Making a Difference
When it comes to wellness, VPP has been making strides in encouraging staff in leading healthier lifetyles. We even have the proof. Check out some of the testimonials we have received from staff.
| The VPP Survivor Challenge helped me achieve my health goals by giving me motivation to stick by my plan to eat more vegetables. I wanted to change my diet and the challenge gave me the motivation I needed to eat better. |
| I really look forward to the Survivor Challenge. It is an excellent way to break away from the winter blahs and focus on your good health – getting water, fruits and veggies and exercise in. The modules this year were informative. |
| Sometimes all you need is a little extra incentive to do what you know you should be doing anyway, like eating a little healthier or biking to work. I find the survivor challenges helpful for providing that little extra nudge. |
| I have to say that I really enjoyed this challenge. The incentives (prizes) and positive pressure from my other team members really helped me make some changes in my behavior. While I wasn't able to do as many of the activities as I would have liked, I think that I've made some positive changes. Thanks for the opportunity. I hope you continue to offer these challenges. |
| Thank you for creating the health challenge. It has helped me achieve my goal of a healthier lifestyle! |
| My experience with the health challenge has been positive. It has given me the motivation I need to stay on a fitness program. It continuously reinforces the healthy habits I need to routinely work on and make part of my daily life, specifically eating healthier. It has been a positive experience in my life. Thanks! |
| The VPP challenge has been the little assist that has kept me making the effort to go to CBRC club instead of just heading home. Also encouragement from others and my partner has been helpful. I have lost about 20 lbs but more importantly I have turned a good portion of flab into muscle. I feel that at 60 years old, I am in close to the best shape of my life. |
| I wanted to say thank you for organizing this latest health challenge. It has motivated me to continue my workouts and push toward my ultimate goal of a more healthy lifestyle for me and my family. I have two little girls and all of the information during the nutrition course really opened my eyes to how we live. It even motivated my husband and me to buy mountain bikes and start riding with our girls. We went on our first bike ride along the Keene bike trail for 4.5miles. The girls were exhausted but we had so much fun. |
| This year my goal for participating in the challenge was to establish a habit of consistently exercising and stretching. Stretching has really improved my flexibility over the last few weeks. I am also experiencing a lot less back and hip pain which have frequently plagued me in the past. I am starting to get into a good rhythm of daily exercise too. This has been achieved with the help of an exercise bike in our ladies locker room in my building. I find that I can break away at lunchtime and do 20 min on the bike, then stretch & perform some strength exercises. I posted the AMH Stretch, Strength & Balance posters in the locker room by the bike to remind me to do them. These posters have been great. It makes it really easy to do strength training and stretch. The first time I tried them, I used the interactive tool that show you how to do the exercise. After that, I could just work off the posters. |
| I have been trying to eat healthier for some time, but for whatever reason was not able to accomplish it. Since the health challenge I had to be more aware of what I have been eating such as the fruits and vegetables. Even though I love fruit I just was not eating it even though I was purchasing it but it would go to waste. Since the health challenge I am more conscious of what I am eating and making sure that I eat the fruit that I buy so it is not going to waste like it was before. |
| I have tried to get involved in the VPP Challenge in the past but did not follow through. This year I decided to get serious about the challenge. I have definitely shed several pounds, become much more active, and tried to be more conscious about what I eat. I have always tried to stay active, but the older I get the easier it is to mold to the couch and not exercise. The VPP Challenge has made me more aware of making sure I try to be more active. I look forward to continuing these practices after the challenge is complete. |
| The 2009 VPP Survivor Wellness Challenge has helped me stay the course in maintaining a healthful lifestyle. The gradual challenges of the segments allow progressive improvement without being overwhelmed. There have been numerous times that I might have otherwise skipped riding my bike to work or drank pop instead of water without the challenge to spur me on. |
| Thank you so much for running these health challenges. I have such a good time doing them, and I add something onto my experience each time I do one. For this particular challenge, in addition to raising the amount of physical activity I do, I also have been paying much more attention to my consumption of fruits and veggies. All the new research that comes out keeps supporting the notion that we should be eating more of that and less meat and non-whole grains. I also have been much more consistent with stretching daily and feel better as a result. |
