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April 3, 2008

Weight race impact widespread at Thackeray Hall

“There’s a social part to this, that everybody can participate in,” whether in the weight race or not, said Joe Cheadle, an accounting analyst in Student Billing and Accounting.

Employees building-wide are exchanging healthy recipes, and joining in Tuesday brown bag lunches and weight race participants’ walks, he said, adding that his office alerts all employees when walks are scheduled.

“I do forward information I get on diet tips, and personal success stories, but most of the people I know are really into this, and they find the resources they need themselves online,” said Cheadle, who is a member of the Thackeray Thin Mints weight race team and a Fitness for Life Champion assigned to Thackeray. “They talk about it and they encourage each other,” which has not gone unnoticed by others in the building, he said.

The 12-week weight race competition launched in January is pitting against each other some 260 teams of five or more participants — more than 1,300 employees overall — to see which teams best achieve weight-loss goals.

Now in its 10th week, the weight race aims to establish healthy eating and physical activity habits in order to create a healthier, more productive, less stressed workforce, which in turn cuts down on absenteeism and eventually lowers health care costs, according to Pitt and UPMC Health Plan officials.

Carol Miller, also a Fitness for Life Champion in Thackeray, has been approached numerous times for dieting advice since the weight race started.

“That’s because I’m a success story. I started losing weight on the South Beach Diet before all this began and I’ve lost 60 pounds, so people look to me as someone who knows what I’m doing,” said Miller, who is an administrative support staff III in the Registrar’s office.

“I’m happy to lend out the book on the diet, or to talk to people about what it is and how it works or to make other suggestions. I think it’s good that everybody in the building is invited to the Tuesday brown bag, and to the walking sessions. It’s been good for morale.”

Miller’s team, Sam’s Fit Five (named for Pitt Registrar Sam Conte), has climbed from 60th place to 18th in the overall Pittsburgh campus standings. “We’re doing quite well as a team,” Miller said. “I go over to Bellefield and do 30 minutes on the treadmill, usually Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I also use my exercise tape — ‘Walk Away the Pounds’ — at home. I tell people the key is motivation to get started, and then to make lifestyle changes.”

Dave Geragi, a purchaser in the Office of the Registrar, is team captain of Conte’s Italian Army (informally, “The CIA”). His team is No. 2 is the latest overall standings for the Pittsburgh campus.

“Thursday is our weigh-in day,” Geragi said. “Dr. Conte got us a scale that the whole building can use for the weekly weigh-in.”

Conte and other directors in the building also started Tuesday Treats, springing for healthful foods such as fruits, vegetables and string cheese, for all employees to enjoy, Geragi said.

As the weight race sponsors hope, some new practices will continue after the weight race ends on April 18. Geragi said the building’s directors plan to continue the healthy Tuesday Treats, and his team plans to continue healthy eating habits and exercising.

“I’ve learned a lot,” Geragi said. “I’ve learned that fat-free Cool Whip actually tastes good — Who knew? I also eat sugar-free Jell-O now, something I never would have tried.”

Geragi’s team takes the competition seriously, but the weight race is not without its lighter moments. “We got this strange package a while back marked from the Provost’s office,” he said. “It was really from a team of women in the office who were holding down third place, right behind us in the weekly standings.”

The package contained a big slice of cake, with the message “For doing so well in the weight race,” an obvious ploy to sabotage the efforts of Conte’s Italian Army, he said.

“I emailed them and said: ‘Thanks, but it won’t work.’ Then I added, ‘I wonder who ate the rest of the cake?’ They wrote back: ‘Oh, we sent that to the team that’s in first place!’”

—Peter Hart


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