Healthy Lifestyles Online – December 15 Edition

LeConte’s Healthy Lifestyles is a health and wellness publication printed twice a month in local newspapers serving Sevier County and South Knoxville. And here online! We hope you find this information healthful.

Table of Contents

Push Start
LeConte Trainer: New Year Resolutions Are All About Progress, Not Perfection
LeConte Wellness Can Customize Your Fitness Goal
October Was Filled With PINK-Letter Days
Mark Your 2016 Calendars!
Year-End Giving Opportunities Bring Tax Advantages
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Push Start

LeConte Personal Trainers Motivate, Energize Clients

Delores Whaley wanted to lose weight. Roger Cook wanted to gain it. Both knew they couldn’t do it alone.

So they turned to the personal trainers at LeConte Wellness Center inside the Pigeon Forge Community Center. It was just the push they needed, as Whaley has shed 124 pounds and Cook’s 73-year-old skeletal body has been transformed into a “hottie” bodybuilder with “guns” envied by 18-year-olds.

“I thought, ‘that’s the only way I’m going to be able to do it because if I didn’t have a personal trainer, I wouldn’t come in here,” said Whaley, a secretary at Pigeon Forge High School. “I’m just lazy, and I know he will push me when I won’t push myself.”

Her trainer, Brad Russell, said that’s what personal trainers are for – to push. “She just needed to be pushed,” he said. “I used to tell her to walk faster on the track, but the other day, we were walking and I told her ‘You’re going to have to slow down – I’ve got to keep up with you now.’ Now she’s on pace. She’s a whole new person.”

Whaley, who weighed 310 pounds before her gastric sleeve surgery by Covenant Health bariatric surgeon Dr. Jonathan Ray, quickly lost 40 pounds after the surgery, but needed help in losing more. Now she works out with Russell 45 minutes to an hour three days a week and two days a week on her own.

“Some days I want to kill him during that 45 minutes, but when I get finished, I’m thankful he pushed me,” said Whaley with a laugh. “I know there are days when Brad probably gets aggravated with me, but he keeps telling me over and over that I’ve come a long way — and I have. When I first started, I could only work out 10 minutes without being out of breath or sweating real bad.”

Once a self-described fast-food junkie, Whaley now tips the scales at just over half of what she once weighed. Although she said she already feels “great” and doesn’t miss work days the way she once did, her goal is to lose another 35 pounds.

“People say, ‘You are a different person!’ or ‘I had to look twice because I didn’t recognize you,’” she said.

The same goes for Cook, who said he looked like the skeleton in the corner of his doctor’s office when he sought the physician’s help in February 2014. An avid clogger known as the ‘Kickin’ Chicken’ dancer at Townsend’s Old Timer Days, he was dancing three to five hours, five nights a week to the bluegrass bands at one of Gatlinburg’s popular distilleries.

When he complained of fatigue and was concerned about the loss of 20 pounds, his doctor told Cook that the weight loss and fatigue likely stemmed from the 1,400 calories he burned every night while clogging. “Do the math,” his doctor said, noting that Cook’s caloric intake should be 2,500 calories per day. At that rate, he laughed, “I’d have to eat a whole cow!”

Cook’s doctor referred him to Rissa Andres, the coordinator at the LeConte Wellness Center, with the warning that “she is going to kick your butt.” He was right.

Andres, who said Cook came to her looking like a “skinny little bean pole,” worked with Cook three mornings a week for the next several months, building muscle through diet and exercise.

After a few short months, Andres said Cook had reached the point where the only thing left would be strength training. For that, she turned him over to trainer Robin Merritt-Preston, whose specialty is in bodybuilding and weight training.

By the time Cook returned to his doctor for a six-month follow-up, the surprised physician had some new advice for him: “Start wearing cutoff shirts – you need to show off those ‘guns.’” (The term is a euphemism for biceps.)