| Late November of last year I started the slow path of losing weight and had been effective at it. This challenge came at just the right point where I was at a plateau. The regular logging of efforts and the new things to try were motivational. Independently, I now log my exercise, diet, and nutrients daily. Thanks for the help and motivation. |
| This challenge made me more aware of how much I was (or wasn’t) doing in terms of exercise, water intake and fruit/veggie consumption. It did surprise me how much it got easier to meet the minimum points once stretching was introduced. I didn’t realize I stretched that much, but that’s a good thing. |
| My goal is to lose weight (ie, get a smaller stomach), increase muscle, and get in better endurance shape for the annual “Bear Over The Mountain” jog on or near Mount Rainier. It has been a struggle, but I have lost about 5 pounds, increased my jogging endurance to 3.5 miles, and achieved stronger muscles. The programs Strength Training has been perfect for achieving stronger muscles, and the Aerobic Activity has been great for the jogging endurance. The Water and Fruit/Veggie consumption has been helpful in losing weight and achieving a small stomach, although I still manage to eat too much. All in all, this has been a good program for me. Thank you! |
| The VPP Survivor Wellness Challenge helps me track all my activities. I train and work out a lot, but never knew how much it counted for until I started tracking it during the challenge. It also has motivated all the people around me to work out and eat right. Now I have co-workers that relate or enjoy the same lifestyle as I have been used to for a long time. The Challenge is a motivational asset. |
| With work being stressful at this time of year, it has been helpful to me to have the VPP Survivor Wellness Challenge to remind me to take care of myself. The reminder to do the little things like drinking enough water, eating plenty of fruits and vegetables and get some exercise that improve over all health. |
| So far I have found the VPP Challenge Experience to be a great accountability tool. I have been a regular exerciser for a long time but with added job responsibilities and outside work responsibilities I've found the exercise portion of my day shrinking or getting bypassed. This program has provided a good kick start to be accountable to keep exercise as part of my daily routine and a good reminder of the things that keep me healthy. |
| The challenge has helped me achieve my health goals by being proactive with consuming more vegetables and fruits. It has also helped with doing more activities outdoors where it is more fun rather than going to a gym every day. |
| I really like these challenges because they are gentle reminders to keep doing something. It is easy to slip a day here and there and these days can grow into several days. It also makes me conscious of doing exercise while on travel. Thanks! |
| I have been doing strength training on Mondays and Wednesdays and treadmill running on Tuesdays. The challenge emphasized the importance of other activities. Since the challenge, I now focus more on stretching, diet, and water intake. The challenge did a good job in teaching the whole picture (it is not just exercise). Thanks. |
| All in all, I would say the challenge did what it was supposed to; it made me more aware. When I started the challenge, I was already set into a good exercise schedule, and would say that I was more fit than the average person. I did not realize how badly I was lacking in the dietary aspect of my daily life. Although I am still not quite where the challenge would have me, I have made significant gains, and have new goals. |
| The wellness challenge helped motivate me on several occasions to choose my bike in the mornings heading to work, knowing that every commute is 2 points, and that much more fitness. The challenge also helped inspire me to try kayaking, and now I am pretty definite that I would like to get into kayaking when I have opportunity. Thanks. |
| The VPP Survivor Wellness Challenge definitely made me sweat and I am happy about it. I was physically very inactive before my colleague forced me to join their team. Once on team, I was made to keep up with the deadlines and to maintain the minimum points that I needed so that the team can qualify. I was very hesitant to join the team but later I started enjoying the fun talking about who is on the team and how many points they have and so on. To accrue points, we started playing Frisbee on Friday's just before heading home; that was lots of fun. Earning points was also fun, it combined physical activities along with healthy suggestions like water consumption and eating fruit servings. I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and last but not the least, I AM PHYSICALLY FIT!!! |
| I have loved participating in this program! It definitely made me more aware of my eating and exercise habits. It also helped get started with a new biking and jogging routine, and helped remind me to stretch every day. I have lost a few pounds since starting the program, and hope to keep up a healthier lifestyle. |