PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii  –   The Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Pearl Harbor (NMRTC PH) Health Promotion Department provides educational opportunities and services focused on health protection, disease prevention, and/or disease management for improved quality of life. The Health Promotion team supports the Navy’s efforts to provide programs and initiatives that screen, educate, and manage medical and dental health concerns, to include weight management. Efforts center on improving and sustaining military readiness, encouraging healthy lifestyles, and boosting overall wellness.

Located onboard Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam, the NMRTC PH Health Promotion team facilitates the Navy’s official weight management program, ShipShape. The eight week course runs four times a year and participants can continue in the program for more than one cycle.

The eight session cycle begins and ends with a self-paced online session, broken up by six in-person group sessions. The program focuses on three pillars of weight management: nutrition, physical activity, and mindset.

According to the Navy and Marine Corps Public Health website, “The program presents a healthy and permanent approach to weight loss and can decrease the loss rate of active duty and reserve military service members by helping them to get back within standards, pass the Physical Fitness Assessment (PFA), and continue to achieve long-term weight management goals.”

“I personally feel that changing your diet and exercise habits involve lifestyle modifications, but maintaining these lifestyle changes is the real challenge,” said Tracy Navarrete, Health Promotion Director at NMRTC PH. “We have learned from teaching ShipShape that most members tend to lose motivation and only want see the scale move, {often} losing lean muscle and not body fat, therefore, leading to a yoyo affect.”

The ShipShape program intends to help break habit patterns and change mindsets to guide participants away from yoyo and fad diets and instead equip them with the tools they need for sustainable weight loss.

“I feel that educating the member on the importance of doing an initial assessment and setting attainable short and long term goals is how we will succeed in keeping our military members in a readiness state,” said Navarrete. “Understanding body composition and helping members understand their caloric intake needed to meet their goals have been effective and we have happy military members that are more energetic and have lost body fat versus lean muscle.”

Beyond weight management, the Health Promotion Department also focuses on other health and wellness elements to include Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention and Control, Tobacco Use Prevention and Cessation, Injury and Illness Prevention, Sexual Health and Sexual Responsibility, Suicide Prevention, and Stress/Anger Management.
“We are your resource for any of your wellness needs,” said Navarrete.

Health Promotion programs and resources are available to active duty and reserve military service members, beneficiaries, and government civilians. Interested participants can contact the Health Promotion Department at 808-471-2280 with inquires or to enroll in a program. All classes take place at the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam Fitness Center, Building 1338, 2nd Deck, Classroom 2.