O’Neal Hampton and his daughter, SunShine, shared the story of their weight loss and fitness journey with the audience at a Fitness North open house on Saturday, October 30.
An excited crowd gathered at Surfside on Lake Superior in Tofte on Saturday, October 30, waiting to meet some inspiring people—O’Neal Hampton and his daughter, SunShine. The Minneapolis, MN duo is the father-daughter team that lost a total of 290 pounds during their time as reality TV Biggest Loser
contestants. They were on hand to help launch Fitness North, a new live-in weight loss and fitness program on the North Shore.
As they did with the Bigger
Loser
television audience, O’Neal and SunShine won the hearts of the audience in the sunny conference room at Surfside. In a tag team presentation, they shared the story of how they came to be Biggest
Loser
contestants—SunShine was living in Arizona when she went to a Biggest Loser
casting call. She signed her father up without his knowing. She then frightened him with a late night call to Minnesota with the plaintive appeal, “Dad, don’t be mad at me…”
One of the participants in the first Fitness North session— “season one”—was Mike McGinn, who spoke eloquently about his experience.
O’Neal chuckled and told the audience that although he weighed 400 pounds at that time, he jumped out of bed. After recovering from the fright that all parents can relate to, O’Neal said yes. “Without hesitation, without reservation, I said yes. I knew we needed to make a change,” he said.
The Biggest Loser
gave them the motivation to change. O’Neal said he began the program at 420 pounds with a 62-inch waist. He was taking 8 -10 different medications and suffered from type II diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. After participating in Biggest Loser
and making changes to his eating and exercise habits, he now has a 36-inch waist. But best of all, he said, he now takes no prescription medications.
O’Neal said losing weight is not hard when you apply the 18-inch rule. “There is exactly 18 inches from your heart to your brain—if you can make that connection, there is nothing— nothing—you can’t do.”
SunShine, a lovely, slim, young woman told the audience that she weighed 275 pounds at the start of the show. She and O’Neal both acknowledged that losing weight is not as hard as keeping the weight off and spoke of the changes they have made to their lives to maintain their weight loss.
O’Neal said that is why he partnered with Sheryl Babbitt to form Fitness North. He said he not only wants to help people lose weight, but to make the changes necessary to continue to live a healthy lifestyle. He noted that only a handful of people are picked in the casting calls for the Biggest Loser
each season, so something else had to be done—and that something is Fitness North.
Joining O’Neal and SunShine at the Tofte event was Fitness North co-founder Sheryl Babbitt, who spoke with the Cook County News-Herald
before the program. Babbitt said although she didn’t have a weight problem as a child, serious health problems and then depression as an adult caused her to reach an uncomfortable weight. Her eventual quest for better health led her to a livein weight loss program in a western state. She was so motivated by the experience that she wished there was something like it back in Minnesota—on the North Shore, a place she has always loved.
” Babbitt and her husband had a camper at the Grand Marais Municipal Campground for several years and drove through Tofte many times as Surfside Resort was being built. She thought that would be the ideal place for a live-in weight loss program. She approached BlueFin Bay Events Director Kim Nelson, who approached BlueFin Bay and Surfside owner Dennis Rysdahl and eventually convinced them that Surfside should be home to Fitness North.
Babbitt then contacted O’Neal, telling him that she had enjoyed rooting for him on the Biggest Loser,
during season nine not just because he was also from Minnesota, but also because of his positive and uplifting attitude. She asked if he would consider being a motivational speaker for Fitness North. “He said, ‘I not only want to be a speaker, I want to be part of it!’ Voila—here we are,” said Babbitt.
During the presentation, Babbitt spoke to the first participants of Fitness North who had just completed the first week of the program. She teased them about their first day at Fitness North and its hike up Oberg Mountain. She congratulated them for the improvement they had made in one short week, with another hike to Oberg Mountain just that morning. “I am so very proud of all of you,” said Babbitt.
She introduced trainers Leif Anderson, program director, and Jay Grove and talked a little bit about the program and then asked one of the participants Mike McGinn to say something for the group. McGinn said, “O’Neal asked me to represent our group—our family, our cast”
He explained that he tried out for Biggest Loser
last January, went through casting, but did not make the cut. At that time he weighed over 500 pounds. He was determined to lose weight and he lost a lot, alone, but he said that it was very difficult. Someone told him to check out Fitness North and he did, leaving a message. He said Sheryl Babbitt returned his call within minutes and the special treatment did not stop there. He said during the planning for his stay at Surfside and throughout the Fitness North experience, he “felt like the most important person in the world.”
He pledged to his fellow Fitness North “season one” participants that he would continue to work toward fitness and health and he pledged to stay in touch with all of them. O’Neal pledged the same, as did trainer Leif Anderson.
Trainer Anderson said that is something else that is different about Fitness North—in addition to a small ratio of participants and trainers; an indepth nutrition program which teaches attendees healthier cooking and shopping techniques; and the amazing outdoor exercise environment in Tofte—he said, “Fitness North doesn’t throw you to the wolves when you are done. We are with you every step of the way.”
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