For Louanna Pederson, the motivation to lose weight and get in shape sparked when she stood on a scale before a minor surgery.

“You weigh in before you do the surgery, and I’m going, ‘I can’t weigh that,’” she said.

That was four years ago. Pederson has lost about 70 pounds since.

Americans have tried popular diet plans like the Atkins and the South Beach diets, but many Albert Lea residents are on diet and exercise programs. Some use methods similar to what is suggested by the AARP/Blue Zones Vitality Project and some do not.

Pederson, an employee at Ventura Foods, changed her diet and started walking every weekday at Blazing Star Trail, and she walks near her home on the weekends. Weather does not affect her schedule. Pederson walks rain or shine, and she said there were only three weeks last winter when the cold weather forced her to walk indoors at the mall.

When Julie Schilling decided she needed to change her diet, she didn’t change it to the latest fad. She focused on simply eating healthy.

“As far as diet, you know what you should eat — you really do. It’s on the news. It’s everywhere. You know what you should eat,” she said.

Schilling said she thought about going on the Atkins diet because she knew people who lost weight on the diet; however, she said she likes pasta and bread too much to switch to the low-carbohydrate diet.

In the last four years, Julie Schilling lost about 45 pounds. While working in Rochester, Schilling often ate at McDonald’s for breakfast and lunch, plus she had to sit for the commute, said Schilling, who currently works as a buyer at Ventura Foods.

Schilling started eating healthier and trying to watch her intake, and then she started adding exercises. She then cut out sweets and soda, but she still eats them occasionally for a treat or special occasions.

Not only was eating healthier a big step, but she said limiting her portion size was key. Shrinking portion size is something the Vitality Project suggests.

For Albert Lea Medical Center spokeswoman Jennifer Levisen, exercise was the key part of improving how she felt about herself. After college, she said she gained a little weight and didn’t feel comfortable. She talked to her doctor about it after a routine checkup, and her doctor said it would take double the time to take off the weight as it did to put it on.

Levisen has worked at the Albert Lea Family YMCA with fitness coordinator Bill Villarreal two days a week to learn how to best accomplish her fitness goals.

“You walk into the fitness center and there’s all this equipment, and for me, I didn’t really know some of how it worked, and I didn’t know what it would do to my body,” Levisen said.

Working out for an hour at a time with a trainer didn’t only provide direction, it provided motivation.

Levisen said having someone picking different and new workout methods each time and having that person challenging you for the number of repetitions motivates her.

Watchers

After Pederson began eating better and working out, she reached a point where she saw little change, partially because of thyroid issues. She then decided to join Weight Watchers.

“That made me realize that I was a mindless eater. I ate when I was bored, just little snacky stuff,” Pederson said.

“At the meetings people tell their stories, and when you achieve a goal, they make a big thing of it. You get little stars, you get a pin, you get keychains. They give you something to go toward,” Pederson said.

While she started by attending Weight Watchers meetings, Pederson said she now relies on support available through www.weightwatchers.com.

Pederson had been involved with Weight Watchers before, and said it was very restrictive, which made her hesitant to join again. However, the program has changed greatly: “You get to choose what you want to eat, as long as you stay in your limits,” she said.

Through the Web site, people can count the points for what they eat. Pederson started at 26 points a day and is now at 23. One point is worth about 60 calories. While 23 points a day may have seemed restrictive to her when she started, she said it’s not bad now that she can eat unlimited vegetables.

“It’s your sweets and fried foods, your fast foods that are going to kick your points up,” she said. “It’s amazing what one fast food amount is.”

A burrito Pederson occasionally gets at Taco John’s is 11 points and the potato olés are 6 points. Weight Watchers yogurt is 1 point. Pederson said she reads labels. The higher the fiber in a food, the fewer points a food is. She said foods high in fiber make you feel fuller longer.

Vitality

Pederson has been involved in the AARP/Blue Zones Vitality Project, and she said she sees many similarities between that and Weight Watchers. Both recommend that people be active and eat things like whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

The thing Pederson will miss most about the Blue Zones Vitality Project when it ends: the daily e-mail reminders.

“It was like that reinforcement — that’s what you got from Weight Watchers is you got that reinforcement — to get from here to here,” Pederson said. “This is what you need to do, and you can do it.”

One key reason Pederson joined the Vitality Project was to see what else she could be doing. That experience highlighted the project’s social aspect, which she said is one area she’d like to improve on.

While Schilling took the Vitality Compass and attended a few meetings, she hasn’t made changes since the project started. Before the project, Schilling said her family was already conscious of the foods they ate. Changing again felt like too much for the family, she said.

“If I went along with Blue Zones things and had to revamp the things we eat, I felt like that was almost punishing them,” she said.

Pederson has taken a water aerobics class, and she said a family-like bond formed with the other people in the class.

Schilling works out at the YMCA, and she said a bond forms with the people she sees there. The other people notice if she misses a day or is late, she said.

Effects

After Schilling started working out and eating better, Schilling said she learned she enjoyed running. She participated in a 5-kilometer run, and she’s run three marathons.

“It was just amazing how much my attitude changed. My family’s like, ‘You’re actually happy,’” Schilling said with a laugh. “I notice when I don’t get to work out, if I’m stuck working later or if there’s a monkey wrench in the kid’s plans and I don’t get to the Y, I get owly.”

People have also told Pederson she has much more energy now. Pederson said that if she doesn’t get to walk on her lunch break, her concentration is affected the rest of the day.

Levisen said she even worked out in her hotel when she was in Chicago recently for a conference.

“I go nuts if I can’t get my workout or my run in,” Levisen said.

While she didn’t like running at first, Levisen recently ran the April Sorenson Half Marathon, and she hopes to one day run Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth.

Since she’s been working out, she said her focus has shifted from body image to the results she’s getting as she works out.

Levisen said she’s feels better than she ever thought she could.

“It’s become less about the size of your pants, and more about what you can do and pushing yourself,” Levisen said.

As her workouts have progressed, Levisen said her focus has shifted from body image to the results she’s getting as she works out.

“It’s a great sense of accomplishment. I make everybody feel my bicep. It’s cool and I’m proud of it. It’s really become a big part of who I am,” Levisen said.