WebMD Fitness Rx Challenge: 3rd Weigh-In

Everyone wants to know: Have Jeff Kibler and Stefanee Williams been able to stick to their eating and workout resolutions? Read on to check the results of our challengers' third weigh-in. This time around, Jeff and Stefanee realized they needed to step up the fitness components of their healthy makeovers.

"Exercise is an all-around booster for your body," says WebMD Medical Editor in Chief Michael W. Smith, MD. "It also revs up your metabolism, which not only converts food into fuel your body can use but determines how well you burn that fuel. The more exercise you get, the more muscles you'll have, and the higher your metabolism all day long -- even when you're not working out."

Triathlon Man

Jeff Kibler
Age: 52
Weight: 199.6 lbs.
Goal: 170 lbs.

As if training for a triathlon weren't enough of a kick in the pants to make over his fitness routine, Jeff hopes to drop the medication and control his diabetes with a healthy lifestyle. Keeping his blood sugar in check is a key part of Jeff's health picture. His numbers are looking good, but his doctor wants him to wait a little longer. That makes sense, says Smith. "It's important to see more, consistent improvement -- and maintenance of that improvement -- before making any medication change. Particularly for Jeff, who holds his fat in his abdominal region, the measurement to watch is his waist circumference. As that decreases, it will improve his whole metabolic profile and risk for diabetes and heart disease."

Training hard -- swimming, running, and biking -- for the Dewey Beach Sprint Triathlon in Delaware held in mid-September allowed Jeff a somewhat more flexible diet, says WebMD Director of Nutrition Kathleen Zelman, MPH, RD/LD. "If you pump up the exercise, you can relax a bit more about what you're eating." Still, Jeff needs to do a better job planning ahead for his blink-and-you'll-miss-it dinner schedule. "He works so hard and travels so much that he still goes for extended periods without eating and then overeats because he's starving," says Zelman.

To help him prepare for the race, trainer Michael Lin fine-tuned Jeff's workouts: "He still weight-trains three times a week, but alternates upper and lower body. By doing that, he gets more exercise per muscle group and doesn't have to worry about fitting in both upper and lower body in the same workout when he's also trying to get in a lot of cardio," Lin says. Did all the training pay off for our challenger? See Jeff's blog to see how he did.

Find out Jeff's current vital stats -- weight loss, inches lost, cholesterol levels, and more

Down to Basics

Stefanee Williams
Age: 30
Weight: 181.2 lbs.
Goal: 160 lbs.

Look out below! Stefanee's cholesterol numbers are falling faster than an anvil dropped by Wile E. Coyote. Her LDL level (that's the "bad" cholesterol) is 108, down more than 40 points from when she started the WebMD Challenge. Smith is impressed: "Even though she hasn't been perfect with her lifestyle changes, she's making good baby steps in the right direction, and she's really seeing some great results."