Share your story of how Live Healthy Iowa impacted your life! What were your successes, your inspirations, your changes, and/or what you loved about the 2012 "100 Day Challenge"? Those who share a personal story or team story will be entered to WIN LUNCH FOR THE ENTIRE TEAM!
To post a comment: select "Anonymous" in the drop down heading. Then leave a comment with your first name and your team name. Teams can enter multiple times. If you have troubles posting, please email comment to erin-litton@uiowa.edu.
The fine print: All submissions will be reviewed by a select UI Wellness Committee to determine the most deserving team. Submissions must be submitted by Monday, May 7th. The winning team will be notified on Tuesday, May 8th.
This challenge was so timely. My weight had held fairly steady over the holidays (yeah!), but I knew I had to do something different if I wanted to shed any more pounds. I decided to try to increase my exercise from about 180 to 300 minutes a week. I have been able to meet this goal for all but one week of the challenge by walking to work most days, which takes 30 minutes. This has been a painless way to meet my goal and one that I will be able to keep up post-challenge. A bonus is that I have dropped 5 pounds. Last week I bought a swimsuit (first one in 30 years!) so I can look forward to swimming with my granddaughters. That's the best outcome ever!
ReplyDeleteEllen, Public Health Nuts
My inspiration, and what I loved most about this year's challenge, was our team captain. She kept us all enthusiastic about our efforts. It made the 100 days go by fast. One thing she did was create weekly newsletters with profiles about our teammates. Seeing what the others on our team did for exercise prodded me to try new things. This week I actually started the couch to 5K program.
ReplyDeleteAnita - Team Eats a Lot (Green)
This is such a great program to motivate people to do and keep track of physical activity. I lost 15 pounds and will continue logging my physical activity even after today. Our team leader is always encouraging and we have a dedicated Compliance Alliance team even with some pretty serious illnesses and plannar fascities...
ReplyDeleteLive Healthy Iowa provided good motivation for my fitness goals. I lost 18 pounds during the challenge and have become much more active. I am making better choices in my diet. We had a great coach (Lori) who organized lunches, shared recipes, awarded prizes, and reported how the team was doing. The support from colleagues who were also working toward fitness goals helped me stay on track.
ReplyDelete-Nicole, ITS BeeGees
I enjoyed every moment of Live Healthy Iowa, it got me going to what I needed to do a long time ago, I am very happy about my weight loss of 35 lbs plus, I will continue on my journey to loose more, but I want to do this the slow way that I have been doing. Thank you so much for getting us all started on the right foot, I even got my husband starting on this also!!!
ReplyDelete-Brigitte, Mighty Muffin Tops @ UIHC
I just wanted to tell you about my co-worker, Dawn.
ReplyDeleteDawn has lost 25 pounds while participating in this challenge. She has changed her diet and added exercise-- all while working full time and caring for 6 month old twins. She has done an amazing job.
-Deb, B.F. Skinniers
I love this program, I have lost 21 pounds since starting. I love being challenged and I wish this continued all year round. Thank you for allowing us this opportunity.
ReplyDeleteParticipation in Live Healthy Iowa and the 100 Day Challenge positively impacted my work life as well as my personal health.
ReplyDeleteI will first address the impact on my personal health. When I agreed to be on the GOEH GIRLZ team, I had just recommitted to my personal need for daily exercise by continuing my membership at Farrell’s Extreme Body Shaping. I had completed the first 10 week challenge in March 2011 and continued to participate over the next several months. The 100 Day Challenge and the Live Healthy Iowa team gave me the incentive to continue my personal commitment to myself and continue the Farrell’s program. I eat better, have more energy, love the new shape of my body and have fewer migraine headaches.
The GOEH GIRLZ team membership allowed me to share my personal fitness experience with my team (also work colleagues). We began sharing our stories with each other, the goals we each had set and the frustrations we experienced. A common frustration was time – how to fit exercise into our already busy lives. We communicated by e-mail our successes but more importantly our challenges. We provided support and encouragement through a running injury, the desire to skip the 5 a.m. spin class and the need to care for a sick child. We challenged each other to mini exercise challenges like “doing the stairs” which entailed walking up the stairs at lunch or on a break beginning on floor one going up to level five and back to our offices on level three. At least one team member began (and continues to) exercise during the lunch hour. Others walk to and from their assigned parking lot.
The 100 Day Challenge helped our team view exercise as a habit that brings positive results to each team member personally and to the team as a whole. We each have unique responsibilities within the department but have common goal that has and will continue to affect our work life in a positive manner.
