At the end of the month, Alberta Health Services is launching a free waist-shrinking program in Jasper.
The first Weight Wise workshop will take place at the Seton Healthcare Centre Jan. 29.
Weight Wise is a 10-week program that encourages lifestyle changes over quick fixes, like fad diets.
鈥淚t鈥檚 all about giving people the opportunity to explore what will fit for them and developing strategies to help them make a change,鈥� explained local AHS dietician Janice Yeaman, who will be instructing the weekly workshops, along with Trevor Haas, AHS mental health first aid instructor, and physiotherapist Kris Benson.
The ultimate goal of the program isn鈥檛 that each participant will lose weight by the end of the 10 weeks. Rather, said Yeaman, it鈥檚 to give each participant the tools to make lifestyle changes that will help them reach and maintain a healthy weight in the long run.
Within the 10 weeks, participants will learn about everything from the role of calories in weight management to managing hunger and appetite and effectively reducing stress. Each week鈥檚 session covers a new topic.
鈥淭hese topics have been picked because they will give people the tools they will most likely find helpful,鈥� said Yeaman. 鈥淭he way this is set up, it鈥檚 far more intensive than I can ever do one-on-one with someone.
鈥淚鈥檝e been doing nutrition education and weight management strategies for years and this, in a really nice holistic, comprehensive way, brings so much together in a way that is quite useful.鈥�
Although it鈥檚 not necessary, Yeaman said the hope is that participants will come for all 10 workshops, so they get all of the information and benefit from all of the strategies that are laid out throughout the program.
鈥淲e especially encourage everybody to come to the first one because it sets the basis that all the others run off of.鈥�
That session is titled 鈥淧lanning for Success鈥� and covers everything from the causes of obesity to how to set realistic goals and overcome barriers.
Weight Wise, which is part of the Alberta Healthy Living Program, has already been offered in other communities in Alberta, including Hinton, which is on its fourth rotation of the program.
鈥淓verybody, regardless of body size or attitude toward body size can do it,鈥� said Yeaman, noting that for some people, weight loss might not necessarily be the goal. It could be weight maintenance, she said.
鈥淔or instance, if someone has consistently gained weight over the past few years, maybe the fact that they haven鈥檛 gained is a positive.鈥�
The workshops begin Jan. 29 and carry on each Wednesday evening from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. until April 2.
To register, call 1-877-349-5711.
Nicole Veerman
[email protected]
