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Dr. StrangeFit || Or: How I learned to stop worrying and love conference calls

by Greg Matthews on May 15, 2009 · Comments

Meetings – and their cousins, conference calls – are a big part of life in corporate America.  Yet I don’t know anyone who really likes most meetings.  There are some exceptions in my own life: I love our Social Media Chamber of Commerce meetings, for example.  And I like the weekly meeting that my peers and I have with our boss.  [Note to self: Daily suckup - CHECK.]

And conference calls are even worse . . . they’re just not a very human or engaging way to interact.  But, like most of the clouds in life, I’ve found a silver lining in this one.  And its name is Walkstation.

Last week my colleague Laura Tabler wrote about her incredible success in fitness and weight loss that’s centered around walking during her favorite shows.  I was seriously inspired.  I mean, losing over 23 pounds in 8 weeks while making minimally invasive life changes is really impressive.  So while Laura does her walking as she feeds her passion for reality TV, I am going to do MY walking while I’m on conference calls.  In fact, any call that lasts for more than 5 minutes is going to see me aboard the walkstation.

I’ve got about 15 lbs. that I’d like to lose . . . let’s see if Laura’s method works as well with me.

What are the little things that you could change to make your normal routine healthier?

[Editor's Note: For those of you to whom this title is pure gibberish, please click here]

Photo by Shane “the Pain” Regala

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DISCLAIMER ALERT: The ideas expressed in this post came out of my own head, were researched by my own eyes and were expressed by my own hands. They are not intended to serve as medical advice in any way, shape or form. And they do not reflect the views of Humana Inc. or any of its subsidiaries. I take full responsibility if you think this post is awesome or not awesome.

A Bugg’s Life (Volume 3)

by Laura Tabler on May 7, 2009 · Comments

How difficult is it to burn 3,000 calories a day?

Thankfully, it’s probably much easier than you think.
 
When I joined the bodybugg program about 3 months ago, I learned that to reach my weight loss goals, I needed to burn about 2,500 calories each and every day. 
 
Let’s just say I felt defeated from the get-go. I have a treadmill at home, and it shows distance traveled, heart rate, and calories burned. I recalled burning about 500 calories after an hour of walking or 30 minutes of jogging (neither of which I did very often). I thought to myself, “How in the world will I be able to burn 2,500 calories in a day and work a full time job?”
 
After wearing the bodybugg for about a week, I realized that burning 2,500 calories in a day is a very attainable goal when you add up all of the little (and seemingly insignificant) activities that most people do every day. For those of you who are not familiar with the bodybugg, it is a device that you wear on your arm and tracks your calories burned using sensor technology
 
It also helps that the bodybugg also calculates calories burned even when you are not exercising. Who knew that people burn a little more than 1 calorie per minute when they are sedentary or even asleep? 
 
Here was a typical weekday’s worth of activity for me when I first began the bodybugg program:
o        Walk from my parking garage to the office (and vice versa – probably about 7 minutes each way)
o        Take about a 25 minute walk outside at lunch time (weather permitting)
o        Walk my dogs around the neighborhood twice (probably about 20 – 25 minutes)
 
Believe it or not, I usually hit my goal just doing these regular, daily activities!
 
After the encouragement of routinely reaching my daily goal for caloric burn, I decided to test myself – could I reach 3,000 calories burned in a day? In addition to the fact that I am very competitive (even against myself in this case), I found a huge motivator for burning the extra calories was the fact that I would be able to eat more calories in a day if I burned 3,000 calories that same day. Let’s be serious here – the ability to eat more than the 2,000 calories a day that was originally allotted to me by the bodybugg program was way more motivating than any competition I might have with or against myself.
 
So…I decided to make my reality tv habit more constructive by recalling an old mantra spoken to me by many a teacher (and my mother – also a teacher by the way) when I was in grade school – “use your time wisely”.  I started walking on the treadmill about an hour a day while I got my latest reality tv fix. This has been the greatest change I have made for myself – and my health – in a long time. I am making real progress in my weight loss, and I am not taking any extra time out of my normal day to work out. I would have been in front of the tv anyway – only I would have been laid up on the couch rather than walking on the treadmill. 
 
I have been amazed at the results of this change. As of now, I burn an average of 3,500 calories per day – and thus I have been able to lose weight at about twice the rate that I had originally planned. I am happy to report that when I got on the scale this morning, I was 23.5 pounds lighter than I was before I began the bodybugg program. Only a pound and a half to go until I hit my goal weight (which I must admit was seemingly unattainable to me before I started the program).
 
