pounds, 13.5 percent weight loss

Eric Ronzio: 238 pounds, 13.8 percent

Lisa Notarnicola: 161 pounds, 13 percent

Liesl Ignoffo: 160 pounds, 10.1 percent

Christine Reiss: 175 pounds, 5.9 percent

Here are the latest updates from each participant:

Liesl Ignoffo:

I am doing great and feeling great! I have lost a total of 25 pounds since I wrote my essay to the Daily Herald and wow - what a great feeling that is. I still have 20 pounds to go to meet my goal weight of 140. The diet has really changed my life - how I eat and what I eat, but more importantly my nails are stronger, my hair looks and feels great, I sleep through the night, my clothes are all big on me and I just can't wait to buy new. I feel so much stronger - with the energy I need to keep up with the workouts on my own and with my trainer Mark. I have had my frustrations too - the last three weeks I had plateaued and was only losing 1 pound per week or less. Believe me that is the most frustrating when you are working out and following the diet exactly and then get on the scale to see 1 pound lost after a long hard week. We changed my diet slightly and it seems to be working, as I lost two pounds as of last Saturday. I was not happy about the change but did it willingly hoping to see a difference and it worked. I can barely walk today as I just worked out with Mark and he had me working on all my leg muscles - during the workout my legs were shaking; all I could do is laugh at myself and persevere through it. I think "Persevere" is the word of the week!

Lisa Notarnicola:

We have just finished our ninth week! It has been such a positive experience for me and everyone around me. I have been inspired, encouraged and motivated by so many people in my life. And I have also inspired, encouraged and motivated so many people that I have shared my experiences with. I have learned so much about fitness, nutrition, and that this will be a life-long endeavor.

For me, my success has been from all the support I have gotten from everyone around me. One of the secretaries from my school told me last week that I inspired her to start running again and that she lost 7 pounds so far. A co-worker started training with Coach Steve at PUSH and has lost 11 pounds herself. My family has been a huge impact in this nine weeks. My 11-year-old son asks me all the time how my workouts are going with Coach Steve. I always tell him he kicked my butt today! My 13-year-old daughter who just started running track for her school came up to me and said "Mom, can you not buy ice cream and pudding anymore, I want to eat healthier like you." And my partner has been by my side since day one. She has been working out on her own with some of the things I have shared with her in my workouts, and she eats what I eat. She eats more almonds than I am allowed though! She doesn't need to lose weight but is enjoying the healthier lifestyle and the toning up her body. She tells me she feels better about herself. And she looks great! I also ran into some firemen at Hoffman that I haven't seen in awhile, and they have been following my story in the paper. They were so encouraging which made me feel good. All my co-workers that ask me how I am doing or say wow keep up the good work have an impact on me. The challenge is just flying so fast! I thought it would get old, but it is still refreshing every day!

My fear is still that I will gain the weight back, but Coach Steve is helping me work through that fear with his words of wisdom and real life solutions! I have failed in it all my life, by losing weight, then gaining it back! So many times, I lost track of how many! This time will be different! I just feel like I have a different outlook on it, and especially with the impact I see on my family and my daughter saying the things she has said. I will keep setting goals for myself after this challenge is over. As Coach Steve told me, "a lot of famous people failed miserably before they became successful." This is my time!!!

Thank You for the opportunity. You have changed my life!

Rob Bohanek:

Well there certainly seems to be a sense of urgency now that there are less than four weeks to go in the contest. Until now my main focus has been on establishing the eating and exercise habits that I'll carry with me the rest of my life. It feels good to get into smaller sized clothes and soon I'll get some bags ready for the Salvation Army of my larger clothes that don't fit. My wife Michelle has been great at reminding me to move out some clothes. No sense keeping those around because they won't be needed, and maybe Michelle can reclaim some closet space. It's also been great to hear comments from some of the students at Holmes Junior High School. Hopefully the students, and my sons Alex and Ben, can be reminded of the power of setting goals and putting your mind and effort into achieving them, that's half the battle. If students start a plan in middle and high school, and build on it as they get older they'll be proactive and remain a healthy person for life.

The exercise continues to go well and I can see progress in strength and cardio conditioning. My resting heart rate has dropped considerably, as has the time it takes me to recover after a workout. The workouts have not become any easier because Ryan has increased the intensity and some sessions can get plain nasty, but it's only an hour at a time. There are days when eating the particular foods becomes more difficult and I usually do well by changing what I eat and getting some variety among the allowable foods. I have to thank Eric for the tip on Turkey Wraps. We've put seasoned ground turkey in large romaine lettuce leaves with tomato and shredded carrots for a great and tasty meal. We've also tried and liked chicken breast in the lettuce with a little low fat peanut satay sauce. Different salsas have saved me from the monotony of eggbeaters in the morning. That's it for now, I continue to eat healthful foods and exercise, while enjoying the results, and I'm just getting started.

Eric Ronzio:

Things are going really well. I'm really starting to see and feel the changes from losing weight. I even needed to make a new hole in my belts so I can pull them tighter! I'm really happy with how much I've accomplished in a relatively short amount of time. I know I still have more to go, but seeing positive results is the best motivator of all.

Working out is now just a part of my daily routine. Wake up, work out, shower and go to work. When this first started, it was a struggle to get motivated to go work out. Now, I feel "off" when I don't get my workout in. I'm amazed at the number of different exercises that Josh has me do. It has been nine weeks and there have only been a handful of exercises that I've repeated in that time. I still feel sore after the workouts, but it is a good sore. Last week I ran in the Chicago Shamrock Shuffle 8K. Before this contest, I doubt I would have ever signed up for this. And I'm certain that even if I had, I would have taken one look at the sleeting rain and the low 30s temperature and climbed back into bed!

My diet is still the biggest challenge for me, especially when we went on vacation a few weeks ago. It is much easier to keep to the diet when I am eating at home and have all the healthy snack foods that I need. When we were on vacation, it was mostly eating out and that is much more challenging. But I managed to do a pretty good job and am totally back on track now that I'm back home.

Now that we are in the home stretch of the contest, I'm looking forward to kicking up the intensity. I know that I've accomplished a lot so far, but I really want to finish knowing I gave this everything I had.

Christine Reiss:

I don't even know where to begin talking about the past several weeks as a contestant in the Fittest Loser Challenge. It's been grueling, challenging, tiring, emotional and still absolutely amazing. I have learned so much about fitness, nutrition and most importantly about myself. Sharon has showed me and continues to show me with every workout that I am capable of doing so many things I didn't think possible. I mean, I did a wall sit with Sharon standing on me!!!! I would have never been able to do that before. I run every day now. Before I started training, I couldn't tell you that last time I ran.

All the trainers at Push Fitness are wonderful people and there will never be enough words to thank them for choosing me to be a part of this. Especially Sharon! She has never let me quit no matter how much I wanted to. I still have a long way to go as far as weight loss goes, but I see my body shrinking and it's the greatest feeling. I was able to throw out a pair of pants that are too big on me!

With only four weeks left in the competition, I'm going to really have to bring it hard if I want to win and I'm ready for it! Now more than ever, I have the confidence in myself that I can do it.

To Rob, Eric, Liesl and Lisa, congratulations on everything you all have done so far and will continue to do. I think everyone is doing amazing and we are all winners in the end!!! Keep up the great work!