Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

I haven't heard any updates from my team mates this week but hopefully they're doing well.

I'm on vacation this week on my way to Virginia but thought I would update about my challenge.

In partnership with Governor Dannel P. Malloy, I’ve declared war on childhood obesity and each day an army of kids, parents, educators, elected officials and Fortune 500 companies are joining me to help battle this disease.   How bad is this disease? In Connecticut alone, childhood obesity impacts more than 12 percent of our children.

Making the matter even more urgent is the fact that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity in children jumped 17 percent compared to a generation ago.  And, a multitude of studies have also shown that the childhood obesity epidemic is a real problem. The New England Journal of Medicine recently published a study that found kids who were obese or overweight by 5 years of age, would most likely keep that weight on through adulthood.

Picture this: June 2009. Fifty-five years old and at my highest weight ever. Recently laid off and feeling, well, not good! Join the local YMCA to swim because I’m too embarrassed to be seen in a gym.

During the first week of the challenge, things have been going along nicely. My weight is the same, which is what I want, but my body fat percentage is going down! I'm almost in the teens when the trainer used the calipers on my body fat! So I'm slowly getting it down but it's a long process.

I also was able to finally check on my activity during the past week. The FitKik Pebble we use keeps track of all activity, but you can't really monitor the activity live. Once last week's info was uploaded at the YMCA kiosk, I saw that I met my personal goals… I still get 10,000 steps a day! This tells me that I'm more than active enough. I hope my other team mates did well too!

I thought I was done with wellness challenges. I did two challenges at the Northwest CT YMCA, two walking challenges sponsored by the Bridgeport Regional Business Council and even a triathlon challenge at the Greater Waterbury YMCA, all in about two years.

Now I'm in another challenge at the Northwest CT YMCA, this one being titled the "Fitness Commitment Challenge". The only reason I decided to join this challenge is that it focuses on something the other ones didn't, that being body fat percentage. My trainer wants my body fat to be around 13 so I still have a way to go.