Inspiring Wellness Success Story 9

'The stress relief / energising effect is by far the biggest draw for me.'

A great way to sum up the achievements this participant has made in making wellness part of his everyday routines for the last 3 years.  Here's how he did it.

The date of the wellness programme you attended:

Autumn 2009

The lifestyle changes you made during programme:

Really understood the benefits of exercising regularly and the associated business benefits.

The lifestyle changes you made following programme:

Continued my gym sessions and often go at lunchtime giving the afternoons a real energy boost!

The lifestyle changes that have stuck with you to the present day:

• ·      More conscious of diet
• ·      Supportive of business wide and team “wellbeing” focuses
• ·      Lunchtime walks for staff, inter team football

The secrets of your success with wellbeing:

• ·      Getting past the “pain barrier” of exercise when I first started to now looking forward to it and feeling really energised after a session
• ·      Now if I don’t make it I physically miss it…
• ·      Thus getting past this point in my opinion is the key…
• ·      It is also the best stress relief

What advice that you received made the greatest impact on you?

The stress relief / energising effect is by far the biggest draw for me.

The biggest benefits of making your lifestyle changes?

• ·      Less stress
• ·      More energised
• ·      Feel better
• ·      Eat more of what I like to balance the burn off…

Anything that got in the way of success with wellbeing

• Time pressures – really miss it when I don’t make it to the gym during the week.
• Can often clash with working lunches hence the diary pressure which is a double hit – “brown buffet / no willpower and no gym” – nasty!

When wellbeing is working for you, what are the key elements that make the difference?

• ·      Healthy breakfast
• ·      Gym three times a week
• ·      Going at lunchtime means I don’t feel this is my time – i.e. I arrive at the office and go home at roughly the same time whether I have been to the gym or not so doesn’t encroach on family time

Read the previous instalment of inspiring wellness success stories