But first, two weeks ago Jacqueline Godwin told you about her very personal health quest played out in the public spotlight. It’s the battle of the bulge – Jackie’s mission to lose weight and get right with her body. Like the song says, it’s not an easy road, no more sweet treat snacks, no more fast food, no more lazy evening on the couch. Jackie has been fasting like a monk and working out like a fiend. And so, two weeks later, is it working. Well that’s what we all want to know! Here’s the answer in part two of battle of the bulge.
Jacqueline Godwin Reporting,
Well, the verdict is in: diet and exercise do help to lower high blood pressure. Two weeks ago my pressure was one hundred and fifty over one hundred. Today it is at one twenty over eighty. Then it was time to check my sugar something that I have been battling with for over a decade. It has been an uphill struggle…so I was nervous - and that probably affected my blood flow, making the sample difficult to extract.
You see when I started off on my three month challenge on May fifteenth I took myself off the insulin to see if I can control it with only diet and exercise. I was hoping that my number would be low but I suspect it wasn’t because it has only been fourteen days. The check revealed that my blood sugar count had only dropped slightly. I was disappointed but not discouraged and left feeling even more determined to control my diabetes. Nurse Kira Nu’man was equally confident that it will be accomplished.
Kira Nu’man, Nurse
“Well then Miss Jackie it seems that last two weeks you had your pressure at 150/100 but now today is 120/80. That is very good, right between the range 90/60 to 120/80. Now about the sugar, last time I checked it was 280 and this time it is just at 216 so you moved two spaces down. It still is not in range so we have to work on that.”
It was recommended that I remain on the insulin but that my dosage will be lowered and hopefully I will be taken off the medication following my next visit to the clinic.
[Jackie Getting on Scale]
It was now time to see if had dropped any pounds as a result of my workout at the gym.
Karen Rosito, Nutritionist
“156, that is good. 156 pounds.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
That is almost like ten pounds I’ve lost.
Karen Rosito,
“Yes.”
I could not believe it. Ten pounds in two weeks!!!
Karen Rosito,
“Because you yourself admitted that you weren’t exercising, you never exercise, you always do your own thing – the exercise program was harsh on you because we pushed you into that program where you’re burning like 500 to 600 calories a session. Your body isn’t used to it so it reacted by giving up calories, by giving up fat and that is why you lost so much weight. Now you will see weight loss down to about four to five pounds every two weeks.”
While I felt great about the weight loss the machine however also showed that my body was dehydrated that is because I have not been drinking enough everyday. My goal now is to drink daily three liters of water.
Karen Rosito,
“Total body water was 78 pounds today, today 73. You are dehydrated
and that has a lot to do with menstruation and the fact that you’re sweating almost two liters of water a day.”
The body measurements revealed that I lost two and a half inches around the chest, an inch off my hips, a half inch from my upper thigh and an inch off the bicep.
Karen Rosito,
“Adding up the numbers, two and a half plus two and a half five and one six and one seven and a half inches. Very good, I expected between five and eight inches, you lost seven and a half inches from the total body with a whopping two and a half inches each coming from the chest and waist.”
Even my nutritionist Karen Rosito was impressed with the results.
Karen Rosito,
“With the way her blood pressure normalized, as you would see the pressure went down tremendously. She was disappointed with the random blood sugar test because it was still high. She took herself off the insulin, I call her Dr. Jackie today. She took herself completely off and that wasn’t advisable and I don’t know who advised her to do that. Because she was exercising and dieting, she figured let me do this the natural way but Jackie will need to go back on some insulin.”
I exercise for one hour four days a week. It has been intense. Some days it is also a mental challenge because you just do not feel like going to the gym. The key however is to remain committed to your goal.
Roberto Mariano, Fitness Trainer
“Well basically what we are doing here is to make sure that Jackie gets a total workout. If you notice she does the bike first, she does a little cardio to get the heart going, and after getting the heart going you lose fat
by doing the bike but you want when you lose the fat, you want to tone up ad so we have her doing a lot of weights right now. It is not big weights, small weights which make sure that when you exercise, your arms aren’t sagging after you lose the weight. The legs aren’t shaking up too much; muscles replace the fat you lose. So that is what we are doing with Jackie right now, to make sure she keeps healthy and be fit.”
Karen Rosito,
“Now that she has only been doing this for two weeks but what happened is that she was bombarded with the diet and the exercise and everything else and people on the street meeting her and saying we are rooting for you and she went 100% all out. So the 80% I gave her, I will up that to 100% for this session because she lost 10 pounds and 7 and half inches off her body.”
While my workout sessions are not as strenuous this time there is still the burning sensation and yes it is natural for the body to tremble as I work hard to tone my muscles and get in shape.
Alex Ellis,
How do you feel now for the rest of the way?
Karen Rosito,
“I never like to give a hundred but I think I am going to give her 99 this time because she did really well and you know you saw her, the first segment she struggled with exercise but she has been consistent. I know some days she is really tired but she makes sure. So part of it is consistency showing up, even when you don’t want to show up, and eating sensibly and smart the entire time.”
Roberto Mariano,
“From the first time she came, she’s now able to keep up a lot more and it is not because she comes only one or two times for the week, she makes sure she comes four time a week – even during the rain and everything that we had this week, she still made sure she came to the gym.
I know on weekends because I check with her sister and friends who I know her that she does her little workout home. Sometimes they call her to make sure she is eating the right thing like if she is somewhere where she is working and can’t get the food, she would call and check and make sure that she is eating the proper amount of carbs, protein, and everything else she is supposed to be eating. Because this thing goes hand in hand, nutrition and exercise go hand in hand and that makes sure your cholesterol drop, your sugar go down.
Everything works together. You cannot eat too much of one thing. Even though like for example it might be that rice might be bad for you, yes you can still eat rice but it is just how much of it you eat and that is why Karen is the nutrition part of it where she tells you exactly how much to eat by servings and with that along with the exercise, that is what makes sure you lose weight because the last two weeks Jackie has improved big and she’s lost of the weight she is supposed to lose. She lost more than what we expected her to lose in the last two weeks.”
Well my workout continues to be a challenge and I must admit I am feeling more energetic these days and I am happy to hear that my pressure is back to normal. I must continue to work on my sugar and to get this diabetes under control. I will continue with it, it is for three months and I think I am going to accomplish my goal.
In two weeks, we’ll have another intelligent of battle of yhe bulge to tell you how Jackie’s doing.
