150-pound weight loss leads to national Weight Watchers award for Herman Miller employee
ZEELAND, MI — Pete Pallas didn’t set any big goals when he started his weight-loss journey: He just wanted to lose 25 pounds. That, and avoid having to buy pants with a 50-inch waist.
Now, 150 pounds lighter, Pallas recently was named a winner in Weight Watchers’ 50 Years of Success contest.
And his pants? Size 32.
“I’ve changed my life,” said Pallas, 51, the director of operations at Herman Miller in Zeeland. “I’ll never go back.”
Lifting weights after work in Herman Miller’s gym, he talked about how he managed to lose about half his body weight.
His inspiration came four years ago, after taking a couple of weeks of vacation over Christmas. He was at his home in Norton Shores, getting ready for work, when he found it was a struggle to button his size-48 pants.
“I said I’m not going to a size 50,” he recalled. “Enough was enough.”
He also worried about his health. He was on medication for diabetes, cholesterol and blood pressure.
“I was way too young to have all that going on,” he said.
Hoping to lose about 25 pounds, he joined a walking group through his workplace wellness program. At 307 pounds, that was about the only exercise he could handle. Just walking a mile was difficult.
He lost about 40 pounds in the next nine months. He wanted to continue dropping weight, but became frustrated as he failed to make progress. His wife, Sally, encouraged him to try Weight Watchers.
Pallas resisted at first. He pictured the meetings as a bunch of women sitting around talking about emotional stuff.
He laughs about that now. After he started attending meetings in Muskegon, he found there were other men there. He came to appreciate the fact that different people needed support in different ways.
“And I realized, well, maybe some of my eating was emotional. Maybe it was because I was bored or whatever,” he said.
He took the tips that made sense and applied them to his life. And he lost weight, at a steady pace of a pound or two a week.
Exercising in the company gym became a daily end-of-workday habit. He used the weight machines and began trying the classes offered: yoga, spin and kickboxing.
As he made time for exercise and changed his diet, Pallas said he found tremendous support from his family - his wife Sally, and his kids, Paige, 23, Tom, 21, and Joe, 16.
Now, he weighs about 160 pounds – and he has held that weight as a lifetime Weight Watchers member for two years. His cholesterol, blood pressure and diabetes medications are all in the past.
But Weight Watchers is part of his lifestyle. Pallas still records what he eats every day, and he never misses a weekly meeting. The accountability helps him stay motivated.
“There is something about stepping on that scale every Saturday morning,” he said. “You can weigh yourself at home, but it’s different.”
Pallas made a point of saying he felt good about himself before starting his weight-loss campaign.
“It was never about the weight really, it was about being healthy,” he wrote in his contest entry for Weight Watchers.
Pallas is one of 50 winners chosen in Weight Watchers’ contest from more than 4,000 entries. When he first started losing weight, he said he never would have imagined he would one day be a weight-loss champ.
“Oh, heck no,” he said with a laugh. “No way. No way.”
Pallas remembers sitting in the back of the room at his first few Weight Watchers meetings, looking skeptically at the some of the slender women who attended and wondering why they were there. Then the leader introduced the lifetime members – those who had achieved and were maintaining their goal weight. He was surprised to hear the slender ones listing weight losses of 50, 80 or 160 pounds.
Now, he is the one inspiring others – including a group of co-workers who are exercising and losing weight.
“That helps keep me motivated,” he said. “I feel obligated to help others.”
Now, 150 pounds lighter, Pallas recently was named a winner in Weight Watchers’ 50 Years of Success contest.
And his pants? Size 32.
“I’ve changed my life,” said Pallas, 51, the director of operations at Herman Miller in Zeeland. “I’ll never go back.”
Lifting weights after work in Herman Miller’s gym, he talked about how he managed to lose about half his body weight.
His inspiration came four years ago, after taking a couple of weeks of vacation over Christmas. He was at his home in Norton Shores, getting ready for work, when he found it was a struggle to button his size-48 pants.
“I said I’m not going to a size 50,” he recalled. “Enough was enough.”
He also worried about his health. He was on medication for diabetes, cholesterol and blood pressure.
“I was way too young to have all that going on,” he said.
Hoping to lose about 25 pounds, he joined a walking group through his workplace wellness program. At 307 pounds, that was about the only exercise he could handle. Just walking a mile was difficult.
He lost about 40 pounds in the next nine months. He wanted to continue dropping weight, but became frustrated as he failed to make progress. His wife, Sally, encouraged him to try Weight Watchers.
Pallas resisted at first. He pictured the meetings as a bunch of women sitting around talking about emotional stuff.
He laughs about that now. After he started attending meetings in Muskegon, he found there were other men there. He came to appreciate the fact that different people needed support in different ways.
“And I realized, well, maybe some of my eating was emotional. Maybe it was because I was bored or whatever,” he said.
He took the tips that made sense and applied them to his life. And he lost weight, at a steady pace of a pound or two a week.
Exercising in the company gym became a daily end-of-workday habit. He used the weight machines and began trying the classes offered: yoga, spin and kickboxing.
As he made time for exercise and changed his diet, Pallas said he found tremendous support from his family - his wife Sally, and his kids, Paige, 23, Tom, 21, and Joe, 16.
Now, he weighs about 160 pounds – and he has held that weight as a lifetime Weight Watchers member for two years. His cholesterol, blood pressure and diabetes medications are all in the past.
But Weight Watchers is part of his lifestyle. Pallas still records what he eats every day, and he never misses a weekly meeting. The accountability helps him stay motivated.
“There is something about stepping on that scale every Saturday morning,” he said. “You can weigh yourself at home, but it’s different.”
Pallas made a point of saying he felt good about himself before starting his weight-loss campaign.
“It was never about the weight really, it was about being healthy,” he wrote in his contest entry for Weight Watchers.
Pallas is one of 50 winners chosen in Weight Watchers’ contest from more than 4,000 entries. When he first started losing weight, he said he never would have imagined he would one day be a weight-loss champ.
“Oh, heck no,” he said with a laugh. “No way. No way.”
Pallas remembers sitting in the back of the room at his first few Weight Watchers meetings, looking skeptically at the some of the slender women who attended and wondering why they were there. Then the leader introduced the lifetime members – those who had achieved and were maintaining their goal weight. He was surprised to hear the slender ones listing weight losses of 50, 80 or 160 pounds.
Now, he is the one inspiring others – including a group of co-workers who are exercising and losing weight.
“That helps keep me motivated,” he said. “I feel obligated to help others.”
No comments