Garrard County held its first Weight: Reality Series program this past spring. 16 participants started with the program. 10 finished after 8 weeks.
This agent, assisted by the Health Educator and the Dietician at the Health Department conducted the series at the Extension office, health Department and the Physical Fitness Center.
Each session included a hands-on activity, nutritious food, powerpoint presentations, hand-outs, weekly weigh-in, sharing time, and physical activity that everybody could enjoy. There was one participant in a wheelchair starting the program and ended the program walking with 2 canes. Others ranged from no exercise prior to the classes starting to yet another walking everyday.
100% (10 that finished)of the participants maintained their starting weight with one person reporting losing 3 pounds between the beginning of the class to the end of the eight weeks. All 10 reported learning much to help them continue to maintain or lose weight. One participant stated she had not thought about some of the things we talked about in the classes that contributed to her weight such as stress eating, convenience eating; after being made aware of it, she thought she was doing a better job of controling those bad habits.