Wellness Warrior
The Wellness Warrior Award is given to individuals across campus who are nominated by their peers for leading by example and inspiring through action to create a healthier lifestyle.
Be Well is excited to announce our third Wellness Warrior Award recipient- Thomas E Plank, a professor in the College of Law. Thomas has been with UT for 22 years and enjoys reading literature and history; walking; pistol shooting; and watching sports such as football, wrestling, and men’s and women’s lacrosse. He was inspired to start making healthier choices in order to feel better and wanted to enjoy living a healthier life.
Thomas says he began his journey, ” Six years ago with the urging of my wife Kathy I started working twice a week with a personal trainer because I did not consistently work out on my own. I had been wanting to lose the pounds that I had gained over the years, and two years ago I finally realized that, because I love to eat good food, the only way I could lose weight was to count calories. Beginning in September 2014, I targeted a 500 cal. a day deficit and lost 35 pounds in 9 months, from 195 to 160 lbs. In the summer of 2015, I put on my Marine Corp dress blue uniform for the first time in 44 years and it fit just right. My blood pressure went back down from 139/89 to my youthful 110/70. My stomach/waist measurement went from 43 to 35. I can do 11 pull ups, and bench press my weight 5 times. I feel great. ” His incredible journey to not only find the healthier lifestyle, but to also become in better shape compared to his youth days, has inspired many of his peers.
Making the healthy choice is not always the easy choice. To nominate someone who you feel is deserving of the Wellness Warrior Award please fill out this nomination form.
Move More
ParTNers for Health recently completed a new health challenge titled “Head to Tone.” The premise of this challenge was to engage different regions of our body on a weekly basis starting with our head and moving to our toes to tone our body. Participants were asked to track their progress online and engage in a little friendly competition. If you missed out on the challenge, we have a copy of all of the weekly information for your benefit. There are many great exercise, stretches, and tips that would benefit everyone. See below for the challenge content:
- Week 1: Respect Your Neck
- Week 2: Shoulder the Load
- Week 3: Strong-arm Your Workout
- Week 4: Bring Your Back to the Forefront
- Week 5: Score a Healthy Core
- Week 6: It’s All Fun and Games
- Summary Workout
Eat Better
We are excited to partner with the Knox County Health Department and bring the Living Well Program to our campus. This chronic disease self-management program is an evidence based program out of Stanford Medical University that has been shown to be effective and sustainable. Sessions are highly participative, where mutual support and success build the participants’ skills and confidence in their ability to manage their health and maintain active and fulfilling lives. The workshops are intended for those who have any chronic condition (diabetes, arthritis, anxiety, cancer, Cystic Fibrosis, Asthma, obesity, etc.), care for an individual who with a chronic condition, or would like learn specific ways to prevent the onset of chronic conditions. The program is open to any faculty or staff of the University. To register simply email bewell@utk.edu with the subject line “Living Well Program RSVP” by noon on Friday September 16.
When: Wednesdays 5:00-7:00 PM, September 21 – October 26 (6 weeks)
Where: Student Health Building Suite 201 .
Who: Sessions will be facilitated by two trained and certified leaders. .
Cost: FREE
Be Mindful
De-stress. Breathe. Relax.
The Center for Health Education and Wellness (CHEW) and Be Well, UT Employee Wellness Program, are excited to be hosting the third annual YogaFest on Thursday September 29th in HSS Plaza from 12-6 PM.
The purpose of the event is to educate students, faculty, and staff about how yoga can serve as a healthy form of exercise and stress relief by promoting the practice through local yoga studios. Yoga Fest teaches the UT community to invest in themselves and utilize yoga, meditation, and similar practices to reduce and manage their stress through controlled breathing and relaxation techniques.
RSVP via the facebook event !!
Be Different. Be Well.
The Wellness Wednesday Newsletter is a bi-weekly release in which Be Well will share events, information, and resource to support healthy lifestyles. It will serve as our communication with our campus community as we try to make the healthy choice the easy choice.