DECATUR - For creatures of habit, making lifestyle changes can be difficult. And for our Lose to Win role models, who are making those changes in front of the entire Herald & Review readership, the experience could be especially daunting.

Our Lose to Win panelists offered up some tips toward taking the first steps of the nutrition and exercise program.

Jeff Rounds, fitness center supervisor at the Decatur Indoor Sports Center, advised them to consult their physicians before beginning an exercise regimen.

Make sure, Rounds said, that if you've had health problems, it's OK to be doing the activities you want to do. Next, figure out what your specific exercise goals will be.

"Keep in mind that exercise is difficult for everyone," said Susie Engle, Decatur Family YMCA health and fitness director. "Even the most crazed exerciser has those down days, but just the fact that you're taking that one step forward."

Positive thinking is one way to get over the initial hurdles of a weight loss program, Engle said. For those who are going from little or no exercise into the world of physical activity, talking to people who have had personal success with an exercise program can be helpful, she advised.

Michelle Eident, registered dietitian of St. Mary's Hospital Food and Nutrition Services, said she would advise people to first consider what changes they are willing to make.

No two people are exactly alike, she said, and people will be willing to make different types of changes.

"I would suggest that.;anyone wanting to achieve healthy weight for.;life.;take some quiet time to focus on what their motivation is," St. Mary's Food and Nutrition director Laura Sechrest wrote in an e-mail. "Obviously, the benefit of weight loss is to improve health, but what is their personal motivator?"

We asked the role models to talk about some of their general and specific goals for the 12-week lifestyle change program. They also discussed some of the factors in their lives that have motivated them to choose these goals.

Marcia Williams, 64, found that she weighed 213 pounds during the first official weigh-in. But weight loss is only a part of Williams' goal to get her diabetes under control.

"My biggest downfall is what probably is going to kill me," Williams said. "It's sugar and chocolate, and I'm a sweet eater."

Williams also said that regulating some of her eating habits would help her cut down on her caloric intake.

"I eat the wrong foods, and I need to be more disciplined about it and realize that I'm doing myself a lot of harm," she said.

Williams also said that learning to control some of the stressors in her life that make her want to eat would be beneficial to her goals.

"I'm an emotional eater," Williams said. "I eat when I'm happy, when I'm sad, you know. I just like to eat."

Linda Constant, 29, said she has been trying since the age of 14 to lose weight and does not want her daughter, Paige, 3, to face the same struggles she has endured.

"I just want her to go out and exercise because that's what we do in our family, or eat good foods because that's how she was raised," Constant said.

Being able to enjoy clothes shopping again is another one of Constant's goals.

"I would really like to be able to shop in stores with smaller clothing sizes," she said.

Constant, who weighed 261 pounds at the weigh-in, said she would appreciate helpful hints and ideas about food shopping. She said this knowledge could help her avoid the guilt she feels when she overeats.

"Like every single day, I think about what I'm eating, and if I slip up at all I really come down on myself."

John Davis, 65, said excess weight has been a longtime battle for him.

"I've probably lost about 5,000 pounds in my lifetime," he said. "Because that's the way it is. It's a yo-yo. It's a bounce up and down."

Not a day goes by without guilt about not starting to change his life running through his mind, Davis said.

"This program, I hope, will keep me motivated," Davis said.

Davis, who weighs 284 pounds, said his weight has affected his health.

"I've been fortunate that I haven't had a heart attack yet," he said. "I'm not a diabetic, fortunately. But I know that if I don't do something, those are going to happen. I have had a lot of bone and joint surgeries, and most of that's because of my weight."

Davis said he would like to learn how to change his eating habits so he is better able to return to some of his favorite physical activities. Most of his food temptation comes in the evenings, which he attributes to habit.

"When I was working, I worked out every day. I'm retired now, and I don't work out every day. It's just part of the discipline that I have to learn again."

Leanne Canaday, 51, said her goal is to become healthy and be the best person she can be.

One of Canaday's biggest temptations is the Friday morning bagel ritual she shares with her daughter. Her favorite treat? Panera Bread's Cinnamon Crunch with hazelnut cream cheese.

Two specific goals Canaday said she has are to cut out her midnight snacking and to lose some weight for her son's wedding. Canaday's weight at her initial weigh-in was 184 pounds.

Getting over personal hurdles is not necessarily easy. Negative body image sometimes leaks into the role models' lives, thoughts and activities.

"A big thing with me, I don't look in a mirror because I can't stand it," Williams said. "I cannot stand to look into the mirror at myself."

"I don't have any full-length mirrors at all in my house," Constant said.

But the four also are aware of the health benefits that will come from healthy eating, weight loss and exercise.

"When I was younger, it was more for vanity than it is now," Davis said. "Now it's health. I like life. I like my life. I just wish I didn't have so much poundage to carry around."

Regardless, most role models agreed that by starting to set simple, attainable goals, they can begin to see their lives change for the better.

"I think it's kind of nice that people know that I'm trying," Williams said. "It makes me feel better about myself."

Annie Getsinger can be reached at agetsinger@herald-review.com or 421-6968.