Since May 15th we’ve presented two instalments of Jacqueline Godwin’s Battle of the Bulge. It’s her three month challenge to lose weight, control her diabetes and get in shape. It’s been quite the ordeal, especially the gruelling workouts, but in our next story we find that Jackie is getting fitter and more than that, she’s shrinking! But can she control her sugar? You’ll find out in the following story.
Jacqueline Godwin Reporting,
You would think that after six weeks into my fitness challenge the workout would be a little bit easier but while I have been gaining the strength to do the exercise this is the time my gym instructor Robert Mariano raises the level of difficulty. As he likes to tell me, “no pain no gain”
I must admit I feel fitter and not as run down as I felt before I started the programme on May fifteenth. And a large part of that is because I have been very careful with my diet. It is also very good to keep track of your progress during each workout. For example I wear a heart rate monitor that not only tells me when I need to slow down but just how many calories I have burned.
Robert Mariano, Gym instructor
“As you can see Jackie’s heart rate is at 177, just now it was at 181. This is where the heart monitor comes in very good because it shows me that her heart rate is up a little too high. So I will slow it down so she can catch a little break. You don’t want the heart to go up too high because the maximum for your heart rate is 220 minus your age but the watch gives you 220 minus your age at 80%. So whenever you reach 80% you will have an alarm that beeps and tells you yes you are at 80% so you can always keep an eye on it.
You normally put it on your skin under your shirt and you go around and this is the sensor for the watch and it takes the reading from off of here and gives you how much heart beat you have per minute and it calculates it to see how much fat you burn.
It is not only about just eating, you have to have dedication. We only do half of it at the gym, Jackie will have to do the other half by showing her dedication. A lot of people feel you can just come to the gym one day or two days and not come back for like a whole two months and you will lose weight, it doesn’t work like that.”
Karen Rosito, Dietician/Nutritionist
“The first time she lost a whopping 10 pounds but we said it would slow down. Today she lost like three and a half pounds of fat and that is still good. She has slowed down because Jackie can’t really lose fat that she doesn’t have. So by losing that three and a half pounds, it’s wonderful because she is normalizing. Her face will show it, remember we don’t want people to be slim and then the face will look haggard. Her face is showing it, she looks really well.”
Only two weeks into the programme I managed to lower my high blood pressure from a worrying 150 over 100 to an ideal 120 over 80. Today would be the defining moment to see if I had finally gotten my sugar level under control. Because I had taken myself off the insulin two weeks ago the last reading showed that the number had dropped only slightly from 218 to 216. So I was put back on the insulin but at a lower dosage and remained dedicated to my diet and exercise. And did that work?
[Nurse telling her it is at 78 and the blood pressure is 120/90.]
Nurse Kira Newman,
“Overall from what you start off with to now, perfect okay. But you said you just went to the gym so probably you could check later but overall this is very good. From 218, 216, and now78. Good. You’re on your way, congratulations.”
Karen Rosito,
“Now I am pleased but I am not surprised. Pleased because she is happy and I feel better for her. Not surprised because the blood sugar always responds to exercise and diet. 78 for those who don’t know is normal. Normal is 90 or a little less. She is excellent, she came from the gym this morning, came directly here, took her blood sugar, and it is 78. Her pressure was wonderful, today it was 120/90. The 90 is a little bit hard because she just came from the gym but I know she has been working out consistently, she has gotten better, she has gotten stronger, she has not lost an inch from the upper thigh so her lower body remains the same. She has put on muscle.”
And as predicted by my dietician and nutritionist Karen Rosito my weight loss has started to slow down. Today I weighed in at 153 pounds.
Jacqueline Godwin,
The weight loss is not drastic, it is beginning to slow down.
Karen Rosito,
“Yes because you can’t lose ten pounds every two weeks.”
I lost another two and a half inches around the chest, three inches off the waist and an inch and a half from the arms. The examination also showed that another goal was achieved. There was no weight lost from my hips and legs.
Karen Rosito,
“From here right at the crease, 22. Your legs are still at 22 so that is proof that you didn’t lose any inches from there.”
But as Karen told my cameraman and the segment’s producer Alex Ellis there are many other goals I must achieve.
Karen Rosito,
“She looks well, she told me she feels 100% better so yes she will continue because nobody likes to be sick and she is now noticing that she feels so much better doing exercises and what will change for her now is we’ll challenge her to gain more muscle. It is muscle gaining time because she will keep losing two and a half pounds to three pounds every two weeks until she reaches her goal.”
Alex Ellis,
So the weight loss should slow down?
Karen Rosito,
“The weight loss will definitely slow down. She will be losing two and a half pounds every two weeks. She can’t possibly lose ten pounds because she literally does not have that to lose anymore.”
I know battle of the bulge has motivated many people to get right with their health. They know they need to exercise but they are at a loss as to what to eat or drink. So on our next segment we’ll show you how to shop for healthy foods.
