Four Stories of Inspiration

In the Pursuit of Health one day at a time!

Part 4 of 4

To date, we’ve profiled three successful individuals that have made a commitment to their pursuit of health. Melissa Price has lost 63 lbs and 33% of her body weight while working full-time and taking care of her young family.  Brian Benda has found a passion in running and has maintained an active and healthy lifestyle. And Virna Flores changed her outlook on who she wanted to be and has made a lifetime commitment to physical fitness that is creating lifelong healthy habits for her family. What a legacy!

Your next inspiration? Meet Sheena Koshy.

Sheena Koshy

Sheena is a member of our social media team, and just beginning her personal commitment to the pursuit of health. You’ll be intrigued by the technology she’s using and the following of friends she’s inspiring!  Sheena is a brilliant and beautiful communications professional in her early 30’s who says that she has put on more weight than she is comfortable with since getting married three years ago. Sheena is also one of our most intellectual and cultured team members. She was born in India, grew up in Dubai and landed in the US for graduate school.  She found herself lamenting about this all too familiar newlywed weight gain with friends from all over the world on Facebook. Many of these friends were in the same boat and same life stage (again - what is it with all these happy married people and weight gain?).

This group of friends decided to do something about it and to use social technology to be  accountable and remain engaged in the process. Sheena has a personal goal of losing 40 lbs by the end of 2011. She has committed to watching what she eats and to working out five days a week at her local YMCA.

To monitor her progress, she is using the “Lose It!” app on her iPhone. The Lose It! app is a free application that calculates the number of calories you need each day. The program allows you to input your current weight and goal weight, as well as the date you want to achieve the goal. The application will then tell you how many calories you should have every day to achieve the goal. Each day, you enter all foods that you eat and your daily workouts and the app helps you track your progress towards the goal.

In addition to the Lose It app, Sheena and her friends are using Facebook check-ins to keep each other motivated. These friends are located all over the world – in London, Dubai and India. Through Facebook, they are able to motivate each other to visit the gym, and the check-ins make them accountable for what they say they are going to do every day just as if they were neighbors or coworkers.

These friends aren’t kidding around. They are also using Google Docs to keep a “team log” of everything they eat. Once a month, the group meets on Skype to check in on progress, discuss frustrations and what they’ve learned.

Just like her online group, we want to help Sheena achieve her goals. We’ll check in with her periodically and post her success on this blog.

When asked what has motivated her to make such a committed effort to health, Sheena talks about her younger sister in India. Sheena’s sister was diagnosed with Leukemia several years ago and just celebrated her two year remission anniversary.  To fight this disease, she has made a commitment to healthy eating and to physical fitness. “I am in awe of her strength and it inspires me to take a more concerted look at what I put into and how I treat my body”.

We only have one chance at this life and all too often we take this for granted. Get motivated, get moving and find what inspires your pursuit of health!

Need a kick start? Here are some resources to get your wheels turning:

• MyBlueService – If you’re a member, use MyBlueService to take a Personal Health Assessment and find out what lifestyle behavior programs might work for you.
• Florida Blue Centers – our centers are for everyone and located across the state of Florida. They offer nutrition counseling and an on-site nursing staff to assist members with individualized health assessments.
• YMCA – located throughout Florida and the US, this non-profit organization offers state of the art physical fitness facilities accessible to everyone.
• Lose It! App – a great app for creating a personal weight loss plan.

Got an inspiring story to share? We want to hear it!

socialmedia@bcbsfl.com