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Many Women Don't Notice Weight Gain
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It's no secret that the pounds creep up on you -- it's not one or two huge meals that put on the pounds but instead the incremental, everyday diet and lifestyle choices.
On the other hand, most people also believe that with Americans so fixated on their weight, people (especially women) are painfully aware of every calorie they consume and each new ounce they gain -- much like the Bridget Jones film and book character.
A new study suggests that for many women it's not true.
BLOG: Forty Percent of Overweight Women Don't Know It
In a study published in the March issue of the Journal of Women's Health, University of Texas Medical Branch researchers found that a significant number of women evaluated at six-month intervals did not recognize recent gains in weight.
Researchers tracked 466 women of various ethnicities over 36 months and found that nearly one-third of women did not notice a weight gain of approximately 4.5 pounds over a six-month time, and one-quarter of women did not notice a weight gain of nearly 9 pounds over the same period.
The study, which is believed to be the first to explore the accuracy of self-perception of recent weight gain, found that African-American women and women who used DMPA users (the birth control shot), were more likely than white or Hispanic women to notice their weight gain.
The new findings are in line with previous research.
In 2010, for example, a study found that nearly four in 10 overweight women believe themselves to be thinner than they really are. The study's authors surveyed 2,224 women between 18 and 25 years old from a variety of ethnicities.
Using the subjects' calculated Body Mass Index (BMI) and self perception of weight, the researchers found that 36.8 percent of the overweight women (and 10.5 percent of the obese women) believed themselves to be underweight, or of normal weight.
Though it's often assumed that most women think they are too fat, only 16 percent of normal-weight women in the study perceived themselves as overweight. The vast majority (84 percent) accurately perceived themselves as normal weight or underweight.
BLOG: Breast Cancer and the 'Fat Taboo'
These findings concern researchers because if people don't realize they are overweight they won't make an effort to lose weight. These findings also have implications for the wider obesity epidemic, because doctors should not assume that their overweight or obese patients are aware of their weight gains (or even their absolute weight).
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Many Women Don't Notice Weight Gain
Lose weight, tone muscles without breaking a sweat?
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HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Let's face it, some of us lead such busy lives spending an hour at the gym five days a week just to stay in shape is nearly impossible.
But what if you could achieve the same results, doing something just 10 minutes a day and without breaking a sweat? The concept has roots right here in Houston and is about to go mainstream.
For Hilary Brown, life is one big juggling act. With three kids and a career, working out hasn't fit into her schedule, so staying fit has been a real challenge.
"I'd rather be a certain size in my clothes. If I could fit into my size 6 jeans, that would be awesome," she said.
Shaking 10 minutes a day on a machine that claims to work out 90 percent of the muscles in your body - all at the same time - may be just what she needs.
"Within 30 days, you are going to see something," said Gail Hightower with ZAAZ STUDIOS.
It's called ZAAZ, which is Hebrew for movement. While working out on a machine that does the work for you might sound like a gimmick, studios like the one in southwest Houston are growing in popularity and insist they are not giving clients a false sense of hope.
"There's an entire push for people to get into other methods of working out other than the traditional go to the gym or pump iron," said Wil Glennie with ZAAZ STUDIOS said.
Brown was eager to give it a shot. We tracked her progress over three-and-half weeks to see if she gets the results she's been looking for.
"I would love to tone. I would love to have some time by myself; a small amount of time to maximize my workout," Brown said.
Shaking, or whole body vibration, as a tool to work your muscles has been around for a while. It was initially developed for cosmonauts in the Russian space program back in the 1960s. NASA is even toying with the concept for astronauts.
And it's great because you don't have to spend a ton of money on gym clothes; you can just come here dressed as you are.
But can you boost your metabolism and shed those unwanted inches without breaking a sweat?
"There are studies that go both ways," said William Amonette, assistant professor of fitness and human performance at the University of Houston-Clear Lake.
Amonette says this is not a substitute for good old-fashioned exercise.
"It's like anything else in fitness. It's a tool. It's not everything but it's something that can be used with other tools in order to improve our overall health," Amonette said.
We checked Brown's progress half way through her program.
"I'm noticing a toner body. A firmer -- my legs are firmer, my legs are tighter," Brown said.
And a week later, now almost a month after she started the program, it was the moment Brown has been waiting for.
"My jeans are a little looser on the thighs and around my midsection, I've noticed a difference there too," she said.
Houston already has three ZAAZ STUDIOS. Plans are in the works for more studios to open in Denver and San Francisco.
