The Benefits of a Healthy Workplace

Liz Gilchrist

When I started my job with the PEIA Weight Management Program, I posted a blog about my relationship with exercise. In doing so I thought, “I work out six days per week and eat healthy. I am reasonably the example of healthy living.” Quickly, I realized there were many small steps I could take to get healthier. This was made apparent through the lifestyles of my new co-workers. No one was eating processed frozen “healthy” meals, and there were rarely sugary goodies at my disposal.

By listening and learning from the choices of my co-workers, I began to incorporate small changes into my daily nutritional intake. First and foremost, everyone brought their food from home. As I started to concentrate on packing my meals, I found that with my schedule, batch cooking on the weekends and packing my food in the evenings worked best for me. I started cutting up vegetables, separating snacks into baggies, and had plenty of healthy choices on hand. Since we all share a small refrigerator at work, I kept my staples there, like almond butter, and purchased a cooler that would fit all of my food for my shift.

I took lessons from another Health Behavior Counselor and increased my vegetable intake and learned about alternative protein sources, including beans, tofu, string cheese and yogurt. It wasn’t long before I not only felt empowered, but full of energy. I continued to reduce my refined sugar intake, like chocolate and other sweets, but did have these foods in moderation if I really wanted them. I am a firm believer that we should not deny ourselves of the foods we really want.

When it came to exercise, all of my co-workers had their passion and fostered me to embrace mine. My Supervisor rides his bike to work. The Director of the program shoots hoops on his break. A fellow Counselor ran and took yoga from a local studio. Everyone around me was exercising and I was inspired to do even more. It wasn’t about slimming down for them. It was about self-care and prioritizing personal needs. Now, if I’m having a stressful day, I don’t sink in despair in my office, I keep clothes on hand and go for a run to release some stress.

More than anything, I learned that to be successful and have the most insight into the quests of participants I speak to, I needed to practice what I preach. On my second day with the Weight Management Program, I reactivated my account with myfitnesspal.com and have been logging ever since. Are there times I eat things I shouldn’t and have to come face to face with them in my log? YES! But I now embrace logging and know that it keeps me accountable for MY CHOICES. As for the results, this “example of healthy living” has lost an additional 13% of her body weight, dropped 3 pant sizes and can say that I am finally living my best life.

I choose to share my story for two reasons. One is the hope that I can encourage participants so they know they can do it too. More importantly, it’s to stress the influence healthy choices can have on others. My fellow employees didn’t know they had affected my choices so much. With that being said, don’t underestimate the impact YOU can have on others throughout your journey. One healthy choice will not only change your outlook, but may have a big impact on co-workers around you.

Jessica’s Weight Loss Journey

Jessica Peacock

As many of you may know, I have my own history of successful weight loss. In fact, some of you have asked me how I did it and what worked for me, so I thought I would share a little more about my experience.

I struggled with weight for most of my life – I was the chubby kid and teenager, and my weight continued to increase thanks to the college lifestyle. Being overweight is something that affected me greatly, contributing to decreased confidence and self-esteem as well as a pretty negative body image. I imagine this is pretty common for a lot of other young women in our society who are constantly exposed to images of the “ideal” woman and feel they will never be able to achieve this standard of beauty.

Despite my weight, I was somewhat active as a young person, playing tennis and basketball through high school. In college I attended the student rec center sporadically, but was so concerned that others were looking at me that I never really felt comfortable enough to try more than just an elliptical or treadmill.

My turning point (and we call this ‘dramatic relief’ using a model of behavior change called the Transtheoretical Model – I encourage you to look it up) occurred when I was about 24 years old. I was working at a dead-end job, disliked my living situation, and was overall just unhappy. I decided to make a visit home, and my older sister happened to be visiting the same weekend. We hadn’t seen one another in several months, and during that time, she had taken up running. And she looked great! My sister and I used to have a very similar body type and we looked a lot alike; now, it was very clear that I had become the heaviest person in my family.

I figured if my sister could start running and lose weight, so could I (I guess a healthy dose of sibling rivalry can be a good thing!). Now, I didn’t start off exercising very regularly, but at least I was doing something. After I started becoming a little more comfortable in the gym I tried strength training and realized I really liked it. Eventually I noticed that with the exercise I was getting I was losing weight – and that got me so excited that I began exercising more. I was also running every day (slowly at first and for short distances) and as time went on I could set goals for myself, such as running 1 mile consistently without stopping.

Exercise was a life-changer for me. Strength training made me feel strong and powerful, which helped me appreciate my body more and what it could do that is positive (rather than just focusing on the negatives or things I don’t like). And every time I set a small goal for myself and achieved it, my confidence and self-esteem would go up just a little bit. I was slowly beginning to realize that I had been defining myself by my weight, and I didn’t have to. I could change, and I could be an active and healthy woman.

