February fitness event lands an encore

Bridgette Kluck and Maria Taylor are physical therapists, who have kicked off Fun, Fit and Fabulous February at the Phillips County Hospital and Health Clinic.

Even though is it late in March, the group is still going.

"I guess I have always wanted to do a fitness challenge," Kluck said, noting that she and others had talked about the idea during a meeting earlier this year.

The idea became a reality when another P.C. Hospital employee, Kathy Fladland introduced My Healthy Journal, a book that is essentially a food journal.

"So I just took them from her and ran with it from there," Kluck said. "I went on Pinterest and found a lot of awesome ideas. I did a monthly challenge in which I provided the menu and the meals for a week, so they had an idea of healthy eating."

"We have been talking about a wellness program for our own employees, so Bridgette put this together," said Taylor, who is the department head in the PC Physical Therapy Department.

This idea, came together to become what was called Fun, Fit, Fabulous February. The event wasn't just for female employees but the whole campus.

"We also included the Phillips County Transit," Kluck said.

The event wasn't limited to a healthier diet, fitness was also encouraged.

"Every Friday in February, we turned in a workout log," Taylor said. "And there were prizes drawn each Friday and two grand prizes."

Those prizes included headbands, water bottles and day passes to Xude Fitness.

"A lot of people took it and ran with it themselves," Kluck said.

"I had my shopping done the night before because she had everything ready (the shopping list) at the end of January," Taylor said.

Though the meals are geared toward healthier eating, the meals didn't leave participants missing out on stereotypically unhealthy meals, like buffalo wings or pizza.

"I did a healthy pizza version," Taylor said. "And because I read ahead of time, I had the groceries at home and I did a breakfast smoothie one day. It simplified things."

The menu offered a variety of different meals that anyone could make regardless of their level of culinary skill.

"I included the menu and the recipes," Kluck said. "I did the footwork; they just needed to finish it. Anybody can follow a recipe. It doesn't have to be elaborate. It can be a fruit salad or just adding an extra vegetable to a meal."

Fun, Fit and Fabulous February didn't feature a typical Biggest Loser style approach to fitness but rather a lifestyle change approach. No scales were needed or encouraged.

"I didn't do a weight loss (based program)," Kluck said. "It was focusing on becoming healthy. You can be healthy at any weight."

She went on to say that the important thing is what your body does internally.

"That's what I focused on," Kluck said. "Healthy meals and exercise. Because in exercise you have to be strong in anything you do in life. So that's where my focus was. It wasn't on weight loss but rather a healthy lifestyle."

The weekly and end of month winners were chosen through a drawing, a drawing that was comprised by check-ins that awarded the participant one ticket per check-in.

"Whenever they checked in with us, I put their name in a bucket that many times," Kluck said. "Whoever did the work, their name was put in more."

The first winner of the event was Laura Gouker, who is using the plan to train for her first Spartan Run in May. Gouker was one of twelve that checked in regularly. Nancy Olson was second.

"Laura did put in the work, she did awesome," Kluck said. "She kept me motivated along the way too because I'm competitive so I wanted to push myself a little bit more."

Gouker was even proactive through social media.

"Laura Gouker had developed a Facebook too just for the hospital and that's how they checked in if they didn't check in with us at the office," Kluck said.

The event has boosted the morale of the participants.

"I think people are proud of themselves anytime they set a goal and start working towards it," Taylor said. "It was individualized. My goal was to feel better, so it included taking some Vitamin D, getting some things done from my exercises. One girl's goal was losing weight; another's was the Spartan Race. They had to come in, get different shoes or battle through an injury but they are so much further ahead now from six weeks of doing this."

The group decided to continue Fun, Fit and Fabulous throughout this month as their own form of March Madness.

"We are doing core and cardio this month," Kluck said. "The first week of this month we started out with 15 minutes of cardio and then I had given them ten core exercises, including modified versions in case they couldn't do the advanced versions."

The goal at the end of the month is for the participants to do thirty minutes of cardio, including the ten core exercises Kluck provided.

The medical field can be the scene of many unhealthy meals, the same as any other job or career.

"I think we all have our weaknesses, so this was just a way to bring awareness to what we are eating," Kluck said.

The Phillips County Hospital and Health Clinic has featured many potlucks and participating in Fun, Fit and Fabulous has given the participants a chance to offer healthy alternatives to the various feeds, rather than feeling left out.

"People brought in their favorite healthy recipes," Taylor said. "So we brought some recipes home."