Page 22 - HCPVitalityChronicles

Business Analyst Delia Ramos Enjoys Benefits of a Complete Lifestyle Change

O en, the path toward a new life starts with one simple step. hours to get there, going against the wind. But it was great.
For Delia Ramos, Business Analyst 3, the step was cu0ng out
processed foods. She cut out sugars from her diet, started to “It’s just amazing,” Ramos con/nued. “I never thought I
cook at home, and drank water rather than soda. And she was would love working out so much.”
extremely stringent about s/cking with this.
Educa/ng herself has gone a long way toward feeling so
Why the change? Over the course of the last seven years, good. “In the past, I was feeding myself, but I was starving
through stress at work and life in general, the pounds my body,” said Ramos, who wants to lose another 40
started creeping up on her, to the point that she weighed pounds. “I was not ea/ng what I really needed.”
almost 300 pounds. “I was star/ng to feel very sluggish,”
she said. “My blood pressure was sky high; I would wake These days, she does not miss her favorite foods because
up feeling miserable, with pain where I shouldn’t have had she has found a smart way to s/ll enjoy them. She makes
pain. I thought to myself, ‘I don’t want one of her favorite dishes—chicken en-
to live like this.’” chiladas—with quinoa rather than tor/lla,
and it tastes just as good. For pasta, she
A er changing her diet in March 2012, uses spaghe0 squash. And she even
she was able to lose 30 pounds in a cou- makes her own organic candy—pureed
ple of months. Next came the desire to dates rolled in shredded coconut.
become more ac/ve, and that’s where
Vitality came in. She signed up in June, The key is star/ng small. “If I had tried to
and her colleague Ronel Pesigan sug- change everything all at once, it would
gested star/ng out with a FitBug. Soon Delia Ramos at her department’s holiday have been overwhelming,” she said.
Ramos was doing 3,000 to 4,000 steps a party—in December 2011, left, and De- When she cut out soda from her diet, she
cember 2012, right.
day. But she didn’t stop there. set a /mer in Outlook to remind her to
drink a glass of water. Every day, she drank eight glasses of
She and a group of girls at the office started taking Zumba water with this handy technique. “Small things add up; it
classes twice a week at a nearby studio, then upped it to can change your whole rou/ne.”
five /mes a week. Soon they started to meet at a nearby
park to do their own four-week bootcamp. “The group The best part about her new lifestyle is having the energy to
support is great; it’s really mo/va/ng,” said Ramos, who get things done. “I’m more energe/c, I’m off of blood pres-
reached Pla/num status in September. sure medica/on, and I’m not in pain anymore,” Ramos said.

Now she and the others in the group par/cipate in all Vital- Her accomplishments have not gone unno/ced. “I am so
ity events, and she has signed up to compete in the Irvine proud of what she has done so far,” Pesigan said. “She has
Mud Run in April. Pesigan is training them for this event, not only inspired our team but others in the IS Depart-
with weights and cardio classes. And this past November, ment. Colleagues come to her desk every day for advice on
they did their own event—a bike run from Hermosa Beach ea/ng healthy and ask what exercises she does. She is
to Santa Monica and back, 18 miles each way. “It was a very truly dedicated to her journey and ge0ng to her goal and
windy day,” Ramos recalled, “so it took us two and a half helping others on the way.”

All informa/on in the Vitality program is HIPAA protected. Members have chosen to share their personal health accomplishments.
For more informa/on about Vitality, visit www.powerofvitality.com. Contact Janet Galli for further program informa/on.