User:Mws1188/LoneStart Article

As stated on my user page, I am co-founder of the LoneStart Wellness Initiative and would like to see an article on Wikipedia about LoneStart Wellness.

LoneStart Wellness began three years ago as a grassroots effort to combat America’s epidemic of overweight and obesity with a positive, simple, realistic and forgiving strategy. Rather than focusing on “losing weight and exercise,” the behavior-based LoneStart Wellness Initiative set out to provide participants with the opportunity, information and motivational tools that lead to long term, sustainable results—and emphasizes the importance of making modest yet meaningful changes and positive choices. By making positive choices and substituting positive behaviors, participants are encouraged to find ways to become more physically active and begin to make better nutritional choices—resulting in what the company calls its “achieve and believe” mindset. The result is sustainable, long term behavior change, weight loss and increased physical activity levels.

The LoneStart strategy reflects the company’s name, and is based on the premise that each individual alone must take personal responsibility to start making better nutritional choices and become more physically active. The program is available to individuals and workplace employee groups. With workplace and organizational groups the LoneStart strategy builds on the positive model and benefits of teamwork through its Team Esteem Challenge Program, and offers a proven and affordable high-impact, turnkey, easy-to-implement employee wellness initiative that provides substantial payback through decreased health costs, lower absenteeism, healthier employees, and improved employee communication and morale.

References LoneStart Wellness Initiative official website (http://www.lonestartnow.com)

Independent Resources http://www.mywesttexas.com/articles/2008/06/24/news/top_stories/andrews_hospital_weight_loss.txt http://www.healthawards.com/wwwha/fw2007winners/ad_web.htm http://www.newsrx.com/newsletters/Hospital-and-Nursing-Home-Week/2008-01-17/5201172008182HN.html http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/prnewswire/press_releases/Texas/2008/07/15/LATU081 http://www.torchnet.org/ http://www.orcasfire.org/Department/Training/Wellness/Wellness.html