VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The 30th Medical Group continued its annual “Pair 2 Win” fitness program here Jan. 10.
“Pair 2 Win” is a 12-week fitness program designed to improve the healthy lifestyle of military, dependents, civilians or contractors at Vandenberg AFB.
“Participants grouping up in pairs gives the program accountability,” said Melinda Reed, 30th Medical Group health promotion manager and dietician. “Participants usually perform better when there is another accountable member participating with them.”
The program starts off with assessments of its participants through bod pod checkups and laboratory work.
“The laboratory part of the program assesses the participants’ condition to see if they have any diseases or illnesses they might not know of,” said Reed. “The bod pod gets a baseline of what their weight is, how much muscle and fat mass they have, and what their calorie needs are. Six weeks into the program, we will do it again to see where they're at.”
Reed has partnered with the Fitness Center and Mental Health to provide participants with a variety of training.
“Mental Health is going to do goal setting and the fitness center will talk to the participants about exercising,” said Reed. “This year, we'll have farmers talk about the fruits and vegetables in the local area. We use the gym for fitness training where I teach spin class; sweat, weight and training class; and aerobics class.”
The underlying goal of the program is to be healthy through lifestyle changes. It's not based on fat loss or muscle gain, it is all about making healthy lifestyle changes to improve one’s overall health.
“We developed the point system to encourage healthy competition,” said Reed. “People get points for doing healthy habits. Are you eating your three cups of veggies, two cups of fruit, your three meals and two snacks a day? Are you exercising? Are you drinking your water? “
If participants make the habit changes, anyone can win the competition at the end of the program and earn prizes.
“Even though it's not about weight loss with the ‘Pair 2 Win’ program, I encourage people to look at their diet because that's how you lose weight,” said Yvonne Blackwell, 30th MDG medical coder. “In order to change your diet, you need to change your mindset on eating healthy. Otherwise, it won't work.”
For more information on the “Pair 2 Win” program, contact the dietician at 606-3404.