The doctor wasn’t the only one to notice. After watching him clog in Gatlinburg, a couple of teenage boys also complimented his newly muscled biceps.

“That’s like a shot in the arm when you’ve got 17- and 18-year-old boys coming up to you saying ‘you’ve got guns,’” said Cook. “That was just fuel for the fire. That was encouraging.”

But when a woman called him a “hottie” after watching him do chin-ups at the Wellness Center one morning, the embarrassed bachelor was almost speechless. He simply said, “thank you” and carried on. “They haven’t let me forget that either,” he said with a laugh.

Becoming a 73-year-old bodybuilder, however, was not Cook’s plan. “My intentions were to come in and do whatever these folks felt would get me back up to looking like a human instead of a skeleton,” said Cook. “But the more I got into it, the more challenging it got. And I kept looking forward to it. Ok, what’s next? I wanted to do more.”

Even more important, he said, is how he now feels.

“In all honesty, I have never felt better in my whole life. Mentally, physically, emotionally – you name it,” he said. “If you could only get people to know how it really feels, there would be more people in here doing this. There would be more older people in here doing this. Yes, it’s hard. The first two weeks are hell. The soreness is just unbelievable, but if you’re not sore, you haven’t done anything.”

His trainer agreed. “We have a lot of retired folks who come in and they go through the motions,” said Merritt-Preston. “They’re using the same machines and the same weight that they did six months ago. They’re not pushing themselves. They’re carrying on conversations; they’re not getting winded. They’re not putting in any energy. Now, I’m still glad they’re here because they are putting forth some effort and motion is lotion that’s good for the joints. But, as Roger found out, as you push yourself and you get that soreness and see the growth, the addiction kicks in.”

Cook said the way he approaches his workout program is three-fold: desire, dedication, determination.

“One, you’ve got to have the desire to do it, a reason you want to do it,” he said. “Number two, you’ve got to have the dedication to do it. You can’t just come in one day, skip three weeks and then come in another day. Whatever program these guys set up for you, you’ve got to do it. They know their stuff, they really do. They know the body, they know the muscles and they know how the body reacts to different things.

If I could go out and stand on a corner and say, ‘Come on in! Come on!’ I would love to do that. I would love to see somebody come in here and turn around the way I have turned around.”

The LeConte Wellness Center is located at 170 Community Center Drive, Pigeon Forge. Call (865) 908-9248 for more information.

LeConte Trainer: New Year Resolutions Are All About Progress, Not Perfection

Fired up about shaping up in 2016? Ready again to make that New Year’s resolution you failed to keep in 2015?

Rissa Andres, ATC, coordinator of the LeConte Wellness Center at the Pigeon Forge Community Center, has some ideas about how to succeed.

“Your goal should be attainable. It should be measurable. It should be something concrete. Don’t make it unrealistic. It’s about progress, not perfection,” says Andres.

Sometimes, however, people don’t know whether their goals are realistic. “If it’s a health and fitness goal, a personal trainer might be able to help you figure out if it’s achievable,” she says. “If you want to lose a pound or two a week, that might be safe. But if you’re trying for five pounds a week, that might not be healthy for you, and having a professional give you advice on that is very helpful.”

Andres says the best way to reach a measurable goal is to write it down to give yourself a visual reminder. As an example, she cites a goal of losing five pounds in a month.

“I will write that down on my calendar, I will write it on a dry erase board or maybe my mirror so that every time I look in the mirror, I see that. I’ll write it down and carry it in my wallet,” she says. “I have that goal in the forefront of my mind. I look at it maybe three, four times a day. The more I look at it, the more it is a part of me.”

Stay on the positive side. “List three behaviors that are getting in the way of your goals,” she suggests. “Instead of saying, ‘I’m not going to do these,’ insert three new behaviors that you’re going to substitute. So if going out to eat is something you do that’s getting in the way of your wellness goals, then maybe you start packing lunches. New behaviors will help get your mind off those things you are depriving yourself.”

