Children's Employee Walks Off 100 Pounds

Although she had been struggling with her weight for years, attending
the Presidential Inauguration in January was the wake up call Paula
Hickman, Manager, Physician Data Systems, needed to make some changes.
She attended this historic event with her daughter, but due to limited
transportation, it required miles of walking for both of them. Paula
found herself gasping for air, and her daughter, Nicole, became
concerned for her mother's health.
While President Obama took his oath, Paula made her own inspiring
pledge to get healthy this year. Since January, Paula has lost 100
pounds and feels so much better. "My life has changed in many positive
ways, including feeling better, achieving a sense of accomplishment
and confidence, decreasing my medications and becoming physically
fit," she said.
Paula credits Children's for being an employer that cares about the
health of its employees and for providing so many support tools. She
has been an advocate of Strong4Life from the beginning and has
participated in You4Life and the Get Moving Challenges. Wearing the
Actiped pedometer has been a valuable tool for Paula, who also signed
up for You4Life's 90 Day Challenge. She wears the pedometer
everywhere, and the visual aid holds her accountable for her healthy
step goals.
Strong4Life Online <https://strong4life.livepurewellness.com> has also
been a vital component to Paula's wellness journey. She uses the food,
activity and pedometer logs daily and reviews the progress reports to
monitor her wellness goals. Inputting her food intake provides an
immediate update on how many calories and how much fat she is
consuming and helps her with meal planning.
Paula takes advantage of Children's on-site exercise classes and
continues to strive for 10,000 steps a day. She now plans walking
trips for the weekends and surrounds herself with others wanting to
meet the same wellness goals. Paula credits her family, friends and
co-workers, who have provided positive support throughout her wellness
journey.
After walking seven miles at Stone Mountain Park recently, Paula's
daughter expressed how proud she was of her mother and how she
couldn't believe it was the same person who was struggling in January.
When motivating others to be healthy, Paula quotes medical expert and
author Dr. Oz, "Don't be tolerant of being a percent of who you can
be. Be 90 percent of who you can be. We can all get there."