Archive for the ‘Obesity and weight loss’ Category

Tamworth Atlas 10k team success at Lichfield run

Sunday 10th September was the day that the Atlas 10k team led by Tamworth Osteopath John Williams completed their fitness and obesity programme.

Running the Lichfield 10k race alongside club athletes from all over the midlands, the Atlas team ran every step of the way to claim success and prove that if you exercise on a regular basis, you can achieve what many thought impossible.

What began as an obesity challenge 10 months ago where many of the squad members would get breathless with walking just 100 metres, has resulted in a life changing experience

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Team members included Helen O’Reilly, Samantha Turnbull, Johanna Smith, Karen Whitehouse with fitness coaches John Williams and 76 year old triathlete Tom Dixon.

Best time achieved was by Johanna Smith who clocked 62 minutes for the Lichfield 10k
This was truly remarkable considering 50 year old Johanna was clinically obese, a 60 cigarettes a day smoker and was breathless from just a short walk.

10 months later, after taking part in the Atlas 10k obesity and fitness programme, Johanna has shed over 4 stones, regularly runs 5 miles and she is now a non smoker. Her long term goals are to run a full marathon in the future.

Johanna was awarded the prize for the person losing most weight which was a day for two at the Eden Spa at Hoar Cross Hall in Staffordshire. This was kindly jointly donated by Eden Spa and John Williams of Atlas Pain Relief Centre.

The squad are to continue training and intend to enter the Tamworth 10k run next year.

Tamworth Osteopath John Williams believe’s exercise is good for you, however, special population categories such as obesity require professional guidance. Most people are capable of exercise and non weight bearing activities such as swimming or cycling can burn calories without heavy wear on the joints.

If you have concerns about your ability to exercise safely, you should consult your doctor.and exercise specialist. Specialist advice and a fit to exercise check up can be obtained at Atlas Pain Relief Centre in Lower Gungate, Tamworth by telephoning 01827 59943

7-9-2006

3 days to go before the Atlas 10K team take on the Lichfield 10K run.

Johanna Smith has won the award for the person who has lost most weight during the programme.

Johanna was presented with a voucher for 2 places at the Eden Day Spa at Hoar Cross Hall in Staffordshire.
The prize was jointly donated by John Williams of Atlas Pain Relief Centre and Mr S Joynes from Eden Day Spa.

Johanna has lost over 5 stones during the training programme and given up smoking up to 60 cigarettes per day. When Johanna first joined the Atlas 10K squad she could only manage to walk 100yds before becoming breathless. She is now running 5 miles per day and completes a 10k run twice a week in training. Below is a photo of Johanna before she joined the Atlas 10k programme.

Truly remarkable as this seems Johanna is hoping to break 60 minutes for the 10k race and reports that she has achieved somewhere in the region of 50 minutes recently in training.

Tom Dixon our sprightly 76 year old will be running with her but at these kind of times Johanna is likely to leave him behind. Johanna intends to increase her distance running and plans a half marathon in the future with the long term goal of running a full marathon. This is a long way from previously struggling to walk 100 yards.

We will only be taking a small team to run in the race as many of our squad have stopped training over the 10 month period. It would be great if they could attend on the day to cheer the team on.

Our candidates that will run for the Birmingham Childrens Hospital are Helen O’Reilly, Samantha Turnbull, Johanna Smith, Karen Whitehouse, Tom Dixon and John Williams.

Thanks go to everyone who helped us along the way and to the squad members who were part of our journey, but are sadly not able to join us on the day.

Remember – Failure is when you stop trying ! Train Hard – Win Easy ! jw

2-8-2006 Atlas 10k team prepare for final 5 weeks training

After 9 months of training we are just over a month away from the Lichfield 10k race in Staffordshire.

The team has been selected and will be divided into 3 groups.

