RANGELEY – One-tenth of Rangeley’s population is healthier and happier after 85 of them lost a total of 1,444 pounds in the town’s first Biggest Loser Contest, Rangeley Wellness Pavilion fitness trainer Jon LaMarche said.

“So many have made a lifestyle change. People are standing taller with improved posture and when you see them in the gym, they look better and happier,” he said.

The biggest loser, Errol Wentzell, 68, earned the grand prize for the contest, a round-trip ticket and week’s stay at the Los Milagros Hotel in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Wentzell came in first with 66.5 points for losing more than 42 pounds and the rest in inches. A point was given for each pound and each inch lost.

“It takes discipline, but being in the program gives you more incentive to stick with it,” Wentzell said Tuesday.

Based on “The Biggest Loser” TV show, the 12-week program started in March and drew about 120 participants, ages 8 to 70 – 10 percent of Rangeley’s full-time population – to the Health and Wellness Pavilion, said Leeanna Wilbur, health center president.

The contest followed Bill Phillips’ “Body For Life” program and the center bought the book for each contestant. A manual based on the book’s principles was developed by LaMarche, although people could follow their own routines.

Wentzell and his wife, Terri, followed a fairly restrictive diet proposed by Dr. Mehmet Oz from the ‘Oprah’ TV show and a daily half hour or more of exercise, he said.

Participants were split into teams and could also earn points as a team for gym attendance, said Dora Sargent, winning team leader.

“It was a very good motivator. Our team tried to get the maximum points by calling each other. It was a fun community thing to do,” she said.

The inches lost were more impressive for Sargent than the number of pounds, she said.

“I feel better. I went for a three-and-a-half mile walk yesterday up Dodge Pond Hill and wasn’t even breathing hard. … Usually I would have had to stop a couple times,” she added.

Her brother-in-law, Craig Sargent, said his wife, Sharon, didn’t give him an option. “She told me I was going to participate in the program,” but Sargent did admit that being around a few more years for his new grandson was the biggest incentive.

“I look better, feel better. I’ve lost two of my five chins,” he said, speaking of 37 pounds and nine inches lost. There are other benefits, he added: pants bought last year are uncomfortably large, his belts aren’t tight enough and there is no longer a need for extenders for the top button on his shirts.

Sargent applauded the work of LaMarche, Erin LaRochelle, Beth Brunswick and Nancy Bessey and others who ran the program. They were very supportive, he said.

“The whole program was awesome,” said board member Bessey. “About a thousand pounds were lost and the rest were inches.”

A second phase of the Biggest Loser begins Monday, June 2, but is self run, LaMarche said. Scores will be kept on the fitness center board, but the next 12 weeks is more of a maintenance program. Another Biggest Loser challenge will probably begin in January, he said.

For $10 and a gym membership, people can join the second phase of Big Loser by calling the fitness center at 864-2900.