Lifestyle Makeover Contest Winners
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 2: January 21 - 25
Posted January 28, 2008
Individual Winner: Craig Galunas
Weight Already Coming Off
I'm into my second week of the program and it is going great! I finally met with my trainer at the gym. We met at 6 a.m. twice this week. She is great and the workout she put together was very challenging. It isn't at all like what I've done in the past. It involved a lot of core exercises, meaning abdominal, which I have not worked in a LONG time!! It was tough, but I already feel myself getting stronger. I am consciously trying to work exercise into my daily activities. I find myself taking the stairs instead of the elevator and I have been walking to my car rather than taking the bus.
Overall, I have more energy and am looking forward to getting to the gym in the mornings. The best part — I lost 3.2 lbs my first week! I started the program weighing 253 lbs. and now I am 249.8! It has been a very interesting journey so far, and the team working with me has been very supportive. I am having a great time!
Group Winner: School of Nursing
Impressed with Dream Dinners and Fitness Tips
The last week was quite eventful for the School of Nursing group. At least three of our members were so impressed and pleased with the Dream Dinner demonstration last week that they went to Dream Dinners on their own this week. Comments regarding the food included, "delicious — even to family members!" and about price, "a good buy" considering the time and energy that doesn't have to be spent on shopping, and chopping and measuring to prepare the meals.
This past Tuesday was the individual exercise consultations for many of our group (the others will have theirs shortly). At least three members of the group learned that we have probably been eating too few calories on a daily basis, and that this can slow our metabolisms, causing the opposite effect of what we are trying to accomplish. For many adults, they should eat at least 2,000 calories a day in order to lose weight on a steady basis. One of our group members, Lynette Edgerton commented on advice from Vicky, the trainer from LIVE FOR LIFE. Lynette said, "Vicky gave me great tips on what time of day I should eat. I should try to eat an hour after waking in the mornings, not skip breakfast, and eat healthy snacks throughout the day."
Other lessons learned are that exercise doesn't have to be painful or done for large chunks of time. Lynette likes the idea that climbing stairs for 5 minutes two times a day is great cardio, and she has already begun to put it into practice.
Submitted by: Group co-captain Debra Mattice, MS, MPA, Director or Academic Support Operations