Health and wellness November 30, 2015 By
Losing and/or maintaining weight is a challenge for almost everyone, and the holidays make it even more difficult. At First United Bank, we recently decided to create a weight management program to foster weight control and accountability. The results were outstanding! Today, I want to share with you our 12-week program design and encourage you and your co-workers to start your own weight management journey.
As program director, I met with each participant prior to kickoff for them to weigh in, set their weight loss goal, and discuss their readiness to become healthier. Based on the participants’ goals, habits, and weekly schedules, I determined strategies and tactics to help them reach their goal.
Each week, we held a 30-minute meeting where participants weighed in and then heard informational weight management lessons on various topics, such as overcoming barriers to weight loss, identifying motivators for change, fitness 101, healthy snacking, etc. This time was also used for sharing failures and successes and for group support and encouragement. Also during the program, participants were encouraged to take part in onsite fitness classes.
At the end of the 12-week program, the 30 participants had lost a total of 305 pounds! Sixteen participants met their weight loss goals and were rewarded with Fitbits to help them continue their wellness success.
Many participants credited the accountability and support of the members of the group as the main contributor to their healthier living and weight loss success. They found themselves making healthy choices together in the employee café and at restaurants, incorporating exercise more often into their lunch breaks, sharing recipes and tips that made becoming healthy easier, and providing continuous, positive encouragement to each other. Over and over again, we heard participants talk about how appreciative they were to go through their weight loss journey with others who faced similar challenges.
We recently started our second round of this weight loss program. We are excitedly looking forward to seeing the healthy outcomes of this group and the changes that will not only benefit them, but their families, co-workers, and others.
I encourage to you to think about how you can bring to life this same type of weight loss program to your place of work. And with the holiday season upon us, there is no better time to focus on weight and wellness goals.
If you need help designing a weight management group at your workplace, please email youfirst@fub-online.com for additional program details and ideas.