If you fail, she says, “don’t beat yourself up.

“If you are trying to quit smoking and you have one cigarette, don’t beat yourself up,” she says. “Maybe you went 10 days without one so that IS progress. If you are making a real lifetime change, one day here and there isn’t going to hurt you. But if you throw it all out the window because you had that one cigarette or picked up fast-food on the way home, then that could eventually derail you. A lot of people think about perfection. They think they have to be perfect about everything. Nobody is. Everybody makes mistakes. It’s what you do with those failures and how you learn from those.”

Andres counters any excuses one might have with ease.

“If I have an arthritic joint, I may not be able to do the pounding that I used to do, but I can get on the bike and do some motion,” says Andres, whose training is in rehabilitation therapy and sports medicine. “That knee joint has synovial fluid, which helps the healing process. I might not be able to run, but I might be able to bike or I might be able to do the seated elliptical, or I might be able to do the standing elliptical. Maybe I could even go to the step mill and really kick it up a notch.

A lot of people say, ‘Oh, I can’t do that because I have a heart condition.’ Well, you’re going to have a worse heart condition if you don’t do it. If you feel there is no hope for you, just a little bit at a time will make a huge difference. Just little changes in diet or little changes in how much you move, or standing instead of sitting, all those things can make a huge difference in your caloric burn throughout the day.”

Andres says don’t be surprised if you discover your biggest obstacle is your own mind.

“Your mind is a very powerful thing — it can make you sick and it can make you healthy,” she says. “People don’t realize that if you buy into a plan and you follow it and believe it will work, it will work. You just have to put your mind there.

“I read a book by a Navy SEAL that said your body is capable of 20 times of what your mind tells you it can do. Your mind is your limiter – it gives you these negative thoughts, saying ‘you can’t do that.

Surrounding yourself with positive people really helps,” Andres says. “I think that’s where personal training comes in. The trainer is your advocate, telling you that you can do this. Maybe we beat you down, but in the process, you realize you can do a lot more than you thought you could.”

LeConte Wellness Can Customize Your Fitness Goal

LeConte Wellness Center offers one-on-one instruction or group training with professionally certified personal trainers whose education, experience and resources can help you reach your fitness goals.

If you are in need of extra motivation, weight management, strength training, or sport-specific training, our personal trainers can help through one-on-one instruction or designing a program for you.

Personal training programs can be designed for:

• Body shaping – Tone your body and see more definition.
• Running
• Swimming
• Weight management – Have a program designed to specifically target weight loss and maintenance.
• Strength gain
• Rehabilitation – We can help strengthen and bring you back to functionality after an injury.
• Increasing flexibility
• Updating old programs – If you aren’t seeing results or are just bored with your current workout, we can help.

Our personal trainers also lead boot camp-style workout group sessions at easily affordable prices. Ask about group class schedules

For more information, call LeConte Wellness Center at (865) 908-9248.

October Was Filled With PINK-Letter Days

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Support from the citizens and businesses of Sevier County for the Dr. Robert F. Thomas Foundation’s Paint the Mountains Pink campaign continues to be amazing! The Foundation and LeConte Medical Center are so grateful for the generous contributions that are helping to provide life-saving mammography to the women of our county who are in need.

Two spectacular events took place on October 8 to celebrate breast cancer survivors, their caregivers and advocates, and to support the mission of Paint the Mountains Pink.

First, LeConte Medical Center celebrated breast cancer survivorship with over 120 guests at the first-ever Paint the Mountains Pink Survivorship Luncheon in Pigeon Forge. The women, most of whom had their cancer diagnosed at LeConte Medical Center in the past 10 years, were welcomed by Jenny Hanson, LeConte Medical Center president and chief administrative officer.

Paint the Mountains Pink co-chairman and breast cancer survivor Emily Kile educated the group about the progress Paint the Mountains Pink has made since its inception. The program has raised over $195,000 and providing over 254 free mammograms to women in our community. Kile challenged the luncheon attendees to help Paint the Mountains Pink spread its mission that “mammograms do save lives!”

