Contact: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Friday, October 9, 2009

Mark Kruger, who appeared on NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” and dropped about 130 pounds in his personal makeover, encouraged the children at William Wells Brown Elementary School to eat healthy and stay active. 

In Lexington this weekend promoting Second Sunday, Kruger spoke at a schoolwide assembly Friday morning. He brought along a cardboard cutout photo showing him at his peak of 285 pounds.  

“This is what happens when you eat an entire container of ice cream!” he told the kids. 

The excess weight limited his mobility, including opportunities to play outside with his own two young children. “Because I was so big, I couldn’t move around very well,” he said. 

Kruger urged the students to get up and get moving and to make smart choices – reach for an apple instead of a cookie, for instance. 

Families need to set a good example for the youngsters, he added, saying, “It’s really up to the parents to start them down a stable path and set them up for success.” 

William Wells Brown Elementary is doing its part. Students receive snacks of fresh fruits and vegetables twice a week, thanks to a federal grant, and the Take 10 Contest kicks off Oct. 12.  

In the three-week contest, students will aim to be active for 10 minutes a day – perhaps doing jumping-jacks while learning their multiplication tables. Teachers will track their participation, and students from the University of Kentucky will hand out prizes. 

The school’s Take 10 Contest is affiliated with the Jumpin’ Jaguars, an exercise and nutrition program that focuses on healthy lifestyles, asthma treatment/prevention and health-care careers. The program is run by students in UK’s colleges of Medicine, Nursing and Public Health. 

About Mark Kruger

Mark Kruger of Massachusetts, who competed in season five of the NBC reality show “The Biggest Loser,” uses his story to motivate others. He now runs about 50 miles a week and does resistance training four days a week. He also teaches spin classes and is preparing for his first marathon.  

Then / now

• Weight in pounds: 285 / 185
• Cholesterol level: 258 / 144
• Body fat percentage: 38 / 11 

About ‘Second Sunday’

Communities throughout Kentucky plan to close certain roads from 2 to 6 p.m. Oct. 11 so that residents can bike, walk, run, play and participate in fun and healthy activities. The Fayette County celebration will be at Main and Short between Mill and Deweese streets. 

• One school’s PTA will win $1,000 in cash! More details …