WebMD Fitness Rx Challenge: 2 Months In

Welcome to the second installment of our yearlong WebMD Fitness Rx Challenge -- which means it's the first moment of truth for participants Jeff Kibler and Stefanee Williams. How have they done in the first weeks on their new, customized healthy eating and fitness plans? Have they conquered the temptations that lurk in the pantry and successfully squeezed workouts into day planners crammed with work and family commitments? Let's find out.

First, Jeff and Stefanee's pitfalls and triumphs: Nutritionist Kathleen Zelman is helping them find solutions to old eating habits. Jeff confesses he still has trouble cutting meals short when he knows that he shouldn't take those last few bites. Zelman is encouraging Jeff to eat regular small meals throughout the day. "His goal is not to go more than a couple of hours without a meal so he won't find himself starving and eating too much," she says. The key is planning ahead, by packing granola bars, apples, and other portable healthy snacks to help him resist the vending machines.

For Stefanee, Zelman has prescribed heart-smart foods to help with the elevated cholesterol levels that popped up in her initial physical. She's spreading her bread with Benecol (a butter substitute), breakfasting on Quaker's Take Heart oatmeal, and washing it down with Minute Maid Heart Wise orange juice. They're all fortified with added plant stanols. Heart experts recommend eating 2 grams of plant stanols daily to lower LDL "bad" cholesterol and help keep heart disease at bay.

Stefanee's husband has even gotten in on the healthy eating act. "He used to hate bananas, but then he read that they can help lower blood pressure, so he's eating them now," she marvels.

Update on Jeff: Size Matters

Jeff Kibler
Age: 52
Weight: 204 lbs.
Goal: 169 lbs.

This month, Jeff bid a not-so-fond farewell to some old friends: his 38"-waist "fat" pants. Although he wasn't the least bit sorry to send them off to Goodwill, he isn't ready to invest in new clothes quite yet; he still has more to lose. So a foray to the back of the closet yielded a pair of khakis that the 52-year-old Washington, D.C., art director and dad had forgotten about. "Two months ago, the larger pants were tight and I couldn't have even gotten into these."

But his progress hasn't come without hardships. The biggest one: "I want to eat! I think about food a lot." That old stumbling block, noshing while making dinner -- especially on evenings when he's worked late and arrives home ravenous -- is still giving Jeff trouble. So he's restocked the pantry with Triscuits and uses those as a less-guilty munchie while cooking a healthy meal. "I'm doing my best to keep ice cream, cookies, and potato chips out of the house. If they're not there, I can't eat them."