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Over the next year, you'll be able to track our two challengers, WebMD the Magazine readers Jeff Kibler and Stefanee Williams, as they set out to become leaner, stronger, healthier versions of themselves.
The WebMD Fitness Rx Challenge is about much more than getting a beach-buff body. It's about a whole new healthy lifestyle, with added benefits that include lower cholesterol, a stronger heart, and boosted energy levels.
At 52, Jeff is battling type 2 diabetesdiabetes and the middle-aged man's enemy: the spare tire. His demanding job as a magazine art director keeps interfering with his plans to get fit and make healthy homemade dinners, but Jeff is determined to change his life with the Challenge.
Stefanee, the 30-year-old mother of a new baby boy, has been able to shed only half of the 40 pounds that she gained while pregnant. In fact, she'd like to drop a bit below her prebaby weight. Her goal is 160 pounds, down from her current 189. Between mommy duty and her part-time information security job, Stefanee has a lot on her plate.
Jeff and Stefanee will be guided in their quest by three experts: WebMD Medical Editor-in-Chief Michael W. Smith, MD; WebMD Director of Nutrition Kathleen Zelman, MPH, RD/LD; and fitness trainer Michael Lin, NASM.
After visiting their own doctors for a complete physical, our challengers turned in their results to Smith, who set their Challenge goals and will keep a careful eye on this process.
Next, they turned in a week's worth of food logs -- admitting to every wayward bite -- to Zelman, who analyzed their nutritional strengths and weaknesses and put together personal plans. Three times a month, they'll visit Lin for workouts. He'll check to see if they're sticking to the home-based workouts that he's devised for them. Ready, Jeff and Stefanee? Get set: Here we go!
More about our Challengers:
The Yo-Yo Dieter: Jeff Kibler
"I want to beat my diabetesdiabetes complications," says Jeff. "I'd also like to lose a couple of pounds and have more energy." Now weighing 210 pounds, with a history of yo-yo dieting, Jeff's goal weight is about 170.
Losing "a couple" (or 40) pounds may mean the world to Jeff's health. Between 80% and 90% of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight. Lower numbers on the scale -- even 10 pounds -- can translate into lower blood sugar. And with both his parents having died relatively young (in their mid-60s) after suffering from high cholesterolhigh cholesterol and heart diseaseheart disease, Jeff wants to stay heart healthy (since heart disease is a complication of diabetes) and prevent the family history from repeating itself.
One of his hang-ups: double-dipping dinners. "If I'm really running late, I'll find myself wanting to chow down on snacks while I'm making dinner," he says. Zelman responds: "We're going to work on decreasing his fat intake and adding healthy snacks." For starters, he plans to switch to skim from whole milk and buy low-fat plain yogurt for his on-the-run lunches.
Finding time to work out will be more of a challenge than the food fight, Jeff says. His workload is so heavy that after his first two evening workout sessions with Lin, Jeff headed right back to the office. But he hopes to combine exercise and commuting. "If I walk from my house to the Metro in the morning and back in the evening, that's a two-mile walk. I'm going to try to do that as much as I can." Also, Jeff has been supplementing his allotted twice-monthly check-ins with Lin with extra workouts on his own time and dollar.
"Jeff is starting out gangbusters," says Smith. "If he can translate this early enthusiasm into ongoing healthy habits, he could change his life."
The New Mom Stefanee Williams
"I can't fit into any of my prepregnancy clothes," says Stefanee, who gave birth to her first son four months before starting the Challenge. "I'm hoping to get back into my skinny jeans, and also to get some of my energy back. I'm always tired these days, running after sleep I'm never going to get." And with both high cholesterolhigh cholesterol and high blood pressurehigh blood pressure in her family tree, she has good reason to keep an eye on her own health numbers before they spin out of control.
Faced with her husband's long hours at work, her own job, and the 24-7 demands of an infant, Stefanee struggles to break away for regular workouts. "I bought a treadmill, but I've only used it a handful of times," she says. BreastfeedingBreastfeeding hasn't helped: "I don't know who all these women are who lose lots of weight when they breastfeed, but I'm not one of them!"
Eating right will be a family affair for Stefanee and her husband. She's discovered that controlling her fork is hardest when they dine ?eux. "When I'm not with him, I have more of a structured routine. I'll have green tea, fruit, and an oatmeal bar for breakfast. But when I'm with him, especially when we eat out, I go for all these big portions and just keep eating."
Zelman advises Stefanee to pump up her diet's fiber content with more vegetables, salads, and beans, and rein in hunger by making sure all meals contain some protein. Meanwhile, Stefanee's excited about the "home-sweet-home" workouts she's going to learn with Lin. "Since I can't get to the gym like I used to, I need a routine I can do at home after I put my son to sleep, like crunches and lunges."
Smith applauds Stefanee for thinking about her cardiovascular health while she's still young. "Too many of us think that our family health history is just that -- history -- until it catches up with us," he says. "Getting fit will benefit not only Stefanee, but her husband and son as well."