HealthTuesday, September 4, 2007 2:52 PM CDT

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Fitness programs work
for companies, employees

By Diana Kunde
The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS — Steve Zuhoski’s loss is a net gain for his employer, Texas Instruments Inc. Truth be told, the 80 pounds he’s dropped from his 6-foot-4 frame are his gain as well.

“I feel like I’ve taken 10 years off physically,’’ says Zuhoski, 51, manager of foundry reliability.

“I sleep better. I’m more active. I have more energy,’’ he says. Zuhoski’s blood pressure now averages a healthy 110 over 70, leading his doctor to take him off blood pressure medication.

The lanky engineer achieved his weight loss and fitness gains through a TI-sponsored wellness program dubbed Your Weigh ... Together. It is part of a menu of programs that recently won TI a Platinum award as an employer for healthy lifestyles from the National Business Group on Health, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit.

(Plano, Texas-based J.C. Penney Co. won a silver award for launching wellness programs.)

Wellness at TI harks back to the company’s first Texins Activity Center that opened in the 1960s. In recent years, the company’s focus has broadened to prevention programs that improve productivity and cut health-care costs. Your Weigh and Walk This Way, a walking program rolled out nationwide last fall, are the newest.

“We benchmark our health-care costs relative to industry trends. Our goal has been to stay 2 percent below industry trends, and most years we’ve achieved that,’’ says Linda Moon, manager of wellness and health management.

Obesity alone is a significant cost raiser, experts say. A study by Health Enhancement Research Organization, a Birmingham, Ala., nonprofit, showed that excess medical costs associated with obesity add $1,244 per employee per year.

Zuhoski started his battle with excess weight by taking an online health assessment offered by TI. He is among the 82 percent of employees who’ve taken the test. Individual results are private, but TI can look at the totals for clues to overall health issues, Moon says. Each test-taker gets a $120 reduction in health-care premiums as an incentive, along with personalized feedback.

“If you’d read mine, you’d say, ‘You’d better lose weight, buddy, and your blood pressure’s too high,’’’ Zuhoski says.

Throughout the 10-week Your Weigh class, he got software that enables him to track his daily calorie count.

Lifestyle overhaul

“The key difference here is that I made definite lifestyle and habit changes through the class,’’ he says. “How I eat, how I choose my food, portion control, how I eat when I go out — they’re ingrained habits now.’’

His exercise choice is an hour of aerobics twice a week at the Texins Fitness Center, alternating with two one-hour sessions with personal trainer Troy Sandel, for a total of four intense workouts weekly.

Terry Taylor, project manager in information technology, opted for another of TI’s new wellness programs, the 12-week Walk This Way.

“I was in the Your Weigh program, and the coordinator sent an e-mail about the walking program.’’ He stuck with both programs.

Taylor, 47, now sports a cobalt pedometer on his belt.

“It’s easy to do. The pedometer encourages me to take the long way, to park farther away,’’ he says.

Record-keeping is a motivator for Taylor, who keeps a spreadsheet on his closet door to track his progress with losing inches, body fat and weight.

He’s down 30 pounds since December.

He can tell you the steps he added by walking to an interview for this article from the west area of TI’s Forest Lane facility, where he works, to the south lobby: 2,000.

Program participants are urged to take 10,000 steps a day, or 50,000 a week, says Blair Archer of Health Fitness Corp., wellness coordinator for the three Texins Activity Centers in the Dallas area.

“Depending on your stride, 10,000 steps is about five miles,’’ she says.

Making a game of it:

It’s not only social and supportive. Walk this Way is competitive, employees say. Kathleen Campbell, 49, a database manager in worldwide procurement, started at the urging of co-workers.

“My friends suggested we get in better shape. We all decided to join together and walk at lunch,’’ she says. Walkers keep their own logs and also log in to a computer site at work. Every six weeks, they’re eligible for prize drawings if they’ve kept up their logs. E-mail reminders and tips help.

“I went on vacation and did 28,000 steps in one day,’’ Campbell says. “Everyone was impressed with that. We were competitive about it in the building.’’

Campbell had a health goal rather than a weight-loss goal, she says. “I’ve always been interested in hiking, but I never thought about measuring it.’’

For TI, the payback is simple, Moon says: “If you look at chronic diseases such as asthma, hypertension, diabetes, obesity — they can all be positively impacted by physical activity. Many times, 10 to 15 percent weight loss can produce extreme health benefits.’’

Walk this way

If your employer doesn’t have a sponsored walking program, start one. Here are some tips:

Advertise: This can range from calling a few friends and colleagues to posting fliers where you work, with your supervisor’s permission.

Decide: At a first short meeting, pick where and when you’ll walk and what your goals will be.

Consider pedometers: A variety is available, at minimal cost, that will allow you to track miles or steps

Consult the Web: Various motivational tools are available on the Internet, as well as lists of walking groups.

Strategize how to stay motivated: Set goals, such as 10,000 steps a day. Purchase and share walking logs or design a computer version, get group T-shirts, share success stories. Or enter charity events as a group — whatever works.

SOURCES: AARP, MayoCinic.com

Walk this way

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