Ed Bermes isn't sure if his Weimaranersare pulling him when he runs with them and if that counts as cheating.
Either way, it's working.
Bermes, a contestant in The Times' Lose 17 in '17 weight-loss contest, has dropped 25 pounds since the beginning of the year. He's done it by running with his two dogs and eating a healthier diet. Both have been equally important to his success.
"I absolutely think it's both for me," said Bermes, 57, a personal custom clothier. "I would be nowhere near 25 if I did just exercise or if I just watched what I ate and didn't exercise."
Fitness experts say that in the early stages of a weight-loss program, it's all about finding that proper balance.
Ashlee Johnson, programs supervisor for Franciscan Omni Health & Fitness in Chesterton, said that early on people should focus on making better food choices and portion sizes, while incrementally increasing the intensity of their exercise routine.
"Cutting calories along with doing a significant amount of cardio at the beginning of a program can actually hurt someones progress at times because they are doing too much too fast and often end up with too big of a caloric deficit, or could even get hurt or burnt out," she said. "This may cause someone to quit, which is the last thing we want.
"Ultimately, the goal is to have a good balance of proper nutrition and exercise, which will put someone on the right path to leading a healthy lifestyle."
Ray White, of Griffith, has been taking Johnson's recommended approach. Because of his job, he spends a lot of time on the road. So he'd often stop at drive-thrus, eating fast food in the car. Not anymore.
"For me it's been the diet," he said. "I was eating all the wrong foods at the wrong time.I'm trying not to eat fried foods. I haven't had any potato chips or pop or potatoes."
He's mostly been walking for exercise at this stage. That's been helped by his participation in a FitBit Challenge, where he and some friends compete to see who walks the most steps each day.
The biggest motivator so far, he said, was having his initial weight printed in The Times in January. He was the heaviest in the group. The day that paper came out, before White had a chance to see it, his friend texted, "Your (butt) better be on the treadmill right now."
"To me, it was the line in the sand," said White, 51, a funeral home operator. "When everybody knows how heavy you were, now it becomes, 'I'm going to show them.'"
The public display of his weight has had other benefits.
"With Griffith being a smaller community, if I go to Bridges to eat perch, it's boiled. They'll say, 'You're in the paper. That weight. I'll give you extra vegetables instead of potatoes,'" he said. "The waitress knows not to bring the bread bowl anymore."
Ron Szanyi, of St. John, is still working on the nutrition side of things. But he and his wife recently joined a gym and have been going five days a week.
Szanyi, a physical education teacher, hadn't worked out at all the previous two years.
"It's definitely been more exercise than the diet," the 58-year-old said. "I don't mind working out. I just had to get back into the mindset of, 'I'm enjoying it.'"
The competitive aspect of the contest has helped as well. The monthly weigh-ins remind him of his days as a wrestler and competitive weightlifter.
The problem comes when he does improv on the weekends in Chicago and goes out to eat with his fellow performers.
"I try to opt for the salad from the time to time," he said, "but the Chicago beef or hot dog or polish are just really tempting."
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Lose 17 in '17 contestants take different paths to weight loss - nwitimes.com
