2009 Winners
Individual Winner# 2
David Berberian, Scene Shop Coordinator
Week 10 Update
March 20, 2009
Well it's all over except for the shoes. I pick those up today.
I can't say enough about this program and the Live For Life folks. It has not always been easy but with the encouragement from Heather and Kay I was able to press on. Poor Kay, she probably felt more like my therapist than my nutritionist. They both displayed a wonderful level of excellence in what they do. I will be checking in with Heather periodically when I see her at the gym in the mornings. I am sure if she doesn't see me I will get an email telling me to get my butt back to the gym.
Let's go over the final numbers. Scales have been wonky this whole time so I decided to take an average of 3 different scales. The official tally on weight lost appears to be...drum roll please...14 pounds in 10 weeks! 6 pounds short of my 20 pound goal but still a significant weight loss. This morning Heather and I redid my fitness evaluation and we also found some good news there. My girth measurements have all gone down at least 2 inches around my waist, hips and thighs. My Body Mass Index (BMI) also dropped around 5%. My stretch test improved from the 20th percentile to the 50th percentile. My push-up count doubled. During the 3 minute cardio test I felt stronger and the exercise felt much easier.
After the fitness evaluation I worked out for about 30 minutes since I was already at the gym. That means I reached my goal this week of increasing my workouts to 3 days a week. Having closed my show last weekend I got more rest and more time with my family. The difference in the way I felt during my workouts this week was palpable. I felt stronger and more prepared in the mornings. It is a relief to have some of my time back and not feel like everything I was doing was an obligation.
Quickly, I just want to touch on something. Brian Roth has been conducting the interviews you can see on the Live For Life site. He asked me the other day what my favorite part of this whole thing has been. There are two things really. Firstly it's the people I have met over the ten week period. I can't say enough about all the Live For Life staff and the work they do. I have really come to appreciate this unique program and it's importance to the Duke community. I have to give a special shout out to my trainer Heather. Some days it was really hard to get motivated to go to the gym every Thursday morning much less workout. Heather's approach and her positive and down to earth attitude always helped get me going. Even on the tough mornings when I felt like I had nothing left in the tank. I always felt like she was genuinely pulling for me. She is great at her job, has a real love for it and is a great asset to the Duke community.
Secondly, I really enjoyed the emails I got from several of you in the Duke community. The idea that people were actually paying attention to us and our ten week endeavor made it fun. Several folks took the time to email me words of congratulations and encouragement. When I got the first one of these I was a little taken aback. I hadn't expected people to follow along that closely. After the initial email I found myself wanting to connect with more people. I wanted to share my experience in the hope that I could, in some small way, help others who may be on this same journey. Thanks to all of you who offered those words and cheered us on.
In closing I must remind myself that this is not the end of this process but the beginning. My goal is still 50 pounds by the end of the year. I told Kay the other day that I really felt like these habits had really started to settle into my bones. No longer do I feel the need to quickly lose weight. I am now able to feel it when I indulge and when my body needs a workout. I now have a routine for packing my lunch and including fruit and veggies. I have a routine of working out in the mornings. I have become accustomed to the small gains over time instead of feeling the need for big gains.
This will be the last post I make on the Live For Life website but I will continue to track my progress on my own blog at: http://thoughtsformyson.wordpress.com/. If your interested in following my updates please drop by. You can even sign up for email updates when a new post has been made.
Thanks again to everyone who helped me in this endeavor. I has been a truly rewarding experience.