Corporate Fitness and Active Aging

It is not news that obesity is a major health concern in our nation. Not only is obesity responsible for billions in healthcare cost each year; it can also mean billions lost in terms of work productivity.

A recent study estimates that $73.1 billion dollars in workplace productivity are lost each year due to obesity. These numbers highlight the value of employee health. The study cites an increased number of sick days taken and presenteeism (lost performance while at work) as the main reasons for lost productivity from obese employees. Examples of presenteeism can be additional time needed to complete job responsibilities or more problems meeting physical demands at work.

How can employers save money that might be lost due to obesity? They can invest in workplace wellness programs and health improvement plans. Promoting healthier lifestyles and providing wellness education can be just the support your overweight employees need to lose weight and get healthier. Even small weight losses by individuals classified as obese by BMI (body mass index) can mean millions of dollars saved for your company.

Some will argue that muscle confusion is no good for building muscle mass. But I have to admit, the P90X workouts are no joke! I would like to consider myself somewhat in shape, but when I did the videos I was extremely sore. After doing the biceps video, I couldn’t straighten my arms all the way for two days. I liked the videos so much, I’m going to put a copy in my corporate fitness center for employees to use on their lunch breaks.

Mix It Up in Corporate Fitness Programs

I feel that mixing up your workouts and adding variety will help increase strength, endurance, speed, and agility. You increase in all of those areas by keeping your muscles guessing and challenged. After years of always running and lifting the same weight and exercises, I finally discovered it is okay to not have a routine. This might seem difficult to those of you who hate change, but the results are worth it.

Now I change up all my workouts, especially in the classes I teach at the onsite corporate fitness facility. This helps the employees who won’t change their workouts on their own. As a result, our bodies can handle more basic daily movements (unloading the groceries, cleaning out the garage, and so on) and we are stronger for those not-so-graceful falls.

P90X Is Not for Beginners

In my opinion, P90X is not for beginners. Like I said, I work out on a regular basis and teach at a corporate facility, and for two days I couldn’t wash my hair because I couldn’t get my arms up that high. So, please take it slow and do only half the video at first if you are a true beginner or if it’s been years since you have worked out.

Before I launch into my list, I want to note that this is not an all-inclusive list, nor is it ranked in order of importance. It’s just four pieces of the 1,000-piece puzzle that so many health practitioners, employers, employees, and others are trying to solve.

1. People don't realize how much of a problem their weight is.

Perception is reality, and adults’ perceptions about their weight are way out of whack. According to an August 2010 Harris Interactive/Health Day poll that included feedback from almost 2,500 adults ages 18 and older:

• 30 percent of overweight people think they’re actually normal size.
• 70 percent of obese people feel they are merely overweight.
• 39 percent of morbidly obese people think they are overweight but not obese.

2. Many workplaces have a bad health culture.

Healthy corporate environment and policies are often overshadowed by an unhealthy workplace culture that supports donuts at meetings and candy bars for fund-raisers.

3. Office wellness initiatives lack educated leadership.

Knowledge is power. Unfortunately, most corporate health promotion initiatives are overseen by individuals lacking the appropriate educational background to safely and effectively sustain those efforts.

4. Politics and uncertainty hamper corporate wellness programs.

Legal landmines tied to worksite health promotion scare away serious wellness efforts that might have a healthy impact on the workforce. Add to that the great unknown that is Health Reform and employers start to feel like their health promotion hands are tied.

When tailoring programs at corporate wellness centers, the question arises: What can be offered to individuals who have chronic illnesses? Here is an outline of ways to help corporate wellness clients manage chronic illnesses in the workplace:

• Host a health fair or health expo. Bring in representatives from various organizations to your workplace. Making information easily accessible by having several booths of resources makes employees more likely to seek out information. Think of local companies, but also include larger organizations such as the American Cancer Society and the American Diabetes Association. Invite representatives from larger hospitals to offer screenings at the health fair, including cholesterol, blood sugar, bone density, and aortic artery screenings.
• Start resource groups. My corporate health promotion staff recently organized a group called the Cancer and Chronic Conditions Resource Network. Led by three key people who themselves have had past diagnoses of cancer, the group began by personally inviting people on our company’s campus who had been affected by a chronic illness themselves, or who were primary caretakers of loved ones with such ailments. Be sure to stress the resource component of these groups in the naming, rather than calling it a "support group" or "care group," since those might be less appealing in a corporate setting.
• Host information sessions over lunch. Pinpoint certain diseases or chronic ailments that affect a significant population of your company. Then look into monthly or quarterly Lunch and Learns on such topics. Remember to include ailments that are less severe but perhaps more common, such as migraines or sleep disorders.
• Find ways your company can partner with other organizations. The American Cancer Society, in particular, has phenomenal resources specifically designed for use in corporate settings and to aid you, as the health delivery specialist.

