GROUP SUPPORT KEEPS YOU MOTIVATED

Everyone needs a push, a pat on the back, or a helping hand sometimes. As a participant in the YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program, you will attend 25 sessions over the course of a year surrounded by a group of supportive people with common goals who care about your well-being.

We do this by finding new ways to build healthier habits one small step at a time including:

• Healthy Eating – Eating smaller portions, reducing fat in your diet and discovering healthier foods can help prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes
• Increasing Physical Activity – Moderate physical activity (walking, swimming, mowing the lawn) for as little as 30 minutes, five days a week, can help improve your blood pressure, raise your good cholesterol and prevent blood flow problems
• Losing Weight – Reducing your body weight by as little as 5–7% can offer tremendous benefits for people at risk for diabetes

Class locations, date, and time vary depending on participant needs. New VIRTUAL classes beginning all the time.

A condition called prediabetes occurs when blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not high enough for a type 2 diabetes diagnosis. More than 88 million Americans have prediabetes and are at risk of developing diabetes. Diabetes has no cure, but prediabetes can be reversed. Over 30% of Muskegon adults are at risk. Chances are you know at least one person with diabetes and probably more than one with prediabetes. To find out if you are at risk, take this quick test. Then share the test with friends and family. You can find a healthier lifestyle together!

IMPROVE YOUR HEALTH – BOOST YOUR ENERGY

To help reduce your risk for diabetes, your goal in the YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program is to reduce your body weight by 7% and gradually increase your physical activity by at least 150 minutes per week within the first half of the program.

For example, if you weigh 200 pounds your goal for the first half of the program would be to lose 14 pounds and increase your physical activity to what could be a brisk 30-minute walk 5-days per week.

Lose weight, boost your energy, reduce your risk for diabetes and improve your health for life!

HOW DOES THE PROGRAM WORK?

This program is a year-long program broken down into 16 core sessions, where participants will meet weekly, followed by 3 bi-weekly sessions. Then participants will meet 1 time per month for the last 6 months for maintenance sessions.  Each session is in a classroom setting where a trained lifestyle coach facilitates a small group of participants in learning about healthier eating, physical activity and other behavior changes.  This program is designed to help participants adopt and maintain healthy lifestyle changes over the course of one year.

WHAT ARE THE 2 PROGRAM GOALS?

1. To lose 7% of your body weight.
2. Gradually increase your physical activity to 150 minutes per week.

WHAT IS THE COST OF THIS YEAR-LONG PROGRAM?

Thanks to funding from our partners at Trinity Health, Muskegon Community Health Project and the CDC, there is no cost to participate in this program.

DO YOU QUALIFY?

To participate in the program, you must be:

• 18 years or older
• Have a BMI ≥ 25 (Asian individual(s) BMI ≥ 22), and
• Diagnosed with prediabetes via one of three blood tests or a previous diagnosis of gestational diabetes.**

1. A1C (must be 5.7%-6.4%)
2. Fasting Plasma Glucose (must be 100-125 mg/dL)
3. 2-Hour Plasma Glucose (must be 140-199 mg/dL)

** Qualified blood results in the prediabetes range are needed to confirm eligibility. Individuals who have already been diagnosed with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes do not qualify for this program.

If you don’t have a blood test result, you must have a qualifying risk score.

Want to know if you’re at risk?