Every person’s road to weight gain is a little different — be it gradual or sudden, caused by unhealthy eating, the loss of a loved one or birth of a child.In Ronnie Thorne’s case he broke his ankle in an accident two years ago, around the same time he stopped smoking.He sat and watched as the pounds piled on.The 58-year-old finally decided it was time to make a positive change in his life and signed up for The Bermuda 100-Day Challenge 2013.He’d thought about it for a couple of years, but considered it more seriously after his mother died in December.“Before she died we had conversations about my health and I said I was going to try and take care of myself,” Mr Thorne said.He anticipates the hardest part of the competition will be running on his ankle and adapting his diet to include fish and vegetables, but said he was determined to change his lifestyle.Mr Thorne will join 23 other weight-loss hopefuls for the televised fitness contest which is now its sixth year.Contestants must battle through boot camps, diet programmes and exercise regimes in hopes of losing the most weight in a 14-week period. They are divided into three groups and matched with one of three gyms: Sandys 360, Magnum Power Force Gym and Evolutions Health & Fitness.The youngest participant in this year’s competition is 23-year-old Sierra O’Meally, who admits to having struggled with her weight for years.It eventually became a “life or death” choice for her to improve her health.“My mother had a heart attack young and diabetes runs in our family so I feel like if I don’t start it now I am going to have a lot of problems because every year I gain weight,” Miss O’Meally said.She confessed to having a weakness for both sweet and savoury foods.“I say [to others that] I am a career eater. I eat,” she said.The hardest part of the challenge will likely be the strict exercise regimes and changing her diet. She said: “I use food as a mood-changer. It’s going to be hard for me to find other coping mechanisms to have a good mood.“I just want to be healthy and happy. It’s not about the looks and just the external [benefits of weight loss], it’s the internal.”Unfortunate life circumstances caused former bodybuilder Dawn Fubler to lose sight of her fitness goals and gain a few extra pounds.The 63-year-old told The Royal Gazette: “I am a single mother-of-two. I lost my son unexpectedly and the tragedy derailed my commitment to a better life of health and fitness.“I was a former Ms Bodybuilder and represented Bermuda so I was an icon for health and fitness for my students as well. My students want to look up to me for my health and fitness because I am a physical education teacher as well.“I just want to get back on the right track.”She hopes to shed between 20 and 30lbs and to improve her energy and overall fitness to live a longer life.Forty-five-year-old Theresa Pacheco will take part in the weight-loss challenge with her younger sister Carolyn.Ms Pacheco said she wanted to make a healthy life change so she could see her children and grandchildren grow up. “I have been overweight my whole life since I was a kid and it has always been a struggle trying to keep the weight off,” she said.“I am always doing the crash diets and the unfortunate thing is you don’t eat and you do lose the weight, but when you eat again you put it back on [and] it’s more than you started with.”She anticipates it might be challenging to shed the pounds considering her metabolism has slowed over time and said she isn’t looking forward to the boot camps. At the end of the process she hopes to appreciate herself more.“I want to be able to look at that person [in the mirror] and say ‘Wow that’s me’. With the weight I don’t feel good about myself,” she said.Akil Darrell, 31, took part in last year’s competition as well. He managed to lose nearly 30lbs and got his fitness up enough to take part in the May 24 Half-Marathon Derby.His progress went south after he got some surgery done and couldn’t work out for ten weeks. “I lost my motivation and felt I had no support system like I had [during the competition] so I tried to push myself back in it but it never worked out.“Last time I worked on the physical, but didn’t work on the mental, but I am going to do the whole process again and work on the mental and physical.”Mr Darrell is aiming to lose between 50 and 65lbs in the weight-loss challenge.The Bermuda 100-Day Challenge 2013 starts February 12 on ZBM Channel 9. The show will be repeated on Thursday, February 14. The programme will also run daily on Channel 82.