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ST. LOUIS - Twins Danielle and Dierdra Yates, 25, went to out to eat a couple of weeks ago at Outback Steakhouse.
"I ordered steak and broccoli, and I don't even like broccoli," says Dierdra, "but I ate it."
Danielle had pasta, but "she didn't even eat that much," says Dierdra, who also took home half of her steak.
"I wouldn't have done that before," Dierdra says.
What's changed for the sisters? The Health & Fitness Family Challenge.
And they're not the only ones making changes.
"I actually tried a carrot," their sister, Tara Robinson, said.
Last month we introduced you to the Yates family: the twins; Tara; their mom, Sandra Yates; their sister-in-law, Deveta Yates; and Deveta's 6-year-old daughter, Darne.
With the help of Pam Lazaroff, a registered dietitian with outpatient services at St. John's Mercy Medical Center, and Michelle Lavery, a physical therapist at St. John's, the family has begun its quest to lose weight and get in shape. And in just a few short weeks, things are already looking up. The family has lost a total of 32, with Danielle being the big winner-she lost 12 pounds.
"It's all hard," she says. "But I can already tell I feel better."
"I can tell you have more energy," says Dierdra.
"She's going to be our star," says Tara.
Lazaroff met individually with each family member and set some specific goals. "Just work on changing one thing at a time," she said. "Don't try to do it all at once."
For instance, Tara has trouble with late-night eating. So Lazaroff suggested she just work on that and not worry so much about the other meals-for now, anyway.
Lazaroff has all of the family members, except Darne, on a calcium supplement. "That's something important," Lazaroff says. "As women, we aren't getting enough. And they're not big milk drinkers."
She has them write down everything they eat during the day, paying attention to how many servings of each food group they get. She doesn't want them counting calories, but by eating the right number of the right kinds of foods, they are eating about 1,300 to 1,600 calories a day.
Lavery is meeting weekly with the family, putting them through a workout and helping them log their weekly fitness goals.
She gave them each a pedometer so they could get a baseline of where their activity level was. From there, her only request was that they increase their number of steps each day.
"10,000 steps (what the government recommends) is just not possible for some people," Lavery says. "Our goal is just more each day."
Lavery isn't the only one not so enamored with the government's guidelines. Lazaroff says the recent recommendation of 90 minutes of exercise a day to lose weight is "unreal." "If we cut back our intake we don't have to do 60 to 90 minutes a day."
Says Lavery, "It still boils down to, if you are putting in more than you are burning, you will gain weight. We need to find a balance."
That said, "Making changes is not easy," Lazaroff says.
But seeing that number go down on the scale certainly makes it a bit easier.
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HEALTH & FITNESS FAMILY CHALLENGE
For the first three months of the year, we are following the members of the Yates family as they adjust to a healthier lifestyle. They begin the challenge with the shared goal of lifelong health, but have individual concerns and different ideas on how to get there. Here's a look at the family members and what they've been doing so far:
SANDRA YATES, MOTHER
Occupation: switchboard operator
Age: 50
Height: 5 feet
Starting weight: 195
Weight now: 191
Health concerns: Coronary heart disease, asthma, hypertension.
Dietary goals: The No. 1 thing she can do for her health is to get involved in a program to stop smoking, says Lazaroff. After that, she has Sandra on a heart-healthy diet that is low in fat. Sandra's goals are to limit her Pepsi intake (she was drinking three cans a day) and to watch her portion control.
Exercise routine: The family matriarch started at 2,200 steps a day and has worked up to 3,775. "When I get off work I change my shoes, and I walk the first floor. ... I've even found myself going to the store, not to buy anything but just to walk around." She's also brushed the dust off the exercise bike she's had for 11 years and started riding it. "I can already tell I've got better lung capacity," says Sandra.
TARA ROBINSON, DAUGHTER
Occupation: Volunteer coordinator at Unity Hospice, poet
Age: 33
Height: 5 feet, 1 inch
Starting weight: 157
Weight now: 152
Health concerns: Lymphedema, a swelling in her left leg. Too much exercise can increase the swelling and pain.
