Better Body, Better Life class hits Whiteman

  • Published
  • By Stephanie Fraley, MS, RD, LD
  • 509th Medical Operations Squadron Health Promotion Dietitian
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo --  WARNING: Side effects may include resilience, stamina, improved Fitness Assessment scores, mental clarity, energy, self-confidence and much more interesting Friday nights.

This is the warning that individuals should heed when they enroll in the Better Body, Better Life class. The new class kicked off July 17 at the Whiteman Health and Wellness Center, and is a new innovative weight management course being offered across the Air Force.

The five-week class is designed to help individuals seeking to lose and maintain their weight by helping participants identifying personal goals along with a way and making behavioral changes to meet those goals.

The course is open to everyone and is especially targeted to those Airmen who fail their fitness test due to abdominal circumference. The program is broken up into modules, to be delivered consecutively, and designed to be flexible, and fluid to allow participants to enter the program at any time, as each module stands independently.

Each module has a nutrition, physical activity and behavior change section with topics such as portion sizes, dining out, sleep, meal planning, plateaus and dealing with slips and stress.

The class stresses a more hands-on and real life application, which reduced the typical 'death by PowerPoint' class many people are familiar with.

The class is facilitated by the HAWC's registered dietitian and discusses nutrition, physical activity and behavior change. The class also discusses how foods and physical activity effect genders differently when it comes to weight loss.

Prior to the first class, each participant must complete an Air Force pre-class assessment, a three-day food record, preferably to include one weekend day, and register at www.myfitnesspal.com to self-assess caloric levels.

Participants must also arrive early to have their official weigh-in, height and abdominal circumference taken prior to beginning the program.

Participants can enter the revolving series of classes at any time. No need to wait for a new round to begin.

Anyone wishing to sign up for class should contact Stephanie Fraley at 687-DIET (3438).