Town of Wytheville Dept. of Parks & Recreation

Fit For Life Winter 2008

FIT FOR LIFE CELEBRATES HEALTH IMPROVEMENTS

As another session of Fit For Life drew to a close, 68 participants, family and friends gathered at the Wytheville Meeting Center on April 23rd to celebrate their many successes. Fit For Life is a program that combines nutrition and health education with fitness training to help participants decrease weight, BMI (body mass index), cholesterol, triglyceride, blood pressure and blood sugar levels. This program was made possible for residents of Wythe and Bland Counties through support from the Wythe-Bland Community Foundation, the Town of Wytheville Department of Parks and Recreation, the Bland County Medical Clinic and Virginia Department of Health’s Mount Rogers Health District.

Originally, 80 participants were selected into the winter session from the Wythe-Bland area based upon their BMI (Body Mass Index). The session concluded with 85% of the participants successfully completing the program! After twelve weeks, the participants lost a total of 672.25 pounds, 634 inches, and averaged a weight loss of 3.88% of their body weight with several losing over 10%. Health improvements were outstanding considering the program was only 12 weeks in duration. The average total cholesterol was improved by 11.63% while 53% of participants saw an improvement in HDL (good cholesterol). Triglyceride levels were improved by an average of 20%., with some participants actually decreasing their levels by half. Seventy percent of participants reduced their blood sugar, while 75% of participants had improved their Hemoglobin A1C. Sixty-two percent reduced blood pressures. Nearly 87% of all borderline and poor bone densities showed improvement over the twelve weeks.

This awards ceremony not only recognized the participants individually, but as teams. The following individuals received awards in three categories:

Top Percentage of Weight Loss: Keith Gore (13.00%); Diane Ivins (11.41%); Cheryl Pennington (10.76%) and Norma Kennedy (10.57%).
Most Inches Lost: Norma Kennedy (26in.); Diane Tibbs (23.75 in.); Keith Gore (23.5in.); and Cheryl Pennington (20.5in.).
Most Points Overall: Jessica Sure (424); Diane Ivins (381); Valerie Hatcher (324); Zan Jackson (303).

Barbara Phillips, James Thomas, Tammy Erwin, and Stacy Pruitt were acknowledged for exceptional improvements in screening results and Jessica Suire was the first person to receive an award for Most Improved Bone Health.

Each Fit For Life participant was assigned a team in order to assist one another in reaching the goals of the program. The teams were designated by colors of Red, Orange, Purple and Blue. In the end, the Purple Team completed the program with the highest average score for the 12 week period! From the Purple Team, Diane Ivins had the greatest number of points, while Valerie Hatcher from the Blue Team, Jessica Suire from the Red Team, and Steve Gravley from the Orange Team had worked to have the most
points. Both Diane Ivins and Donna Bailey, from the Purple Team, credit their fellow teammates for their success. Donna states “I was able to accomplish my success through lots of support from my family, my team, and my friends.” Along with Diane and Donna, each participant was given the opportunity to select the person on their team who they felt were the Most Motivated and Most Dedicated:

Purple Team
Most Motivated: Diane Ivins
Most Dedicated: Diane Ivins

Blue Team
Most Motivated: Valerie Hatcher and Gary Wayne Allison
Most Dedicated: Letha Hutchinson and Gary Wayne Allison

Red Team
Most Motivated: Jessica Suire
Most Dedicated: Jessica Suire

Orange Team
Most Motivated: Steve Gravley
Most Dedicated: Cheryl Pennington

In addition to honoring our current Fit For Life graduates at the awards ceremony, we were also able to recognize the graduates from the Summer 2008 program. Due to the tremendous success of the first program, a graduate program was implemented. The program began on February 2nd and ended with 20 participants who completed the program! Many of the graduates volunteered their time to assist the new Fit For Life Participants. This was a real asset to the program.

Great community support made Fit For Life so successful. We would like to recognize the following businesses/individuals for their various contributions to the program: Wythe County Community Hospital, Anders Salon, Applebee’s, Colleen Darling, Coulters, Counts Drugs, Farmer’s Daughter, Food City, General Injectables and Vaccine, Caroline Jackson, Lemon’s Jewelry, McDonalds, Pascor Atlantic, Paul and Sheri Stanley, Pepsi, Radio Shack, Ruby Tuesdays, Rural Retreat Florist, Sheetz, Subway, Cheryl Shaver, Wal-mart, Wordsprint, Wythe Bland Chamber, and WYVE. The Wytheville Golf Club and the Wytheville Meeting Center assisted in making the awards program an enjoyable evening for all.