Blog 24: Exit Interview Questions

(1) What is your essential question? What is the best answer to your question and why?

• My essential question is "What is the best way for an overweight teenager to reach a healthy weight?" My best answer is "to make fitness a lifestyle" because it incorporates the benefits from my other two answers which are "a combination of a low-calorie nutritious diet, and an exercise regimen" and "to make a fitness plan and stick to it" and additional benefits as well. By making fitness a lifestyle the person will lose weight, get the most out of each workout and meal, and be able to manage diseases from the result of obesity/overweight. 

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

• First I had to figure out what I wanted my essential question to be. I thought about the obesity epidemic in America, and injuries, and weight loss - something my family and I struggle with. So, I decided to make my essential question personal. I thought about myself, an overweight teenager that wanted to be healthy. With a few rearrangement of words, my essential question became "What is the best way for an overweight teenager to reach a healthy weight?" My mentor, Valerie Flloyd, led me to my first answer,  my independent components reinforced my third answer, but the entirety of my senior project showed me my second answer was the best way for an overweight teenager to reach a healthy weight. Losing weight is a long process. Someone who is 50lbs overweight will take more than six months to reach their goal weight, if they keep a strict diet and exercise regimen. If the person reverts to their old lifestyle, then they will regain weight. Fad diets and/or "quick fix" plans set people up for failure. Teenagers with diseases like type 2 diabetes, that resulted from the excess in weight, will be able to tame their diseases and live longer.  My answer is reinforced through these sources: 
• Healthy Weight Loss & Dieting Tips
• Why Fitness is a Lifestyle Not a Diet
• Mrs. Michelle Burton: Interview 1

(3) What problems did you face? How did you resolve them?

• I could not find a mentorship. I was able to find a mentorship over the summer. It started out as personal training sessions that I had to pay for, however, I asked her if I could do my mentorship with them. As the fitness manager of the club, she could pull some strings and get me a mentorship. However, she decided to go back to school and pursue a career in medicine; therefore, I was left without a mentorship. I looked at different places and they all wanted to charge me or had liability issues. I looked around with my Tae Kwon Do connections and got a mentorship. 

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

• My two most significant sources have been my third interview and an article from Helpguide.org.
• My third interview is important it was extremely in depth and since I didn't have a mentor at the time, all the questions that could not be answered through research were answered. I was able to remove doubts and questions from my project. 
• Helpguide.org - Healthy Weight Loss & Dieting Tips, was one of my most important sources. There's six tips to help people lose weight, and common reasons for their discouragement. It helped with my three column chart, second independent component, and jump start other research. 

(5) What is your product and why?

• My product is my conversion into a healthy lifestyle. In the beginning of the year, my diet and food choices were unhealthy and I was overweight. I used my senior project topic to lead myself out of the death trap that is obesity. I lost weight and will continue to live a healthy lifestyle.