Group 1 will be 76 year old Tom Dixon and 50 year old Johanna Smith

Group 2 will be John Williams, Sam Turnbull, Helen O’Reilly, Adrian Summers

Fun Run will be Karen Whitehouse who had limited opportunities to train recently due
to family bereavement

Natalie Smith although very keen and hard working failed to make the team because she struggled with compartment syndrome which is a sports injury of the calfs. This condition limited her ability to exercise and although brave and determined we had to stand her down for the good of the team. We admire your courage and pay tribute to all the hard work you have put in over the last 9 months Natalie, well done !

Anyone wishing to make a donation to the Birmingham Childrens Hospital can do so by supporting our runners. We would all love to see previous squad members and would appreciate your support on the day. Come along and cheer the group on because you all know how hard these individuals have worked.

Tamworth Weight Loss Success forAtlas 10K team member.

Tamworth based Johanna is showing an example to anyone that exercise and controlled intake of calories is the way to lose weight and get fit.

50 year old Johanna Smith has introduced a lifestyle change which has taken her from smoking over 60 cigarettes per day and weighing 16 stones at a height of only 5 feet 1 inch tall. losing an incredible 4 stones and stopping smoking completely Johanna has been an inspiration to the Tamworth members of the Atlas 10K squad and is currently in training to run the Lichfield 10K race in September.

Johanna is currently running regular sessions of 5 miles at a time and is well on track to complete the Lichfield 10K course in September.

Johanna Smith Profile

Name: Johanna Smith (aka Honey)
DOB: 15th May 1956
Height: 5′1″
Highest weight: 16stone (2003)
Weight at joining Atlas team: 14st 2lb
Weight now: 10st 2lbs
Weight lost on Atlas 10k squad training – 4 stones

In 2003 i stopped smoking and going from 60+ cigarettes a day to nothing caused me to gain alot of weight. I yo-yoed up and down with different diets but managed to lose 2 stone on the Mayo Clinic Diet which was a crash diet. Then my daughter joined weight watchers and asked me to go with her, so i did. A couple of weeks later my daughter saw the Atlas advert in the paper and went along to the meeting. When she got back she explained that although the advert had said you had to be over 17stone as long as you were obviously overweight you could join. I was so unfit that i could not walk 10mins without being out of breath and was coming up to my 50th and wanted to be fit and fifty not fat and fifty! So i joined the team too. I was really pleased that i was able to do this with my daughter, she (being heavier than i am) gave me the inspiration to keep going with it. We’ve both come along way from being able to run only 100 meters to today running 5 miles.

I’ve been reviewing my life over the last 12 months and have introduced some drastic changes, changed jobs, reduced my working hours, started a major decluttering plan etc, all in an effort to inject quality and a feel good factor into my life, but the underlying problem to feeling good is being grossly overweight.
I haven’t always been overweight, in fact for the first 30 years of my life I could eat whatever and whenever I liked and my weight would not fluctuate. After my daughter was born I kept approximately a stone of weight but still felt good about myself. When my son was born I never lost any weight at all. Nevertheless I had two young children and was quite content to be “mumsey” while they were little.
After a few years I returned to work and that’s when I began to feel badly about myself. Suddenly I became ‘invisible’ to some people and at times felt very left out; treated with contempt, made to feel ugly and worthless because I had committed the cardinal sin of allowing myself to become overweight. I joined Weight Watchers but became obsessed with food; I joined a gym but had difficulty finding time to go on a regular basis and of course continued to gain weight. About 10 years ago I was diagnosed with an underactive thyroid gland and now take tablets daily to help. I am a member of LivingWell and swim 2 – 3 times per week but still my weight increases; I know I need to do more effective exercise and eat healthily, which is a daunting task especially if I have to do it by myself.
I had seen an advertisement for people 17 stones + to join a weight loss group but never got around to ringing up. Then maybe fate took a hand because I met John Williams at LivingWell’s Christmas dinner and dance, he explained his Atlas 10K charity run for overweight people from the Tamworth area, he also said “if you let me I will change your life”. That promise and his enthusiasm compelled me to at least pop along to the group on Sunday 11 December 2005 to see for myself.

