It’s January 15th and if you’re like me you are well on your way to breaking your promises and resolutions to live a healthier life in 2017!
My intentions are always good; my enthusiasm high after the holidays. I have taken time to reassess what is most important to me, shared memories with my family and had a few days off work.
This year, my oldest son back visiting from college, only the second Christmas since we lost my dad, my mom recovering from a long hospital stay, and my 50th birthday just around the corner, I pledged to focus on simple, healthy decisions about how to spend this precious gift of time and how to use my energy, attitude and money this year! So why is it that only 2 weeks into January I am already failing on most fronts?
Sometimes we don’t have control over the chaos that can hit in our lives — illness, tragedy, loss of a job or the end of a relationship. But more often it is the subtle stress that creeps into our day-to-day, distracts and redirects our energy from our goals, priorities and healthy decisions and isolates from the people around us. In fact I find that I most likely fall back into bad habits when I isolate myself from the people and activities that motivate me to be healthy in the first place.
Often even when we are with people all of the time, we keep our goals and struggles to ourselves.
Addressing isolation, and making social support a key component of healthy lifestyle change has been shown to increase success, especially when it comes to weight loss, exercise and healthy eating. One study showed that participants who are recruited with 3 other friends or family members to a weight loss program (as opposed to doing it on their own) had greater weight loss and maintained the loss longer than the folks doing it solo. In fact the difference was quite significant with 95 percent of those recruited in a group completing the program and 66 percent maintaining their weight loss while only 76 percent of the solo participants completed and only 24% maintained their weight loss*.
That’s why being involved in the community and making health a group effort is key to success and maintenance of healthy habits. Keeping it positive and fun is also important!
The Challenge RGV (formerly called ‘Brownsville’s Biggest Loser Challenge’) is a great example of social support success. The team challenge, friendly competition, motivation and support provided through free access to gyms, classes, text messages, online resources, cash prizes and fun weekend community events has helped thousands of folks lose thousands of pounds and make lasting healthy lifestyle changes every year since it began in 2008.
Not only is it more fun and more energizing to be physically active and eat healthy with others, it makes the change stick!
Next weekend is the ninth year of The Challenge RGV and I invite you to join with a friend (or several), family members, a group of co-workers, fellow church members or just show up on your own and we can try to connect you. The Challenge RGV is free and lasts several months, during which time you are provided with all kinds of support and access to free places to act on those New Year resolutions. As always The Challenge is presented by the City of Brownsville and the University of Texas, School of Public Health.
Many businesses, organizations and sponsors work hard to make The Challenge a success! This year’s Gold sponsors are Walmart, Project Doc, Valley Baptist Health Systems, Valley Regional Medical Center.
Silver sponsors are Back to Action Physical Therapy, Rodeo Dental, Brownsville and Rio Grande Valley International Railway and Bronze sponsors are Community Development Corporation of Brownsville and Harlingen Medical Center.
Folks from other RGV cities are welcome to attend and the public has several opportunities to register and weigh in: Friday, January 20th between 5:00 pm and 8:00 pm we will register folks at the Central and Southmost Libraries in Brownsville or Saturday, January 21st between 9:00 am and 12:00 pm at Linear Park (near the Brownsville Farmers’ Market).
You can pre-register online but need to come in person to one of the weigh-in events where free screenings like blood pressure and glucose will be offered along with weight and height.
Only adults 18 years and older (and not pregnant) can officially weigh in and register for the prizes, but all of the weekend events are family friendly and we encourage kids to attend as well! Check out The Challenge RGV Facebook page for more information.
Remember, the key to making and sustaining a healthy lifestyle is not to isolate, but to join others. It’s more rewarding and more fun to face the “Challenge” together, because Tu Salud ¡Si Cuenta! (Your Health Matters!)
*Wing, Rena R.; Jeffery, Robert W.
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Vol 67(1), Feb 1999, 132-138.
