All this week – in the days leading up to Thursday, we'll be looking back at our favourite stories that we've aired in the past year here on Channel 7. Tonight, Jacqueline Godwin gets the first go. And while she's done scores of stories in the roughly 235 newscasts annually – we didn't have a hard time picking a favorite: it's her Battle of the Bulge series. The series of stories were a hit – even if it was a drastic departure for Jackie to do a story about herself. But she put it all out there in the hope that her attempt to lose weight would inspire others to do the same. It was a six part series but tonight we look back at where she began and where she ended, first to the start.

[Original Airdate: May 21st 2008]

Jacqueline Godwin Reporting,
I knew that once I stepped inside Belize Integral Health Centre I had made a significant move towards living a healthier lifestyle. But like any other challenge the next three months will not be easy. My goal is to lose fifteen pounds of fat and finally take control of my high sugar count and high blood pressure.

Karen Rosito, Registered Dietician/Nutritionist
"Jackie as we know is a diabetic and hypertensive so I think it is about the right time that she come and indulge or embark on a program like this because the program is excellent for people like her who look healthy, who seem healthy, but simply are not healthy."

My twelve week fitness challenge is managed by registered dietician and nutritionist Karen Rosito and personal fitness trainer Roberto Mariano. The couple is well known for their dedicated and disciplined approach to exercise and a healthy diet.

Karen Rosito,
"I am not going to sit here and trick anybody and tell them the program will be easy. It will not be easy. The program, on a level of one to ten, 10 being the most difficult, that program is an absolute ten."

Daunting words, but I feel up to it and the challenge started on may fifteenth when my sugar and pressure were checked. The numbers were high:

218 for my sugar, which in healthy people should be between 70and 120,
and my pressure was 150/100 – which in a healthy person should be 120 over 80.
I weighed in at 166 pounds –I need to lose 15 pounds.

There is also a questionnaire you must answer. A part of the challenge is also maintaining a very healthy diet.

Karen Rosito,
"There is also a fruit list where if you don't have the fruit that is recommended on the list, you can substitute it. So it is there and it is easy and of course I will be here every step of the way to guide you true."

With that as the road map, I was on the path to a healthier lifestyle – and my dietician was satisfied:

Karen Rosito,
"I was surprised that she finally made up her mind to come and to actually get involved in the program and I must tell you that it has been, I am proud of her for coming because she has made up her mind to dedicate her time and effort to twelve weeks."

It was then off to the gym…and for someone who has not done any real exercise for quite some time I knew it would be both a mental and physical challenge. As the exercise got my heart rate going and I started feeling pain and burning in areas I never knew existed, I must admit I even prayed at times to just hold on and get through it.

Karen Rosito,
"Actually when I asked her on a scale of 1 to 5 how successful do you think you are, you will be she said 3 and what that means is that I told her laughingly that that is not neither here nor there but I like people who come in at three because that means they are not over expecting and they are giving exactly what they know they can give. I would give Jackie about and 80 to 90 percent chance of finishing the programme."

It is always important to have water on hand and take a drink during your workout because the body dehydrates quickly.

Roberto Mariano, Fitness Trainer
"Well I think for the very first day she did very, very good because most of the time when somebody comes to the gym for the first time, they get very very dizzy because what happens is their heart rate goes up so high because they are lack of exercise and she did not have that."

They said it was going to be a challenge and boy was it a challenge. I thought the bike, first of all, would be an easy thing for me. One spell I thought my heart had just given out. I am asking Robert right now if we could spend less time on the bike but he is the drill instructor and he said this is the type of work that I need to do in order to get my body in shape and to achieve my goal. So I am going to stay with the challenge. It is for twelve weeks, we're going to try to knock it down to six weeks but of course it all depends on me and my commitment and right now, although I am wondering right now what the hell I am getting myself into, I will remain committed.

And that's how it all started: in sweat, poor health, physical exhaustion and agony. And how did it end? Well it was no fairy tale – but with all that hard work – but it was a happy ending. Here's the final story, aired three months after the first.

[Original Airdate: August 20th 2008]

Jacqueline Godwin Reporting,
This is how I looked on May 19th and this is how I look today but what you see on the outside, is only a small part of this story. I've undergone a three month transformation in my appearance, my health and my outlook. It required work, dietary and lifestyle changes, and then, more work to get right with my health.

