LifeSteps^® Program

These two sessions are a win for you and win for your participants.  Participants who attend both these sessions are more likely to stick with the program, make lasting lifestyle changes and lose weight.

• Group Orientation Session – Individuals who are interested in LifeSteps^® learn about what’s involved and decide if they are ready to make lifestyle changes that will lead to weight loss.
• One-on-One Initial Interview – This interview helps you determine whether the client is ready to embark on a lifestyle change journey.  Using motivational interviewing, you assess:
  • Health status and weight history
  • Readiness for change
  • Willingness to do required activities, including daily food tracking and regular physical activity

Knowledge is key to successful behavior change. Learning the basics of nutrition and physical activity sets the foundation for creating a personal plan for lifestyle change.

• Step 1: Monitoring – Learn the importance of monitoring in making lifestyle changes and how to keep a Food and Activity Record.
  • Self-assessment: Current eating habits
• Step 2: Physical Activity – Learn the importance of physical activity and make a plan for increasing activity levels.
  • Self-assessment: Current activity level
• Step 3: Guide to Daily Food Choices – Learn the importance of eating a variety of foods from the Five Food Groups and develop a healthy eating plan based on the MyPlate recommendations.
  • Self-assessment: Five Food Groups
• Step 4: Serving Size – Learn how to weigh and measure food and develop an eye for standard serving sizes.
  • Self-assessment: Serving size awareness
    
• Step 5: The Calorie Connection – Learn about the calorie content of foods to make more informed food choices. 
  
  • Self-assessment: Calorie awareness

Participants’ lifestyles are all different. These three “Steps” help them identify and prioritize nutrition, activity and behavior changes that meet their needs.

• Step 6: Putting It All Together –  Create an individualized plan based on personal assessments and information learned in the first five “Steps”.
  • Self-assessments: Behaviors, weight, calories in, calories out, awareness of other factors including sleep, hormones, stress, microbiome.
• Step 7: Mid-Program Interview – One-on-one interview based on motivational interviewing to evaluate progress and provide feedback.
  • Self-assessment: Maintaining motivation
• Step 8: Eating Styles – Identify eating styles that lead to overeating and discuss, mindful eating, hunger and satiety.
  • Self-assessments: Eating speed, mindful eating, eating patterns, hunger, hard-to-resist foods

Lapses can be small or large. Successful behavior change requires managing lapses to stay on track and reach established goals.

• Step 9: Managing Lapses, Dealing with Your Environment – Learn what constitutes a “lapse” and how environmental cues, such as the availability and visibility of food, affect how much we eat and strategies for eliminating or decreasing them.
  • Self-assessment: Visibility and availability of food
• Step 10: Managing Lapses, Dealing with Social Events – Identify personal, high-risk social situations and develop strategies for managing them.
  • Self-assessment: How do social events affect your eating?
• Step 11: Managing Lapses, Dealing with Feelings – Identify how feelings affect eating behavior and develop plans for handling a variety of situations.
  • Self-assessment: How do emotions affect your eating?
• Step 12: Managing Lapses, Dealing with Other People – Develop strategies for dealing with people who overtly or unconsciously encourage eating and identify steps for soliciting support.
  • Self-assessment: How do other people affect your eating?
• Step 13: Managing Lapses, Eating Out– Plan strategies for staying on track while eating away from home in a variety of settings.
  • Self-assessment: How does eating away from home affect your eating?

Weekly classes are coming to end; however, the goal of LifeSteps^® is to guide participants to establish behavior changes that last a lifetime.  These final “Steps” help participants take pride in the progress they’ve made and take ownership of their healthy lifestyle changes.

• Step 14: Staying Active – Develop a personal physical activity program for maintaining weight loss and cardiovascular fitness.
  • Self-assessment: Visibility and availability of food
• Step 15: Final Interview – One-on-one interview to review progress, provide feedback and set goals for the future.
  • Self-assessment: What behaviors are working?
• Step 16: Staying in Step – Learn a six-step process for maintaining behavior changes and how to continue setting and achieving lifestyle change goals.
  • Self-assessment: Review my results

LifeSteps^® includes 11 additional Maintenance Sessions that you can use to offer continued support after your LifeSteps^® Program ends. These sessions extend the program’s 16 core steps and provide additional support, skill building and practice.

Maintenance Session Topics

1. Learning to Anticipate High-Risk Situations
2. Handling Cravings
3. Keeping a Thought Journal
4. Creating Positive Affirmations
5. Managing Stress
6. Setting Up Your Own Lapse
7. Enlisting Support
8. Picking Effective Rewards
9. Developing a Reward Contract
10. Developing Menus
11. Modifying Recipes