During lunch guests enjoyed the humor of local comedian Leanne Morgan. Morgan’s funny but honest point of view has earned her spots on various TV programs and comedy tours. She is heard daily on Sirius / XM and has her own show on Blue Collar Radio called “Chewing the Fat.” Laughter truly is the best medicine!

Luncheon attendees had the opportunity to visit booths of several community support services including American Cancer Society, Befitting You Mastectomy Boutique, The Cancer Support Community of East Tennessee, Faithfully Fashionable, LeConte Medical Center Gift Shop, Smoky Mountain Cancer Support Group, and the SUBWAY® Race Against Cancer.

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On the evening of October 8, the inaugural Phil Carney Memorial Concert to benefit Paint the Mountains Pink was held at the Hard Rock Café. The concert featured the band TEAZER, whose lead singer is David Moritz, a longtime LeConte Medical Center employee. Moritz worked with Phil Carney in the medical center’s radiology department for many years and saw him as both a mentor and a friend.

The event also included a special live auction with guitars from Martina McBride, Brett Michaels and Ronnie Milsap, as well as a meet-and-greet and concert tickets for Ronnie Milsap. Interns from Blackbird Studios in Nashville ran the sound. The concert was Moritz’ way of honoring Carney’s memory and giving back to the cause he championed. The sold-out benefit concert raised $10,000 for Paint the Mountains Pink.

Throughout the month of October, several area businesses conducted special fund raising efforts for Paint the Mountains Pink. Employees and customers at The Track raised more than $1,200 through donations and the sale of a special pink t-shirt during the month. The staff at Sevier County Utility District created a series of fund raising events throughout the month with the ultimate goal of “pies in the face” if they met their donations goal. It worked!

Your contributions are making a difference for many women in Sevier County who would otherwise not have access to screening mammography. Thank you! For more information about Paint the Mountains Pink or to download the application for a free mammogram, visit www.paintthemountainspink.com.

Mark Your 2016 Calendars!

Dr Robert F Thomas Foundation logoSave these dates for next year’s Dr. Thomas Foundation events. You don’t want to miss the fun!

Las Vegas Night

Friday, March 18
Music Road Convention Center

27th Annual Evening of Elegance

Saturday, August 13
Sevierville Events Center

2nd Annual Phil Carney Memorial Concert

Tuesday, October 4
Hard Rock Café

For information on how you can be a part of the efforts of the Dr. Robert F. Thomas Foundation to improve the health of Sevier County, please contact Debbie Dowling at (865) 446-9627 or [email protected] or visit www.drthomasfoundation.org.

Year-End Giving Opportunities Bring Tax Advantages

Charitable contributions at the end of the calendar year can provide you with a tax break and give you the satisfaction of helping people through your support of programs like Paint the Mountains Pink and other projects of the Dr. Robert F. Thomas Foundation and LeConte Medical Center. Gifts can be made in honor or memory of a favorite friend, family member, nurse or physician. What a wonderful way to remember those you love at the holidays!

Timing is the key. If you itemize and make a donation before Dec. 31, you can secure a deduction for this year’s taxes. Smart year-end giving strategies include prepaying a pledge, donating appreciated securities, making honorarium gifts for friends and loved ones, or investing in a life income plan.

In uncertain economic times, giving options such as the charitable gift annuity offer added security. Annuities offer a guaranteed income for the rest of your and your spouse’s lives, an increase in earnings over other investments (with much of this income being tax-free), and an immediate charitable deduction.

Your tax benefits depend on what you give and when you give. We can assist you and your financial advisors in making a charitable gift to support the non-profit mission of LeConte Medical Center.

For more information, contact Debbie Dowling, executive director of the Dr. Robert F. Thomas Foundation, at (865) 446-9627 or [email protected].