Bellevue’s Tommy Mygrant wins $50,000 in national fitness competition.

Tommy Mygrant is no longer fat. His wallet, however, is a different story.

For losing about 112 pounds, the 33-year-old Bellevue resident won $50,000 March 14.

That’s about $446.50 for every pound he shed.

Most people don’t gain extra cash for losing weight. But Mygrant is a special case.

His weight loss resulted from his use of the P90X exercise system — developed by fitness expert Tony Horton. The 90-day training routine is a celebrity favorite and continues to grow in popularity.

Eager to market P90X, a fitness company calledBeachbody asked users of the program whose bodies dramatically improved because of it to send the company their stories and photographs. The company was hunting for people to help promote the product.

Thousands of submissions flooded into the Beachbody office.

From there, Beachbody narrowed the list to four women and four men of varying ages.

Mygrant was among them.

Like Mygrant — who decided to change his life after learning he was too unhealthy to donate a kidney to a loved one — all the finalists had touching stories.

“Collectively the finalists have lost 685 pounds,” Beachbody spokeswoman Carol Eisner said.

Climbing aboard a plane on March 7 headed to southern California, Mygrant knew at least $50,000 in prize money was in his future. All finalists were guaranteed that much.

But he also had a shot at $250,000.

At Universal Studios in Hollywood, Calif., the finalists learned who won the Million Dollar Body Game grand prize.

Alas, Mygrant didn’t win the big bucks. But he said that did not darken his experience one bit.

“It was the most incredible experience of my life,” Mygrant said.

He spent his time in California meeting famous trainers. He was also the subject of professional photo shoots. Beachbody, meanwhile, has helped spread Mygrant’s story nationwide.

Mygrant said he receives about 100 e-mails each day from people facing the challenges he once did. The biggest reward, Mygrant said, was turning his life around and serving as an inspiration for others to do the same.

“It’s great to know all the hard work and effort I’ve put into changing my life is going to be used to help them change their life,” he said. “For me, it’s never been about the money … I would have paid $50,000 to do what I did.”

Source