(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
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Lose weight, tone muscles without breaking a sweat?
Lose Weight In 700-Calorie Steps
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POSTED: 3:38 pm EST February 27, 2012
UPDATED: 11:05 pm EST February 27, 2012
BEDFORD, N.H. -- Losing weight can seem like a daunting task, but it's possible to work exercise into your daily routine and lose a pound per week.Fitness experts said about 3,500 calories need to be burned to shed a pound. Personal trainer Donna Wilczek said it's easy to find ways to burn 700 calories per day and drop a pound in a week.Wilczek said many people already have what they need at home, such as a staircase. A 150-pound person walking up and down stairs for 10 minutes can burn 91 calories."So what you want to do to make this more of a challenge to your muscles is to add some weight," she said.Carrying two 5-pound weights while walking up and down the stairs will typically let you burn more than 100 calories.Wilczek recommends using some tools to help track your activity. At a website like healthstatus.com, you can type in your weight, then enter the activity you're doing and how long you did it. The site then calculates how many calories you burned.Mundane chores can add up. Shopping for a half-hour burns 80 calories. Putting those groceries away can burn another 90 calories.Just as important as tracking how much you burn is tracking how much you take in."I always recommend that my clients for a month, maybe longer, keep a food diary," Wilczek said.Food calorie counts can be easily found online. For example, a medium-sized banana is 60 calories, while a plain bagel can add up to 300 calories.Wilczek said it can also be easy to exercise while doing other things, like watching TV or taking care of a baby. Lifting lightweight dumbbells for 30 minutes burns another 117 calories.If you start doing more exercise, though, Wilczek warned to not overdo it. Stretch between sets and start out slow."You don't want to do too much too soon," she said. "That causes people to be discouraged. They hurt too much, and they don't want to come back."Different exercised can have different results. Wilczek said a lower-body workout burns more calories than an upper-body one. She said she's a big fan of squats, recommending three sets of 15 while holding 5-pound weights.A 125-pound person can burn 55 calories while doing squats with 5-pound weights for five minutes. A 140-pound person who does two sets of squats at five minutes per set can burn 88 calories. Adding light weights bumps that up to 121 calories.Beginners can start with leg lifts while sitting on the edge of an ottoman or chair, Wilczek said, adding that ankle weights can be added later.Surveys have shown that more than 40 percent of Americans own a piece of exercise equipment, but the percentage who actually use the equipment is much lower. But Wilczek said home exercise machines can provide a quick and efficient way to burn calories."For burning calories, do it 15 minutes in the morning, 15 minutes at night," she said. "That's OK. You're burning those calories. That's what it's all about."Spending 15 minutes on a Stairmaster will burn about 108 calories. Hit it again in the evening to shed another 108 calories.At work, you can carve off calories by taking a five-minute walk every hour, adding up to 40 minutes by the end of the day and another 100 calories burned.Free pedometer apps for smartphones can show you how many steps you take, how fast you walked and how many calories you burned. A brisk walk for 30 minutes can burn 150 calories.Wilczek said the key is to consider both what you eat and what you do. Plan ahead, ideally working out your diet and exercise the night before.
Copyright 2012 by WMUR. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Lose Weight With Your Brain
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Scientists target a new part of the body to combat weight loss.
Weight loss is an obsession upon which the diet industry feeds, supplying numerous weight loss programs, pills and patches. There are the well-known, celebrity-endorsed programs and products, such as Weight Watchers and Zantrex-3, which involve diet and lifestyle changes. Then there are the lesser-known diet tactics, including earrings designed to decrease hunger by stimulating acupuncture points.
“I would say weight loss is a big deal to most people, especially girls,” said Kristina Woolf, a freshman in College of Arts and Sciences. “And they usually don’t want to lose weight in order to be more healthy. They sacrifice their health to look a certain way.”
The latest focus of weight loss drug manufacturers is the endocannabinoid system. Located throughout the body, endocannabinoid receptors and proteins play a key role in the regulation of numerous physiological—including hunger.
In June of 2006, Rimonabant, a weight loss drug sold by pharmaceutical company, Sanofi-Aventis, became available in Europe. Rimonabant targeted the CB1 endocannabinoid receptors in the brain to suppress hunger.
In the summer of 2007, rimonabant had been rejected by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration due to numerous reports of adverse side effects including nausea, depression and suicidal tendencies. In December of 2008, after addressing health concerns per request of the European Medicines Agency, Sanofi-Aventis removed rimonabant from the markets in Europe.
