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April Riggs work out as part of the Weigh Biggest Losers program.
Carrie Sanders had had her fill of fat-trimming fads. She had tried South Beach, Atkins, even the cabbage-soup diet. She wanted to shed pounds but without dropping serious dough for a professional program.
    In February, she snagged an unexpected coach: West Jordan.
    Sanders was one of more than 100 residents who signed up for the city's inaugural "Weigh Biggest Losers" weight-loss contest. Ten weeks later, the program's scales closed and tallied a combined weight loss of 980 pounds.
    Even Mayor David Newton unloaded 10 pounds.
    "It was fabulous," said Healthy West Jordan Committee member Laurel Harris. "I just had so many happy people that were really excited about the lifestyle changes they've made."
    West Jordan's 84084 ZIP code tops the list of Utah's plumpest neighborhoods, according to a recent Utah Department of Health study. In the city's north end, 66.3 percent of adults are overweight or obese compared with 57 percent statewide.
    "Obesity is a huge epidemic right now," said Ilene England, Salt Lake Valley Health Department's healthy-communities coordinator. "If you have a high rate of obesity, there are numerous other health risks involved, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol."
    England hopes to use West Jordan's program as a template for other cities. Sandy already has developed
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its own pound-pruning contest, "Slim Down Sandy," which wraps in June, and Salt Lake County offers the Weigh Active and Healthy initiative to all county residents.
    Utah's capital launched Salt Lake City Gets Fit and conducted a 12-week competition last year. Sign-ups are under way for the 2008 round, slated to begin next month.
    West Jordan's competition emphasized a collective win and awarded prizes by comparing the percentage of body weight people lost instead of a total number of pounds. Participants attended weekly weigh-ins, sat in on health workshops and kept food diaries that were reviewed weekly by nutritionists.
    "Accountability was a huge motivator," Sanders said. "If you know you have to go stand on the scale in front of someone, you're less likely to give in to that chocolate craving."
    Sanders lost 30 pounds during the 10-week program and plans to purge 50 more. Weight has been a lifelong struggle for the 35-year-old. But, in January, she decided she was done "huffing and puffing" behind her three kids and her husband when they left her in the dust during a rain-forest hike in Puerto Rico.
    "This is the first time it's really clicked for me - the realization if I do A, B and C, the outcome is D," she said. "Everything else I've tried [to lose weight] I felt deprived."
    Dropping the weight has given her the confidence boost she needed to coach son Aiden's soccer team.
    "It's really kind of comical. It's a bunch of 3- and 4-year-olds, and you're just out with them saying, 'Run this way,' " she said. "I just didn't have the energy to run up and down the field [before]. Now, I have more energy. I feel better."
    April Riggs also was one of West Jordan's "biggest losers." She plans to complete her first 5K run at the city's Linda Buttars Memorial Fun Run on Saturday. She has trimmed three inches from her waistline and shed 15 pounds.
    "My clothes are baggy. It's really exciting," she said. "I don't want to quit."
    Jasun Edwards has switched from McDonald's double cheeseburgers to Subway sandwiches to help him take off 50 pounds - his 16 percent drop in weight makes him the "biggest loser" of all. He also credits his wife, Danielle, for kicking him out of bed in the morning to get to the gym and helping him plan healthful meals at home.
    But he gives West Jordan its dues.
    "It's neat that they took [obesity] on and they recognized there was a problem," he said. "If I can do it, I think anybody can do it."
    rwinters@sltrib.com
   
   
    Linda Buttars Memorial Fun Run
   
    * What: West Jordan's annual 5K and 10K race. Winners of West Jordan's "Weigh Biggest Losers" contest will be recognized after the event.
    * When: Saturday, 8:30 a.m. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m.
    * Where: Jordan Landing courtyard, 3751 W. Center Park Drive (7220 South).
    * Information: Arlene Farley, 569-5105 or http://www.wjordan.com/files/2008 Fun Run Entry.pdf