IU East staff, faculty shape it up at boot camp

By Nicole Roales, Published June 23, 2006

Before Shelley Dodson joined Boot Camp, she couldn’t shed weight and keep it off. She suffered from acid reflux, and she didn’t enjoy exercise. More than a year after starting Boot Camp, Dodson, who is 5 foot 7 inches tall, has lost 100 pounds and says exercise is now a part of her life.

“My body misses it when I slack off a little bit,” Dodson says. “I feel healthier. It’s amazing what a little bit of getting healthy will do for you.”

Dodson is one of dozens of IU East staff and faculty who have learned to love exercise and to follow healthy eating guidelines. She became inspired to lead a healthier life after joining Boot Camp, an exercise program that began Valentine’s Day 2005. The program is fashioned after both Oprah Winfrey’s boot camp and the TV show “The Biggest Loser.”

Dodson’s goal before starting the program was to lose 101 pounds. In the past, Dodson had trouble losing weight because she was constantly going on a diet and losing 20 to 30 pounds but she always gained it back.

“I didn’t learn how to keep it off,” Dodson says. “I still eat a lot of food people on a diet don’t normally eat, but I count the calories so I won’t put it back on.”

The class is fun for Dodson because the group performs different exercises each week. Dodson also gains companionship, which she couldn’t find exercising alone, and she is accountable for her eating and exercising. Each week, the boot camp participants are weighed to chart their progress. The group support makes losing weight and eating healthy easier for Dodson. Amy Stadick, director of the Center for Health Promotion at IU East, said research shows that people who exercise together and try to lose weight together are more successful than people who strike out on their own.

“We’ve tried to hit that inner kid and remember what it was like to move and have fun, not just lose weight,” Stadick said.

After observing what had failed in previous weight loss programs, Stadick invented boot camp class. Before the class starts, each person signs a contract similar to the one Oprah used in her boot camp program. The contract tells the participant how much exercise to do and how to progress, while providing nutritional guidelines that don’t let people eat too many or too few calories. The contract makes each person clear about what they are striving for through the class.

Stadick also sends a weekly e-mail to participants, listing nutrition and exercise links. A registered dietician and other fitness experts have talked to the class about healthy eating and other forms of exercise.

Stadick ensures each session is fun and works to include variety in the class. Participants have lifted free weights but most of the time has been spent playing basketball, extreme dodge ball, kick ball and going roller skating.

Although it may seem like a typical fitness class, it’s not. The twist: the class is split into two teams and they are competing to lose the most weight each week. There’s a group and individual winner weekly, and at the end of the semester there is a session winner. Dodson was the “biggest loser” at the end of one session in 2005.

Although Dodson is still the biggest loser, other people have lost 30 and 50 pounds. Initially IU East Chancellor David Fulton, set a challenge for the Boot Campers to lose as much as he weighs. The Boot Camp called this the “Lose a Chancellor” challenge.

Stadick said the biggest challenge is the weekend, but when participants remember they have to be weighed on Monday, they tend to watch what they’re eating. If they needed extra help watching their diet, Stadick said they can turn to the class listserv, which is a way for participants to seek support and communication about issues they are facing.

“If someone has heard about a recipe or exercise video or tool then they can share that—and they do,” Stadick said. “I think that has been the glue that keeps the group together. It’s really easy to quit something you see once a week, but when you’re chatting with them constantly it’s a different picture.”

Dodson is proud of her accomplishment, and is happy she tried the class because it has introduced her to a variety of exercises she normally wouldn’t try—like walking on the treadmill. Last summer, she entered a 5K race and walked quickly through the entire course. She’s also tried new forms of exercise, like pilates. Dodson, who is now 180 pounds, would like to lose another 15 to 20 pounds but said she’s not as concerned about dropping that weight as she was with the initial loss.

She continues to maintain her weight by exercising about four days a week. When she was losing weight she worked out more. In April, someone close to her died, and Dodson said she found herself falling back into bad habits—like emotional eating—but it did not last long.

“I’d come too far to fall back into those bad habits,” Dodson said. “Plus when everyone knows the success you’ve had … everyone is watching.”

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