Four ASU students appeared on the first episode of mtvU's show Student Bodies last week. The show recruits overweight students and helps them lose weight by quitting bad habits.
Two teams of two compete against one another for the grand prize: a trip to mtvU's spring break 2009 at Panama Beach City, Florida.
Among the students on the show are Tresnae Ramsey and Sashia Azeredo, of the maroon team. The two have been good friends since high school and decided to make a positive change in their lives by auditioning for the show.
"I heard about the show from an ad in the campus newspaper," said Ramsey. "We had talked about working out together more and were hitting the gym here and there anyway. At the casting call they asked us a ton of questions, videotaped the interview, took head shots of us and we heard back from them about 2 weeks later."
Both Ramsey and Azeredo have individual reasons for wanting to be a part of a weight loss program.
When Ramsey was 16 years old she received some painful news: she had a tumor on her ovary that would require surgery. Doctors discovered she had Endometriosis, which causes extreme abdomen pain. As a result of her medication, Ramsey gained 40 pounds in two months.
Ramsey was also frightened to hear she had an increased chance of not being able to have children, and wanted to do everything in her power to ensure greater health.
"Right now my main concern is staying healthy and on top of things so I can have children of my own in the future," said Ramsey.
In high school Azeredo was captain of her swim team and wrestled. Today she likes to salsa dance, but said she needed more motivation to lose weight and get back into shape.
"The reason I decided to be a part of the show was because I figured what did I have to lose?" said Azeredo. "I also thought it would be a great opportunity to motivate myself to get back into shape."
The challenge for the two teams is based on four areas combined: BMI's, two minute push ups, two minute sit ups and an obstacle course at the Army National Guard base. Both teams are assigned a trainer from the ROTC program to work out and motivate them for a six week period.
"Throughout the six weeks we attended personal training every morning at 5:45 a.m. We did everything from running, weight training, walking, swimming, sprinting and more. Our trainer also took us hiking up Camelback mountain a couple of times," said Ramsey.
During the intense training the maroon team had the chance to grow closer and lose weight together.
"This experience has definitely brought me closer to Tresnae. We have pushed each other so hard, and experienced so many great things together throughout this whole thing," said Azeredo.
Ramsey said all of the episodes have been filmed, but she can't reveal who wins. Both have seen results and Ramsey said she lost 14 pounds so far and is continuing to lose more weight.
"The show was an awesome experience for me. I think that it gave me motivation to work out and really taught me how to push myself mentally and physically. I learned to enjoy working out more when I started seeing results," said Ramsey.
The show airs on mtvU and can be viewed at www.mtvU.com.
Reach the reporter at wawillis@asu.edu.