OUT OF THE BRAIN, INTO THE GUT
The issue with rimonabant was that it interfered with the body’s ability to produce dopamine, a neurotransmitter responsible for regulating the reward and pleasure centers of the brain. Without the ability to attain a natural high, a person taking rimonabant was more susceptible to depression.
Dr. Keith Sharkey, a neuroscientist studying endocannabinoids in the stomach at the University of Calgary, along with medical chemist Alexandros Makriyannis and a team, synthesized a compound to mimic rimonabant with a few important changes.
The compound, AM6545, targets the CB1 receptors in the stomach but remains outside of the brain. They theorized that the compound would promote weight loss just as rimonabant had done without compromising the dopamine levels in the brain.
In animal trials, AM6545 has been a success. A study in the British Journal of Pharmacology reports that mice and rats on AM6545 had lost weight without any side effects of nausea or depression.
The question that remains is whether or not the compound will have the same effect in humans. Research has found that the placement and distribution of endocannabinoid receptors is different among species. Still, the compound is a step in the right direction.
“I’m optimistic. I would say that humans would lose weight, that they would have improved metabolic profile. I would hope that they would have less or no side effects,” Sharkey said in an email interview.
The compound might also be able to maintain effectiveness without any lifestyle changes.
“In our preclinical studies we do see effects whilst animals are maintained on a high fat diet,” Sharkey said.
Despite the promise AM6545 demonstrates, Sharkey said that the compound should not be used as quick fix or permanent solution for obese or overweight individuals
“I would imagine that once a stable reduced weight was accomplished it would make sense to use lifestyle changes to maintain it, and not have to use a drug,” he said.
QUICK FIX FOR WEIGHT LOSS?
The development of a drug that could be used to achieve an ideal weight without any real effort, as demonstrated by AM6545, does not seem to be improbable. The utility of such a drug as the only method of treatment for obesity is not recommended.
“Since the etiology of obesity is complex, it only makes sense that the treatment requires a multipronged approach. Standard treatments include both medical and nutritional management,” said Kelli Swensen, Social Media Manager for Sargent Choice Nutrition Center in an email interview. “Weight loss requires a total lifestyle change that can only be completely achieved by lifestyle modification, including changes to behavior.”
While there is no quick fix for obesity or an easy way to lose weight, many people are attracted to the idea of such options.
“I feel like people would abuse a drug that could make people lose weight without really doing anything because it would be a quick and easy solution,” said Martine Trembelay, a sophomore in CAS. “I’m not saying that a drug like that should not be made but it definitely should not be marketed.”
BACK INTO THE BRAIN
Researchers’ interest with the endocannabinoid system does not end with hunger and obesity. Many believe that further research could result in new drugs for numerous diseases, addictions and ailments such as alcoholism, epilepsy, depression, pain, anxiety and Parkinson’s disease.
The system’s involvement in managing dopamine levels makes it a prime target in the treatment of addiction to dopamine-boosting drugs.
Zheng-Xiong Xi, a pharmacologist at the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Baltimore, figured that interfering with the CB1 receptors to decrease dopamine levels, similar to the way rimonabant worked, would deny cocaine users the high associated with the drug.
To test his theory, Xi studied the effects of THC, the active compound in marijuana, which is believed to increase dopamine levels by stimulating CB1 receptors, in the brain. Instead of finding the dopamine levels rising with a dose of THC, Xi found that they dropped.
The same dopamine decrease occurred in mice without CB1 receptors. The only way this could be possible would be if THC was acting on CB2, the other endocannabinoid receptor, instead of CB1. This possibility was strange considering that CB2 receptors were thought to be located outside of the brain.
To discover whether or not CB2 receptors were in the brain, Xi used JWH-133, a dopamine-decreasing compound developed to attach to CB2 receptors. He found that the dopamine levels decreased in the brain which confirmed that CB2 receptors had to be located there. He also found that the compound reduced the number of times cocaine-addicted mice pushed a lever for a shot of cocaine. In addition, the mice exhibited no adverse side effects.
STAY IN THE BRAIN
Xi’s discovery suggested there could be an alternative to Sharkey’s method of avoiding the brain all together. Rather than targeting the same CB1 receptor in a different area of the body, an effective drug for weight loss could target the CB2 receptor instead.
The very nature of the CB2 receptors makes them a likely focus in the research for new drugs.
“The problem with the CB1 receptor is the fact that it is one of the most widely distributed, highly expressed receptor,” Sharkey said. “The CB2 receptors have a much more restricted distribution so you can target them more with a less potential for side effects.”
