Health and Wellness.....

I made the decision this year is going to be my year........in so many ways. First and foremost with health and fitness. If I don't feel my best I can't look my best or even be my best. I accept that there are degrees of my best (especially on a bad day when I don't hit the shower until the end of the day!) but I am, and always will be, a glass half full girl. In my head I can hear my parents telling me to comb my hair, make sure my clothes are clean and mended (who wants to be in an accident with holes in your underwear......and have your mother find out!)

In wanting to share, I asked the boss if it was ok to look into various wellness programs. I want to know what is available. The first thought that came to mind was we truly are an office with girth! Granted, not everyone is overweight but a good majority of us are. It might be only 10 or 15 lbs but most of us have much more to lose than that. I contacted weight watchers to see if they would do a program here in the office. They were very open to the idea........the only caveat was that I needed 15 people to officially open the meeting. With 55 guys in the office I knew this was going to be an uphill battle. I had 6 people contact me immediately they were interested. I sent email after email encouraging people to join us. The company even agreed to cover 25% of the cost. How cool is that?! I called every friend I knew who might have an interest in WW. Mostly I got shot down but the same thing was happening in the office. With much persistence I got my 15 people!

Although not everyone is participating, they sure watch what the rest of us are doing!

After the first meeting one guy brought in 4 boxes of donuts.......and that is ok. What we all are learning is that we have choices to make. We choose to eat candy, healthy food, donuts. We have our points and need to use them wisely. It is funny to hear at lunchtime the guys asking each other how many points their meal is!

It is not all about weight watchers either. We know it is important to know our numbers. This means weight, blood pressure, cholesterol. Knowing that information gives us another tool to good health. I am talking to the insurance company about having a health screening here at the office. Their will be a blood draw and specific information will be given to the employees. From there we can decide on other things to offer assistance with. Sometime in spring we will be having a health fair. Imagine vendors of all kinds wandering about the office......my favorite one will be the chair getting back rubs! I am sure the line will be the longest for that one! It is amazing the vendors who want to get their names out and their services made known.

I have started a walking group. We don't walk together but we all wear our pedometers and are tracking in a log book. Again, my insurance group has provided the pedometers (not great ones but for starters are fine) and the log books. It has made people aware of how few steps they take each day. I struggle for my 10K........well, not struggle if Sassy wants a walk (and who knows a dog that does not want to wander about the neighborhood!). But I am aware of how many steps I take in a day and try my best to get to 10K. I also believe when I don't quite get there I have done my best to do the largest percentage to the goal. It is all a positive experience.

We all are moving, sharing, eating better. We are looking better, feeling better. The impact on the insurance will not be reflected for a couple of years but it is going to happen. If we get healthy, our families and friends may join us too. It just makes for one big happy, healthy group of friends who will get to party together for a very long time. And with our company supporting our endeavours we can't help but succeed.