Dedication paying off by the pounds!

Nicole Therrien
and Pat Stoyka
Contributors

Congratulations to every one; six weeks in all ready!!! People of Rainy River and Bergland are still committed to weigh-in. The majority of the group has gotten back on track and lost their Thanksgiving gain. Well done every one!
The program has run 6 weeks and we are now half way there now. So it is time for all participants to revisit their goals and expectations. Pat and Nicole are available if you need help.
Heidi Ivall from the Public Health Unit shared her expertise to discuss portions. The use of the “portion display” kit helped the participants of Rainy River to better understand how to identify adequate portions for different food groups. Nicole used the “portion display” kit in Bergland to present the same information. This was very interesting and enlightening & maybe surprising to many of us to find out we were eating greater portions than we realized. The realistic food models were an excellent way of helping us appreciate this. That a challenge for most of us who realized that our food portions are way more that what the Canadian Food Guide advises. This emphasizes the need to measure our portions and keep a food diary to help control the amount of food we are actually eating. Nicole continued on to answer many questions related to Body Wellness. We learned about healthy numbers for cholesterol, HDL, LDL, and tryglicerides and how diet and activity can influence these. It was a most interesting and informative session and several participants are taking advantage of these sessions on a regular basis. We so appreciate Nicole’s time, energy and expertise as well as her usual wit and the flavour of her French culture!! This provides a fine balance between our goal of becoming healthier as well as participating in a weight loss challenge.
The Rainy River Biggest Loser was Sandra Campbell who lost a total of 5 lbs. this week. Well done, Sandra. Her fruit basket was donated by Beaver Mills in Rainy River. Thirty-five participants weighed in for a loss of 52.5 lbs and a weight gained of 15.5 lbs making our net loss 37 lbs. Great!!!! The door prize winner was Lainie Carpenter who has not chosen her gift yet.
In Bergland Pauline Brusven was our Biggest Loser with a 4.8 lbs loss. Congratulations Pauline. Her fruit basket was prepared by the Peterson Store in Bergland. The winner of the door prize was Ruth Brett who has not chose her gift either. Twenty-one participants weighed in for a loss of 20.6 lbs and a weight gain of 21.8 lbs making a net gain of 1.2 lbs.