The endocannabinoid system presents an opportunity and a challenge for researchers and drug designers. There is no doubt that continued research on the system will yield new types of treatments and therapies for numerous conditions. Nevertheless, there is always a risk of unwanted side effects and the far reaching influence of the endocannabinoid system increases that likelihood.
“I think it is a worthy investment of our research,” said Adnan Hussain, a freshman in CAS. “The fact that the system is found throughout the body probably means we will learn more about the body in the process.”
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Does The Weight Watchers Diet Work -online diets – Video
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11-01-2012 09:21 http://www.todaybignews.com Does Weight Watchers Work 2012 online diets
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Does The Weight Watchers Diet Work -online diets - Video
For The Win – How to Eat Like a Barbarian -diets that work – Video
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22-01-2012 19:03 http://www.todaybignews.com For the Win host Mike Capes explains all you need to know about the Barbarian Diet—aka the Paleo Diet)—the secret to getting ripped like an ancient warrior. Broadsword skills not required, but recommended. For more great advice, visit . 2012 diets that work
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For The Win - How to Eat Like a Barbarian -diets that work - Video
New Patient Guidebook, "Live Healthier – Weight Loss Options for Treating Obesity," Now Offered by the American …
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CINCINNATI, Feb. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Health care professionals tend to underestimate a patient's willingness to discuss their weight and treatment options(1). To help address this communication gap, the American College of Physicians Foundation has developed a Patient Centered Education guidebook and DVD called "Live Healthier – Weight Loss Options for Treating Obesity." This tool was supported by funding from Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc., (EES), a leader in bariatric and metabolic surgical solutions.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110513/NY01718LOGO )
The guidebook and video – available now at http://acpfoundation.org/materials-and-guides/video/videos-for-patients/weight-loss-options-for-treating-obesity.html – are intended to help physicians and patients learn more about obesity and obesity treatment options, ultimately leading to weight-related conversations in the doctor's office.
"We're currently in an obesity epidemic. More than 72 million Americans are struggling with obesity, a disease that can directly lead to health issues including type 2 diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, obstructive sleep apnea and many others," said Dr. Robert F. Kushner, M.D., Clinical Director of the Northwestern Comprehensive Center on Obesity and past president of The Obesity Society. "Primary care physicians play a vital role in a patient's weight loss journey, which starts with having frank discussions about available treatment options, including lifestyle modifications, medications and weight loss surgery."
Obesity is a complex disease with many causes, including social, cultural, and genetic factors. Many people affected by obesity have tried for years to lose weight without long-term success. Today there are many weight-loss options for those who suffer with obesity. Treatment options include tips for a healthy lifestyle, the importance of a lifelong commitment to healthy living as an integral part of any weight loss plan, prescription drugs, and weight loss surgery. The guidebook includes an overview of obesity, its associated risks and available treatment options based on body mass index (BMI).
An accompanying DVD contains educational content brought to life by patient stories and commentary from leading physician experts, including:
Dr. Robert Kushner, Clinical Director of the Northwestern Comprehensive Center on Obesity and past president of The Obesity Society Dr. Christopher Still, Director of the Geisinger Obesity Institute, Medical Director, Center for Nutrition and Weight Management Dr. Robin Blackstone, President of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery and Medical Director, Scottsdale Healthcare Bariatric Program.
About Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc.
Ethicon Endo-Surgery, the maker of the REALIZE Solution for bariatric and metabolic surgery, develops and markets advanced medical devices for minimally invasive and open surgical procedures, focusing on procedure-enabling devices for the interventional diagnosis and treatment of conditions in general and bariatric surgery, as well as gastrointestinal health, gynecology and surgical oncology. More information can be found at http://www.ethiconendosurgery.com or http://www.realize.com.
(1) "Bariatric Surgery Study: Physician and Patient Data Summary Sheets." Harris Interactive Inc. April 2011.
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The Diet-Drug Underground
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If approved by the FDA?a decision is expected by mid-April?the fat-battling drug Qnexa would be just the second prescription long-term weight-loss treatment available in the U.S. (the other, Xenical, was approved thirteen years ago). Meanwhile, a gray market of thinness has emerged, with medication for all sorts of maladies taken for their purported slimming side effects.
Revia
Supposed to be used for: Alcoholism, opiate addiction
How it sheds pounds: The body produces opioid-like substances in response to triggers like food. ReVia blocks the brain’s opioid receptors, taking the fun out of eating. ?I no longer desired chocolates or sweets,? wrote one ReVia patient at Askapatient.com who used the pill ?as a weight-loss experiment.?
