Program promotes healthy lifestyles for children

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Julie Weckerlein
  • Air Force Print News
WASHINGTON (AFPN) --  Kaitlyn Mayor prefers to hula-hoop while her brother, Tyler, skateboards to gain fitness points for a new Air Force Services Web-based program that promotes healthy lifestyles for children.

The Florida siblings are among more than 5,300 Air Force youngsters between the ages of 9 and 18 to sign up for FitFactor. This is a fitness and health initiative that rewards youth for their efforts to stay healthy.

“It’s important that we support this opportunity to help our youth discover the benefits of a healthy lifestyle -– and to do our part in helping young people combat obesity,” said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley and Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Gerald Murray in a joint statement on FitFactor.

It’s a program with a distinct focus, said Arthur J. Myers, director of Air Force Services.

“We’re dealing with a generation that’s consumed by television and the Internet,” he said. “When I was growing up, you couldn’t keep me from going outside. But that’s not the case with youth these days.”

Mr. Myers said national statistics are showing Americans, in general, are not eating correctly or living active lifestyles.

“And we interpret that to include Air Force families,” he said.

U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics show that 1 in 5 American children are overweight or obese. While no statistics exist showing a specific increase in childhood obesity among Air Force families, the people at Air Force Services decided to buck the national trend and focus on a program designed to inspire both children and adults alike.

Based on a similar program started in Pacific Air Forces in 2003, FitFactor is already proving its worth, especially for the Mayor family.

Though childhood obesity wasn’t a problem for Tyler, the 13-year-old felt the need to get back in shape when his father, Master Sgt. Robert Mayor, was with the 325th Mission Support Group at Tyndall AFB, Fla.

“I was a couch potato for a year in Nebraska,” Tyler said. “I wanted to do more than what I was doing before.”

He learned about the FitFactor program at the Hurlburt Field, Fla., youth center his sister attends. The siblings signed up and have been racking up points ever since.

Each day, they log in the FitFactor site and document the healthy choices they made. The number of points earned depends on the activity. Drinking eight ounces of water earns five points, while yard work nets 25. A game of baseball brings 75.

Prizes for participation range from pins to silicon bracelets to T-shirts and jump ropes.

Their mother, Lisa Mayor -- who works at the Air Force Research Lab at Eglin AFB, Fla. -- said the effects of the program are showing up in their household in more ways than one, starting with dinner and fried foods.

“I use to get away with certain meals that I cooked, and I don’t anymore,” she said. “As a working mother, there are some times when it’s easier [to cook meals] but the younger ones are more conscience of what they are eating. They aren’t drinking soda as much, and they are trying more things, including veggies.”

She said Kaitlyn, who is 10, is benefiting from FitFactor socially as well.

“She was very into drama and chorus-type activities, but now she’s signing up for things like running and dance,” she said. “She’s meeting other children that she normally wouldn’t have met before.”

Kaitlyn said she’s already won a Frisbee, necklace and a FitFactor pin for her achievements. She’s set her sights to win more.

“I have a competition with one of my friends,” she said. “She has more points than I do, but I’m getting close.”

Tyler has also earned some prizes. But his main goal is just to get fit again.

“Our nation is getting more obese, and if we [the younger generation] stay fit now, we’ll carry it out all through our life,” he said.

Air Force family members between the ages of 9 and 18 can sign up by visiting their local Air Force Services youth center and registering on the FitFactor Web site at www.afgetfit.com.