Achieving a Healthy Weight
January Wellness Priority – Achieving a Healthy Weight
Thinking About A Healthy Weight
January signals a time for renewed effort and opportunity to achieve important goals that we all set for ourselves. A common goal at New Years is to achieve a healthy body weight. More than two-thirds of the U.S. population is overweight or obese and many Americans do not participate in the minimum amount of physical activity recommended by experts.
It’s also not uncommon that because of our busy lifestyles, we find ourselves somehow overweight and out of shape. However, the real health and performance benefits of maintaining a healthy weight and healthy lifestyle habits are only achieved if we adopt long-term healthy eating habits and maintain a healthy weight throughout the year. Maintaining a healthy weight becomes even harder if your job is more technical and sedentary, when there no time for additional physical activity, and when high-calorie foods and snacks are promoted throughout the workplace.
Right now you may or may not be thinking about taking steps to achieving a healthy weight for many different reasons. For one, you may not even know that your weight can affect your health, or you may already know that your condition is affecting your health, but still you decide not to change.
Understanding Your Motives for Change
Being overweight can lead to lack of energy, poor performance, and low
self-esteem. If you are over-weight, your risks for disease such as diabetes, high blood pressure, gallstones, and heart disease. The advantages of maintaining a healthy weight include having more energy for work and play, an enhanced self-image and confidence, a greater sense of control.
If you have been successful at managing your weight, continuing your healthy eating and activity behaviors can help you maintain that healthy weight for life. If you are overweight, you can begin to take steps to help you manage your weight. Because weight gain happens gradually, it doesn’t seem as urgent as other health concerns. But you can move a step closer by simply thinking about managing your weight.
Throughout the month of January, from articles, tips and strategies, to online diet plan and menus, the tools presented in the next 30 days can help even if you’re not thinking about achieving a healthy weight right now. They will help you understand what moves you to continue to not address you taking steps to achieving a healthy weight.I hope that you find the resources provided here help you start your journey to better health.
New Year, New Goal to Get Healthy
Have trouble sticking to that annual “get healthy” resolution every New Year? Experts at the International Council on Active Aging (ICAA) offer advice to help older Americans stay with the program in 2010.
To begin, schedule 15 minutes a day for the next four days to plan how you’re going to get started. You can boost your motivation by getting a friend involved or by starting a club at your community center or place of worship.
Here are 10 tips for active, healthy aging:
- Buy a good pair of shoes. Comfortable, well-fitting shoes are essential. Foot pain is not a normal part of aging, says the American Podiatric Medical Association.
- Play games to keep your brain sharp. There are many different kinds of games — such as trivia, memory and math — and skill levels to suit all kinds of people. Games can also be a fun way to spend time with others.
- Go for walks, which will help improve lower body strength, maintain mobility and help prevent cognitive decline. Start easy and gradually increase your speed and distance. If you rely on a cane, walker or wheelchair, you can ask a friend to join you for outings.
- Do balance exercises to help you with everyday activities, such as reaching into cupboards. Good balance also helps prevent falls. Many exercise classes for older adults include balance training.
- Get your eyes checked. A study published this year in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that nearly all vision impairment in a large group of people older than 60 years could be improved with corrective lenses.
- Increase your physical activity. This can include yard and house work, walking to the store, or playing ball with the neighbor children. Make a weekly walking date with a friend, join a wellness center, community center, or a health club with programs geared to your interests and needs.
- Nurture relationships with family, friends and neighbors. These kinds of social connections are good for your emotional well-being.
- Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables.
- Laugh a lot. Laughing increases circulation, immune system defenses and mental function.
- Get seven to eight hours of sleep per night. If you have trouble falling or staying asleep, make a few changes such as: skipping daytime naps; adopting a nighttime routine; starting a regular exercise program. Changing habits does more to improve sleep than taking medications.
You don’t have to do all these things at once, the ICAA said. Start trying them over the next few months.
Guest article by Robert Preidt – For more articles like this visit mywelcoach.com.
Sticking to Your New Year’s Exercise Resolution
It’s that time of year again—champagne flows, balls drop, and New Year’s resolutions are made.
