Back in 1981, Paul Roberts was in peak physical condition. At 6’4” and 215 lbs., he was a starting tackle on the Mount Pleasant High School football team, the state Division II champions.

Twenty-seven years and 60 pounds later, Roberts has suffered through two back surgeries—a lumbar fusion in 1998 and a cervical fusion in 2002—and he’s under dietary restrictions due to high blood pressure and kidney stones. He’s tired much of the time and doesn’t sleep well.

Because he sincerely wants to change all that, the 43-year-old Bear resident has been chosen to undergo a fitness makeover courtesy of Core Fitness in Wilmington. Roberts won out over about 50 other candidates who submitted their health profiles and reasons they wanted to make a long-term health change to Out & About.

He will be under the guidance of Arianne Missimer, owner of Core and a registered dietitian and certified strength and conditioning specialist who is pursuing a doctorate in physical therapy at Neumann College. The walls of her studio, on the second floor of 4001 Miller Rd., are decorated with such slogans as “You were given a body that can stand almost anything. It’s your mind that you have to convince.”

For the next 12 months, Missimer will work with Roberts to change his lifestyle while achieving what she calls “small and achievable goals.”

“I would like him to lose 4 lbs. and about 1 percent of body fat by the end of January,” says Missimer. “Because losing more than 2 lbs. per week is unhealthy, we’re aiming to lose about 1 lb. per week.”

The Core Fitness package includes a comprehensive fitness assessment, a nutrition evaluation and monthly follow-ups, an individualized meal plan, two group fitness classes per month, and two personal training sessions every week for a year. Missimer estimates the value at about $8,000.

As her company name suggests, Missimer concentrates on core strength and conditioning. After she completes body-composition testing on Roberts, she’ll do a posture analysis and functional movement screen, test his flexibility, and conduct strength tests.

“This fitness assessment will help us identify asymmetries and weaknesses,” she says. “We don’t want to build fitness on dysfunction. Then, based on the fitness assessment, we’ll determine what exercises are best for him.”

Roberts works at Barclays Bank Delaware in Wilmington where, he says, “I spend my days sitting at my desk working on a computer.” In the past, he has made some less-than-enthusiastic attempts at getting in shape—mostly walking at the Elkton YMCA. Now, he seems ready for this lifestyle change.

“I want to lose weight and be healthier so I can do the things I want to do and not be limited by my lack of physical conditioning,” he said in his application for the Core Fitness package. “I also need to be able to prepare relatively quick and easy meals, since I spend a lot of time in the evenings taking my son to and from various activities.”

He has the full support of his wife, Bonni, a family-practice physician in Fair Hill, Md. “We talk a lot about exercising,” she says, “but we don’t do it. I think this will really be great.”

Meanwhile, her husband is doing shoulder raises. Behind him is another Core slogan: “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goals.”

In the coming months, we’ll report on Paul Roberts’ progress in achieving his goals.