A New Year, A New You!

New Years Resolutions

The new year has arrived, but it’s not too late to work on a new year’s resolution! Kathy, a Mercy Housing Northwest resident in Everett, has struggled with her weight for years. As she has gotten older, Kathy has been plagued by arthritis, diabetes, and a knee injury. Luckily, when MHNW’s Resident Services Coordinator (RSC), Karin, decided to lead a weight loss program onsite, Kathy was on board!

The program offered to all residents onsite was launched in late October and will continue for as long as participants have interest.

Each participant has access to the online weight loss program and is provided with a customized binder for keeping track of weight loss and physical activity. “I was really impressed with the binder”, says Kathy, “I did not expect that!”
Karin, the RSC, has done a fantastic job organizing the program for her residents. What’s even more inspiring is that Karin not only leads the program but is also a participant herself! scaleAccording to Karin, “It’s nice for the residents to see that I have the same struggles that they do. We laugh a lot…encourage each other, and just have a ‘real’ approach to our weight loss.” She realizes that it will take time for the group to reach their goals, but everyone hopes to help each other along the way.

Each week, the group meets to weigh-in and discuss their progress over the previous week. During the meetings, everyone has an opportunity to share struggles, positives, healthy recipes, laughter and most importantly – support!

Over the course of two months, Kathy has already managed to lose eight pounds and is now trying to simply survive the holiday temptations! She looks forward to 2017, and even greater weight loss. We wish Kathy and her fellow program participants the best of luck as they tackle their weight loss challenge! What’s your 2017 new year’s resolution?