The family wellness makeover: Part 2

Health
Exercise and a more nutritious diet have helped George and Despina lose weight and led to significant decreases in resting blood pressure, resting heart rate and body mass index, says

Dr. Suzanne Buchanan. The couple have also lost inches, which means they're toning their muscles. Keep going, says Buchanan, both for the personal gains and the role modelling that this provides to the girls. While the Morfidises now know how to make healthy food choices, the more challenging part is making regular aerobic exercise a part of their daily lives. "That's key to long-term change and success," says Buchanan.

Exercise
Challenges: Before the makeover Despina didn't exercise at all and George was inconsistent about it.

Successes: Within weeks Despina embraced her three weekly resistance training sessions with enthusiasm, often meeting coach Sue Forest at the gym at 5:45 a.m. (Click here to see Despina's progress report.)

George now does weights at the gym three nights a week. He also started walking daily (his goal is 45 minutes to one hour), often during breaks at work. (Click here to see George's progress report.)

The girls are more active, too. Ria continues to jog up to five times a week. Stefi signed up for competitive gymnastics, which consists of three 3-hour practices a week.

Forest also recommended that the family start doing activities together; they went to a class a few times at GoodLife Fitness Club, walked around their neighbourhood and participated in two walkathons.

Strategies: Forest works one-on-one with Despina (three times a week) and George (once a week). She focuses on resistance training because it increases lean muscle mass, which makes the entire body more efficient at burning fuel (calories) -- even at rest. Once a week she works with Ria on running techniques and with Stefi on flexibility training.

George and Despina had success with resistance training but fell short in the cardio department, Despina in particular. In the months to come, it's important that Despina does more cardiovascular exercise on her own, says Forest. (The original program included 30 minutes of cardiovascular activity, five to seven days a week.) Aerobic exercise still hadn't become a habit for Despina. "I had lots of excuses," she says. "I had a problem with my foot, the weather was overly hot, and I was already weight-training three times a week, which I thought was great, considering I did nothing before." It was, but, Forest points out, Despina needs aerobic exercise as well, which can be done all at once or broken into three 10-minute or two 15-minute sessions throughout the day. So Forest is adding a stronger cardio element to Despina's gym session. She also suggests that Despina use the treadmill or elliptical machines at the club and that she find a reason to walk every day (for instance, take the stairs or leave the car at home whenever possible).

Forest lowered an overly ambitious goal of three family activities a week to one or two (perhaps a walk after dinner) because everyone is short of time. And the family plans to go downhill skiing together at a nearby club -- an exciting first for Despina, who will take lessons.