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Texans Competing in Slim Down Showdown

One third of all Texas adults are obese. The state’s largest grocery chain is working to inspire state residents to drop some of those pounds and get healthy in a program called the H-E-B Slim Down Showdown.

Twenty-eight people from all over Texas are in San Antonio this week for Fit Camp. They're from all over the state, from Grapevine, Seguin, Laredo, Dallas.

  

Some are H-E-B employees, like Amy Petett, 45, whose whole family struggles with weight. Two years ago, the 5-feet-6 mother from Poth tipped the scale at 298 pounds.

Credit HEB
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H-E-B
Amy Petett, 45, is one of the contestants in this year's H-E-B Slim Down Showdown.

"And that was kind of like the ‘woah, put on the brake’ moment for me,"  Petett commented. "I said ‘I refuse to get into the 300s.’"

Daniel Avila, 25, of Brownsville is a community member who wants to inspire others by sharing his journey of transformation. He’s 5-feet-8 and weighs 260 pounds.

"I was always thin my whole life, an athlete. And over the past 5 years I’ve put on more than a hundred pounds," Avila explained. "It’s a possibility for everybody to change their life with just some small lifestyle changes."

Texans are encouraged to log on to heb.com/slimdown to follow contestants vying for a $10,000 prize. But more importantly, that website provides healthy cooking recipes, fitness outlines and specific tangible steps people can all take to improve their lifestyles in 2017.

Credit Wendy Rigby / Texas Public Radio
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Texas Public Radio
Leroy Gonzales of Dallas is taking a stress test on a treadmill.

  

This is the 7th H-E-B Slim Down Showdown. Over the years 183 people have lost more than 6,200 pounds during the contest.