2 step up for Y weight-loss challenge

ROCKPORT – Not many people would tie their weight-loss goals to a public campaign.

But that’s just what Cathy Latham and George Mueller of the Penobscot Bay YMCA have done.

The two have challenged each other to lose 50 pounds by October, and are hoping their struggles will inspire others to lose weight.

Both are well-known in the Camden-Rockport area. Mueller, 52, is executive director of the Y, and Latham, 48, recently joined the organization as community and financial development director. Previously, she worked at the Quarry Hill retirement community in Camden and was executive director of the Camden-Rockport-Lincolnville Chamber of Commerce.

“We’re going to be the poster children for the weight-loss program,” Latham joked.

But this is also true in a literal sense: Photos of the two in profile will appear in advertisements in area newspapers in the coming weeks.

Beyond losing weight, the “Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is” campaign, as Latham conceived it, is to raise awareness in the community about the health risks of being overweight.

It also is designed to encourage those who are overweight to begin using the new YMCA off Union Street. And it is supposed to help raise money for the organization.

“We are presenting this as a challenge to the community,” she said.

Latham and Mueller are already circulating pledge cards, asking friends, neighbors and colleagues to promise to contribute $1 or more for each pound they lose between March 1 and Oct. 1.

But as important as the fund raising is, Latham and Mueller said they feel strongly about the need to lead by example. They say obesity – among children and adults – has been identified recently as a major health threat to Mainers.

Too often, those who know they need to lose weight don’t get support from friends and family and are intimidated about signing up for an aerobics class led by, as Latham said, a woman who looks good in size 3 tights.

Beginning March 1, the Y will offer a beginning exercise class geared to those who might have never set foot in a gym. Latham said she is like many people of her age: She was athletic in school but has a sedentary job, enjoys good food and doesn’t make enough time to exercise.

Mueller, who lost 100 pounds several years ago, was elated when Latham pitched the idea to him. He said he suffers from Type 2 diabetes and knew that his weight was beginning to creep up again. The exercise class, which will be offered at 9 a.m. Saturdays at no charge, will include walking, stretching and strength training. Each person will be undergo a fitness analysis, Latham said, just as he or she might at a private gym.

Each month, a motivational speaker will talk to the class about healthful foods and related issues.

Everyone who attends the classes is asked to use the pledge cards, she said, both as a means of raising money for the Y and to use positive peer pressure to help them reach their weight-loss goals.

Mueller said the state’s 17 YMCAs-YWCAs have chosen childhood obesity as their shared goal for the year.

Latham said the money raised by the weight-loss program might be used to provide free, healthful snacks for the scores of children who use the Y as their after-school hangout.

For information, contact the Penobscot Bay YMCA at 236-3375.