By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
March 5, 2002
Chicago may have been dubbed the second-fattest city in the nation, but we’re moving on down–the scale, that is–thanks to all of you who’ve joined our Chicago Sheds a Ton campaign.
With weekly strategies for working out, plus the Sun-Times/eDiets.com seven-day diet, and snacking and dieting tips provided by our campaign partner Weight Watchers, and eDiets.com and the American Dietetic Association, teams throughout the city and suburbs did their part to lose 1 pound a week.
The Chicago Urban League team has lost 33 pounds so far.
“I’ve lost a total of 4½ pounds and have increased the number of glasses of water I drink daily,” reports Simone Mitchell-Peterson, 38. I’m still working on getting to the gym three times per week, but I’m pleased with the progress I’ve made. It’s a great feeling to be in control of my eating habits!”
Adds team member Jackie Dukes, 59, “I am greatly pleased with my fitness results. My clothes show that I’ve lost 2 to 3 inches in my waist, hips and biceps. I have been consistent with my 30-minute workouts each morning. It has been years since I have been able to stay on a program like this. Now, I am almost addicted. This is success in itself. Now, I must work harder on staying within 27 points on the Weight Watchers program to lose the extra pounds. Overall, I’m very pleased with my results.”
The Schain, Burney team also is a success story. The six women have lost a collective 35 pounds and say their support team has made losing weight a lot more fun and effective.
“We don’t call it a diet,” says team leader Juanita Sullivan, a secretary for the downtown law firm of Schain, Burney, Ross & Citron. “We call it our way of life. We discuss what we’re going to eat for lunch and support each other if we’re having problems sticking to our plans. When two of us gained weight one week, we motivated each other to get back on the horse and see it through.”
Like the rest of her team, Sullivan, 40, knows exercise plays a big role in staying fit. She gets up at 5:15 a.m. to exercise.
“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” says Sullivan, 40, who lost almost 8 pounds in February. “Plus, it’s nice to be able to report to your friends how well you’ve done this week.”
These folks are getting fit the proper way: by eating sensibly and exercising.
“Some people hate exercising and think they’ll lose weight quicker if they just stop eating,” says Richard Cotton, an exercise physiologist and spokesman for the American Council on Exercise. “Our bodies have this fabulous survival mechanism. When we don’t eat, it thinks we’re trapped on a desert island with no food, so it slows down its metabolism. So we have to trick it with exercise to burn up the calories. When you gain muscle, it burns fat. The more muscle you have, the more fat you’re burning even if you’re sedentary.”
You don’t need to join a gym to feel the burn, either. Try walking. Start with something simple, such as walking 10 minutes a day, every other day. The idea is to be consistent and build up to 30 minutes each day, four to five times a week.
“It’s hard to establish a habit that hurts,” Cotton says. “Ten minutes a day doesn’t hurt.”
Also, don’t become a slave to your bathroom scale. The numbers may not be telling the whole truth.
“Often people will experience weight gain when they begin exercising because they’re adding muscle mass, which weighs more than fat,” Cotton says. “This is common. But if you try on a pair of pants that once were tight, you’ll probably find that they fit better.”
But if they’re still tight, don’t delude yourself into thinking your bulk is muscle.
“It takes a substantial amount of exercise to make that kind of difference,” says Karen Miller-Kovach, chief food scientist at Weight Watchers. “If the clothes are fitting the same and the scale stays the same, you haven’t converted fat to muscle.”
Not every team was successful in reaching its goals. But they haven’t given up.
“No one lost any weight on our team,” admits Krystal Wells-Nowden, 40, team leader for the U. of C. Admission crew. “But we’re going to keep on trying.”
The eight team members have upped the ante: There’s money at stake now for whomever loses the most weight.
“Hopefully we’ll all lose so much we’ll just have to split the pot,” Wells-Nowden says. “We started to get serious about it again and are trying to get motivated about getting fit. It has been hard for me ’cause I did lose a lot of weight before and then started gaining it back again from the stress of working and going to school full time. But I’m not making excuses this time.”
Michelle Trevino says after a shaky start, her team of six has lost a combined 30 pounds.
“We’ve always talked about getting healthy, but we still walk in with our Popeyes, McDonald’s or Taco Bell for lunch,” Trevino says. “I think this [program was] the motivation we had been waiting for.”
Now that you’ve gone a month, don’t slack off. This is the perfect time to rededicate yourself to losing weight and staying fit.
“The newness of losing weight wears off around the one-month mark,” Miller-Kovach says. “You’re not losing weight as quickly anymore and some of your old bad habits may creep back in. You may have stopped exercising or gone back to indulging in old favorites that aren’t great for you. Don’t give up if this happens. Losing weight isn’t a fad. It’s a goal that is within your reach.”
