Overweight In Marion Participants Reflect On Year

Overweight in Marion participants reflect on year (Part 1)

Published January 31. 2004 8:30AM

RICK ALLEN and
SUSAN LATHAM CARR
Staff Writers

OCALA - A year ago, 13 Marion County residents — 11 adults and two children — took on the task of trying to lose weight and allowing the public to follow their efforts through the Star-Banner’s Overweight in Marion series.

Munroe Regional Medical Center, which is running a community-wide fitness effort dubbed Healthy Me, supported the group’s efforts by offering to let each participant use its LifeTime Center facilities.

As in any endeavor, some of their efforts paid off well and some not so well. But each reported learning about themselves and the daily struggle to get healthy — and stay that way.

KEN VIANELLO
West Port High School principal Ken Vianello got pretty close to meeting his goal of dropping his weight to 230 by September, when he and his wife, Diana, headed north for his 45th high school reunion. He even bought a new suit, in a smaller size of course, for the trip.

At 246, he’d shed 21 of the 37 pounds he hoped to lose. Since then 14 pounds have come roaring back, much of it the result of holiday partying, for a net loss in 2003 of 7 pounds.

If there was one thing he learned from the experience, it was that, “You have to have a goal,” he said. “You have to have the discipline to reach that goal and you can’t be discouraged if you take a step back. You need persistence. You have to be ready for the long haul.”

For Vianello, 63, the goal of slimming down for his class reunion proved to be powerful incentive. But with the target behind him, it was easy to lose focus — and stop losing weight.

“The hardest point for me was once I hit that plateau,” he added. “I could feel myself relaxing and my persistence waning.” The new suit still fits, though Vianello admits it’s a bit snug.

But he’s not discouraged; rather, there’s a new goal now: Alaska. Shortly after he retires June 30, he and Diana jet to the great Northwest for several weeks of exploring the frontier state by land, by sea and by air.

“Boy, if I’m not in shape for that, I don’t know what Alaska will do to me,” he said.

DWIGHT MCDONALD
Perhaps the most dramatic transformation was Dwight McDonald’s. Slightly more than a year ago, McDonald weighed 400 pounds and was in danger of dying of weight-related illnesses. But he has shaved off 140 pounds and is enjoying life, something he has not done for a very long time.

“I learned there’s something on the inside of me that wants something better for myself,” McDonald said. “I feel my hopes and dreams are coming alive again.”

Only 13 months ago, however, McDonald would sit alone in his car rather than enter a pizza shop with his grandchildren for fear strangers would stare at his large body and embarrass his family.

“Everywhere I would go, I used to feel out of place,” he said. “Now I walk into places and people don’t know I am there. I feel a lot more comfortable going places and being places. I feel proud. I feel happy.”

On Dec. 2, 2002, at his doctor’s urging, McDonald had his stomach stapled. He now can eat only small portions and he exercises regularly at LifeTime Centers. He has come to enjoy eating vegetables and fruit.

“I learned that the life Dwight had is the life Dwight built,” McDonald said. “For some reason — and I don’t know how to put this — but I learned that people respect you more when they feel you respect yourself, when they feel like you take an interest in doing something for yourself instead of lying back and saying, ‘I have a problem,’ but you put forth an effort to correct the problem.”

After being out of the workforce for years because of his health, McDonald now plans to go back to college to learn refrigeration and air conditioning

And he has begun to enjoy activities he couldn’t when he wore a size 66 pants instead of today’s 44.

“I can get in the go-carts at Easy Street with my grandkids,” he laughs. “My grandkids are proud of me. You don’t know how much that means. That goes beyond anything I can think of.”

KARRIE SCROGGIE
Though she didn’t herself lose the pounds she hoped to, Karrie Scroggie still became an inspiration to others at the medical clinic where she works.

“I encouraged a lot of the others here to diet,” she said during a pause at ExpressCare of Belleview, where she’s marketing director, a job that keeps her on the run. “A lot of them lost weight, but not me.”

Still, Scroggie, 35, dropped two dress sizes, from 22 to 18, during the year. She was reluctant, however, to discuss other numbers.

She conceded much of her effort to shape up fell flat when her workout center closed during the year. “When my gym closed I lost my enthusiasm.” But shortly before 2003 expired she and 12-year-old daughter, Dominique, joined a new club. Together, they get in at least three workouts a week.

“My daughter doesn’t need to; she’s very fit,” Scroggie said. “She’s very cautious about her figure, plays softball. And she complains if we miss a workout.”

It was her daughter that prompted Scroggie to undertake the fitness challenge last year. Now they have a guaranteed three mornings together before one heads to work and the other to school.

Thus the lesson Scroggie learned: “You need a partner,” she said. “And you need the ambition to just do it. I guess I really didn’t take it that serious.”

JOE-BALT EVIDENTE
Over the course of the year, Joe-Balt Evidente has learned what most of us who try to lose weight have discovered — it’s not easy.

“I lost some. Of course, I wanted to lose more,” Evidente said. “It got to a point where it leveled. That’s where the tough job is. You have to double your discipline and double your workout.”

He said that, through exercise, he replaced fat with muscle.

“You may lose inches but weight — oh, my gosh, it’s tough,” Evidente said. “It’s not just food. It’s more psychological discipline.”

Evidente, 46, was hoping to lose 30 pounds off his 199-pound, 5’4” frame. He did cut back on snacks, although he did not totally deprive himself. But those treats did come with a price.

“Every time you chew, you say, ‘How many calories are these?’ “ he said.

Evidente may not have lost all the weight he wanted to shed, but his shirt size has shrunk from large to medium and his pants have gone from size 36 to 34.

“I don’t get tired easy,” Evidente said. “I think the more physical exercise, you get a better attitude. I notice if you exercise less, you tend to sit and slouch and do nothing. You think about food. You eat.”

For all his struggles, Evidente is sticking with his weight-loss program, even though he knows it will not be easy.

“Healthwise, it’s a win-win situation,” he said. “I love it. I will keep on. One year is not enough for my objectives. I will keep on going. No problem.”

Source: http://www.starbanner.com/apps/pbcs..../1001/BUSINESS