Patricia Maganu
23 November 2009
A Motswana fitness consultant staying in the United States of America (US) has brought a weight loss boot camp to Botswana. Obert Morgan has been living in Miami, Florida, but since September, he has been in Botswana to do consultancy about health issues.
Morgan says that the boot camp is called 'The Biggest Loser' and the auditions for those willing to participate will be held at Gaborone's Tsholofelo Community hall early next month.
Morgan is the founder of Obert Fitness, a company in the US that deals with corporate awareness, corporate boot camps, personal training and health education. "I am highly experienced exercise specialist and world fitness presenter and I have demonstrated the ability to lead diverse teams of professionals to new levels of success in a variety of highly competitive fitness industries, workshop and convention presentations, sports management ability and lifestyle management counselling," he said.
Morgan has strong technical and business qualifications with a track record of more than 13 years of hands-on experience in strategic planning, business unit development, and project and product management. "I am currently based in Miami and I am in Botswana for the next eight months to launch my first fitness DVD and run The Biggest Loser session one, which will be held in Gaborone and other areas in a space of four months," Morgan told the Monitor.
Morgan says that he will be the host of the boot camp, which differs from the American and South African Biggest Loser because in this competition no one will get eliminated.
"The concept behind this Biggest Loser is education while the concept behind the other one is competition. Everyone will complete the boot camp even though only one person will win the grand prize. Every candidate should finish the whole four months so that they achieve optimal results and maintain them successfully and the Biggest Loser will be crowned with a grand prize," he said. Morgan said that he finds this boot camp important here because it will help those who want to lose weight without any cost to them. "Our forefathers used to walk, hunt and plough. That was exercise. Nowadays people tend to rely on gym facilities to keep fit. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford to use the gym and there are not enough gym facilities in Botswana and this project is a four-month weight loss challenge coupled with exercise, nutrition counselling and psychological issues that affect our daily life," he said. At least 50 people will be chosen for the challenge after the auditions that will be held at Tsholofelo hall, Broadhurst. "During this challenge all candidates will go for camping every fortnight weekend out of town and face tough training and tasks to breach the weight loss gap and they will also be given tasks on community-based projects related to obesity and overweight problems affecting our community."
Morgan states that the challenge is designed such that it will not affect people's work or school schedules. Morgan says that the main objective is not the money but to achieve goals of weight loss and healthy life. He adds that people around the country should join hands and help in fighting against coronary heart disease; high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, heart disease that appears to be the norm in Botswana society with heart related diseases being a pandemic worldwide.
"These lifestyle diseases affect the economy of the world because we have to invest more money into the health care sector. But if we take exercise seriously, we can save costs on medication as well as improve our lifestyle and performance at our corporation and even improving performance in our education, work and family. Exercise is the best solution to preventing and lowering the pandemic; so this project will help create a great awareness in our lives," added Morgan.
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2009 Mmegi/The Reporter. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
Mr. Morgan is definitely on the right track to continue to raise the consciousness level on the fight against childhood and adult obesity. As the author my new children book, “Sweetie’s Healthy Start” the main character, Sweetie, and her very overweight family learn the lessons of the need for good nutrition, making better food choices and how fitness can be fun.
“The family that plays together, stays together”, is a cliché of sound advice. Family fitness fun is a great time of non-stressful social interaction and bonding through fun and physical activity. Family support is the greatest way to lose the weight and maintain good fitness throughout youth and adulthood.
Terlene D. Terry-Todd, author “Sweetie’s Healthy Start” www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/SweetiesHealthyStart.html