Employee’s Healthy Transformation Pays Off in Unexpected Ways

Sheriff’s Sgt. Dave Schaller before and after making a number of lifestyle changes to improve fitness.

Trying to kill time between meetings in downtown San Diego earlier this year, Sheriff’s Sgt. Dave Schaller went on a walk.   

He stumbled upon a crime in progress.

Out of nowhere, a barefoot man, high on drugs, began screaming and trashing a music shop nearby. The vandal threw a musical instrument against a mirror, shattering it. He walked over the broken shards, cutting his feet.

Schaller wasn’t even a patrol deputy at that time. He was serving as president of the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association of San Diego County, the professional labor group representing more than 2,000 sworn Sheriff’s deputies. He planned to watch carefully so he could relay what he’d seen to the San Diego Police. Schaller wasn’t going to get involved beyond that. But after a customer stepped in to try to bring the vandal down, Schaller soon found himself thwarting the vandal’s attempts to bite, choke and kick him as he waited for backup.

That’s when Schaller had what he describes as an epiphany. The major life changes he’d made recently - exercising regularly, eating healthier and shedding 60 lbs. – had helped him at that important moment. He felt strong and able to hold the man off.

Struck by the unpredictability of the experience, he was incredibly grateful for the choices he had made.

“You never know when something like that is going to happen,” he said. “Are you in a condition where you’re going to be able to stay in the fight? Do you have the skills to deal with it?” 

The County is unveiling its 2013 Employee Wellness program this month, part of the County’s overall, Live Well, San Diego! initiative. Employees will be able to take advantage of free exercise programs, incentives and more. The County plans to offer free Zumba and yoga classes, starting at the County Operations Center this month as well as the Thrive Across America exercise incentive program, lunch-time information sessions where employees can learn about different aspects of health and much more. Check out the County’s Wellness Program site for more information.

Schaller’s health wakeup call first came in 2011 after stepping on a scale and seeing his weight had climbed higher than ever before: to nearly 350 lbs. He was more than 100 lbs. heavier than when he became a Sheriff’s deputy 20 years ago. Schaller said he has always been slightly heavy, but that the pounds slowly crept up over the years.

He also just didn’t feel well. He was tired all the time. He wasn’t getting enough sleep, wasn’t exercising and wasn’t eating right. He would wait too long between meals, then wolf down too much food. And what he ate was too often high fat, high calorie fast food. A lack of planning would lead him to make last minute decisions about meals, Schaller said.

Something had to change, he realized. 

“I knew where it was headed,” he said.

 He also found inspiration in a few of his co-workers at the Sheriff’s department, who had gone through dramatic transformations.

Schaller signed up for a weight loss program through his health insurance provider, Kaiser Permanente. He started drinking protein shakes and eating salads every day. He sharply dropped his daily calorie intake and started working out 30-40 minutes a day on the elliptical trainer.

It wasn’t easy, but soon, he had lost 20 lbs.

Kaiser provided counseling and also food education classes.

He has mostly kept the weight off, which he credits to his four to five workouts a week. He has switched up his exercise routine too, mountain biking with his son, working with a trainer and doing cross training workouts with kettle bells that give him both a cardio and strength-building exercise. He hopes to lose up to another 40 lbs. He plans to sharpen up his diet again this year.

One of the many benefits of his new lifestyle is the effect it has had on his children. Schaller calls his 11 year old son his “fitness buddy” – they go cycling together—and his nine year old daughter has gotten more active too.

“I don’t want to see them battle with the same stuff I did,” he said.

In an effort to encourage others, Schaller wrote about his transformation in a column in the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association’s magazine, Silver Star, in Feb. 2012.

“I hope my experience imparts on you, ‘If he can do it, so can I,” he wrote.

For more information about the County’s Employee Wellness program offerings for 2013, visit its website.