At the end of March, I was disappointed in the results of our wellness group. Karen Leonard had been on an extended vacation, Michael Hallett was caring for his parents and Mary Burridge was finishing her requirements for grad school. All of them ate too much for the wrong reasons and exercised less than they should. I had been away for most of the month on my “Run Across NC”. The fault for the lack of progress was mine and I set the bar much higher for April and made sure that the trio knew it.

With a third of the year now in the rear view mirror, I wanted to know if they were happy with their progress. Michael said, “My success for the first third of the year has met my initial expectations.  I made a commitment from the start to watch my diet and dedicate time to exercise on a regular basis.  No surprises so far.  When I exercise daily, I feel great and compliment it with a diet of foods that recharge me.  And when I don’t exercise, the opposite is true. I tend to not care what I take in and back slide as a result.”

Mary said, “Success comes in different ways. While the weight loss is not where I would like to see it, I am proud to say that my stamina has increased greatly. I have more drive and desire to work out and keep pushing. I consider this a success.”

Now making up for a less than productive start, Karen said, “I would rate my success this month an A plus. My goal was to lose 20-30 pounds during this year. That would mean losing 2.5 pounds per month.  I am on target for my goal to be reached.”

Another challenge was to try something new. Karen found something that works for her when she took a spin class at the Forum with Rayna Gardner. Karen said, “I liked it and will make this a part of my regular weekly workout schedule.” Mary took a Metabolic Effects class there too and said, “The class kicked my tail but it was good.” Michael completed his first 5K.

Diet has been my biggest concern. Michael made the suggestion that the group should report to each other what they eat daily. Right now, Karen is leading the way. She said, “My diet has improved over the last 4 months. I am eating much healthier and drinking more water. I am also taking David’s advice and writing down everything I eat each day. I look up the calories so I can keep count.

Mary added, “My diet has improved as I am more intentional about what I take in. I am finding that I no longer have that ‘hungry all the time’ feeling when I eat a more balanced diet. I use the ‘My Fitness Pal’ app to track my caloric intake. The app has a bar code scanner so it makes imputing information super easy. “

My perception is that Michael is finding the diet his biggest challenge and his choices are sometimes questionable. He said, “For the most part I have consistently, since January, not deviated from eating more vegetables and fruits, instead of fast foods, and drinking more water.  I am still subject to cravings for sweets but replaced that with an evening yogurt.”

My advice to them was to meet short-term goals and the long-term ones will take care of themselves. While excuses, some reasonable, dominated our conversations early on, the pace is picking up and results are beginning to show. Diet needs to be faced directly. High fat items must go.

Probably suffering more with juggling priorities, Mary said, “I did not meet my goals. The majority of my focus (outside of my children) has been on wrapping up grad school. Now that I have graduated, I am positive that May will be a much better month.”

Michael, with the most success so far, said, “Looking to May and beyond, I expect to maintain the cardiovascular workouts and continue to drop weight.  I look forward to going below 200 pounds and enjoying the additional weight loss as I add mileage to my runs and hopefully get many years of good health.”

At month’s end, Mary is down 12 pounds, Michael is down 16 and Karen, who actually gained in the first 8 weeks, is now down 10 from her highest point. May and its better weather bring plenty of incentives for our group. The push is on. See you back here in early June!