Do, Eat and Believe in a Healthy Washington County

Go For Bold is a community-wide initiative aimed at promoting healthy lifestyles for the residents of Washington County. With a Bold Goal of losing 1 million community pounds by 2030, this 10-year journey will:

• Focus on increasing physical activity through fun and engaging community-wide events
• Incorporate mindfulness and stress reduction techniques into daily activities
• Offer nutrition tips and healthy recipes that focus on fresh fruits and vegetables

Healthy Washington County is a coalition of public and private organizations with a mission to strengthen the health and wellness of our community and residents.

Pledge as a Go For Bold partner by joining as an individual or as an organization :

We suggest organizations estimate their total weight loss by using this formula:
# of employees x 4lbs x 10 years
(ex: 100 employees x 4lbs x 10 years = 4,000 lbs)

Sign-up for our Weight Tracker!

The weight tracker allows us to keep a tally of all the pounds lost as we strive for our Million Pound weight loss. You can join as an individual, team or leader. The tracker uses a confidential login system for individuals to input and track their cumulative weight loss.

Sign up now! Log in

DO

Increase your physical activity through fun and engaging individual and community-wide events.

Physical activity is one of the best things people can do to improve their health. It is vital for healthy aging and can reduce the burden of chronic diseases and prevent early death. Active people generally live longer and are at less risk for serious health problems like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and some cancers. For people with chronic diseases, physical activity can help manage these conditions and complications.

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EAT

Nutrition tips and healthy recipes that focus on fresh fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins.

A healthy diet may help to prevent certain serious diseases such as heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes. It may also help to reduce your risk of developing some cancers. If you become sick, eating a healthy diet may help you to recover more quickly. Also, eating a healthy diet can help you maintain a healthy weight.

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BELIEVE

Incorporate mindfulness and stress reductions techniques into daily activities.

Mental health is an important part of overall health and well-being. Mindfulness is a type of meditation in which you focus on being intensely aware of what you’re sensing and feeling in the moment, without interpretation or judgment. Practicing mindfulness involves breathing methods, guided imagery, and other practices to relax the body and mind and help reduce stress. Benefits include better sleep, weight loss, lower stress levels, improved attention, eases chronic pain and reduces anxiety.

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A SUCCESS STORY: TINA FRALEY GOES FOR BOLD

Sometimes getting started can be the hardest part.

For Tina Fraley her starting point was a difficult one, but her story is proof that it doesn’t matter where you start from if you put your heart, soul and mind into your goal. At 33-year-old Fraley, of Hagerstown, had just had her seventh child, and was nearing 300 pounds. “When I went for my post-partum checkup and the doctor started talking about screening for pre-diabetes, that really lit a fire within me. I knew I needed to take control of my health,” Fraley said.

That was 12 years ago. In the time since, Fraley turned her health around. However, before she would go on to become CEO of her own health studio, a personal trainer or lose 150 pounds, she had to start the journey by taking that first step. “I started everything at home. Exercising and modifying my eating, and a did lose about 50 pounds. It opened my eyes to something that could work, but I didn’t have the support system,” she said. Fraley said that she began talking to her friends, many of whom said they felt the same way – everyone was trying to lose weight and be healthy, but they were trying to do it alone.

“Through my health and fitness journey, I always felt like there was something missing… The mental and emotional part was a gap in the bridge that needed filled,” Fraley said. In 2020, Fraley was invited to a meeting with other health leaders, organizations and businesses in the Washington County community who were working to form a grassroots movement to encourage weight loss as a collective effort. Allen Twigg, executive director of behavioral and community health for Meritus, was standing in front of the group and discussing the new initiative called ‘Go for Bold.’ “It was at that moment that every single part of me was just lighting up, because that was it! That was the missing link to individual wellbeing, and that’s when the paradigm shifted. We are going to do this,” Fraley said.

Go for Bold is built on the idea of support; that by leaders, community groups, organizations, nonprofits, local governments and individuals coming together and supporting one another, huge changes can be made. “In the fall of 2020, we had 30 local organizations and business join together to officially kick off the Go for Bold. It’s an initiative to do, eat and believe in a healthy Washington County, with the bold goal to lose 1 million community pounds by the year 2030,” said Dr. Douglas Spotts, chief health officer at Meritus. Spotts said that it’s important to realize that weight is directly correlated with chronic health issues like diabetes, asthma, emotional health and mental wellbeing.

To date, participants tracked more than 60,000 pounds lost. The program also offers a variety of events, support initiatives and encouragement for participants to build momentum by supporting one another. “I will always believe that success comes in numbers, and you can exceed your expectations with the support of a friend,” Fraley said. “I could have worked out alone, but if there’s no component of community connection none of it comes together, but that’s what Go for Bold does, it offers that continuity,” she added.

Partners can access and download resources such as Go For Bold graphics, flyers, etc. through the following link G4B Drop Box

To request hard copies of materials or assistance with graphics please contact Danielle Stahl at danielle.stahl@maryland.gov and Allen Twigg at allen.twigg@meritushealth.com