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City employee cuts 'waist,' wins $10K in diet challenge

By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, March 23, 2009

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The lean mindset is starting to run through every facet of City Furniture — including the personal goals of Keith Koenig's Executive Assistant Gretchen Hernandez.

Last year, Hernandez entered a weight loss challenge at the Quick Weight Loss Center she attends and ended up losing nearly 50 pounds in 18 weeks and winning the big prize — $10,000.

No, this has nothing to do directly with City's lean program, but there are parallels. After all, lean is about achieving continuous improvement through the elimination of waste.

Change one word and you have Hernandez's feat: continuous improvement through the elimination of waist. (She went from size 1X to 4-6.)

In her testimonial, Hernandez said she tried several weight-loss programs and diet pills before joining the center in Coral Springs, Fla. But nothing worked for long. She eventually slumped into a minor depression after visiting her parents, “and all they could comment on was how heavy I was.”

Knowing how nervous Hernandez was about another upcoming visit, her husband made the first appointment for her at the weight loss center, and the experience has been tremendous. Hernandez surpassed her goal while “eating real food from the grocery store.”

“I have more energy,” she said. “I love to work out and walk my dogs. We even run sometimes, and I don't get out of breath or tired.”

Hernandez said she's more productive now at home and at work. “I'm more alert and just feel more on top of my game.”

And that's another parallel to City's lean conversion in its distribution center, where employees are also more productive than ever, having clear goals each day and a work strategy they've developed for themselves.

Even before meeting her personal weight loss goal, Hernandez visited her parents again, who were clearly impressed. She said her father didn't recognize her and would have driven right by if she hadn't been standing next to her sister.

“Now that's rewarding,” she said.

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