Photo by Adria Hyde, staff Pictured from left are Toni Weber, Kerri Tuck, Brenda Jefferson, Cathy Kelley, and Velma Cowhart, all participants in NBC's Biggest Loser Community Challenge. The ladies have worked together as teammates and encouraged each other to participate in local exercise classes including Zumba and circuit training. They work at St. Francis Park.
It's been almost a month, and the ladies at St. Francis Park Assisted Living Facility are still hard at work taking part in NBC's Biggest Loser Community Challenge.The competition began Feb. 29 and ends April 24. According to the Biggest Loser website, www.biggestlosercommunity.com, this challenge is designed to inspire and motivate people to be more active, eat more fruits and vegetables, drink more water, and work with teammates to hold each other accountable.
One month ago just a few days into the competition, the five ladies who are part of the competition gave an interview telling about goals that they hoped to accomplish. Nearly a month later there have been some successes, and all admit that they now have more realistic goals of what to expect.
One month later finds Kerri Tuck still very active in Zumba. She faithfully attends four days a week and although her weight seems to fluctuate, she has dropped two sizes in clothing and has begun to incorporate circuit training into her exercise regimen.
Tuck said that sometimes motivation is an issue, but her boss and her husband keep her on track. "I do feel better," she said.
So far she has stayed on track with her diet and the recommended daily caloric intake, although she did admit to cheating once. "I cheated on my birthday. My daughter brought me my favorite strawberry cake from Causbie's and I just had to have some," she said.
Toni Weber's biggest issue is still drinking water, but she has found that she really likes flavored water and Fiji water. "I have lost 8 pounds, and am gaining muscle tone," said Weber. She attends Zumba class four nights a week and also has incorporated circuit training that she began two weeks ago. "Everyone in Zumba is very motivational and circuit training is very challenging."
Weber is more aware of some of her prior daily habits, and she is now more aware of her nutritional intake and how much she exercises. "I feel a lot better and have more endurance," said Weber.
Brenda Jefferson also has begun to incorporate circuit training into her exercise regimen. "I have lost 5 pounds, and I find that I eat a lot more vegetables." Said Jefferson.
She said that the most challenging thing for her is learning all the dances in Zumba class and that so far she prefers circuit training. "Toni is my motivator for both classes," she said. One thing that she can tell for sure about the her new lifestyle is that she has more energy.
Cathy Kelley has lost the most weight so far of all those participating in the challenge.
"Since the start of the Biggest Loser Challenge, I have lost 10 pounds, and I have not exercised."
Kelley said that she feels that chasing after four children is exercise enough. She has one that just turned 4 months old. She attributes her weight loss to just making major changes in her diet. "I am not drinking as many sodas or sweets. That has been the biggest change," said Kelley.
When Velma Cowhart first began the challenge, she could not use any of the apps to help her track her intake. After some help from teammates, she found that the app "Fitness Pal" was compatible with her phone and has begun to use that to track her daily intake.
Cowhart has lost five pounds so far and has continued with Zumba and also just recently begun to incorporate Zumba into her workout regimen. "I watch my calories closely, have cut back on caffeine, and make sure that all my snacks are healthy," said Cowhart.
Weber said one thing they have all learned is that they have more realistic goals. "We were all gung ho at first," said Weber. "We thought we would get in there and the pounds would just start melting off. We soon learned that we would start toning up before we would begin to actually lose weight and that we would also lose inches first."
While all the ladies still have goals set for the remaining month of the challenge, for many this is going to be a way of life from now on.
Weber said that she would like to lose 10 more pounds, Cowhart would like to lose five more, Tuck wants to lose at least 10-20 more pounds, Jefferson's goal is to lose at least 10 more pounds, and Kelley wants to lose 12 more pounds and vowed to teammates that she will begin to exercise at least once a week from here on out.
All the ladies said that they learned something important during the challenge. "I learned that overall wellness is not just about weight loss. It takes teamwork and I will continue carrying this well past the sixty day challenge," said Weber.
Tuck said that the past month that they have really motivated each other, and even her husband can tell the difference in her. Now, she can often be found in her kitchen doing Zumba dance moves.
One thing that Cowhart has learned is to be more aware of what she eats and realizing how weight loss affects that body. "When I first started exercising I had a lot of back and neck trouble, but now it does not bother me so much," she said.
Jefferson realized that it is a lot of hard work. "No pain, no gain," she said with a laugh.
Kelley said the most important thing that she learned is to be more aware of the foods that she eats.
There is less than a month left in the challenge, but most of them have purchased year long memberships at the local gym, Ultimate Fitness, and they plan on continuing with the new healthy lifestyle.
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