In addition to exercise, I started keeping a food journal online. This was quite the eye-opening experience for me! Since I would often emotionally eat to compensate for my low self-esteem, it took me a few months before I was really honest in my journal and made sure everything I recorded was accurate (like, when I ate peanut butter out of the jar I did not in fact have only 1 tablespoon!). Once I was recording everything accurately I realized that while I didn’t eat a lot of unhealthy foods, I did eat way more than my body needed. Slowly I began to learn that I could adjust what I was eating without trying to eliminate the foods I enjoyed, and could use exercise to help me burn off extra calories when I slipped up. It took a few years to really understand my nutrition and get the hang of things, but I am so happy to say that I now have a healthy relationship with food and eat what I want, when I want. But as I’ve told many of you: I like to eat, so I also like to work out! Exercise is most definitely my number one strategy for maintaining my weight.

Once I began to really lose a lot of weight, I realized that to keep it up I would probably have to change many aspects of my life to support my new habits. Exercise was now so important to me and my identity, that I knew I needed to make it a central part of who I was. So, I began studying for my ACSM certification and found a job working with kids in a physical activity program after school. I soon began doing personal training after that, continued to work on my own fitness/weight loss goals, and decided I would (like my older sister) run a marathon one day (and this from the girl who used to hate to run!).

Since I first made the commitment to change my life I have lost about 70lbs (I don’t really know for sure, because I refused to weigh myself at my heaviest due to my own shame). I ran the Baltimore marathon in 2005, and have completed lots of other 10k’s and half-marathons since then. I returned to school to study exercise psychology, with the hope that I could better understand how exercise and weight loss can improve our mental health and well-being, as well as how to best help others experience the positive changes that I have.

I became a different person thanks to exercise, good nutrition, and weight loss. I feel better about myself, I am happier, I am more optimistic, and I feel in control of my life – all things I was missing out on for years. These are the things that keep me going. When I look back on my experience, the weight loss was great; but more important to me is how different I feel now. And the most amazing thing about it is this: there is nothing special about me. It took dedication and hard work, but if I could do it, ANYONE can do it. YOU can do it!

Is Water Really THAT Important?

Liz Gilchrist

Let me start by saying, I am not surprised by the lack of water participants report and their difficulty when it comes to increasing their consumption. I personally struggle at times with drinking my recommended 8 glasses. With that being said, maybe it’s time for a refresher on why water is so important to healthy living and weight management.

Water is the building block of life. It accounts for 55% or more of the body’s composition and is necessary for filtering toxins, easing digestion and maintaining overall balance for internal organs. More specifically, increasing water consumption can ease stress. Brain tissue is approximately 80% water and when you are dehydrated, even slightly, your mind and body suffer. Need a pick me up at work. Keep a bottle of water at your desk! No one needs an additional stressor.

In addition to aiding the filtering process of the kidneys, water also flushes waste through the pipes, both internal and otherwise. It can rep up your metabolism, keep you from overeating at meals and assist with increasing energy. Many times people believe they are hungry, when really, they’re thirsty.

Hopefully your wheels are spinning about when you typically drink water. An answer is probably while you are working out. This is a GREAT choice! Water is not only critical for replenishing during exercise, especially cardio, but essential to avoid muscle cramping and hitting the dreaded “wall.”

While you can’t literally see the internal benefits of water, there is a way you can visually embrace the beauty. It is a natural anti-aging secret for the body’s largest organ, the skin. It fills cells and keeps skin looking plump and fresh. People who look younger may not have a secret, they may just drink more water.

Here are some suggestions for getting in more water throughout your day.

- Make it a habit to drink a glass when you get out of bed. This is a surefire way to set your day up for success.

- Add some flavor if you can’t get into the taste, or lack thereof.  Squeeze in some lemon or check out my favorite, True Lemon, True Lime and True Orange, which is simply crystallized all natural fruit.

- Freeze bits of fruit for flavoring. Adding these to water will not only pump up the flavor, but help with getting in a serving of fruit or even vegetables. Ideas include orange, grapefruit, lime, lemon and even cucumbers.

- Replace one drink with calorie free water. Whether it is soda, coffee or anything in between, your body will thank you.

- Buy a reusable water bottle. They are rather inexpensive ($3 -$20) and can be used for extended periods of time when washed regularly. Concerned about filtering? There are bottles that come with a filter built in. However, you will need to buy replacements.

- Buy a case of bottled water to keep at work and always have one on your desk, gym bag or purse.

- Find yourself grazing on snacks in the evening? Remember the information above. You may not be hungry, but thirsty and drinking a glass of water may curb that craving and promote success with weight loss.

- Track your water intake daily. If you are keeping a food log, this is an easy addition. Most online tools have the capability to enter glasses consumed, or add another column to your notebook. Not keeping a log, try keeping a note on your fridge and put a mark for every glass you drink.

- Set a reminder in your phone or computer at work. Make a date with water and when the alarm goes off, taking a few swigs or down a glass.

- Eat something spicy. You will be going for some water before you know it.

- Set a goal for water intake, such as 6 oz per hour. This is more than enough to reach the quota of 8 glasses per day and will keep you from having to guzzle and chug it down.