Those of you who read my first post know that I first learned about the bodybugg while watching an episode of The Biggest Loser.  Now, as I walk on the treadmill while taking in my favorite shows, I feel like I’m working out right alongside the contestants.
 
Who knew reality tv could be so good for you? :)

photo by: Jos Dielis

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DISCLAIMER ALERT: The ideas expressed in this post came out of my own head, were researched by my own eyes and were expressed by my own hands. They are not intended to serve as medical advice in any way, shape or form. And they do not reflect the views of Humana Inc. or any of its subsidiaries. I take full responsibility if you think this post is awesome or not awesome.

Embracing my Obsession

by JoAnna Darst on April 17, 2009 · Comments

In my last blog post, I mentioned finally coming to terms with my daughter’s eating habits – or lack thereof.  

Well, it turns out that I lied.  Mostly to myself, but also to the masses of advice-givers who chastised me for even worrying in the first place – the ones who responded to my anxiety with “She’ll eat when she’s hungry!” These include pediatricians, nurses, relatives and friends. Oh – and strangers. The ones who think their advice is desperately needed and they must share it with the world – if they were asked to or not.
 
The truth is that I continue to be somewhat obsessed with what she eats, when she eats it and how much she eats. I wasn’t always this way, although I do place a lot of importance on healthy eating in my house. Not fat-free, low sodium or low-cal healthy eating, but beautiful, fresh vegetables and interesting-new-recipe healthy eating. With real butter. Yes, my husband’s a lucky man.
 
My obsession with Ava’s eating patterns began when she was just six months old, transitioning from the best food imaginable (mother’s milk) to the guilt-ridden, ever-so-convenient, industrially produced baby formula. The transition was bittersweet and the guilt that ensued from Ava’s lack of interest in formula – unbearable.
 
Her weight dropped from being in the 50th percentile to zero in around a month. And for all you moms out there – you know what came next – the dreaded diagnosis of ‘failure to thrive.’ So, we took her to Kosair’s Children’s Hospital to have her tested for a number of horrible things that could be causing her to not want to eat and potentially improperly metabolize the calories that she did consume. 
 
We spent what felt like a week in various stages of waiting rooms within the infant section of the hospital, surrounded by babies and their parents who were visibly in need of serious medical treatment. Seeing the other babies made us worry even more that there may be something seriously wrong with Ava. Thinking that she would be perfectly fine made us feel overwhelmingly sad for the parents that were there for their child’s treatment. There was no safe direction to take your thoughts.
 
Test results came back within the week and we got the all clear. “See?” relatives said during the holiday get-togethers. “I had the pickiest eater in the world and look how handsome he turned out!” After which the obligatory nod would come from a cousin from across the room.
 
The ‘mystery’ has never been solved and Ava continues to have a spotty track record when it comes to eating. Baby foods? Nothing went down the hatch unless it was covered in bananas. Beef stew and bananas. Green beans and bananas.
 
And yes, I tried giving her vegetables before sweets. She just wouldn’t eat them. So I mastered the art of disguise early-on.
 
Eating table food has become an adventure unto itself. One night she may just want blueberries for dinner – as in, the entire package. The next night it’s strictly sliced cheese washed down with another cleaver disguise (if I do say so myself)  – pureed greens mixed with 100% fruit juice. My answer to her refusal of everything green. The home version of “Juice” that she actually loves.
 
I can’t help but believe that my fascination (let’s not call it an obsession) with Ava’s nutrition is undeniably connected to the topic of my work. You see, I work with a team of people who are passionately driven to bring about health through play. In other words, we make already-fun things, healthy. Through a subtle injection of health, our games offer a richer gaming experience for the player while improving player health – usually without them even realizing it. 
 
I believe in this program, and I think our philosophy towards game design will encourage other developers to join us as we ignite a movement that demands a new genre of gaming be born. I’ve studied the skyrocketing rates of childhood obesity (1 in 5 pre-schoolers is overweight at last count), I’ve lived the frustration of a child refusing anything remotely healthy on their plate and I’m so exhausted by the end of the day that the last thing I want to do is go to the gym. As a mom, I would love to give my child a game that is not only good, but good for them (and maybe not tell them about that part). I’d even like a game like that for myself.
 
I’m proud of our little group of changemakers – maybe even more proud because in my previous job I was a national marketer of Kentucky Fried Chicken. For years I went to work every morning in a huge corporate building that smelled like fried chicken, talked about piece counts and price points and hoped and prayed that sales would be up every day. My penance, it seems, is to bring our Games for Health brand to life.
 
And that’s what we’re doing. 
 
