Middle Tennesseans move from fat to fit

Tennesseans will do battle over which restaurant makes the best biscuits.

It’s a state where macaroni and cheese is listed under a menu’s vegetable category. Where cornbread and butter is considered a light appetizer. Where even candy bars can be fried.

Thirty percent of Tennesseans are obese, reports Trust for America’s Health, a health advocacy organization. The number climbs to 68 percent when figuring in all overweight people. This geographically skinny state is the fourth-fattest in the nation.

But in the midst of Tennessee’s obesity crisis, even surrounded by a culture that pushes the most fattening food, folks are somehow defying the odds. Calls to Middle Tennessee gyms searching for people who have shed 100 or more pounds are met with the response: “Yeah, we know a lot of them.” Having so many heavy people changes the face of weight loss.

Tennesseans used to set out to lose 30 pounds. Now, for many, it’s 100.

TV viewers see those sorts of huge losses on hit shows like The Biggest Loser or read about them in women’s magazines. But doctors warn: It’s not easy. And it’s not even necessary to see large health gains.

“People need to remember that fairly small amounts of weight loss can make a big difference in terms of improving their health,” said Dr. Kevin Niswender, an assistant professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University. “From a clinical perspective, even just stopping from gaining weight is a success. Because, as a society, we’re gaining weight every single day.”

Those who have dropped the weight say they’ve seen major life changes. Some went the surgical route. Others relied on plain old diet and exercise. But all of them agreed: It requires a lifestyle change and dramatically fewer calories, day after day.

Two-hundred-fifty-pound, 5-foot, 5-inch Wood felt like a fool walking from her home to the stop sign, just two houses down.

“I would come back in and say to myself, ‘You didn’t do anything. What did you do that for? That’s not going to do anything for you,’ ” she said.

But she did it anyway, battling those negative thoughts every labored step of the way. For a month, walking two doors down and turning back was all she could do. She went to the library and checked out Eat, Drink and Be Healthy , which preached eating breakfast, so she started doing that.

She had made up her mind in a divine moment at church during a sermon about having an abundant life.

Community and Business Leaders Graduate from 2011 Leadership ...

Thirty-one community and business leaders from the Middle Tennessee region, have graduated from Leadership Middle Tennessee’s year-long program, announced Jack Turner, chair of the group’s Board of Directors. Leadership Middle Tennessee is a regional leadership institute encompassing the 10-county area in Middle Tennessee which includes Cheatham, Davidson, Dickson, Maury, Montgomery, Robertson, Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson and Wilson Counties.

“The Leadership Middle Tennessee program educates existing leaders to the importance of having a regional perspective.” commented Turner, who helped found Leadership Middle Tennessee. “Leadership Middle Tennessee brings community, business and government leaders together to work on a variety of regional issues. I am very proud of this year’s class; they will be instrumental in expanding the aspect of regionalism.”

Graduates of the 2011 Leadership Middle Tennessee class and their respective counties are: Cheatham County: Dianne Proffitt, Education Consultant with Cheatham County School Board and David Stryjewski, Executive Director, Sumner County YMCA; Davidson County: Harold “Hal” Clark, Associate Principal, Civil Site Design Group, Inc.; Erik Cole, Executive Director, Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services; Fiona Haulter, Project Manager, Gresham Smith & Partners; Genma Stringer Holmes, Owner/CEO of Holmes Pest Control; Julia Fry Landstreet, Executive Director, Nashville Civic Design Center; John Levesque, Area Executive, First Tennessee Bank; Paul Ney, Attorney, Waddey & Patterson, PC; Karen Shayne, President/COO, Carrington Senior Health Services; and Bethlel “Bo” Thomas, VP for Advancement, Belmont University; Dickson County: Jason Pilkerton, Director of Planning and Zoning, City of Dickson; and Warner C. Taylor, Jr, Assistant Director, Tennessee Technology Center at Dickson; Maury County: Tyler “Ty” Cobb, Fire Captain, Columbia Fire Department; Janet F. Smith, President, Columbia State College and Randy Wilmore, CEO, Family Health Group; Montgomery County: Jeffrey V. Bibb, Managing Partner, BLF Marketing; J. Phil Harpel, Director of Administration, Montgomery Co. Government; Melinda Shepard, Vice President, Clarksville Area Chamber of Commerce; and Gregory Pierce Stallworth, EEO & Civil Rights Officer, Ft. Campbell Garrison Command; Robertson County: Rebecca B. Gunn, Self-Employed; and Shanan Poss, Channel Business Manager, Roche Diagnostics; Rutherford County: Robert J. Lyons, City Manager, City of Murfreesboro; Roy L. Moore, Dean, MTSU College of Mass Communications; and Lee M. Moss, Chairman/CEO, MidSouth Bank; Sumner County: Jimmy Johnston, President/CEO, Forward Sumner Economic Partnership and Courtney L. Rogers, retired, National Guard; Willliamson County: Jacky Akbari, Employer Services Director, Nashville Career Advancement Center and Robert W. Knestrick, Group VP, YMCA of Middle Tennessee-Maryland Farms; Wilson County: Jacqueline West Cowden, CEO, Custom Packaging and Jay White, Realtor/Auctioneer, Agee & Johnson.

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