Lessons Learned from Together Counts

For the last two years I’ve enjoyed being an Energy Balance Ambassador and writing articles for the Together Counts blog.  I’ve researched and written about many topics—everything from helping your family be more active to meal planning. While my intent was to inform, I wound up learning a lot along the way.

As a refresher, Together Counts is a national program that is committed to helping reduce childhood obesity by 2015. They try to inspire folks to have a healthy active life though the concept of “energy balance”–balancing the calories you take in with the energy you put out. They encourage both eating healthy meals together as a family and balancing that with doing physical activity together as a family.

Note: The organization is made up of more than 200 retailers, food and beverage manufacturers, restaurants, sporting goods and insurance companies, trade associations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and professional sports organizations.

Today I wanted to share with you guys 6 lessons I’ve learned from my time with Together Counts:

1. “Energy Balance” is much easier to implement than calorie counting.

Counting calories is frankly a pain.  There are calories to track, portion sizes to measure, journals to keep.  Heaven forbid you want to figure out the final calorie count for homemade dishes—that’s going to involve some research and math!  The time, effort and stress cause most adults to give up tracking calories after a brief attempt.

I was always concerned that by putting so much emphasis on calories I might be negatively impacting my kids.  While we all want our kids to be at a healthy weight, with all the eating disorders out there I was conscious that all the effort and hoopla of calorie counting could turn mealtime into a source of anxiety and obsession for the kids.

Together Count’s “Energy Balance”  concept is much easier to understand and implement.  “Energy IN, Energy OUT” is something that any adult or child can understand—when you eat food you need to balance that out with forms of activity in your day in order to be healthy, to have energy, and to feel good.

2.  An active lifestyle doesn’t necessarily mean traditional exercise.

It’s the rare individual that actually enjoys doing pushups, running on a treadmill, or lifting weights.  I enjoy the results—the actual process is something I have to force myself to do.  Like many people—if I don’t enjoy something then I look for excuses to put it off.  I am always putting off exercise.

When I switched my focus from “exercise” to “activity” a whole new world opened up.  Suddenly playing tag with the kids in the back yard, throwing the ball for the dog, going to the rollerskating rink or swimming with the kids in the pool wasn’t goofing off, it was activity!  Sure—I might not burn as many calories or get turn into an Olympic athlete. . . but the entire family is much more likely to continuously implement an “active lifestyle” than to stick with a strict exercise routine.

3.  Joining in can be fun.

There is a tendency among parents to sit on the sidelines and watch while their kids play.  We have full days.  We are tired.  We don’t want to sweat, or mess up our hair.  So we sit on the sidelines while the kids swim, play in the park, or go sledding.  Being part of the Together Counts Energy Ambassadors made me realize that I need to get out there.  I need to DO those things with my kids.

Sure, I still occasionally sit on the side of the pool—but more often than not I jump in, swim around, and play with them.  It not only was healthier for me, but it sets a good example for the kids—and keeps them from growing up thinking “Mom never came in the pool.  Mom never went sledding with us.”

And you know what?  I’ve been more active, had fun doing things and built priceless memories with my kids.

4.  Being a good example for the kids is good for YOU.

“Do as I say, not as I do” has never really worked in practice.  It’s your actions that will influence your children the most.  I knew that, but being an Energy Balance Ambassador I made a conscious effort to be a better example–somehow it’s a bit easier to make good choices when I know my kids are watching me.  It really doesn’t take too long for them to make changes based on what they see me doing.  Their positive changes energize me—and that keeps me on track too.  Before you know it some of those changes we’ve both made have become permanent—and that’s good for everyone.

5.  You really can squeeze in “Family Time”

I believe that spending time together as a family is very important.  That it strengthens the bonds between the members of the family, makes kids feel loved and secure, allows parents to model important behaviors and keeps the lines of communication open.  Together Counts emphasizes family activity—which is of course family time!  This family time doesn’t have to be expensive, difficult and complicated.  I found that spending 15 minutes in the back yard kicking a soccer ball, taking 30 minutes to eat dinner together, or carving out an extra 20 minutes to walk to the store with the kids instead of driving all were all easy ways for me to fit more family time into our day.

 6.  Together Counts is more than just a pledge and a blog.

As I’ve looked for inspiration for my family, I’ve spent quite a bit of time on the Together Counts website.  I used to think it was just a place to make an Energy Balance Pledge, track how your family did and read a few articles on the blog.  I’ve learned that there is so much more!

Under the “At School” tab there are fantastic curriculum for K-5, resources for school nurses, and kid friendly interactives. The “At Home” section has home worksheets, links to family related articles, and the “Enrichment Zone”  with volunteer program resources.  The Community Resources has a national service locator to help you find activities and programs in your area, while the Partner Finder lists member organizations and links to their websites (which include even more useful information and resources!).

Disclaimer:  This post was sponsored by Together Counts.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.