Documented losses: 3.7 lbs in eight weeks, by women in a study at the University of Virginia Medical Center
Wellbutrin XL
Supposed to be used for: Depression, seasonal affective disorder
How it sheds pounds: By increasing the effectiveness of the body’s natural dopamine? a brain chemical associated with feelings of pleasure?Wellbutrin can decrease appetite. Depression patients sometimes push for Wellbutrin for this reason. ?I am now a happy and thinner woman,? noted one drugs.com user.
Documented losses: 12 lbs in eight weeks, as measured by a small U.S. study of overweight and obese women
Ritalin
Supposed to be used for:ADHD, narcolepsy
How it sheds pounds: Ritalin also curbs hunger via dopamine, by boosting levels of the neurotransmitter. Eating-disorder forums are filled with praise: One user compared the Ritalin experience to ?[being] like an Energizer bunny ? without fainting because I didn’t eat.?
Documented losses: 11% fewer calories were consumed by subjects on Ritalin in a Canadian study
Human Chorionic Gonadotropin
Supposed to be used for: Female infertility, male hormone treatment
How it sheds pounds: Injections of this pregnancy hormone speed metabolism; it’s been used off-label for that purpose since the fifties, but has undergone a revival. Users often pair HCG with a severely low-calorie diet.
Documented losses: ?43 pounds total!? bragged one dieter to a Dallas TV station earlier this month
Phentermine
Supposed to be used for: Short-term weight loss only
How it sheds pounds: Phentermine triggers brain chemicals that control appetite. But the drug can be habit-forming, so doctors usually prescribe it for no more than six weeks. Wrote a poster on phentermine.com who’s been taking it for three years: ?If I’m off it for a few days, I gain weight.?
Documented losses: 17.6 lbs on average in twelve weeks, by women in a UCLA study
Topamax
Supposed to be used for: Certain seizures, migraines
How it sheds pounds: Some patients report that Topamax dulls taste buds. It dulls other things as well. ?I notice[d] tingling in my toes and feet,? said one user, who lost 80 pounds. ?Also I have terrible short-term memory loss.?
Documented losses: 16.4 lbs on average by patients in a study published in the journal Obesity
* Qnexa combines the active ingredients of Topamax and phentermine. After it was rejected by the FDA in 2010 owing to health risks, California doctors started giving the two drugs to patients separately, demonstrating Qnexa’s obesity-fighting potential and leading the advisory panel to decide this time around that the benefits outweigh the risks.
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Diet v surgery: Curing UK obesity
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26 February 2012 Last updated at 19:46 ET
With one in 30 of the UK population now classed as morbidly obese, the NHS is spending increasing amounts on weight-loss stomach surgery.
Figures released by the NHS Information Centre last week showed there had been a 30-fold increase in bariatric surgeries in a decade - up from 261 in 2000/01 to 8,087 in 2010/11.
While some NHS trusts continue to fund such surgeries for people with life-threatening obesity, others prefer to take a different approach.
In Leeds, teenager Emma Jane Money has recently undergone a gastric bypass operation.
She lost more than two stone in weight in the two weeks since the NHS paid for her to have the surgery at the private Thornbury hospital in Sheffield.
'Potentially dangerous'
The 16-year-old, who weighed more than 21st (133kg) before the operation, said she had tried to diet and exercise more but had been unable to lose weight on her own.
She told the BBC's Inside Out programme: "With constant images of rib cages and bones and bony elbows and things like that it is hard and people do get this idea in their head that this is what every person is meant to be.
"It's really hard when someone then looks at me and thinks 'they're not right, that's not normal'."
Continue reading the main story “Start Quote
People shouldn't be desperate to have bariatric surgery, they should be desperate to change their life around and to work to lose weight”
End Quote Dr Tim Allison NHS East Riding of Yorkshire
Emma said she was "excited" about losing weight.
"I will get to wear all the new fashion trends with my friends. I will get to go anywhere and I don't have to worry about people saying things or judging me."
About 1% of patients die after weight-loss operations but consultant surgeon Roger Ackroyd, who operated on Emma, said the benefits of the surgery far outweighed the risks.
"It's extreme, it's potentially dangerous but it really does work," he said.
"People come to me and say... you are spending hard-earned taxpayers' money treating people who basically all they need to do is eat less and exercise more. That's a very valid argument.
