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Teaming Up To Lose Big
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Teaming Up To Lose Big

Employees shed a ton and learn healthy lifestyle lessons

by Coshandra Dillard

Published Nov 2008 in Tyler, TX local spotlight | 0 Comments, Talk about this article »

Sometimes it just takes a little help from your friends. Employees at Strategic Fulfillment Group (SFG) in Big Sandy have found that to be very true. They’re beaming after losing a ton of weight—literally—through a company-supported weight-loss program.

For the past two years, company executives have sponsored a wellness program designed to help employees maintain good health. In January 2007, they began offering Weight Watchers classes on-site and paid for a portion of the meeting costs. Seventy employees participated, and all of them are now mere shadows of their former selves.

One big loser is SFG’s president and chief operating officer, Tony Pytlak, a battle-scarred veteran of the weight-loss battle. He lost 24 pounds and pared 4 inches from his waist. “It helped my cholesterol dramatically and my temperament,” he says. “It made me feel good.”

Pytlak wants employees to understand the long-term benefits of living well. As a businessman, he does: Companies are doing more to promote a more healthy approach to living, he says, because it can save on insurance costs and eventually help alleviate the nation’s healthcare woes.

losing big

George Strub, the program coordinator, was one of the first men to join the weight-loss group. He lost 32 pounds in about 20 weeks and motivated others to sign up. Strub says his primary incentive was to lower his cholesterol level, but he got a whole lot more. Because he was overweight, his life insurance policy was expensive. Now, in addition to shaving pounds, he’s shed about $600 a year in premium costs. He also became more physically active, which led to another financial windfall. “I started biking to work, and at the time, I lived 6 miles away,” he says, “I live a little farther away now, and biking saves me about $1,000 a year on gas.”

Spouses and others in the community were invited to participate in the program. Strub’s wife, Sarah, was skeptical, but she decided to join once her husband started seeing results. “I’ve tried to lose weight before, and I didn’t think being part of a group would help,” she says.

But Sarah was delighted to lose 4 pounds in the first week. She went on to lose a total of 24 pounds in 13 weeks. She says that the most significant lesson she learned from the program was how to control portion sizes. “I was really surprised at how much I was eating before,” she says. “If you choose foods that are wholesome, then you are satisfied, and you don’t have to be hungry.”

losing big

Another happy loser is Jeanne Sasser. She lost the most weight in the group—78 pounds. She says it would not have happened if her friends hadn’t signed her up. “That was the best thing they could have done for me,” she says.

This isn’t Sasser’s first weight-loss battle. She elected to have gastric bypass surgery in 1996 and lost 120 pounds. Although doctors removed half of her stomach, the weight came back four years later. She says that she continued to eat the same fatty foods, and that’s what got her in trouble. “I lost weight, but it didn’t stay off because I didn’t change my lifestyle.”

Since joining the Weight Watchers program, she has begun walking and is adapting her favorite recipes to create healthier versions. Sasser says she has about 60 more pounds to go and says she has motivated her family members to get healthy because, well, sometimes it takes a little help from your friends.

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