Achieving Your Wellness Goals
By Kevin Brown

If you are like many people, you want to lose a few pounds and exercise more. So, you start off with a firm commitment to eat healthier and exercise regularly. It goes well for a while but, after a few weeks or months, you are back to your unhealthy ways. In spite of repeated attempts to live a healthier lifestyle, you just can’t seem to stay with it.

If this has happened to you, you might be interested in the Personal Wellness Services at the Upper St. Clair Community & Recreation Center (C&RC) at Boyce Mayview Park. Designed to help clients achieve their wellness goals, Personal Wellness Services offers tools such as a computerized Fitness and Nutrition Assessment, Health Coaching Services and Personal Training Services along with quarterly educational classes.

Maura Trombetta, BS, ACSM-EP-C, fitness coordinator with the C&RC, says the Personal Wellness Services target people who are struggling with a commitment to make a lifestyle change. “The Personal Wellness Services are more for a population of people who have been trying things and are consistently failing some aspects,” she says.

Fitness and Nutrition Assessment
The Fitness and Nutrition Assessment uses the BioEx assessment software from BioEx Systems, Inc. The client completes a questionnaire that documents an in-depth health history, medications, typical diet, and exercise and activity levels, among other aspects of health and wellness. Along with the questionnaire, the C&RC staff conducts a series of fitness tests to gauge the client’s cardio-respiratory fitness, muscular strength, endurance, and flexibility. The staff then inputs this information into the BioEx software, which produces a detailed, 20-page report on the client’s health and wellness status including weight loss goals with suggested meal plans, an exercise program and more.

“The software shows you how many calories you’re eating and how under or over your goal you are,” Maura explains. “From there, it gives you a three-day meal plan based on your activity level, age, gender, and what your goals are. The software also suggests three different meal options for a whole day outlined at the caloric intake it would take to achieve your goals with a grocery list for each of those meal plans. It will also print out every single recipe for the daily meal plan,” she notes.

In addition, the software recommends an exercise program in conjunction with the meal plan with specific goals to achieve. Beyond that, Maura says that the report can also show your intake of vitamins and minerals along with any nutrient deficiencies.

The client receives a free, follow-up appointment with a health coach to discuss the report and decide on a plan to achieve the recommended goals. The client may choose to pursue the goals on their own, sign up for the new Health Coaching Services, or schedule exercise sessions with a personal trainer.

Health Coaching Services
Just launched in August, the four-session package of Health Coaching Services includes weekly meetings with a health coach that focuses on helping clients with behavior change, increasing activity, and developing healthy eating practices and lifestyle behaviors. If the client cannot meet weekly, it’s possible to check-in with a health coach via Skype, Facetime, phone call or e-mail.

“Health Coaching Services really get to the root of why we can’t be successful with losing weight, exercising regularly and achieving our overall wellness goals,” Maura says.

Readiness Assessment and Personal Training
If you aren’t sure about making a commitment to the Health Coaching Services, the C&RC offers a free, 30-minute Readiness Assessment where you can meet with a health coach to see if health coaching is the best fit. If you and the health coach decide that health coaching may not be the best option for you, you can receive a ten percent discount off the New Client Special which is a three-session package with a personal trainer. The personal trainer will work with you to develop a plan to help you achieve your exercise goals.

Educational Classes
Also new this year at the C&RC are quarterly, one-hour classes on specific health topics taught by certified wellness and nutrition experts. The next class topic will be Weight Management 101 and is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 9, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.

If you want to live a healthier lifestyle, but find it difficult to achieve those goals on your own, check out the Personal Wellness Services at the C&RC. For more information, contact Maura Trombetta at
(412) 221-1099, ext. 623, or trombetta@twpusc.org, or visit www.twpusc.org/crc.

Western Pennsylvania Guide to Good Health. All rights reserved.