For years, it had been an uphill struggle to control my diabetes and hypertension but I realized at the age of forty three the chronic illnesses would eventually contribute to my own demise. It has been a challenge, a battle really, to remain committed to a daily one hour workout regimen but I had three months to prove that through diet and exercise you can control your glucose levels, high blood pressure and maintain good health.

From May nineteenth to August twentieth I have been able to manage my health conditions, lose weight and tone my entire body…and if you have been following battle of the bulge then you know it was no easy feat. When I first started out on the fitness and health challenge I weighed in at one hundred and sixty five pounds and through strict diet and exercise I was able to lose a total of 18 pounds! But more than that, I can manage my workouts and instead of begging my trainer to stop, I'm challenging him to push me harder. Since July fifteenth the goal has been to tone, strengthen and build muscle.

Robert Mariano, Trainer
"The last time I showed Jackie's leg you couldn't even see the muscle showing. Now if you notice a lot of muscle are showing the inside and the outside on the quads so that means she has improved a whole lot more from the last three to four weeks when we did the last show. She has improved a lot more.

If you notice now, Jackie first had some cellulite on her leg and now if you notice now it is purely the skin literally tight and the muscles are really showing. You don't see no lumps at all, the skin gets smoother. From the calves you can see definition in the calves and the legs and the hamstrings come up all the way up. When you do the quads, you will see the difference how she looks now."

The goal now is continue to tone up and maintain my body weight.

Robert Mariano,
"Just like you have a job which you goes to, you have to take this like your job where you have to go everyday. You can't say I won't go this week because I am tired or I don't feel too good."

Battle of the bulge has also been carefully managed by the Belize Integral Family Clinic where nurse Kira Nu'man and medical specialist Dr. Carlos Crespo kept tabs on my health.

Kira Nu'man, Nurse - Belize Integral Family Clinic
"You have been on a steady track with your sugar and your pressure maybe elevates then it lowers but gradually it becomes controlled and that is what you want to do, to control it but this reading is very very normal."

Dr. Carlos Crespo, Medical Specialist - Integral Family Clinic
"For me she looks totally different, very very healthy patient. Right now I try to reduce the minimum dosage of the insulin. This is a beautiful program and healthy healthy healthy for any community. The people in Belize need to know more about how important nutrition is in the life style for diet and exercise for you to in the future have healthy healthy life."

My final measurements reveal that I have also made tremendous progress.

Karen Rosito, Nutritionist
"The leg has gone up, this is the best news – from the 19 it has gone up back to the 20."

The three month workout has helped me to lose a total of three inches off my hips, seven and a half inches around the waist and an inch from my upper arms. My pressure was perfect at 120 over 80 and the sugar was at 50.

Karen Rosito,
"Her bust line is now 38 and a half, half inch more to go for the perfect 38. The waist is 29 and a half, an inch and a half to go for the perfect 28 and the hips is 38 inches. She started out with 41 so she has come a very long way.

I see Jackie working out, I swear on Sunday. So if you all will sit at home and believe that you all will be like Jackie, you can't be like Jackie by sitting on your bums.

Lookout for the greatest challenge ever, something like Battle of the Bulge on Channel 7 and we will probably be choosing ten ordinary Belizeans, ten to twelve, and have them go through this. It will be sponsored so I think you all can do that. It will be three months leading up to December so lookout for it because I think what Jackie has done has shown the Belizean public that you can do it."

My success would not have been possible without the support of my gym instructor, nutritionist, Belize Integral Family Clinic, you the viewers, friends, co workers and family. This final segment of battle of the bulge was held in memory of my dad Charles Woods Sr. He passed away on August 18th, 2007… only one year before I finally got to achieve what he had only wished I could do. And while I had my own personal motivation, you too are now being challenged.

Karen Rosito,
"What I want to challenge Belizeans is even you can't afford it, even if you don't have time in your schedule to please try and do it for your help."

Trust me, there is no secret recipe, no miracle drug, just great personal effort, determination and willpower – untapped resources that we all have in us – resources that I didn't know I had until I was pushed to make the change. Of course I will continue on my health journey and hope I have motivated you to do the same.

And so that's our pick for our favorite Jacqueline Godwin story for 2008.