University Times

Staff members on the 6th floor of Sennott Square are “enthusiastic and ready to go” in the University’s just-launched MyHealth Weight Race, according to Karen Dicks.

Dicks, who is a Fitness for Life champion, spoke for her team of five staff members in the Department of Computer Science.

Although she’s a comparative newcomer to the department, having transferred from the School of Engineering about 18 months ago, she feels a bond with her teammates. “It’s a good group. We’re all in the over-49 group,” she noted.

The team consists of three women support staff, and two men, the department’s director of operations and a member of the technical staff.

“Kathy, Kathleen and I have nearby offices, so we work closely together. One of the guys who works with computers heard us talking about forming a team and he volunteered right away. The other guy said his doctor told him he had to lose weight, so he joined us,” Dicks said.

The five-member weight race team christened itself “Rami’s Roundees.” (The name is derived from the team’s sponsor, Rami Melhem, chair of computer science.)

“We chose that name for obvious reasons: We fit the bill,” said Dicks, who acknowledged that she herself is overweight. “This came at a good time for me. My motivation is that I know I’m way overweight, about 75 pounds, and I don’t mind if you print that. I’m also turning 50 soon. That’s why my goal is pretty high but within the safe range — to lose 20 pounds.”

The other four team members settled on more modest goals of losing one pound a week.

“It was up to each of us to decide our own goals,” Dicks said. One team member had been enrolled in a weight-loss study and had dropped 12 pounds recently, although he acknowledged there was room for more, Dicks said. “He has a little experience with losing weight, and I think that gives us all some confidence that it can be done.”

Their motives for joining in on the weight race also varied. One team member is a breast cancer survivor who has trouble managing her weight due to the medications she takes, Dicks said. Another team member knew he’d have to lose weight to avoid other health problems.

“One of the guys said he was very competitive in everything he did, so he wants to win, but the others are in it more for the healthful benefits. It would be nice to win, though,” she said.

Strategies for reaching individual goals also vary among the teammates, Dicks noted.

In addition to the support of teammates, a staff member in the department who holds a black belt in karate has offered to teach the team certain yoga techniques, which they intend to practice twice weekly at lunchtime for the duration of the weight race, Dicks said. “I completed a Pilates program at Pitt, but I’ve never done anything like yoga. I’m glad he’s not teaching us karate,” since she might be tempted to use it on uncooperative faculty, she quipped.

Two of the members for several years have walked together at lunchtime, and will continue to do that exercise.

“I’m planning to focus on cutting down those calories, eliminating those sweets,” Dicks said. “We all agreed to watch each other closely — and scream at each other when necessary.”

Dicks doesn’t expect the goals set by the team will be easy to reach, especially given the department’s atmosphere and location. “We have a lot of lunches in this department, and there always seems to be food around,” she said. “When the department brings in a catered lunch, there’s always leftovers. They don’t last long around here.”

Added to that are the temptations offered by the seemingly ever-present wafting aromas from Panera Bread, located below the department on Sennott Square’s first floor.

—Peter Hart