Dietary goals: Tara wants to start cooking more at home (she had been eating out about three times a week). She also wants to increase her water intake, and her fruit and vegetable intake. She says she's looking to get back the motivation she had when she lost about 40 pounds last year.
Exercise routine: With the help of her treadmill at home, Tara has gone from 2,911 steps a day to 6,700. "I do well if I just get on the treadmill." Her plan is to walk for as long as possible four to five times a week.
"I still feel like I can do this," she says.
DEVETA YATES, DAUGHTER-IN-LAW, MOTHER OF DARNE
Occupation: Student
Age: 28
Height: 5 feet
Starting weight: 270
Weight now: 265
Health concerns: Deveta suffers from asthma, which she says has gotten worse as her weight increased.
Dietary goals: Deveta, who was getting three meals a day from fast-food restaurants, has set a goal of eliminating fast food and cooking four to five times a week. She also wants to make it a point to eat with her daughter, Darne.
Exercise routine: Deveta goes to the gym to lift weights three times a week. She gets her cardio by dancing at home-"I do the cha-cha slide"-three nights a week for 30 minutes at a time. Chasing after a 6-year-old, she stays pretty active. The first day she wore the pedometer she got in 4,160 steps. But by the end of the month, she was walking 5,200 steps a day.
DIERDRA YATES, DAUGHTER
Occupation: Public relations
Age: 25
Height: 5 feet, 4 inches
Starting weight: 149
Weight now: 143
Health concerns: Given the problems with asthma and diabetes in her family, she has become vigilant. "Every extra pound means I have a better chance of having problems, too."
Dietary goals: Dierdra wants to eat healthy when dining out, keep a food record and go grocery shopping for healthful food. "I was using my refrigerator as extra storage space." Keeping good food in the house will help her make good choices.
Exercise routine: After tracking her steps with a pedometer, Dierdra says, "I know what my problem is now." She logged only 1,700 on her first day and was as low as 828 one day, but started working her way up to 2,900. "Once I get to my desk I'm there all day." Like her sisters, she has a treadmill in her house and is trying to use it three times a week. She's also working out at Imagine Weight Loss, doing circuit training a couple of times a week.
DANIELLE YATES, DAUGHTER
Occupation: Data entry technician
Age: 25
Height: 5 feet, 2 inches
Starting weight: 204
Weight now: 192
Health concerns: She has suffered from Type 1, insulin-dependent, diabetes since 1996 and has asthma.
Dietary goals: Danielle found herself getting nauseated after some intense workouts. Lazaroff advises her to eat something with about 15 carbs before these workouts, because her blood sugar is getting too low. One of Danielle's big goals is carb counting (she's aiming for 165 grams a day of good, high-fiber, complex carbs) and eating consistently to match her insulin levels. She also wants to make a point of eating dinner by 6 p.m. to help her curb her late-night eating.
Exercise routine: Danielle started at 1,007 steps and is working her way up to 5,500 with the help of her treadmill and the broken copy machine by her desk. That forced her to walk to the other side of her office to make copies. "I got up a lot." Her goal is to work up to 45 minutes on the treadmill-"I'm at 38 now." She's also doing circuit training a couple of times a week with Dierdra.
DARNE YATES, GRANDAUGHTER
Occupation: first-grader, LeMasters Elementary School
Age: 6
Height: 3 feet, 5 inches
Starting weight: 74
Weight now: 74
Health concerns: Asthma diagnosed at age 6 months, allergies.
Dietary goals: Darne's goal, or rather her mom's goal for her, is to cut back on the juices she drinks. With children, the goal is to maintain their weight and let them grow into it rather than to lose weight, so Darne will be working on developing good habits, such as eating healthy snacks (her favorite: sliced apples with peanut butter). She's working on making a healthy snack list with her mom.
Exercise routine: In addition to a daily recess break and her weekly gym class, Darne dances with her mom three times a week for 30 minutes. Darne got a pedometer, too, but she lost it the first day.
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(c) 2005, St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service.
