‘Fit for Life’ is now 3/4 of the way through the program. Many of the participants are surprised at how quickly it has gone. Some participants are not ready for the program to be complete, because they are not where they want to be, or because they are not ready to see people go. In the beginning of the program, the participants were in this program for themselves and were looking for themselves to succeed in losing weight and leading a healthier lifestyle. Now the participants have become a team.

According to Psychologist Bruce Tuckman, those involved in the ‘Fit for Life’ program have gone through his phrase “forming, storming, norming, and performing stages,” which many people view as the essential stages to being successful as a group. At this point in the program they are in the performing stage. They have formed as a group and have a common goal, and are able to work together efficiently to progress. Last weeks challenge proved that they were more committed as a team than they have proven themselves to be individually. They do not want to let the team down. There is one final stage to Tuckman’s phrase, adjourning, which will most likely be occurring in the next few weeks, and possibly after the program is complete.

Last weeks challenge split the participants into two teams to go head to head to see how far they could go on a treadmill, elliptical with arms, and on a recumbent or upright bike. All of the distances were added up and divided by the number of people who performed that exercise, to get an average for each exercise. The teams fought and did as many of the three machines they could to increase their average. Team 1 included Emily, Super Witch, Betsy, Whitney, Taz, and Schmitty. Team 2 included Allen, Grumpy, Dragonfly, Racer Girl, Jem, and Loquita. Almost all of the participants did at least one of the machines except for one from each team.

Challenge participants have been decreasing as the weeks have progressed, except for week 9’s challenge. Since team challenges have proven to be motivating for many of the participants, another team challenge has been added to week 10. The difference with this challenge is the participants are able to do the challenge everyday from Monday April 23 through Saturday April 28. They have been challenged to do as many miles as possible in 45 minutes each day, and the team with the furthest distance will be the victor.

As many participants are watching to see what they lose each week, many may forget how far they have come. As a team ‘Fit for Lifers have lost a total of 179.8 lbs. This is a fully grown person’s weight, with the majority of the weight loss being fat.