SEARCY — Charlotte Davis lost 25 pounds 20 years ago and has kept it off via the First Place 4 Health plan, and she has become an ambassador for the program, teaching classes locally each week. She is also a networking leader statewide, helping others start First Place 4 Health groups.
Davis talked about the Christ-centered weight-loss and healthy-living program, which her sister, Anita, told her about in January 1995, hoping to help Davis, who was struggling with weight gain that seemed to have no end.
Anita, a registered nurse, was living about 100 miles away and told Davis of the program, which was conducted in churches and had reported great results.
Davis began teaching the 90-minute classes at Pangburn’s
First Baptist Church, which she attended and where her dad was pastor. She had said if 10 people signed up, she would hold a class at the church. Twenty-eight people participated and lost a combined total of more than 300 pounds.
After that, Davis moved the classes to Trinity Baptist Church in Searcy, where she has been a member and has taught FP4H classes for 20 years.
“I will never stop!” Davis said about teaching the FP4H classes and trying to help others reach their weight goals.
First Place 4 Health has four areas of focus: emotional, mental, physical and spiritual.
When signing up, one receives a “‘starter kit” with self-help books and a prayer journal, Davis said. Cookbooks are available, as well as DVDs with topics such as “Emotions and Eating. Why Should a Christian Be Physically Fit?”
But the concept of correlating spirituality with one’s weight loss is the big draw of the group, she said.
“No, I don’t have a huge weight-loss story to tell,” Davis said, “but I definitely had a huge ‘pride loss.’ No longer do I think, ‘I’ve got this’ in regard to weight loss, … but I know that God does, through his power and strength and the wonderful tool of FP4H in my life.”
The classes function like a social club, with the women laughing and talking and getting caught up with each other’s lives each Wednesday night, but there is also a serious focus on nutrition-related subjects, as well as a required Bible lesson highlighted by a weekly memory verse. Various avenues of exercise are also discussed, and group members sometimes exercise together. Generally, though, individuals exercise on their own, Davis said.
Women participating in the program are also expected to make time for daily Bible study, Davis said.
“God has used the First Place 4 Health program to improve the health of so many of my dear friends,” Davis said, “but for me, the weight loss was not the biggest change or improvement in my life. You see, FP4H teaches that God is always to be your first priority in life, … but I had never ever really put time into my personal relationship with Christ. The FP4H Bible studies showed me just how much I needed to allow God to take control of my eating [and exercise] habits, along with my family and my job and every other facet of my life.”
The studies are nondenominational with members of Methodist, Assembly of God, Catholic and Baptist churches, for examples, all meeting in harmony.
“The focus is on things we have in common,” and not doctrinal dissension, she said. One does not even have to be a Christian or go to a church to sign up for the program, Davis said.
And to teach a class, one does not need to be a dietitian as she is, Davis pointed out. Davis has been the child nutrition director for the Searcy Public Schools for 21 years, but the FP4H program has no connection to her job there. She teaches three 12-week FP4H sessions each year.
Davis is also a clinical and outpatient dietitian.
“I had plenty of training about how I ‘should’ be eating,” she said in telling her story of weight gain and loss.
As a young mother of a 2-year-old daughter, Davis had begun her then-new job with the Searcy Public Schools. She had a busy lifestyle, and there was lots of food available.
“I put on 25 pounds in just six months,” she said. “If [the schools] had cinnamon rolls, I might have eaten four in one day [at four different schools].”
And the numbers on her scale kept climbing, she said.
“I basically ignored that I had a weight problem until clothes just would not fit any longer,” Davis said. “I had to start getting new ones in
order to have anything decent to wear to work. Finally, I decided I needed to get serious with making rational choices and get into some kind of exercise. … I refused to do any organized program but just tried and tried on my own, thinking, … ‘I’ve got this. … I’m a dietitian, for goodness sake!”’
But her weight wasn’t coming off. In desperation, she talked about her struggle to her sister, Anita, who told Davis about the FP4H program. Davis got the program’s materials and perused them, hoping to find something “wrong” with the concept, she said.
“I could not find anything scientifically invalid or even faddish,” Davis said. “All of it was based on research-based information that I had been taught throughout my dietetics education. Still, I just could not imagine bringing God into my weight-loss struggle. Surely, I could handle this on my own.”
But when Davis gave in to “God whispering to my heart” continually and taught that first session at Pangburn, she saw such success in herself and others.
“I basically vowed to continue to teach FP4H sessions indefinitely,” she said. “I needed the accountability of the group to maintain my weight loss, and I desperately needed and wanted to continue to grow spiritually.”
Davis’ dedication to the program has led many other women to find success in this difficult area. Just a “‘weight range” is encouraged in the group, and not a set weight, she said.
The FP4H group of women who meet in Searcy recently included two nurses, a church secretary, a former teacher and a Mary Kay saleswoman. Group members vary in age from 83 to the youngest member, Crystal White, 27, who has lost 36 pounds so far.
Sylvia Burnley of Searcy, a member who has taken the class since 1997, told of her late mother, Hazel Webb, who took the classes until she was 100 years old. Burnley said her mom took pride in learning and reciting the weekly memory verses and riding her bicycle 30 minutes a day as well. Burnley has thrived on losing weight and keeping it off. Social events connected to her work made it too easy to partake of too much food, she said.
“The Bible studies and group encouragement/accountability are what really make the people keep coming back,” Davis said. Many FP4H members who have taken the classes stay on and assist new members, who also inspire the longer-involved members to stay in the program, Davis said.
Judy Cleveland, a nurse, said making time for her daily
Bible study by awaking an hour before her husband does has meant all the difference for her. Also, learning more about nutrition and reading labels as she grocery shops, studying and looking for carbs and fat content, have been a boon in her losing 25 pounds. She started the class in 1999.
Another nurse in the class, Amy Dutton, has lost 75 pounds over her years with FP4H. She is a trim women who said she still eats ice cream and cake on occasion.
Some members of the classes have been able to go off medications they had previously needed, and others lost weight in order to have surgeries, Davis said.
All note that the word “diet” is not used in the program. “What are the first three letters of that word? D-I-E!” they chanted, a sure sign for possible failure. Rather than diet, “live-it” is used for food planning and management.
The group has a celebration dinner at completion of the class — a potluck — followed by awards given out by Davis. The awards were not just for weight loss but for other accomplishments as well, such as “learning to eat breakfast” or “bringing your food sheet to class regularly,” Davis said. Members are required to keep a tally of all they eat each week and turn that in.
Women attending the group are primarily from the White County area, but Davis said women from as far away as Sherwood have faithfully made the weekly trek. Then one of the women started a group in that city, Davis said.
There are about 30 First Place 4 Health groups in Arkansas, Davis said. One was started in Batesville a few months ago. Nationally, there are 12,000 to 15,000 FP4H groups with more than half a million members, Davis said.
“I am willing to help anyone get a group started,” Davis said. “I am thankful for [God’s] life-changing power and for the obedience of the people who created the FP4H program that reached me in a way that nothing else probably ever could have at that time in my life.”
Aug. 26 is the next orientation meeting for anyone who is interested in the local program, with a Sept. 9 date to start class, Davis said.
For more information on the First Place 4 Health program, visit www.firstplace4health.com. For information on local classes, contact Davis at (501) 281-3281 or ckjdavis@windstream.net.