Slimmer and trimmer at the Times Health Club
May 21, 2008
What’s up at our free online diet and fitness site? Meet April’s members of the month and find out.
A looming art show, a mammoth cycle ride and catching sight of yourself unexpectedly in the mirror have been the spur for April’s Times Health Club prize- winning members of the month. They’ve lost an awesome 4st between them since January. Congratulations!
Sporty types have been starting new groups, often with a specific event in mind (see right). But if you are looking for something a little more esoteric to keep track of with the health club tools, we’ve rounded up the stranger things that members are interested in (see below). It’s all free at timesonline.co.uk/healthclub
Hilly Janes, Editor, Body&Soul
On the ball
Member Lucy Barfoot
Weight loss 14lb
Prize SweatyBetty clothes vouchers worth £100 (www.sweatybetty.com )
Lucy B, 20, is in her final year studying fine art at Farnham University College in Surrey. She’s determined to lose weight in time for her degree show in June.
“I was skinny as a child and I’ve never been fat, but I felt I could just lose a bit of weight. I started putting on weight gradually when I was about 16, when I started my art foundation course. I have a healthy diet; I just eat too much.
“My relationship with food changed when I spent last Christmas with my sister, who lives in New Zealand. It was summer and I was eating fresh fruit and vegetables every day, and my sister’s really sporty, so we were exercising every day. I realised that I didn’t need to eat anywhere near as much.
I came home in mid-January, joined the Health Club and haven’t really stopped.
“I want to lose another 1st. I’ve been keeping track of my exercise, but the most motivating element has been in-putting my calorie intake and letting everyone see it, which makes me eat less. I need the public humiliation! I tend to pig out at the weekends but you have to have fun sometimes.
“My flatmate is a chef and eating one of her lovely soups every evening instead of a big plate of pasta has taken loads of weight off. I’ve joined a gym and I try to go twice a week. I don’t want to diet, I’m just going to be healthy and exercise, there’s nothing more to it than that.”
Free wheeler
Member Ron Strutt
Weight loss 28lb
Prize Midweek break for two at Champneys (www.champneys.com )
Ron Strutt, 58, who took early retirement last year from a desk-based job with First Great Western railways, now works for Surrey Police in IT. A keen cyclist, Ron is in training to cycle 1,000 miles from Dover to Durness, Scotland, on June 14 to raise money for Cancer Research.
“When I was younger I could eat like a horse and it never affected my weight. However, over the past couple of years it has been slowly creeping up and before Christmas my trousers were becoming far too tight. So in January I joined the health club and started to use the tracking tools to track my body-mass index, body fat percentage and cycling miles.
“It has become a bit of an obsession. The graphs help enormously and, if you transgress, it’s staring you in the face. I’m quite good at motivating myself, but there are times when you get a bit down. In those moments I have found the forums enormously helpful. It has become like one big family. If you have a problem, you can post a thread, and quickly get a response, with ideas and encouragement.
“I’ve cut down my portion sizes and am amazed at the small amount that I can live on. I avoid unhealthy snacks by making sure that I always have celery or grapes to nibble on when I get peckish. I have lost 2st, but losing another 8lb would suit me quite happily.
“I also do a lot of long- distance cycling and in 2000, when I was in training for a ride from Land’s End to John O’Groats, I used to do a once- a-week bike ride of about 80 miles. However, when I had completed that, the weight piled on and suddenly cycling 50 miles in a day was a real struggle.
“With my new regimen I try to do at least one 100-mile ride a month and each week I do a 60-mile ride. I cycle into work sometimes - a 22-mile round trip - but they don’t always like you turning up in Lycra.
“I had always wanted to do another ride from one end of the country to the other. But last year the training was becoming such hard work because of my excess weight that I began thinking that I wouldn’t manage it. And in January I had a bit of health scare when I experienced a strange buzzing sensation in my chest. I went to the doctor, who suggested that I should calm down on the cycling, which is not what I wanted to hear. Fortunately, it turned out to be just a muscle fluctuation.
“Now that I’ve lost weight and the cycling has become easier, I have decided that my big challenge this year is to ride from Dover to Durness, on the tip of the northwest coast of Scotland. I’m hoping that some of the people I have made friends with in the forums will be coming out to wave me on as I pass through their neck of the wood.”
Sea change
Member Jaki Truscott
Weight loss 21lb
Prize Blacks gift voucher worth £100 (www.blacks.co.uk)
Jaki T, 39, a part-time mathematics teacher from Swansea, Wales, has lost 21lb since the end of January as a result of a new healthy eating and fitness regimen. Her two children, Elinor, 11, and Thomas, 7, have been exercising (below) with her. “After Christmas I realised that my body-mass index was in the middle of overweight, so I made a new year resolution to shed some pounds. I joined the Health Club on January 7, but didn’t take it seriously until the end of the month, when I was helping my daughter with a dance show. Backstage there were mirrors everywhere and I caught a glimpse of myself. It really shocked me into losing some weight.
“I’ve yo-yo dieted since my early twenties. I slimmed down about four years ago, but then I put it all back on again because there wasn’t anyone to keep me going with it. I ate too much, and it just went up and up and out of control again. I was eating unhealthily and eating too much. I’m now on a low-fat diet and I try to avoid anything with sweeteners and additives. I also try to cook from scratch and use locally sourced food, organic where possible.
“I weigh myself every Monday. Being a maths teacher, I particularly love the graphs that show you how you are progressing on the health club. I was quite sedentary before, but now that I’m doing exercise I’m trying to get my children motivated to join me. We often walk to school using the pedometer, go swimming, and cycle along the seafront, even if I do need to bribe them with an ice-cream sometimes. It’s such a lovely way to spend more time together.
“Since my new healthy lifestyle I’ve increased the amount I swim and as a result I swam 100 lengths (2.5km/1 miles) for a Swimathon last month. Considering how unfit I was, that was a real achievement.
“I’m not on a diet; it’s a healthy lifestyle change that I want to keep up permanently. I need the forums on the site to stay motivated because I don’t really have anyone to talk to about weight loss, and my husband’s fed up with it! I’d like to lose another 8lb to reach 8st 13lb by my wedding anniversary on July 23. And I’m hoping that it will rub off on my husband because he wants to lose weight too.”
Want to be in their gang?
From charity runs to mums with tums, groups are a great way of sharing goals and experiences. The forums within the groups offer support when you fail, tips when you need advice, and congratulations when you achieve your goal. If none of the groups appeals, start your own! These are the latest to be created:
Las Vegas to Grand Canyon
Dedicated to those who are taking part in the Las Vegas to Grand Canyon bike ride, September 3-13. To join, http://lasvegastocanyon.groups.timeshealth.co.uk
120K Walk for Mum
Times columnist Suzi Godson will be walking the last 120km of the Camino de Santiago de Compostelo in northern Spain with members of her family, in memory of her mother, who died in January. To join, http://CaminoDeSantiagodeCompostela.groups.timeshealth.co.uk
Martial arts
Health-clubber Jennifer Willis has set up this group, for all those who like to use martial arts as a way to keep fit. To join, http://martialarts.groups.timeshealth.co.uk
GNR
A group for those entering the Great North Run, a 13.1- mile run on October 5 in Newcastle. To join, go to http://gnrtraining.groups.timeshealth.co.uk
Glucose intolerance
Set up for those suffering from glucose intolerance or have been told by their doctor they are pre-diabetic, and need tips and support in their weight loss.
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