Regaining Health and Wellness With MOVE!
John Elshaw worked on losing weight and changed his perspective on maintaining a healthy lifestyle with the help of the MOVE! team at the Dayton VA Medical Center in Dayton, OH.
Breaking the Cycle
John explains that his struggle to maintain a healthy weight began after he retired from active duty in 2013. "[I] made a conscious decision to cut back on a lot of the activity that caused my body wear and tear over the years," he recalls. "A few months turned into a decade, and before I knew it, my weight was starting to interfere much more with my daily activities." John tried to lose weight with various "fad diets" but never achieved lasting results. For John, it was a "vicious cycle" that he wanted to break. He explains that for some time, he thought weight loss medications were the only answer. When his VA provider recommended the MOVE! Weight Management Program for Veterans, John decided to give it a try.
Treat the MOVE! program with the same dedication and commitment we all had when we joined the service.
John Elshaw
Beginning to Change
"When I sit back and try to understand why [MOVE!] was so successful for me, three things come to mind," John shares. First was his MOVE! team, who supported John as he began learning new strategies to develop healthy behaviors. Second was a realization that if he committed himself to the process, he would achieve the change he wanted. Lastly, with the encouragement and support of the MOVE! team and their focus on learning to make changes that can be maintained over time, John was empowered to build a new routine. This would help him lose weight in the present and then continue well into the future to maintain his healthy weight and overall health benefits. John’s experience with MOVE! showed him that, "If you share your weight loss goals with those around you, you’ll be much more motivated to stick to the program and find support coming from unexpected places." Unlike the "fad diets" which hadn’t worked for John in the past, MOVE! also didn’t focus on restriction, which meant that it was still "compatible with having fun and enjoying food." For John, "while it may be challenging at times, making daily and weekly goals allowed me to adjust my behavior so I could still do things like celebrate an anniversary and enjoy eating out at a restaurant without sabotaging all the work I’ve put in."
Enjoying His Achievement
Since starting MOVE!, John has lost over 35 pounds and has set a new goal for even more weight loss. In addition, he is no longer prediabetic, his blood pressure has decreased, he has increased his flexibility, and he has more energy throughout the day. "I actually feel good," John reports. A major motivation for starting MOVE! was to be more active, especially with his children, and thanks to this change, John now spends more time doing the things he loves. An unexpected benefit John is thrilled to report is that his mental health has greatly improved. "My stress levels are down, I sleep better, I’m more confident and happy," and much more, he explains.
