ELKHART -- Dawn Young, master scheduler at Gaska Tape Inc., has a lot more pep in her step these days.
She has lost 88 pounds since January. Cathy Ruff, who works in shipping at Gaska, is down 120 pounds.
Both are part of Team Healthy, Gaska's employee weight-loss program that began Jan. 7.
Rica Holtzinger, sales manager, started the program amid discussions about the rising cost of health insurance, the economic downturn and the stress these concerns bring.
Holtzinger wanted to do something that would raise morale. She settled on a fitness program, got permission from the company president and started looking for employees who wanted to be part of the first run of the program.
Young volunteered because she wanted to lose weight and prevent future health problems. Ruff had been overweight most of her life and was tired of it.
The program is a combination of regular exercise and healthy eating, based on the American Heart Association's dietary and lifestyle recommendations. They encourage eating from all the food groups and keeping track of calories.
"It's not a diet," Holtzinger said. "This is just a healthy way of eating. If you want a piece of candy, you have a piece of candy. You just have to count for it."
In fact, Holtzinger encourages Ruff and Young to splurge a little.
"They're required to have a dessert every day to treat themselves because you can't go through life thinking you can't have something ever again," she said.
As for exercise, Ruff and Young walk together for 30 minutes on their lunch break. In nice weather they go outside. Otherwise, they walk the production floor.
Ruff also does cardio workouts and lifts weights every day in Gaska's fitness room.
Young rides a stationary bike at home. Before joining Team Healthy, an exercise bike had sat unridden in her basement for 12 years. Now, she likes riding so much she bought a new one.
Both women had tried diets, but the weight always came back. They say this program helped them lose and keep off weight where the others did not, in part because it includes an element of accountability.
Ruff said having someone to walk with every day keeps her at it on days she would rather not. Weekly weigh-ins help them track their progress.
Young said she thinks about food and exercise differently now -- something she never achieved with dieting.
"I can't imagine quitting, I can't imagine going back to the way it was," she said. "I was looking for one of those quick gimmicks and this was here all along. I thought it would be hard and it's not."
Both feel the effects of this new lifestyle.
"I feel 100 percent better," Ruff said. "I feel younger."
"I feel so much better," Young said. "I have a lot of energy. I can't even explain how much better I feel."
And people notice the difference.
"They can't believe how good I look," Ruff said.
They women plan on staying with the program until they hit their ideal weights -- roughly another 60 pounds each. After that, they will switch to a maintenance program.
Based on Ruff and Young's success, Holtzinger intends to open the program to more employees, either at the start of 2010 or when the women reach their weight loss goals.