We shared ideas, provided encouragement and communicated with each other on a personal level. We now share more than just a work bond. I am optimistic that this bond will continue well after the 100 Day Challenge.
-Kim, GOEH GIRLZ
By doing the Live Healthy Challenge, I have felt better and slept better because I am more active and eating healthier. I am making smarter food choices instead of just eating without thinking about what goes in my mouth. I have lost weight, and since I feel better I have the motivation to keep going. My new goal will be to maintain my weight while trying to tone and strengthen my muscles. Since I feel better, I have a better attitude at home and work which affects everyone around me. It has benefited me in multiple aspects of my life.
ReplyDelete-Carrie, Team Nicslimone
We started a team this year for Live Healthy Iowa sort of as a spoof...Our dept. Wellness Coach was encouraging people to join and I said I would do it only if another coworker joined. I was sure my coworker wouldn't participate...but he did. We joked that we should name ourselves Team Eatsalot and have our goal be to exercise by walking to lunch. It was silly…so we did. And I’m really glad we did. Team Eatsalot turned out to be a good thing and more fun than I ever imagined. Twenty hungry coworkers signed up for our team, ranging from marathoners to couch potatoes. We each exercised on our own, but “lunch” was there to bring us together. Over the LHI challenge, the 20 of us ended up eating 117 lunches and walking together 45.65 hours to get there. (Yep, I kept stats.) It encouraged us to get out of the office and get some fresh air. We’ve also gotten to know each other better – some coworkers I didn’t know at all before LHI. And I have learned about all the different amazing activities they like to do or did during LHI– such as walking their dog, walking on a beach, soccer, hiking, geocaching, baseball, marathons, Ragbrai, biking around Central Park, dancing, canoeing, scuba diving, construction, golf, gardening, lifting weights, etc. Everyone was really inspiring. LHI has been a “kick off the couch” for me. And Team Eatsalot has gotten me out and about more than I have in a long time. – Susan, Team Eatsalot Green and Blue
ReplyDeleteBeing the captain help me a lot to stay on track, I didn’t want to put my team down because I was not doing my share (we end up 3rd on the UIHC group/210 teams)… I logged around 9h activities/week and lost 7.5% of my weight. I try to push my team too…ask them and they may tell you about it :). I will continue to exercise as much as I can.
ReplyDeleteValerie form Femme-Five
Shortly after our team started the 100 Day Challenge I was diagnosed with cancer and a few days later I had major surgery. I did not think I would be able to contribute at all to the team effort. But my teammates encouraged me with emails, phone calls and visits. They convinced me that even a few minutes of walking around the house (a little more each day) was beneficial to my health and aided in our team effort. I am now half way through my treatments, back to work, and walking with my teammates. I feel that the exercise and comradery with my teammates has really helped me to keep a positive attitude through out my treatments and aided a lot in my recovery!!! Barb-Odd Man Out
ReplyDeleteI originally started the Live Healthy Iowa exercise program for the beneficial effects on my body such as strengthening muscles and the cardiovascular system, and boosting my energy levels. But I soon re-discovered that exercise is also great to reduce my stress and ward off any anxiety I may be feeling. Exercise helped me relieve those feelings and bring me back to center.
ReplyDeleteOn dreary days outside, it was really hard to get motivated to exercise. But as soon as I took that first step, my mood started to improve and I wanted to go further. I would grab my iPod and tennis shoes, go for a walk and by the end of it I felt great.
I was so impressed with how I was feeling that I decided to revisit why excercise is so good for you. I learned from reading about the affects of excercise on your body that excercise doesn’t just affect your muscles but it also affects your brain. Exercise increases levels of mood-enhancing chemicals in the brain, as well as reducing levels of stress hormones. It's a sort of a two-for-the-price-of-one deal to improve your outlook. By providing an outlet for nervous energy, exercise also helps improve quality of sleep. In addition, getting moving also releases muscle tension and elevates your heart rate, actually helping you to think more clearly. Being a nurse, I found this to be a great benefit.
I find that if I exercise first thing in the morning, my day always seems brighter. If I happen to skip an exercise session or wasn’t able to fit it in, that day just doesn’t seem to run as smoothly. So thank you for the wonderful opportunity to participate in Live Healthy Iowa and I look forward to continuing this excercise journey as summer quickly approaches.
-Audrey, Psyched Up UIHC