Resolutions run the gamut—from quitting smoking or being more productive at work to eating more vegetables or losing 10 pounds . A majority of resolutions, though, revolve around exercise. People often pledge to start an exercise program, get back on track with a program they resolved to start last year, or raise the intensity of their current exercise program. Unfortunately, many of these good intentions don’t last past February.
Do you make the same fitness resolutions year after year? Here’s some advice on making your exercise goals attainable and sustainable in the New Year.
Working With a Personal Trainer
Laurie, a 29-year-old editor, was exercising six to seven days a week, seeing no improvement, and starting to burn out. After talking with a trainer, Laurie realized that her program needed revitalization. Her current routine consisted of climbing on the StairMaster everyday and lifting weights on Nautilus machines three times a week.
“The personal trainer pointed out that my workout was stale,” Laurie explains. “He encouraged me to incorporate different exercises and taught me how to work with free weights. I started playing basketball again, going to step aerobics and kick boxing classes, and even began lap swimming. Now I ask myself what I feel like doing each day, rather than dragging myself to the StairMaster.”
Reworking Laurie’s exercise program paid off. Within six months she lost 10 pounds and has kept the weight off for almost four years. More importantly, though, she has stuck with her exercise program. “I feel better about myself and I look better,” Laurie says, “and friends have even asked me how I got my arms to look so good. Not bad for a little change-up in the routine that made it more fun to boot.”
A Trainer Weighs In
“An exercise program needs to have variety and be fun for a person to stick with it,” explains Michael Wood, CSCS, a certified strength and conditioning specialist and director of the Sports Performance Group in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “It should be tailored to the individual; that’s where a personal trainer comes in. A trainer can assess your fitness level and your needs, and then put together a program that gets into the nuts and bolts of exercise, one based on the right techniques and good body mechanics.”
A personal trainer knows the body and knows the equipment. Even seemingly minor changes in the way you exercise can make a huge difference in the results. “My right arm is stronger than my left, so my trainer suggested I use dumbbells (a weight in each hand) instead of a barbell,” says Laurie. “Now my right side doesn’t compensate for my left and both sides are gaining muscle equally.”
And it doesn’t have to cost a fortune. A few appointments are all it takes for a trainer to assess your abilities and create an exercise program that can work for your body. “A good trainer weans you off after time,” says Wood. “And if you feel your motivation start to slip or you begin to get bored, set up an appointment to refresh your workout.”
Six Tips for Success
So you have made up your mind to make this year’s New Year’s resolution stick. These steps will help you attain and sustain your new fitness goals. And they can be applied to any type of resolution, not just exercise.
- Write it down. To get a clear understanding of your resolution, write out the specifics of your new workout plan. Include all the details—how many times a week you want to work out, which days, what types of exercises you plan to do, and what your goals are. Continue to document your progress throughout the year to gauge how it’s going and if you’ve been successful.
- Be active with friends. Meet a friend to go for a walk or inline skating or biking or hiking or play racquetball… The options are endless.
- Do it for yourself. Make a resolution because you really want to—not to please someone else. Regular exercise will make you look better, but it will also make you feel better.
- Set realistic goals. If you have never run a day in your life, don’t decide to become a marathon runner by February. Instead, start with a goal you can accomplish, such as running three or four miles. Once you’ve attained your first goal, you’ll be motivated to reach for a new, tougher goal.
- Be specific. Give yourself detailed guidelines with specific dates, times, and/or amounts. Don’t just say, “I want to lift more weight.” Instead, determine how much you want to increase by and in what time frame. Pick a specific road race, triathlon, or charity race to participate in.
- Reward yourself for success. If you’ve kept to your exercise schedule all month, splurge on a new pair of athletic shoes. Or maybe you hit a specific weight-lifting goal—treat yourself to dinner out with a good friend. However you do it, be sure to pat yourself on the back for a job well done.
Guest article by Mary Calvagna, MS – Find articles like this on mywelcoach.com
Eating Strategies for Healthier Holiday Parties
Rather than worry about gaining or losing weight during the holidays, focus on simply keeping steady on the scales by following some simple healthy eating strategies, one dietitian says.