Above all, take it upon yourself to understand these illnesses. You don’t have to know scientific details about each disease or condition, but become familiar with the most pressing needs and concerns of these individuals to take your corporate health promotion above and beyond customer service.

We always hear that fiber is an important part of our diet. You probably know that it helps to keep bowel movements regular. But are there other reasons you should pay attention to your daily fiber intake?

I read in my worksite wellness newsletter that fiber can also lower cholesterol and help control blood sugar levels. But, most importantly, I read that it can aid in weight loss! This caught my eye and made me want to find out more information.

How Does Fiber Help with Weight Loss?

Fiber helps you to feel full for a longer period of time, which will help you to eat less. To lose weight, you need to take in fewer calories than you burn. Because the body does not break down fiber, it can grab some dietary fat and carry it out of the body.

Which Foods Contain Fiber?

Some good sources of fiber include

• Whole-grain products
• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Beans
• Peas
• Nuts
• Seeds

Several brands now have fiber bars on the market. Kellogg’s has some high-fiber cereals and snacks. You can also add a fiber supplement called Benefiber to many hot or cold beverages.

Make sure you gradually add fiber to your diet. Contact an onsite fitness center staff member to get a nutrition consultation and exercise prescription. Choose your diet carefully and don’t forget your fiber!

Why do women have a more difficult time losing weight than men? We all know that women are different from men in several ways, but it just doesn’t seem fair. It’s complicated, but it has to do with women’s physiology, brain chemistry, hormones, and other issues.

In corporate fitness management, I work with all types of people. I have to admit, the men I design programs for end up having more success stories than the women. Here are some reasons behind the difference:

• Women have 20 percent more fat and larger fat cells to help support the possibility of pregnancy. It’s not that pregnancy makes you fat, because I have seen some in-shape women around the corporate fitness center who have had children. But it can make it harder to lose weight.
• Most women tend to shy away from strength training. Strength training helps increase the amount of lean body mass you have, which in turn speeds up your metabolism. This helps you burn more calories overall.
• Women stress more than men, which causes them to not sleep as well. Sleep and nutrition go hand in hand; if you don’t sleep well, you tend to eat worse throughout the day. You will also feel more stressed because you didn’t sleep well. It's a vicious cycle that we need to stop! Most corporate wellness centers offer a stress resilience program that you should look into.

So, grab a coworker, neighbor, friend, or your spouse and start working a little harder on your physical fitness. Just because we are women doesn’t mean we can’t be healthy and in great shape!

NBC’s reality TV show The Biggest Loser has taken America by storm since 2004. The show is now in its tenth season and still largely popular due to its relatable concepts and life-changing power. Why not take the themes of The Biggest Loser and transform them into your own employee health incentive? Here are some ways to safely launch your worksite weight-loss program:

1. First things first: To avoid legal trouble, rename your program so that it doesn’t bear the trademark The Biggest Loser name, but is still recognizable, for example, "Lose to Win."
2. Don’t vote anyone off. Yes, there should be an overall winner to make it a true competition, but participants should be given the opportunity to continue through the entirety of the program, reinforcing lifelong habits.
3. Avoid singling out individuals in a negative way. If a participant has a bad week of weight loss, discuss what factors may have been inhibiting them and move on with an action plan toward the next weigh-in.
4. Do push your participants out of their comfort zone into more strenuous workouts, keeping in mind their physical limits. Watching the show can give you many new ideas of exercises, but not all of them can be appropriate for your clientele. Remember, the show has trained medics on standby at all times.
5. Do record all baseline health measurements at the beginning of the program and periodically throughout. On the show, Dr. Huizenga performs extensive assessments on the players, telling them their body’s age, showing scans of their fat distribution, and so on. At the very minimum, record weight, percent body fat, girth measurements, BMI, resting heart rate, and blood pressure.
6. Do encourage participants to understand the root of their weight gain and possible underlying issues that have made them unsuccessful at past weight-loss attempts. Jillian Michaels, trainer on The Biggest Loser, takes this to a bit of an extreme, making it her personal goal to emotionally break down each player to his or her point of realization and future empowerment. Get to know your clients' lifestyles and remind them that weight loss is such a multifaceted process that emotional and relational issues play a role.
7. Lastly, be realistic. Remind participants (and yourself) that you most likely aren’t going to see more than 10 pounds of weight loss in one week. Your corporate participants also have a job, a family, and other obligations that The Biggest Loser's players are removed from during their time at the ranch.

