The contestants celebrated their success at Market Place, Rutherford, on Saturday with Linda Hoffman and Peter Komacha taking out first places with their respective weight loss totals of 23.2kg and 27.4kg.

But while standing up and being praised for her weight loss was easy for Ms Hoffman, 41, of Ashtonfield, the process of losing the weight was definitely hard.

“Being part of Lose It was a great experience, but it was a lot of hard work and it was all diet and exercise,” Ms Hoffman said.

Ms Hoffman exercised for at least two hours a day and watched her calorie intake drop, along with her dress size – from size 24 to 18.

“At times it was difficult, but I feel wonderful. I have a lot more energy and my confidence has improved.”

Ms Hoffman now hopes to lose a further 20kg before heading off to Uganda with her daughter to help build a home for a widow and her children.

“I’m definitely going to keep going. In fact, I’ll be back at the gym today.”

Mr Komacha, 39, of Ashtonfield, is also gearing up to continue his work-out routine.

“I have been exercising at least an hour a day and maybe three hours on my days off, so I will take things down a level but I’ve come this far so I’m going to keep going.”

Mr Komacha decided to enter Lose It to drop some weight and the annual event appealed to his competitive nature.

“Being part of the competition really kept me going and now I feel great.”

The five male Lose It contestants were trained by staff at Maitland’s Body and Soul gym.

The women trained at Curves at East Maitland.