Take Charge

Resources at home—and in your hometown—to help you get fit.

So you’re ready to get fit and eat right. On your journey to a healthy lifestyle, tap into the resources available from your doctor, in your local community, and online to help you achieve your goals.

Community Resources

Check out support groups and health programs at local universities, hospitals, YMCAs and churches to keep you motivated in your quest. Public research universities with fitness majors often offer health and wellness services for the public. Universities also may have family recreation and summer fitness programs that offer classes for adults, while some schools’ weight rooms and gyms are open to the general public for a fee. Hospitals, and even some churches, now offer nutritional counseling programs with certified nutritionists, plus aerobics and weight training classes with trainers on hand.

Web Opportunities

Surf the net for an array of innovative online resources to get started and stay on target with your exercise. America on the Move challenges Americans to take an extra 2,000 steps and eat 100 fewer calories a day and offers resources to begin your quest for healthy eating and an active lifestyle. Or take a look at The President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, which has an extensive list of health and fitness resources as well as recommendations for starting a fitness program.

At PropelFitnessWater.com, go to Gunnar One-on-One for tips from Hollywood trainer Gunnar Peterson on building a customized workout. First choose whether your goal is weight loss, improving your strength or boosting your energy. Gunnar then demonstrates a variety of exercises to achieve that goal. Under the Video Trainer section, put together your own targeted workout by selecting the body zone that you want to work on, such as legs and glutes, and Gunnar shows you the right moves. You can then review the and print out your personalized workout.

The Cooper Aerobics Center site has sound information on nutrition and fitness. If you are moving from a sedentary to an active lifestyle, select Health Tips, then click on Walk for Life—a 12-Week Program for Beginners for a recommended schedule. Then print out a walking log (date, distance and time) to keep yourself motivated.

Staying Motivated 

Imagine five large cans of vegetable shortening. That’s the amount of fat I have lost since my October 2005 visit to the Cooper Clinic on the campus of the Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas. That’s 15 pounds shed so far, about 10 pounds shy of my weight loss goal.

I’m proud to have reached this point, but it hasn’t been easy.

I learned a lot about diet and exercise at the Clinic and was determined to use what I learned to start living healthier when I returned home.

In the first two months, I dropped a pant size by watching what I ate and incorporating exercise into my routine. At that rate, I determined, I would be near my goal weight of 172 pounds in time for my 20th high school reunion. 

But as so often is the case when you try to make a significant change in your life, there was a period when I faltered. Cooper Clinic staff recommended I exercise aerobically about five times per week for at least 30 minutes each. Since getting to and from the gym can take a lot of extra time out of my busy schedule, I had approval to alter the schedule to three times a week for 60 minutes on a treadmill, elliptical or step climber. To help keep me motivated and accountable, I had a virtual workout buddy. I shared, via e-mail, my workout schedule and eating habits with a friend in New York who was also committed to losing weight. She did the same with me.

But we both started to slack. My workload piled up, and my exercise routine—45 minutes on the treadmill and 15 minutes on strength-training machines—fell by the wayside. When exercise falls off, eventually, so do good eating habits. I simply didn’t make time to eat breakfast or lunch many days, and this was just as bad for my ability to burn fat as eating high-fat foods. My progress toward my goal halted, and soon my friend and I were no longer reporting in to each other.

I was re-energized, however, less than a month after the reunion. At that time, the article about my visit to the Cooper Clinic appeared in Smart Spot™ Magazine. With my weight exposed to the world, I had no choice but to get moving.  Everyone was watching. Old friends saw my photo in the magazine and sent e-mails of inspiration and encouragement. Other long-lost acquaintances and friends of my mom, whom I had never met, were cheering me on.

One woman, whose child was in a playgroup with my youngest son but has since moved out of state, sent me an e-mail saying: "I was surprised to see you in the Smart Spot magazine that I get. Good for you, living a healthier life. We should all (do this) but it is easier said than done. I am trying daily. It was inspiring to read about what you’re trying to do."

I soon realized that although I was personally motivated to achieve a healthier lifestyle, my work and home responsibilities continued to take precedence. What I needed was continued reinforcement, a crowd cheering me on, similar to the e-mails that were coming in.  I needed another exercise buddy. I soon found a whole team.

I signed up for a team fitness class at my local gym, Life Time Fitness. The class meets at 8 a.m. three days a week for a 50-minute treadmill workout, led by an exuberant personal trainer whose motto is: "Work smarter, not harder." Like the staff at the Cooper Clinic, she keeps us motivated and livens things up by asking us Trivial Pursuit game questions during our workout, or quizzes us on health topics we’ve learned.

The team also meets with nutritionist Kristin Smith, who encourages us to keep track of our eating habits in a daily journal. She teaches us how to read labels and eat better by developing a personalized meal plan for each of us. Her advice reinforces what I learned at the Cooper Clinic. Among the lessons Smith has taught us are:

• Eating regular meals can help burn fat because it helps increase metabolism, as does increasing physical activity.
• Skipping meals prompts a starvation response from your body. Your body attempts to store as much fat as it can because it doesn’t know when its next meal is coming, Smith says. And the higher the fat content is or even the higher the glucose levels are in the meals you do eat, the more fat you are making available for your body to latch on to. If you add being sedentary to the mix, you start to lose muscle, which normally would help to burn off the fat.
• Eating regular, healthy meals in combination with exercise will help you lose weight.
• Don’t count calories, Smith says. Eat several meals—about four— and a couple of snacks a day, but keep the portions small, and aim to eat a little from every food group with every meal. Here are some easy ways to judge how much to eat:
• Portions of protein, such as lean meats, fish, nuts, beans and eggs, should be about the size of the palm of your hand. That’s about one egg, not a three-egg omelet.
• Complex-carbohydrate portions, such as whole-wheat bread, wild rice, potatoes or multigrain cereals, should equal about the size of your fist.
• Fruits also should be about a fist-size portion. That might be half a banana or a small orange.
• You can eat as many vegetables as you like, provided they are not sautéed in oil or butter or covered in a sauce. Carrots make a great snack throughout the day.

I haven’t missed a single class since I joined. In the first three weeks alone, I shed six pounds. I need to adhere to eating and exercise advice received from the staff at the Cooper Clinic and my local gym.

Sharing with experience with a team of encouraging people who have similar goals has proved to be the motivation that I need. And that, in the end, is the key to a healthier lifestyle: Staying motivated and committed.