Published: September 26, 2008 10:17 am         

Hill 66 pounds lighter after ‘People’ challenge

It’s been nine months since Gena Hill, of Ethel, took on the challenge along with seven other Mississippians to beat the battle of the bulge in “People Magazine.”

And the results have been very rewarding for the wife and mother of two. Hill lost 66 pounds and was the woman who lost the most weight and came in second overall.

The magazine, which hit stands on Friday, Sept. 26, features Hill on the cover along with Rob Dyess of Ridgeland, who lost 82 pounds, and the ABC special aired on Tuesday, Sept. 23.

Hill said she has never once regretted taking on the challenge.

“I was overweight and enough was enough,” Hill, who now wears a size 12, said. “I had to make a lifestyle change.”



Diet and exercise

Old-fashioned diet and exercise was in store for Hill and with the help of Britt Barnes, personal trainer and owner of The Health Club in Carthage and Kosciusko and nutritionist Dino Paul Pierce based out of Arizona, she said she knew she was headed in the right direction.

Hill followed a low-carbohydrate, 1,200 calorie diet and did 90-minute workouts five days a week.

“You have to have some energy (carbs) and you have to eat a balanced diet,” Hill said, noting that the food pyramid is a good aid to go by.

She remembers her first day of exercise and how tough it was but, through it all, she said she never wanted to give up.

Hill said she did various kinds of cardio workouts along with weight training.

One of the oddest workouts Hill said that she went through was flipping an 18-wheeler tire over behind The Health Club and she also had to hit the 18-wheeler tire with a sledge hammer.

“It was probably two months before I started to see a change,” Hill said. “It was encouraging to see the results.”



Hitting the

pavement running

Hill said she did take on running as part of her exercise regiment.

The first day she ran, she was greeted on the streets of Kosciusko with a surprise – Kosciusko Middle Elementary students holding signs encouraging her as well as the City of Kosciusko Firefighters cheering her on.

She said she doesn’t consider herself a runner but through the course of the challenge, she has entered six walks and runs in the state. She ran in the local Natchez Trace Festival 5K run in April.

Even though cardio exercise is always necessary, Hill said she has developed a fondness for lifting weights.



More active with family

Losing the weight, Hill said has made her have more energy and made her more active with her family.

Hill and her husband, Roger, have two children, Conner, 13, and Walker, 5, who are into most every sport.

“Instead of watching them play baseball in the yard, I’m playing with them,” Hill said.





Support network

Her family was supportive throughout the process.

Hill, who works full-time as the office manager with the Kosciusko-Attala Development Corporation, said everyone pitched in with household chores and cooking, when she would come home tired from workouts and work.

The support didn’t stop there. Hill said she was so thankful for the encouragement she received from her extended family and friends as well as her church family at Kosciusko First United Methodist Church.

“Even people I didn’t know,” would ask me how things were going, Hill said.



TV special

When ABC picked up on the challenge, Hill got to be interviewed on camera.

Once she got over being nervous, Hill said it was a wonderful experience.

Hill said through the interview process, she learned a few things about her self.

She wasn’t the only one interviewed – her husband as well as her mother, Carolyn Prewitt, also got some camera time.

Through the TV special, the former beauty queen was asked to participate in the America's Miss and Mr. U.S. Pageant in Vicksburg.

Hill said it has been more than 20 years since she had been on stage and even though she didn’t place in the pageant, she said it was a lot of fun.

For those wanting to take off the pounds, Hill gives this advice: “Take small steps and if you fall down, get back up,” Hill said. “Don’t give up.”

Hill said her public weight-loss challenge might be over but her personal challenge is not.

She said there are a few more pounds she would like to take off and she would like to be in a size 10.

She and her fellow challengers are planning a one-year reunion, so they can all see what progress they have made.