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Making Fitness a Family Issue
Setting You and Your Children on the Path to Health
By Virginia Gilbert
"I didn't mention weight loss," Kempski says, referring to her strategy to pique Courtney's interest. "I said, 'There's this program where you and I play around on a bouncy ball, and it's fun, and it makes you feel good ... do you want to do it with me?'"
Courtney enthusiastically agreed. Twice a week, mother and daughter drove the half-hour to the program's facility on the Daemen College campus. A doctor taught Courtney and other kids in the program how to develop sound nutritional habits, such as reading food labels – a practice Courtney has continued on her own. On the advice of the program, Kempski eliminated sugary and fatty foods from the entire family's meal plan.
"If Courtney wanted a snack before bed, I said, 'You can have an apple instead of a bag of chips,'" Kempski says.
To keep Courtney from feeling deprived, the family made one day each week "Cheat Day," on which Courtney could choose a fattening snack such as ice cream or cookies.
But the best thing about the program was that it made exercising fun. "We played music, we sang, we played on the bouncy ball," Kempski says. "It was more than just sweat."
At the end of the 10-week program, Courtney had lost 8 pounds. More important, she seemed happier and more active. Her physical education course grade went from a C to an A. Kempski bought a bouncy ball and the program's exercise tape, which Courtney now uses at home.
