<p>Scale Crashers team member, Sheriff Glenn Palmer, watches the scale as his weight is checked by Toya Houpt of Strawberry Wilderness Community Clinic.</p>

JOHN DAY – There have been plenty of gut-busting moves in this year’s Eagle Challenge – speaking of which, the Gut Busters are tops for weight loss – 234.8 pounds!

On average, that’s a total of 33.5 whopping pounds lost for each of their seven team members.

In all, the 15 Challenge teams have lost 1,452.7 pounds, and with just two months to go, there will have to be a lot of moving and shaking to catch up with the Gut Busters – but remember, it’s not all about weight loss, there’s also blood pressure, resting heart rate and inches lost to think about.

So what are all those “losers” doing to get the weight off and have a healthy lifestyle?

Amy Cook from the Outpost Weight On Us team said she’s training to run the Strawberry Mountain Family Half Marathon on Sept. 10.

“That’s motivating me to stick to my exercising schedule,” she said.

Her workout runs are not without excitement – a week ago she jumped over a snake while running near the John Day River.

“I also try to be careful about what I eat and have a salad every day for lunch,” she said.

RoseAnn and Sheriff Glenn Palmer on the Scale Crashers team said they walk together for exercise.

So far, Glenn has lost 23 pounds, and RoseAnn has lost 15.

“I feel a lot better,” RoseAnn said.

Glenn noted that it’s harder to stick to their healthy-eating plan when they travel, a sentiment shared by several others, including Jason Miller of the Mind Over Matter team; he says he’s lost weight walking, but summer vacations are making it hard to eat healthy and exercise.

Sue Smith of the Valley View BLTs said her diet challenges come while camping – the hot dogs and the S’mores are hard to resist.

Mike “FatSo” Springer, who’s on the Capt’n Krista and the Crunchberries team, said he’s lost 22 pounds, just 8 pounds shy of his personal goal.

He noted that the team gathers occasionally for healthy potluck dinners. Jason Hatfield’s secret-craving food – fried whale blubber, lightly salted – was hopefully not on the menu.

The team recently held a challenge with a penalty: lose 5 pounds by a certain date or the team will choose a tattoo for you … and where it will go.

Springer said they challenged Oster’s Team H2O to a tug-o-war a couple months ago to boost the team spirit, but that Oster’s “chickened out.”

“It wasn’t quite that way,” said H2Oer Lauri Armstrong. “It was a time factor.”

She said her team has been successful at getting close to their goal weights because they are all physically active and they’re always encouraging and pushing each other to do better.

“No one can hide from the team,” she said. “It also helps that we are a team full of fierce competitors, so the Eagle Challenge is a perfect way to get us moving in the right direction.”

The next Eagle Challenge weigh-in will be Friday, Sept. 2, at the Grant County Regional Airport.