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ITV film highlights Work Fit
Thursday May 15th 2008. Posted: 17:03
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Michelle before and after her lifestyle transformation.
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BT’s Work Fit campaign is being featured in an ITV programme on obesity - due to be screened early next month.
BT’s unique lifestyle, health and fitness programme - launched in the autumn of 2005 - saw more than 16,000 BT people sign-up to shape up and lose weight. Its success led to follow-up campaigns - Positive Mentality in 2006, and Cancer and You the following year. An ITV film crew was in BT Centre in London yesterday (Wednesday) to talk to BT Group chief medical officer Paul Litchfield about Work Fit - who outlined how BT was ahead of the game with the popular programme. Also filmed was successful slimmer and Work Fit advocate Michelle Kendell, a resolution team member for BT Retail at Cardiff. Michelle lost half her body weight, thanks in part to Work Fit - slimming down from 20 stone to ten in just 18 months. Three years on, she’s managed to keep off the weight - and says it’s a change for life. Prior to the Work Fit launch, Michelle had already lost seven stone with the help of online Slimming World. But, although she’d cracked the diet plan, Michelle was still finding it hard to motivate herself when it came to exercise. But when Work Fit launched, her office registered and Michelle used her dieting experiences to help colleagues - at the same time gaining their help in encouraging and motivating her to lose the final few stone and to get active. Michelle said: “We had two teams - a boy and a girl team - and we encouraged some competitive fun around exercise and eating more healthily.” Michelle gave motivational talks to colleagues in their 15-minute breaks - and, in return, they encouraged her to keep going to reach her own goal. She began by walking to and from work, instead of taking the bus for the four-mile round trip. As well as seeing her weight drop - from a dress size of 28 down to a 10/12 - Michelle’s body mass index (BMI) plummeted from a morbidly obese 48 to a healthy 23. “I feel fit now - and I feel the benefits,” she said. “Work Fit could not have come at a better time. I don’t think I would have reached my goal without my colleagues. “I think everybody gained from it - and it was certainly the best thing I’ve done for myself.”
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Last updated:
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