YMCA’s ME Fit program shows overweight and obese children, families, healthier choices for everyday life
All the experts agree: obesity is an epidemic in America, and children are far from removed from the problem.
In New York, 20 percent of elementary school children are now considered obese, higher than the national average. Nationwide, 30 percent of children are considered either overweight or obese.
But a program at the Guilderland YMCA has for the past two years been aiming to change that and, for the first time, is currently being offered free under a grant from the state Office of Children and Family Services.
The ME Fit program (Motivation and Exercise for Fitness) meets twice a week for seven weeks and aims to not only increase the overall health of participants, but teach valuable lessons that can be taken home. A session for children in grades two through five recently started, and registration is open for a session for grades six through nine that starts Nov. 1.
The main difference between ME Fit and other healthy crash courses is that both the child and the parents must participate. It’s also one of the reasons Linda Crowley, leader of the program and dietician at the Guilderland YMCA, sometimes has difficulty filling the eight slots available. But it’s a more effective way to effect changes, she said.
What it’s doing is taking that battleground between you and your child … and getting the kids to start asking for the different things, Crowley said.
Starting a program like ME Fit was always a goal for Crowley since she started with the YMCA two years ago. A great deal of tackling the problem is educational, she said. Most don’t understand how being overweight or obese affects a child’s body, which is growing and going through rapid changes. Sometimes participants show up with incorrect ideas of whether their child is technically in either of these two categories.
`As adults, we’re used to seeing these BMI [body mass index] charts that categorize them as adults into overweight or obese,` said Crowley. `With children, BMIs are not the same. They’re not the same risk categories.`
Many of the participants hear about the program through physician referrals.
Likewise, although ME Fit involves physical fitness and healthy eating, not all child participants are slated to lose weight during their seven weeks at the program. For their growing bodies, maintaining weight can be just as beneficial as losing it would be to an adult.
Instead of focusing on the weight loss many adults strive for when they begin a health regimen, ME Fit aims to develop the idea that a healthy lifestyle is not such a foreign concept. Ideas like eschewing restaurant trips in favor of at-home meals are encouraged, as is limiting TV viewing time.
That’s why the unique element of ME Fit ` having parents and children take the class at the same time ` is so important to making sure these lessons are implemented in the home. By making a healthy lifestyle a family goal, conflict is inevitably curtailed.
On Mondays, parents meet with a dietician while the children visit an exercise instructor. It’s not so much an organized workout as an active play session incorporating games and other fun activities.
`The idea is that we want to look at play as a way to get moving,` Crowley said. `We say to the kids, ‘your parents are going to sit here and do homework, and you’re going to recess.’ They just know they’re having a good time.`
Participants also take a group trip to the grocery store during the seven-week course, where they learn how they can make better choices when it comes to eating at home.
The difference between the course for teens and elementary-aged children is not dramatic, said Crowley. The exercise portion is more structured and a teen’s more social lifestyle is considered.
`It is a different dynamic, there’s definitely more emphasis on the eating out, more on trying new foods,` Crowley said. `I think the approach is just practicable, healthy tips for cooking, for toning down your portions.`
Registration for the teen session of ME Fit is open until Oct. 27. It is free to participants for the first time this year, but there is limited space. For more information or to register, visit http://www.cdymca.org/sn/locations/guilderland.aspx.“