If there’s one theme from the show worth stressing to your clients, it’s a line in the theme song: “What have you done today to make you feel proud?”

Fat freezing, a new cosmetic procedure also known by its technical name, cryolipolysis, may be considered the newest alternative to liposuction. The method involves a special device that applies very cold temperatures to pockets of excess fat. The cold temperature causes the targeted fat to die, which is then eliminated by the body over a course of months.

Is this new procedure the answer to our nation’s ever-increasing weight problem and associated health care costs? Not at all. This procedure is only for small amounts of fat or “problem areas.” Cryolipolysis will do little if anything reduce overall weight, and it certainly won’t decrease health risks associated with excess body fat. In fact, without a proper diet and exercise plan, the fat previously frozen and removed can come back elsewhere.

Although this new procedure sounds like a simpler and safer substitute for liposuction, the healthiest and time-proven way to decrease weight and improve health is a balanced diet and regular exercise. Encourage your employees to commit to a healthy lifestyle by adding an onsite fitness center to your organization’s building. Ensure that the wellness center is staffed with qualified health and wellness professionals who are skilled in exercise program design and nutrition coaching. Promote the idea of improved health with behavior change rather than quick fixes.

I believe that getting an annual flu shot is the right thing for my boys. I know there’s a lot of controversy out there around vaccinations for kids, but the thought of seeing my kids down for the count for days with an illness that I could have prevented doesn’t sit well with me. And I haven’t found the science against vaccinations to be compelling enough to change my mind. Having said that, I almost reversed my flu-shots-are-the-right-thing-to-do philosophy when I took my kids to a local drugstore to get their shots the other day.

Getting Flu Shots Is Not Always a Smooth Experience

I should have known I was in for a ride when my five-year-old said he wanted his brother, who is two years old, to go first. Truthfully, the two-year-old did pretty well: He cried, but he was still, and he didn’t freak out. The five-year-old, on the other hand, basically had to be strapped down. Not only did I have to hold and brace him, but the RN administering the shot felt it was best to shut the clinic door to help dampen the sound of his bone-chilling screams. Seriously—you would have thought we were cutting off his arm with a blunt instrument. It was pure hysteria. 

Needless to say, he did survive (and so did I), but we might have to find a new neighborhood drugstore. (If you're in the same boat, you can find CVS MinuteClinic locations here, and Walgreens Take Care Clinics here.)

Flu Shots for the Family Help the Kids and the Company, Too

Despite the fact that my son will likely describe his experience as torture, I believe I did a good thing for his health. I’m willing to bet my employer thinks so, too. Of course, it’s smart for businesses to offer flu shots for their employees. According to the CDC, the flu shot is the best defense against the flu, reducing the number of cases by up to 70 percent. Preventing the flu at work helps with decreasing presenteeism and preventing absenteeism; employees are healthier and more productive—that is, of course, unless your employee’s family members come down with the flu. Consider that flu-related absenteeism can range from two to seven days. That is a lot of lost work time caring for sick loved ones.

Support your corporate wellness program—get your family members vaccinated!

A few weeks ago, one of my worksite fitness center members felt the need to defend his absence from the worksite fitness center by showing me that he was at least making healthy dietary choices. He showed me his lunch beverage, a 20-ounce Gatorade. He was disappointed when I didn't affirm his drink choice.

Sports Drinks Are Not a Healthy Alternative

Ads for sports drinks, vitamin-infused waters, and even vitamin-infused sodas want consumers to believe these beverages are a healthy alternative to other sweetened beverages. The fact is, they often contain just as many, if not more, calories and sugar as regular sodas and sweetened drinks and have no real health benefits.  

One study found that Americans get 22 percent of their daily calories from their drink choices. These calories are almost entirely from sugar. Excess sugar in the diet is a major contributor to obesity, insulin sensitivity, and tooth decay, and can also contribute to decreases in immune function, depression, and many other health concerns.

Educate Employees and Provide Healthy Choices

You can help create a healthier workforce by minimizing sugary drinks available at your office as well as educating your employees about the health risks associated with excess sugar consumption. Employing registered dieticians and personal trainers at your corporate fitness center is a great step toward guiding your employees to adopt a healthy diet and exercise program.

What steps are you taking to cut down employee access to sugar-sweetened beverages at work?