The 82 participants who recorded final weights in Meltdown II Thursday night at the Recreation Community Building lost a total of 586 pounds, an average of just over seven pounds each. They represented nearly 30 percent of those who signed up at the official weigh-in Jan. 3.
The 284 enrolled lost a total of 1,375 pounds, according to postings on the Meltdown II Web site.
Top loser percentage-wise was Bob Johnson, at 10.8949 percent. Steve Kipp, 9.28058 percent, was second, and Ruth Dolenz, 8.61878 percent, was third. All received medals and Johnson won a one-hour courtesy flight from Accel Aviation.
Johnson accomplished his nearly 11 percent loss by trimming 28 pounds from his starting weight of 257.
“WHO IS going to interview you,” Sunny Shreeve, Meltdown II director, asked Johnson, a reporter for the Register.
In first person, this is what happened:
Among those who gave short talks while participants were weighing in last night was Terry Butts, Humboldt, who was with the winning team in Meltdown I. She noted that exercise and mindset were important parts of a weight-loss program, and how the women in her group had continued to meet regularly to exercise after Meltdown I and would in post-Meltdown II.
I had the mindset the past two months — Meltdown II stated Jan. 9 — but I didn’t exercise anymore than a few strolls around the block. Had I added that to my efforts, results might have been better.
What I did do was follow very closely and without fail a low-calorie, low-fat, high-fiber diet that included oatmeal for breakfast and occasionally for a snack, along with fruits and vegetables each day.
Wife Beverly, whose weight loss was more than 7 percent, was careful to measure components of such things as meatloaf, made with 97 percent fat-free ground beef, so we’d know precisely how many calories and how much fat a serving contained. She also made soups, one with a smidgen of ground turkey and generous amounts of vegetables, and another laced with several kinds of beans, a good source of protein.
When we shopped for groceries, we looked first at the listing of what packaged foods contained.
As for mindset, I found encouragement in a specialist’s comment that losing weight very likely would help alleviate pain from the spinal stenosis I suffer. He also mentioned walking, which I intend to do with nicer weather.
The bottom line is, there is no magic diet that will lead to weight loss. It can be accomplished only by consuming fewer calories than a person expends. The low-fat and high-fiber parts of the diet I adopted are asides to close attention to consumption of calories.
Adding exercise is important, not only for weight loss but also for cardiovascular health and, as anyone who exercises regularly will testify, it puts a spring in your step and “just makes you feel better.”