“Trying to diet during the holidays is setting yourself up for failure and personal torture,” Jennifer Ventrelle, clinical nutritionist and registered dietitian at Rush University Medical Center, said in a news release issued by the Chicago facility. “Set an achievable goal: to maintain your weight through the holiday season.”
Since eating plays such a big role in the holiday fun, Ventrelle said to never go to a party hungry. Instead, eat a healthy snack — such as yogurt or fruit, an apple and peanut butter, or a bowl of high-fiber cereal — before the event to avoid gorging at the party.
Eating small, lower-calorie meals during the day can also offset the calorie load of a dinner party. When at the party, eat slowly and use a small plate. “Take a small first helping. That way, if your host expects you to take seconds, the total will be one normal-size dinner,” she said.
Keeping portions small, she said, also allows you to eat your favorite foods without overloading, as sometimes, one taste can help satisfy a craving.
If you are the party host or are supposed to bring a dish, keep it healthy. Serve or bring fresh fruit and vegetables when possible, Ventrelle said. If you are the host, give away the leftovers to remove your temptation.
Don’t socialize in the kitchen or next to the buffet table where you might be tempted to nibble. Move around both during, before and after the event, she said.
“A decrease in physical activity is a prime contributor to holiday weight gain,” Ventrelle said. “Without exercise, you burn fewer calories, and you’re also likely to eat more.”
Guest article by Kevin McKeever – for more articles like this, go to mywelcoach.com.
On-Line Wellness Workshops Now Available!
myWelCoach.com is excited to announce launch of it’s on-line health and wellness workshops! From exercise and nutrition, to diabetes prevention, to weight management, each workshop is designed to assist you in establishing better healthy lifestyle habits. Throughout each workshop, you will be guided through a series of tasks to strengthen your understanding of achieving and maintaining healthier health-habits.
Exercise Workshop – The exercise workshop is designed to assist you in establishing better exercise habits.
Currently there are four workshops available:
- Diabetes Prevention - This is a six week workshop designed to educate you about diabetes, and provide useful tools to help you reduce your risks of developing diabetes.
- Cardiovascular Disease Prevention - This six week workshop is designed to help you understand and manage any risks you have for heart disease.
- Nutrition - The nutrition workshop is designed to assist you in establishing better eating habits. Throughout the workshop, you will be guided through a series of tasks to strengthen your understanding of healthy eating habits.
- Exercise - The exercise workshop is designed to assist you in establishing better exercise habits. Throughout the workshop, you will be guided through a series of tasks to strengthen your understanding of a proper exercise regime.
Completing Your Health Risk Assessment
Following the initial setup, you will be prompted to answer a series of questions pertaining to your health, diet, fitness, and lifestyle. This survey will help track your current health, identify any health-related risk factors, and create a baseline from which to measure your performance and success. It’s okay if you aren’t sure of some answers. Your Wellness Profile can be saved and updated at your leisure.
By staying current and updating your health profile you can keep track of your current health risks and take a major step towards a proactive approach to diet, fitness, and wellness. These surveys will help you evaluate your current mental and physical health, set goals, and provide a foundation from which your progress can be demonstrated and documented.
Your Health, Fitness and Wellness Views
Update these profiles to create a blueprint for your health, fitness, and wellness objectives. Factors such as nutrition, exercise, emotional stress, and even motivation work together to complement and contribute to a healthy lifestyle.
A completed profile only shows up after you complete the Health Risk Assessment. Quickly assess personal strengths and weaknesses associated with your behavior. Visualize the results of your completed HRA with a bar graph indicating ideal versus low and high-risk rankings for you BMI, exercise, nutrition, stress levels, tobacco use, automobile safety, and alcohol consumption.
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Holiday Exercise: Make It a Pleasure, Not a Punishment
Finding motivation without the guilt
The U.S. Surgeon General reports that 60% of adults in the U.S. are not active on a regular basis and the number one reason most people don’t exercise is… lack of time.
Once the holiday season begins, the lack of time issue will only become more problematic. For most people, even for those who do exercise regularly, this means that daily exercise slips to the bottom of the long list of things to do at the holidays. You know that list: gift shopping, party hopping, traveling to see family and friends…
Here are some ways you can stay on track with your exercise routine throughout the holidays.