With the success of the Horsepower Challenge and the completion of a handful of prototypes, the HG4H team has been energized with a refreshed enthusiasm. Or maybe it’s just spring. Whatever it is, we’re furiously working towards launching several new games this year, on multiple platforms and for kids and adults. We publically post each new article on the declining rates of health in the US as if they are personal affronts – and we shoot our nerf guns at them.
 
Somehow we’ve also morphed into staunch representatives of different consumer groups – and we fight to include these perspectives in discussions of new game development and gameplay. I share the mom status with another gal. We also have a resident fresh-from-college rookie. There are new dads, been-there-done-that dads, animal lovers, single professionals, newlyweds, and spunky seniors. Some of us are hardcore gamers, others rule the casual game world, while others still prefer algorithms of chance in their games – i.e., Mafia Wars.
 
While I’m not concerned about Ava’s activity levels right now (read: I can barely keep up with her) I find a lot of satisfaction in the work that I do, in part because it could help families who are dealing with the consequences of inactivity all over the world. 
 
It has been my experience that maternal instincts rarely stop with your own children. As a mother, if you see a child that needs help, you help. You hear a child call “mommy!” in the grocery and even though you know it’s not yours, you look. You stop children who are running at the public pool. Okay, maybe that’s just me.
 
But, my point is that as a mother, I’m proud that what I do outside the home may one day benefit my family and other families like mine. As the mother of a toddler, I’m not in a situation where I am worried about my child’s activity level. However, I know that there are those out there who are, and I sympathize with their situation. I may even find myself in the same situation someday – when Ava actually begins to eat.

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DISCLAIMER ALERT: The ideas expressed in this post came out of my own head, were researched by my own eyes and were expressed by my own hands. They are not intended to serve as medical advice in any way, shape or form. And they do not reflect the views of Humana Inc. or any of its subsidiaries. I take full responsibility if you think this post is awesome or not awesome.

Killer Abs in 10 Minutes

by Chris Hall on March 27, 2009 · Comments

Wouldn’t that be awesome? Instead, doing what’s right for your body takes motivation and effort. If you prefer to live a moderate to largely unhealthy lifestyle, like I do, then keep reading. I don’t always eat the right foods, I definitely don’t get enough sleep, and I really haven’t exercised for longer then I would like to admit. Sound familiar? If left to my own devices, it’s just too easy to make the wrong choices when it comes to my health for me to help myself. Which is why I want to further explore the concept of Social Health, by looking at a Ning community started by Jason Falls , called Twit2Fit.

The idea is that going it alone in a quest to live a healthy lifestyle, is tough.  We have support mechanisms throughout childhood in the form of family and friends. These people help us steer through our discovery of ourselves and our worlds. 

My argument is that similar support mechanisms are needed well into adulthood. For example, my wife helps me with my suit, shirt, tie color combos every night as I get ready for the next work day, for which I am very grateful. In turn, I help my wife rediscover the joy of laughter when I come up suit, shirt, tie color combinations on my own in an attempt to show initiative.

We all need help in our everyday lives, so it stands to reason that we also need help when it comes to our well being.

Enter Twit2Fit. This small, but mighty community of people using social technologies to lean on each other in order to complete their health related goals. It’s the ask the audience and phone a friend concept that made Who Wants to be a Millionaire so exciting to watch.  If I’m feeling weak, I can receive crowd-sourced support from a fellow community member in my time of need.

I love the concept.

What’s extra great is that the community exists on two different platforms.  There is the Ning twit2fit platform, where you can post photos and videos, share stories, and ask and answer questions; and there is twitter where you can get instant feedback from your fellow twit2fitters who follow you, when you need a quick support boost to keep away from that second jelly donut or to egg you on when you think its too cold outside to go for a walk. There is also the potential to meet up with your new found friends, to do fun things together, as there are 12 different groups based around geographic location. I think its great, and if you’re interested you can read the back story behind why Jason created this community here.

I really believe that there is some connection between being social and being healthy, and have joined the twit2fit community to explore this theory in greater detail. In the meantime, I’d love to read your thoughts on the social health mash-up. Do you think that online friends, strangers, and strangers who become friends can have a positive impact on your behavior?

Why or why not?

Photo by: kI.fitness

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DISCLAIMER ALERT: The ideas expressed in this post came out of my own head, were researched by my own eyes and were expressed by my own hands. They are not intended to serve as medical advice in any way, shape or form. And they do not reflect the views of Humana Inc. or any of its subsidiaries. I take full responsibility if you think this post is awesome or not awesome.