During November, LIVE FOR LIFE received over 50 entries for the Eat Wise & Exercise lifestyle makeover contest. During the 10-week program, the winners will provide regular updates as they start eating wise and exercising! For more information about the contest winners (including their winning essays), click here.

Week 9: March 10 - 14

Posted March 10, 2008

Craig Galunas has always enjoyed biking, and is doing it more now to get fit.

Individual Winner: Craig Galunas

Feeling Better and Better

So, here we are in the home stretch. I had a good week. Worked hard and feeling better for it everyday. Sometimes you wonder if you really are doing better, but I can tell you that things that used to leave me winded don't any longer. For example, I went for a bike ride recently and a hill that used to leave me breathless, I pounded up like it was nothing! That made me feel really good about the progress I've made. So as I reach the end of this particular journey, I realize that I am really just beginning and that I will never let myself reach the point I was at before I started this program. You just miss out on so much when you are out of shape! I know it sounds cliche but life really is too short!

Group Winner: School of Nursing

The Abs are Coming Back

I used think, "Who in their right mind can cajole their sluggish body into exercise moves at 6 a.m.?" Fitness specialist Vicky Yeingst convinced me that I could if I faithfully held to a morning cardio workout schedule at least three times a week. The simple, energizing cardios had an immediate effect — I began to feel so much better physically that I've since incorporated them into my daily morning routine. Low and behold — my B.6K. (Before 6 Kids) abs are beginning to re-surface! (They certainly are not ready for a Mrs. America walk down the runway, but they're emerging from their hiding places enough to tell me that they're still around.) And my dogs and I faithfully walk a mile every evening unless the weather is absolutely prohibitive — no other excuses.

Breakfast has never appealed to me, and usually on mornings when I felt hungry a quick drive-through at McDonald's for a sausage-egg McMuffin got me through to lunch. Nutrition expert Kay Schlegel-Pratt's tasty, nutritionally sound ideas for morning boosters have worked for me, and following her suggestions I eat a well-balanced breakfast, hungry or not. Best of all — I don't miss the McMuffins!

Barbara Pellizzari has made morning exercise a part of her routine.

Although I have a long way to go, I am determined, encouraged and motivated to keep moving ever onward. Why? I feel so much better, and I'm finding that I can actually ease into my old, smaller-size (albeit out of style) clothes without having to hold my breath.

Submitted by Barbara Pellizzari, staff assistant

Pulling Through

I've been making efforts to include more "eat wise" foods, but "life" and the weather have been impacting my perception of reality in relation to opportunities to get in needed exercise. As John Carbuccia, another team member, mentioned, many slight modifications such as a trip or two down to the mailroom can make a difference. However, I am pleased to be "holding on" and have not lost hope toward progressive success in the eat wise/exercise balance. I'm not giving up — I can still pull through!

Submitted by Izy Obi, administrative coordinator