BE WELL - Eulalee Thompson
Life couldn't be better for Health's weight-loss challenger Tanica Plummer; she weighed in at 191 pounds at her official weight measurement session on Saturday, May 2. Though Tanny had been monitoring her weight with her own scale, she was bubbling with joy at the official weight confirmation.
"I am elated. I am feeling it in my body; I am feeling the changes. I am lighter on my feet," said Tanny shortly after the session.
The official weight measurement took place at the Kingston practice of Dr Suzanne Soares-Wynter, the consultant nutritionist who has been guiding Tanny's eating management since the start of the challenge in March.
Just prior to the weight challenge, Tanica was weighing 225lb. Through her own efforts she had shaved off several pounds and at her first official measured weight, she registered 209lb, aiming for a healthy rate of weight loss of about two pounds per week. She has, of course, surpassed her targets and the Health's five per cent weight-loss target over the three-month challenge.
Her weight reduction is in the range of 15 per cent of original weight. Tanny's skin folds have also been coming down and her body mass index is moving closer to within healthy range. Tanny's waist circumference is decreasing and she is now in the happy position of having to make adjustments to most of her clothes. She described the transition as a lifestyle change.
"I am not dieting. I am now at the point where I have proposed to the (Mico University College) students' guild to start a health and wellness club in September," she said.
Over the last nine to 10 weeks, Tanny has not only been paying attention to her nutrition but to her level of physical activity and behaviour and feelings towards food and eating. She is up early in the mornings to start her exercise programme and has modified her eating plan to achieve her goal.
Tanny was selected in February from dozens of letters from readers who answered The Gleaner's Health section's promo to 'lose the weight and keep it off'.
No turning back
She is a 23-year-old student at Mico University College, Kingston, in the first year of her degree programme. She had been struggling with weight management ever since she was a child and at one point weighed in at 245lb. When she hit the 200lb mark a few weeks ago, she said that this had been a lifelong dream and that she knew that if she could only reach this target there would be no turning back.
Tanny won the prize of free nutrition consultations with Dr Soares-Wynter, exercise prescriptions with exercise physiologist Dr Kenneth Gardner and ongoing mental-health consultations with Dr Wendel Abel and Eulalee Thompson.
The challenge ends in three weeks. Let's watch and see just how much further Tanica can take my challenge. I dare you!
Eulalee Thompson is health editor and a professional counsellor; email: eulalee.thompson@gleanerjm.com.
Tanica Plummer, Health's weight-loss challenger, now can't fit one of her favourite skirts. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer
Challenger's data
Weight-loss challenger: Tanica Plummer
Profession: Student, Mico University College
Age: 23
Height: 5' 4"
Weight (at start of challenge): 225lb
Target weight loss: five per cent of weight (over three months)
Progress: Average 2lb weight loss each week
Start date of challenge: March 1.
Lose the weight and keep it off!
Final edition
Weight-loss challenger, Tanica Plummer, has already gone beyond her target weight. Don't miss the final edition in this special three-month feature on weight management on May 20 in The Gleaner's multia-ward-winning Health section. Send feedback to yourhealth@ gleanerjm.com.