SESSION ONE
I was greeted by a sea of faces, one cheeky chappie even winked at me and that was all I needed, I was hooked and determination set in. I completed 10 laps and along the way different people took it in turns to accompany me even though I hadn’t mastered the art of talking and circuit walking at the same time!
John said he would change my life and I think he might just do that ….. time will tell.
SESSION TWO

I really looked forward to the Wednesday evening session, a good sign in itself because normally I had to force myself to do any exercise. For motivate I had told everyone about meeting John and how he said he was going to change my life which meant I couldn’t back out for fear of losing face. Besides which a lot of people genuinely want me to lose weight.

The usual friendly faces were there. It’s good that there are a range of ages, young overweight lads to granddads just wanting to keep fit.

I managed to do 11 laps. No aches and pains, just a sore shoulder from trying clothes on a few weeks earlier.

SESSION THREE

Again raring to join the group.

A guy was hanging around the car park; he turned out to be a photographer, who had travelled all the way from London. When John arrived the guy had disappeared.

I did 13 laps. I found the trick was to pace myself and stick to that pace.

John got the group jogging, including me, although it has been years since I did any jogging. He would blow his whistle for the two at the back to jog to the front of the group and so on. I managed it … just.

We all had our photograph taken by John and I mentioned that my dietician would like to speak with him with a view to recommending some of her other clients join he was all for it.

Weighed in at 17.1 which is .2 less than on Friday with the dietician.

SESSION FOUR

I arrived before most of the group, in fact the only two there were waiting to get their injuries checked out, so I set off on my own. None of the loneliness of the long distance runner (walker in my case) because all along the route people were saying “Well done”, “Keep going”, “You’re doing great” etc, which really spurred me on. Coming up to the 10th lap a voice behind me said “We’ve finally caught you up” and John dropped in beside me to tell me that the others had spent 8 laps trying to catch me up, which made me feel really good. The rest of the group finished at 10 laps but I was determined to better the last session and did 14 laps. For the last three laps Tom joined me and amazed me when he said he did his first triathlon at the age of 75! There is hope for me yet.

Afterwards John brought me down to earth a bit by saying although I had done well the aim is to run the race as a group, it’s no good everyone doing their own thing. Of course he was right; the whole idea of being a group is to motivate each other.

INDEPENDENT SESSION

By accident I saw an advert in the free local paper about a walk on Boxing Day around Kingsbury Water Park. Still on a high I joined the group. It was more of a stroll than a power walk but very enjoyable. The friendly park warden led the way stopping at points of interest and giving a brief history talk. I met some lovely people who have inspired me to join a ramblers or walking group. I wish I could get my husband interested; he could certainly do with the exercise.

SESSION FIVE

The festive season disrupted Wednesday evening training and when I turned up on Thursday I discovered I’d missed Tuesday’s session. I also realised big meals before training are a “No no” I felt really sluggish, John’s breathing exercises helped though and I managed to do 15 laps … just. Only an extra 10 laps to equal 10K ……

It was very cold and started to snow halfway through the evening but we carried on walking relentlessly. I got talking and walking with two of the girls, one amazed me by telling me how she has lost 10 stone so far, not by dieting but by walking. Amazing and inspiring.

SESSION SIX

John drove us around the bend – literally. He made us run around the bend of each lap, then walk the straight length, then jog. I felt really good afterwards, a sense of achievement. Got talking to another member of the group Nattie. We all really inspire each other.

SESSION SEVEN

The festive season is very disruptive, I have a feeling I have missed a session.

Anyway today we had our photographs taken, were measured, weighed and had to lie on a table minus our right trainer and sock so that electrodes could be attached to a foot and arm to measure our fat mass and water mass. This all took a fair bit of time so stupidly I tried to make up time by setting off at too quick a pace and ended up with terrific leg ache and had to call it a day after about 4 laps. A lesson learnt.