The Zarwin Baumers

Team: Zarwin Baum
Location: Center City
Trainer: Jim Pfromm

Total team starting weight: 1,949.4 pounds

Team captain: Patricia Holden, senior associate
Teammates:
• Mitchell S. Kaplan, managing partner
• Matthew Taitelman, junior associate
• Darwin Beauvais, partner
• Mark L. Freed, partner
• Sharon Amofah, legal assistant
• Sandra Valentine, legal assistant
• Annissa Smith, paralegal
• Theresa Corson, associate
• Nancy Landy, legal assistant

Why they entered the contest:

Although we Zarwin Baumers come in all sorts of heights, widths, figures, ethnicities, races, genders, and religions, there is one thing we all have in common: We are aware that we need help to affect true changes in our health and fitness lifestyles. The Zarwin Baumers fully intend to apply themselves to the Be Well Philly Challenge because we have all reached the same inevitable conclusion: the only way to improve our over-all health and well being is to do it with the support and cooperation of other like minded individuals, and we are ready to accept the changes necessary to make those improvements a reality. So, please, meet the team as each member describes their objectives for the program in their own words:

Patricia Holden – I’m a senior associate at the firm. I’m middle aged and I have two children. I never truly lost the “baby weight” from my second child, and I come from a family with genetically high cholesterol. I’m probably what most people would call zaftig, though I’d rather be seen as athletic or thin. I’m much heavier than I should be and I could be in better physical shape. My husband recently lost 70 pounds getting down to his college weight and back to a young man’s physique. While this is inspiring in some ways, in others it impacts my self image tremendously. He’s supportive of my desire to lose weight and to get in better shape, but I’m frankly jealous of how easy it was for him to shed the pounds, while I struggle to lose even a few. I think that being in a group of individuals with whom I work—because let’s face it, I probably spend more time in the day with them than the folks at home—will give me a better chance of success. These people are facing the same job-related and personal lifestyle stressors that have impacted my ability to affect a significant change in my approach to health and fitness. And besides, they’ve already shown me that I can do it by electing me team “captain.”

Mitchell Kaplan — I was sitting in the emergency room at Jefferson Hospital and thinking how the hell did I end up here. I was supposed to be hanging out listening to U2 in a suite at the Lincoln Financial Center rather than the heart monitor incessantly beeping in my ears. It was there that I promised myself, regardless of the outcome of the unrelenting amount of testing, that when I was released from the hospital I would commence a much healthier lifestyle. I have spent a lifetime going from gimmick diet to gimmick diet. I’ve done them all: Liquid Protein Diet, Weight Watchers, Atkins and South Beach, just to name a few. I know how to count calories, points and carbs, and have lost a tremendous amount of weight over the years, but somehow I always manage to gain it back. Unfortunately, I have a curse that has been passed down to me by my ancestors. I love food and particularly the greasy, fatty, empty-calorie kind. It is a wonder I am not obese. I do often take long walks and frequently go on my home treadmill, but never a regular gym regimen. The problem is that I have not committed to a full healthy lifestyle and at age 54, I can’t wait any longer. I have always tried to take the easy way out with the minimum amount of exercise and weight control. When the announcement was made in our office that we were going to try to be participants in the Be Well Office Challenge, I eagerly volunteered. What perfect timing! After all, the next time I end up in the hospital, it may not be just a scare.

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