UNM's Employee Health Promotion is offering a new LIFESTEPS Weight Management Course that benefits eligible staff, faculty and retirees of UNM.
Tracy Briggs, EHP supervisor, said LIFESTEPS is offered to the UNM community as a tool for comprehensive weight management.
"It is a program that stresses the importance of quality nutrition, physical activity, and the course curriculum stresses teaching behavior modification techniques in a cohort setting which, when integratively implemented, assists with gradual weight loss and an increased healthful lifestyle," she said.
Reed Vawter, certified LIFESTEPS instructor and UNM Employee Health Promotion Health Education Consultant, said he wants this program to be more than a quick fix for its participants.
"The goal is to find a healthy relationship with food and weight," he said. "We work towards finding an eating style that promotes long-term health and supports each participant's well-being. Most people come in with a weight-loss goal, but the focus is really on healthy living - when participants are able to eat and exercise in a way that truly nourishes the body, then the weight-loss part takes care of itself."
This course is different than other "one-size fits all" program and diet plans out there, Briggs said.
"It is designed to be taught to a wide range of audiences to include individuals with dieting burnout, chronic disease such as diabetes, heart disease and obesity, along with folks who just want to learn how to live their lives in a healthier way," she said.
Participants in the program will participate in 3 months of group classes where instructors will talk on topics such as how much to eat, which foods to choose, how to exercise and how to manage lapses, Vawter said. During the classes, participants also get support and accountability towards their goals.
"What we're working on is changing habits - replacing the ones that haven't worked in the past with new habits that not only support health, but also that work within each participant's lifestyle," he said.
Briggs said that participants will learn how to lose weight safely, as well as how to maintain a certain weight over a long period of time. The program combines modern research from fields of psychology, nutrition and exercise physiology and is conducted exclusively by professional, she said.
At UNM, Employee Health Promotion focuses on LIFESTEPS programming for staff, faculty and retirees, she said. If any students are interested in a program like this, Student Health and Counseling conducts a weight management program designed just for students called the Healthy Weight Program.
Vawter said that the program is not to convince those attending to restrict themselves from enjoying food, but to learn how to balance it all to live a healthy lifestyle.
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"I want them to leave with a confidence that they can enjoy food and be healthy," he said. "It's not about deprivation or restriction, but about building habits that support our bodies and still allow us to enjoy all the great things in life (including dessert)."
Currently all of the LIFESTEPS classes are full, but Employee Health Promotion regularly offers new classes throughout the year. Anyone interested in attending an orientation and possibly enrolling in the course can monitor the Employee Health Promotion website for upcoming dates and times, or contact EHP at 272-4460.
Denicia Aragon is a staff reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @DailyLobo
