EagleTribune.com, North Andover, MA

Merrimack Valley

Lawrence firefighters drop 575.1 pounds in eight-week charity contest

By Mark E. Vogler
Staff Writer
Published: April 16, 2008

LAWRENCE — Losing never felt so good as it did last night for veteran Lawrence firefighter Pat Driscoll.

Especially after the Lawrence Firefighters Union president stepped off a scale on the stage at Relief's In and learned that he had dropped 48.4 pounds over the last eight weeks to claim individual honors in Local 146's Biggest Loser 2008 Charity Fund Raiser.

"My goal was to lose 40 — but I did a little better than that," said Driscoll, 46, who has spent 20 years on the city's Fire Department.

"But the thing I feel best about is that my team won the competition. I wanted to win for my nephew, who's been fighting cancer."

Driscoll's team collectively lost 111.4 pounds — a 11.43 percent weight loss — to finish ahead of the nine teams of 36 men competing for this year's biggest loser honors. The nine teams combined lost 575.1 pounds.

"Let's call that the equivalent of six men that the City Council wants to trim from our budget," quipped Driscoll's teammate Graeme Millar, who dropped 22.6 pounds — 9 percent of his weight.

Driscoll's team decided to donate its $1,500 winnings to Beyond the Gray Skies, set up to help his 18-year-old nephew, Joey Altobelli of Bethlehem, N.H., who was diagnosed a year ago with rhabdomyosarcoma.

Pam Driscoll noted that her husband showed "great willpower" in his quest to shed weight.

"He cooked a big Italian meal for relatives (Joey and his family) one day, but he stayed with the chicken and broccoli," Pam Driscoll said.

"Pat actually went to Tripoli's to pick up the Italian bread on the way to work," she said.

So, what does it take besides willpower for a firefighter who weighed 273.4 pounds to drop to 225 pounds in just eight weeks?

"I went to the Salem (N.H.) Athletic Club and ran five miles almost every day on the treadmill," Driscoll said.

"Cut down on the beer, too. I had eight beers the whole two months. No eggs. No fatty foods. The biggest adjustment was in my eating habits. And that started with eating a good breakfast, like Cheerios with a banana and 2 percent milk and coffee with Sweet'n Low and a little cream," he said.

He also eliminated pasta, candy, ice cream, bread and his favorite salad dressing (Ken's Italian salad dressing) from his menu. He concentrated on knocking out calories and carbohydrates. He stuck with chicken and fish for supper.

"It was just a total lifestyle change, and it's been a long eight weeks for me," Driscoll said.

"But I feel better and got a lot more energy. I've become calories-conscious in everything I eat. There's 15 calories in just a spoonful of ketchup, you know. And there's about 120 calories in my favorite salad dressing, which I switched," he said.

Some of the other biggest losers used different strategies to shed the pounds.

Firefighter Jim Zahn, 43, said his goal was to trim down to the 170 pounds he weighed when he joined the city's fire service 20 years ago.

"I started at 204 and hit 170 right on the button," said Zahn, who runs an hour a day on the treadmill every other day.

He also credits his wife and four children for monitoring his food intake.

"My wife and four kids were instrumental. They helped me stay focused. The kids pull the plate away from me at supper after I have just one serving," Zahn said.

For breakfast, he has oatmeal and some fruit. At 10 a.m., he'll have more fruit. He confines himself to salads or a turkey wrap for lunch. Then at 2 p.m., he has a handful of natural almonds.

"At supper time, it's whatever my wife cooks, but just one plate," said Zahn.

Two of his brothers, who also are city firefighters, got on the health kick too, and were also big losers.

Eric Zahn, who began at 202.2 pounds, lost 21 pounds. Bob Zahn, who weighed 250.8 pounds eight weeks ago, dropped 30.2 pounds.

Firefighter Joe Carberry was another big loser who celebrated at Relief's In last night.

"I didn't have anything (that tasted) good for eight weeks," said Carberry, 31, a four-year veteran who set out to lose 30 pounds. He wound up losing 37.2 pounds and now weighs 192.8 pounds.

"Pizza was the thing I thought about the most. But I had no pizza — not one slice. I went from out-of-control to total control, doing a lot of exercise and having a lot of small meals — six small meals a day," Carberry said.

He did weight lifting three days a week and ran the other days, 3.5 miles outside.

Carberry got some personal reinforcement from his wife, who also did some dieting during the contest period.

"No more pasta, no rice and no bread. Anything that I had to do with carbohydrates was whole grain," Carberry said.

The firefighters deviated a little from their diet last night, joining their families at a buffet of Chinese food provided by Kowloon's Restaurant in Saugus.

Norm Jones, vice president of Corporate Express of Lawrence, is an avid supporter of the Lawrence Fire Department. His college roommate was Kowloon's owner Bob Wong.

Jones participated on one of the teams, dropping from 264.6 pounds to 239.4 pounds.

Web link: www.lfdlocal146.com to learn more about the Biggest Loser contest and see which firefighters lost the most weight.

The Biggest Loser's Top team

Member Starting Weight Final Weight Loss Percent Loss

Driscoll 273.4 225 48.4 17.7 percent

Millar 248.8 226.2 22.6 9 percent

Guzman 238.4 220 18.4 7.7 percent

Giraldo 214 192 22 10.3 percent

Total 974.6 863.2 111.4 11.4 percent

Photos