Suzanne and Bob DuPuis train with Edmonton Eskimos’ player, Agustin Barrenechea, and personal trainer, Kelly MacKenzie-Rife.

Suzanne is a Registered Nurse, a wife and grandmother who wants to implement and maintain a healthy lifestyle with her husband Bob so that they can watch their grandkids grow up.  She has purchased a home gym, is on a program to quit smoking and is looking to become a more active participant in life.

First Experiences…

I can’t believe the changes that have taken place since beginning the Making the Connection challenge.  I was actually afraid of getting together with Kelly, our trainer, and Agustin, our Eskimo.  I have seen those workout shows on TV and fully expected to be yelled at and bullied.  It’s been quite the opposite.

 

Kelly is amazing, giving me a workout routine that is very easy to fit into my life.  Amy, our dog, has become our partner in a brisk 30 minute walk daily.  At first, I’m sure, she wondered why she had to run to keep up but now she’s enjoying herself.  After the walk I like to do a workout with weights and the big exercise ball.  It doesn’t really feel like I’m working that hard but the sweat and sore muscles say that I am.  I also have a gadget called an ab-slide that I really like.  It seems to work almost every muscle between your neck and your knees. 

 

I’m a full time registered nurse working a days/nights rotation.  I work on the 7th floor of the hospital and started trying to climb the stairs the very first day of the challenge.  On that day I barely managed to get to the third floor (two flights).  I couldn’t catch my breath and my legs felt like sacks of cement–they just didn’t want to move anymore.  I did the stairs three times that day and on two other days that week.  By the end of the next week I was climbing four stories.  I discovered that yes, my legs hurt and yes, I’m out of breath but once you get to that point the amazing thing is that the soreness and breathlessness doesn’t get any worse and it’s possible to just work through it.  This week, I am climbing the stairs to the 7th floor.  I have to stop and catch my breath a couple of times but I get there. 

 

I know that my cardiovascular health is increasing.  However, (and all the women out there will understand this) the best part is that on Sunday I put on scrub pants to wear to work that I couldn’t fit into a month ago!!!!  That’s tangible and that feels great!

 

Just look at my picture and see how out of shape I let myself become.  My message is that if I can do this so can you.  If you have to, find a way to get with a personal trainer.  Kelly has been a great influence on me and I am not sure I would have worked this hard or this regularly without her encouragement.  Next week is “media day” and after that the final fitness test, weigh in and I think we will have our cholesterol levels checked again.  I can’t believe the time has flown by so quickly but just because the challenge is coming to an end doesn’t mean this new lifestyle is.  One of my goals is to eventually advance to running instead of just brisk walking.  I think there is a healthy little runner hidden inside me!

 

Peace,

Suzanne

 

 

Round 2

Hi Everyone:

 

Tomorrow is the final official day of the Making the Connection Challenge for us.  We are meeting with Kelly and Agustin at the gym for our final weight, waist measurement, blood pressure and fitness tests.  We are also getting our cholesterol levels checked again this week.  I wanted to write before the final results are known and we find out who the winning couple will be.  For me, there are no losers in this contest.  Even if we don’t have the best measurable results of all the couples, I know our health has improved.

 

I know that now my 30 minute brisk walk is no longer enough to make me tired and out of breath.  So after just a few short weeks, I’ve had to add intervals of running.  Imagine, me running!  It’s unbelievable.  I know that I bought a new pair of jeans the week before we began the challenge and they were really hard to do up and yesterday, I pulled them off without undoing them.  I know that I have a personal tragedy occurring in my life right now that I would have had great difficulty coping with before all this exercise improved my mood, my self confidence and my belief that I can accomplish anything I want to or have to.  I know that our participation in the challenge has influenced our friends, our family, our co-workers, our neighbours and total strangers to start to at least think about their cardiovascular health and risk of heart attack.  Yesterday, the cashier at Zellers said, “I saw you on the news last night–way to go!  My mom had her cholesterol checked a couple of weeks ago and she joined Spa Lady!” 

 

So much has changed since starting the challenge.  Exercise is a priority now.  Sure, I still like to relax and watch TV or play computer Mah Jongg, but the one day I didn’t exercise, by bedtime I really missed it.  I am committed to not going even one day without at least 30 minutes of exercise (I like to do one hour).  I just discovered that the employee fitness centre at my hospital is open 24 hours a day.  I had a hard time fitting exercise in when I was working night shifts but now I can go downstairs on my hour break change into workout clothes and use the treadmill or eliptical for 30 minutes and then do ball, weights, and other exercises like squats, push-ups and lunges for another 30.  The other nurses usually have a nap on their breaks and I just used to go out to my car and sit and listen to the radio.  The exercise energizes me and sitting in the car just made me more tired.  At the beginning of the challenge, Kelly asked us what the two or three exercises we absolutely would not do were.  I said swimming, running and push-ups.  I refuse to wear a swimsuit in public right now, I was not able to run because I had zero stamina and I was incapable of push-ups because of arthritis in my right hand and wrist.  Yesterday, in front of the media I was running and I did 30 push-ups!  (and I could have done more of both!!!).  The power of exercise to improve all aspects of one’s life is phenomenal.  My posture and balance have also improved.  I don’t need nearly as much sleep as I did a few weeks ago.  All it takes is making a decision to turn things around.  There are no magic wands, or pills or machines that can do this for you.  Before, if I felt achy I would take a painkiller and lie down.  Now when my muscles ache I get high on the feeling that I am doing something fantastic for myself.