"The only thing I would say is these people such as Emma would in time go on to need a hip replacement, knee replacement, she'll go on diabetic medication, she'll go on blood pressure medication and cancer is much more common in overweight people.
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Mandy Bennett is going through the Live Well programme
"If we can invest in this type of surgery now then it saves the NHS money in the long term."
In the East Riding of Yorkshire, people with a body mass index of more than 45 are being referred to a programme where they are given a personal trainer and nutrition advice.
Mandy Bennett, from Driffield, is one of nearly 50 patients signed up to the Live Well scheme and has lost three stone.
She said: "I have been maintaining my weight for three or four months now which is a big part of it. Learning to maintain your weight is as big an issue as losing the weight."
She said that without the help of her personal trainer she would "still be sat in front of the TV eating the wrong things, getting bigger, getting more unhealthy and probably not anywhere near as happy as I am".
Dr Tim Allison, NHS East Riding of Yorkshire's director of public health, said: "We have seen the number of surgical operations drastically go down by about 80%.
"The levels of bariatric surgery had been increasing quite considerably and we didn't have the services in place to give people the opportunity to have that dedicated six to nine months of intensive diet and physical activity.
"We felt it would be far better if we could put that in place rather than simply have people go forward to surgery.
"People shouldn't be desperate to have bariatric surgery, they should be desperate to change their life around and to work to lose weight."
Inside Out Yorkshire and Lincolnshire is broadcast on Monday 27 February on BBC One at 19:30 GMT and nationwide on the iPlayer for seven days thereafter.
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Diet v surgery: Curing UK obesity
Fitness kids
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Published: Mon, February 27, 2012 @ 12:00 a.m.
Salem Center in helps keep kids motivated
PHOTOS and story
By Jessica m. KANALAS
Wellness and exercise were executive director Heather Young’s main motivators for creating the new Children’s Fitness Center at the Salem Community Center.
This new room opened Nov. 27, 2010, after minor construction to an existing room. It gives children age 6 to 12 a place to get physical and mental exercise.
Before the children’s room, the Salem Community Center had few options for such an age group. Those 12 and older were allowed to use the second-floor facility on their own, but anyone younger had to remain either with their parents in the common areas such as the basketball court or pool or be placed in day care while their parents worked out upstairs.
Young received a grant that allowed for the room to be remodeled and a new, one-year program to begin. STOMP (Surge To Optimum Max Power), a free program, was created and consisted of three 12-week sessions designed to improve the health, wellness and knowledge of the local youth.
“It wasn’t just about weight loss,” Young said. “We try to create the habit young.”
Children who participated met with trainers, kept a journal, received handouts on nutrition and were given prizes with their success as motivation.
Between Nov. 29, 2010, and Sept. 30, 2011, when the grant ended, 2,275 children visited the Children’s Fitness Center through the STOMP program. An additional 4,779 visits were made through programming and memberships, according to the center’s records.
“It’s amazing just seeing the kids in there exercising,” Young said.
Christa Hutton of Lisbon has been coming to the Salem Community Center for three years and said she loves the new addition. Hutton’s family would split up workouts because of the age issue. Christa, her husband Dan, or their daughter, Kelsie, 15, would have to stay home to watch the younger kids.
“Now, it’s a family event,” Christa Hutton said. “We take advantage of everything.”
She brings her younger children, Katelyn, 9, and Hunter, 10, with her three or four times a week knowing they are working out as well as being watched by the center’s employees.
Amanda Rummel of Hanoverton, who also works at the center, said it helps motivate her.
“I love that it’s not just childcare,” she said. “And it’s not about your size. It’s about being healthy.”
The Children’s Fitness Center offers smaller equipment such as ellipticals, treadmills and benches to fit the smaller bodies of children. There are strength-training and cardio machines, free weights and a chin-up bar as well as a Wii, Xbox and Kinect. The room also holds two bikes with complete computers attached, which are run by the child’s biking activity. When the child is in motion, the computer is on and games are available to play, but if the child stops working out, the computer shuts off. These types of equipment allow for knowledge growth as well as physical activity and motivation.
The center is open Monday through Thursday, 4 to 8 p.m.; Friday, 4 to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
If you’d like to support the center, $25 tickets are on sale for the third annual Girls Night Out event, which is taking place from 4 to 9 p.m. March 28 at the center. The evening includes dinner, almost 60 vendors for shopping and several speakers who focus on women’s issues such as migraines, fitness and nutrition. All proceeds go to the Children’s Fitness Center for future programming. Call the center at 330-332-5885 for more ticket information.
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