Wide Load’s getting closer

THE volunteers in this year’s Get Moving to Health Challenge have had a tough week.

While there has been no letup in their commitment to the gymnasium and the fitness sessions, this has been a reality-check week with six of the dozen either staying the same weight — or putting some back on.

It is not going to come off every week and all are still determined to keep up their new regimes of improved healthy eating and exercise in a bid to continue towards their targets of losing 10lb in ten weeks.

On the team front, it was a good week for Wide Load as they had four of the six maximum-point scorers in Roger Hindle, Big Al, Bernard Stone and their team captain Nicola Melvin.

However, Chaddy the Owl and Bridgette Fox both sneaked back up and are just slightly behind target to reach their goals so have dropped a couple of points each.

In the opposition, the Heavy Mob, only Malana Bridge and John Carhart lost weight this week but with all the team still on target they still managed to match the Wide Load’s 56 points tally.

However, there overall lead was cut back to six points when Big Al won a bonus for his efforts in topping the charts in last week’s Wii fitness session (see story below).

Back to this week and it was another informative session from Oldham NHS Trust nutritionist Louise Brown who concentrated on the volunteers looking for the healthy options to put on their shopping lists and also learning how to read food labels.

There were some shocked faces all around when Louise explained how terms like reduced fat and lite were sometimes actually hiding a less than healthy ingredient list.

And when it came to looking at fat and sugar contents, some products that were low in fat scored massively on sugars and were therefore not always good for you.

Heavy Mob captain Maggie Hurley couldn’t resist being given the large bar of chocolate to test (only the wrapper though, no contents) and admitted that sometimes while it might not be good for you — it was just what you wanted!

Next week — back in the gym with the fitball. Can the Wide Load come up on the rails as we reach week eight?




Exercise is key for Bernard



MOTIVATION to exercise was the only excuse Bernard Stone needed to get involved with the Chronicle’s Get Moving To Health programme.



As the newspaper’s company secretary, Bernard has seen what past recruits have been put through and he still decided to sign up.

As a member of team Wide Load, Bernard is keen for team leader Nicola Melvin to rattle some cages to get everybody moving.

Rather than eliminate his favourite foods of curry, pies and potatoes altogether, the 58-year-old has simply learned to cut down the portion sizes he enjoys.

Although he is starting to get to grips with the rowing machine, Bernard admits he does find it hard to find time to exercise.

He said: “Fitting the compulsory three sessions a week in can be tough but I am starting to see results and it is very encouraging.

“My friends and family are being very supportive of my mission to lose weight which helps.

“I really hope to improve my stamina, achieve better fitness levels and perhaps gain a liking for the gym.

“I would advise anyone wanting to get fit and lose weight to recruit someone to do it with you - or get an i-Pod.”