 

  We had a good long visit over the phone with the dietician last week.  We had to hand in two days of honest food journaling for analysis.  We were really embarrassed because the two days we had to log were extremely atypical eating for us.  The weather had just changed to fall-like a few days before and I got a craving for turkey.  So I stuffed and roasted a whole turkey on a Tuesday and that’s what we ate for two days.  She didn’t bat an eye or offer even one tsk! tsk!  She concentrated on what good low fat meat turkey is and that our green beans were a good source of fibre.  Well, once the stuffing was all gone, we began a high protein, low starchy carbohydrates eating plan.  We eat lean meat, eggs (mostly whites with one yolk), fish, chicken, seafood, skim milk mozzarella, a bit of cheddar and parmesan cheeses and all the low starch/sugar veggies we can eat.  Bob is making wonderful homemade beef jerky with no chemicals or artificial anything.  A slice of that and a bottle of water really fills you up as a snack.    We do not eat pasta, rice, bread, or cereal or cakes or cookies or granola bars.  Although I do plan in the future to have a bowl of steel cut oatmeal now and then.  I personally have to stay away from bread because I love it too much and could eat a entire loaf of something nice and crusty in one sitting, plain or toasted!  The veggies we never eat are potatoes and corn.  We eat small amts of sweet potatoes (yams, really), beets and squash occasionally because the colours are so bright and they are so full of fibre.  Also, we are crazy about them.  The above eating plan is for the perfect world.  I know and can accept without a doubt that there is a plate of poutine somewhere in my future.  But the difference between now and before the challenge is that I will not feel guilty about it and my very next meal will be according to my new eating plan.  I am using PGX fibre drinks and sprinkles both for the benefit of the fibre and also to fill me up if I only have time for a small quick lunch at work.  I am also taking cinnamon capsules, Omega 3 fish oil and green tea extract capsules every day.

 

My wish is that everyone who reads this really hears that diet and exercise are the golden key to a longer, healthier, happier, better life.  We have been blessed with the gift of Kelly who worked with us the most.  Like Melodie, the dietician, she always, always finds the positive.  The workout exercises she has given us have been relatively easy to start and we just have had to gradually increase the weight or repetitions as they became too easy to be a challenge.  Unfortunately, she is moving to BC at the end of the month.  I wish I could continue to meet with her.  Agustin has been a wonderful motivator.  He is all about the mind/body connection and he and I relate.  He has kept in touch through regular emails mostly because of the demands of his job.  It is possible to receive strength through the internet–you just have to work to deserve it.  Please try to find yourself a trainer.  You only have to meet with them once a week at first and then perhaps when you are well established and hooked on exercise you could meet less often.  It is well worth whatever it costs.  They are not just educated in how to perform exercises correctly but also in inspiring, motivating and encouraging you exactly in the way to which you will respond.

 

I guess the next time I blog for us we will know who is going to the Grey Cup in Montreal.  I hope we get the opportunity to thank Wally Buono and the CFL officers who have made this opportunity open to all of us!

 

Peace and sweat!

Suzanne (for both Bob and myself)

 

One last!

Hi Everyone,

 

You are finally hearing from the other half of our competitive team.  The wonderful professional parts of this team will have to do their own contacts. 

 

We did great.  I have no clue when or how the results of the competition will be announced.  We did great anyway.  We both improved in every category.  Suzanne lost 7cm in her waist and 10 lbs.  She brought up her distance on the treadmill by about 1/3 and brought her cholesterol numbers way down.  She has continued with the brisk walking (with Amy, our dog) as well as her stair climbing, at work.  We were asked what we did not want to do at the beginning and we each had a couple things.  One of hers was pushups because she thought she was unable to do them.  Now she does three sets of 25 every other day.  Suzanne has changed how she eats-period.  I lost 12cm off my waist and 22lbs.  I improved on the treadmill relatively the same as Suzanne.  My blood sugars smoothed right out at acceptable levels, I brought down my triglycerides and raised my HDL.  I still do the brisk walking because I can.  I was gluttonous at Thanksgiving but immediately got back on track in my eating. 

 

I think there are permanent changes in our lifestyle as a result of this competition.  The payoffs are too great to go back to the sedentary, over-eating life.  Win the chance to see Montreal for the first time or not, I thank Wally Buono and the CFL for starting this competition.  I thank Kelly (our trainer) and Agustin Barrenechea (our Eskimo) for their help and encouragement.  I hope anyone who reads this will give themselves permission to go for walks and get off the couch.  It sure has helped us.

 

Go Eskies,

 

Bob DuPuis

 

 

 

 

 

PS:  Don’t be afraid to comment back–I would love to chat with anyone about Cardiovascular Health and Heart Attack Prevention!!!