Faculty, staff gear up for fitness program

Plastic food symbolizing correct portion sizes and bottles of Mountain Dew and Powerade filled with teaspoons of sugar sat on the IU Health Center’s display table at the kick-off event for the Step Into Fitness program Wednesday.

“This is how much sugar is in a Mountain Dew,” said Bobbie Saccone, a registered dietician at the Health Center, pointing at the plastic bottle. “It has 17 teaspoons of sugar. The Powerade has 10 teaspoons. They’re both 20-ounce bottles.”

The first-time kick-off event was planned to get new and returning participants of Step Into Fitness excited for the program, said Megan Amadeo, associate director of personal training at IU Recreational Sports.

The nine-week program from June 1 through July 31 is free to all IU faculty and staff members. Participants can register online throughout the program and will receive a pedometer, a nutrition tracker and maps of walking routes on campus.

Though the program is five years old, Amadeo said Rec Sports wanted to get the participants together to gear up for the program before it begins.

“We wanted to get them signed up and excited about the program,” she said, “and educate them about all of our wellness partners on campus.”

Amadeo said the marketing team chose the IU Art Museum because the building is centrally located on campus and is somewhere people might not have visited before.
“It’s a pretty walk, and it’s a pretty building,” she said.

Inside, visitors of the event registered for the program and were led upstairs to tables promoting healthy activities.

At the Health Center’s table, Saccone held up a plate with three portioned sections labeled as vegetables, protein and starch.

“The vegetables are supposed to take up half the plate, then a quarter protein and a quarter starch,” she said. “Usually, people eat half protein, half starch, and either the vegetables are on the side or inexistent.”

Next to the plate were examples of pounds of fat and muscle. A passerby picked up the pound of muscle and put it next to her hip.

“You would rather have that,” Saccone said. “Surface-wise, muscle is smaller, and it burns more calories than fat.”

Marcia Humphress, a department manager at the IU Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, said she saw a flyer at the School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation for the event and decided to try the program.

“I needed something to get me kick-started,” she said. “I think getting out and walking is a win-win. This will motivate me to do that. The group mentality is motivating, too.”
Marie Jackson, an internal auditor for IU, said she likes to walk and that the program will be a better way for her to keep track of both her walking and her health. She said she will try to last the whole nine weeks of the program.

“I’m going on vacation for two weeks, so that might be hard,” she said, “but I’m going to try.”