This document summarizes an interview with Irene, an "extreme" exerciser. Some key points: - Irene was overweight and had high blood pressure and diabetes, but lost 178 pounds through diet and exercise after coworkers encouraged her to switch to Diet Coke. - It took encouragement from others at work to motivate Irene to start exercising, since her doctor and daughter's warnings did not convince her. - Through diet and exercise, Irene was able to reduce her weight enough to eliminate her need for blood pressure and diabetes medications within 6 months. - Irene now enjoys outdoor walking and various social dancing classes, though notes the challenge of finding partners as a woman and the need for an organizer to facilitate social activity

1. An interesting interview with an
“extreme” user
Katherine Chen / kchen12@stanford.edu

2. Meet Irene
I used to be really fat. I was really overweight. I had really high blood pressure.
so the doctor kept telling me, giving different pills for the high pressure. She
kept telling me to exercise and I never did. Finally I was 178 lbs and she said
you're gonna have a heart attack soon if you don' t exercise so she sent me
to a dietician. I had diabetes too. She got me a diet, what I should/shouldn't
eat. But what really got me motivated was when I went back to work. The
people at work said, “Oh Irene, you need to reduce weight, look at this
coke, its 160 calories, you can't drink it. I said I have to have it. They said
switch to Diet Coke but I hate Diet Coke. The next day, there was a 12 pack of
Diet Coke on my desk. I felt so bad I had to switch.
[So I told myself] Okay I’ll do it for 2 weeks, see if I get results or not. If I
don't get results, I'm not going to exercise anymore...In 2 weeks I started to
lose weight. And that's how I get started.
You need to have somebody to encourage you to do it. And as you do it, you
see the results, I was really losing weight fast. You have a sense of
accomplishment.

3. It matters where the intervention comes
from.
My doctor said I had to lose weight. I didn't believe her. Old people are all
heavy. I thought it was a natural thing, you get old you get heavy.
[My daughter] kept telling me, it's because you're fat you have to exercise, She
kept saying it so much I never listened. It's really at work, the people that
work for you...you kind of feel more embarrassed. Your kids tell you, you
don't listen.

4. Medicine vs. exercise
As soon as I lost weight, after 6 months, I did the blood test, my blood
pressure went down and I lost my diabetes. I was back to normal. So before I
started to lose weight, the doctor kept trying all different types of pills,
increase dosage, didn't work. All it was was for me to lose weight.
In the beginning she didn't say I had to lose weight. Until I got really heavy.

5. Age limits activity
Before when I was younger [I played] volleyball, raquetball. those kind of
things you have to do when you're young. As you get older, you really can't
move that fast. I can walk pretty fast. I can go 4-4.5 mph. I prefer outdoors,
not as boring, you have the air you have the scenery. Most of the time because
of the weather you have to do it inside.

6. Social activity groups need a facilitator
I like ballroom dancing, but I don't know the steps I have to take lessons. I
tried the Texas two-step, the square dancing. That's enjoyable that works up
an exercise too. The square dancing they have classes, you have to take
classes, that's hard, you have to pay. There's some social clubs, people get
together and do it, they know it and they say they'll teach you. Dancing is hard
for people....you usually need a partner. There's always more women than
men, so the men take turns. The teacher assigns the men to you, you have to
wait because there's so few men.
You could form a club to do it but you need a place, you need space.
Somebody has to have a place to do it. I know there's walking clubs, in dallas,
texas, you meet at a park, Saturday morning at 7 o’clock. That’s too early so I
never join, but there's quite a lot of walking clubs. Even MA they have some.
You need somebody to organize it.

7. On loneliness
I'm living by myself. In this apartment most people live about a year, new
people move out, new people move in. You feel lonely all by yourself. That's
why I think I need a dog. I think the apartment's too small to have a dog.

8. The hardest part is getting ready
The hardest part is to get to the gym. I don't want to get up change my
clothes. I procrastinate. But once you're there, the adrenaline gets in so its
good you enjoy it. So the hardest part is to get started. The best part is taking
a shower you feel really good. I think the hardest part is to get changed, to
really get to it.