Set Short- and Long-Term Goals
Rather than drag yourself to the gym each day to “burn off some of that eggnog,” set a fitness goal for the holiday season.
Try writing down what you want to accomplish during the two-month period from November 20 to January 20. Choose a goal such as losing 5 pounds, increasing your strength, or improving your time in a mile run.
Don’t make exercise a penance for the holiday cookies you ate. Make it a personal goal unrelated to holiday revelry.
Your goals need to be flexible and in line with your capabilities, needs, values, and available resources. They should be challenging but also realistic. Measure the baseline of where you are now and decide where you would like to be on a certain date in January. Write down your goal and take ownership of it by signing it—either by yourself or with a workout partner.
Get a Workout Partner
Some people find that working out with a partner helps motivate them and keep them consistent in terms of getting to the gym.
Knowing that someone is waiting at the gym for you will hopefully motivate you on the days you don’t feel like getting out of bed to exercise.
Train for an Event or Sport
Whether you like to ski or snowboard or whatever, being fit will make your winter activities more enjoyable.
Knowing you need to be physically prepared may be the motivational tool you need in terms of keeping you consistent with your workouts.
Realizing that all your training will have an additional benefit, other than improved fitness, may also improve your chances of sticking with it. If you don’t already have something to train for, consider these:
- 5K or 10K road race
- Marathon
- Triathlon or biathlon
- Sport-specific training (downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, winter basketball league, etc.)
- Dry-land rowing regatta
So, for this holiday season find some motivation that has nothing to do with guilt.
myWelCoach Introduction Video
Welcome to myWelCoach.com – your key to optimizing your fitness, dietary, and wellness goals. You now have the power to proactively regain control and transform your life. This video tutorial will enable first time users to easily plan their fitness, dietary and health goals via an extensive array of interactive tools, and more toward a more healthful lifestyle.
This step-by-step tutorial will walk you through the most powerful and popular features on the site. Don’t worry too much about knowing how to do everything right from the start. The site has been structured to allow you to start small and go at your own pace. Use this and the following video tutorials to navigate through the site and embark on a future full of hope, challenge, and excellence in wellness.
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The Cornerstone of Our Employee Health Strategy – You
In case you haven’t noticed, the cost of health care continues to rise. Small businesses are seeing their profits consumed by higher insurance premiums and individual claims costs. Like many small
businesses, your organization has turned to worksite wellness to help you develop healthy behaviors and lower your risk of developing a chronic disease.
Having a healthier workforce will lower direct costs like insurance premiums and worker’s compensation claims. It will also positively impact many indirect costs such as absenteeism and low
worker productivity. What does that have to do with you? That ultimately means more money in YOUR pocket!
Our health and wellness programs are your key to optimizing your fitness, dietary, and wellness goals. You now have the power to proactively regain control and transform your life. Whether you are a first time user or already a member, you’ll have access to some of the most extensive array of interactive tools and resources.
Below are some of the programs that are automatically included in your organization’s wellness program.
- EXERCISE & NUTRITION EDUCATION
- ON-LINE WELLNESS PROGRAMS
- WELLNESS COACHING
- WEIGHT MANAGEMENT
- INDIVIDUAL & GROUP FITNESS
- WELLNESS SEMINARS & WORKSHOPS
- SMOKING CESSATION PROGRAMS
- HEALTH SCREENINGS
- STRESS REDUCTION
Your Exercise and Fitness Planner
The exercise log is used to record your physical activity and maximum heart rate. Every time you engage in physical activity you burn calories. This simple-to-use tool will help you keep track ofyour physical activity, ranging from aerobics to whitewater rafting.
In addition, did you know periodic exercise maintains and improves physical fitness, overall health, brain function, and is an essential component in the prevention of many illnesses. Correct technique prevents injuries and maximizes results. We provide animated illustrations and detailed guidelines on the fundamentals of core, lower body, upper body and stretching exercises. Learn new exercises and master old ones by perusing our Exercise Examples.
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