On Thursday Jan. 16, the weight-loss program Scale Back Alabama kicked off its eighth year. Gina McDonald, the recent winner of the Biggest Loser, spoke at the beginning of the competition, giving inspiration to those taking on the goal.
McDonald lost more than 100 pounds and is the spokesperson for Scale Back Alabama this year. Scale Back is sponsored by the Alabama Hospital Association and the Department of Public Health.
The goal of Scale Back is to help people set a realistic weight loss goal of one pound per week, ending in a 10-pound loss goal at the end of the 10-week competition.
According to US News, Alabama is the second most obese state, with a rate of 31.2 percent. The emphasis is on eating healthy and keeping the weight off while adding exercise to the daily routine.
Participants entered at one of the various weigh-in sites across the state with East Alabama Medical Center in Auburn being the closets.
Kathe Briggs, EAMC's director of health promotions and disease management, personally helped coordinate the weigh-in site, and is also participating in the contest as well.
EAMC weighed-in people, who throughout the course of 10 weeks, will try and drop weight.
At the end of the 10 weeks, they will weigh in and be up for prizes at the state level. The hospital is also offering prizes for some of the local winners.
The prizes for first place are $1,000 per team member, or a total of $4,000 for the entire team, second team wins $500 per team member amd third place wins $250 per team member.
EAMC has been a weigh-in site since the start of the competition.
"People come back year after year," Briggs said. "They either keep the weight off and want to lose more, or they need another chance to try at it again."
Mary Kate McCluney, senior in rehabilitation services, is a participant in Scale Back.
"The goal is to lose at least 10 pounds," McCluney said. "I'm on a team of four and the team with the most weight loss at the end wins cash prizes."
McCluney's friend, Rachel Mayberry, is an intern at EAMC and a senior in physical activity and health. She is also one of the interns weighing participants.
"The teams of four really encourage each other to lose the weight," Mayberry said. "The website is ScaleBackAlabama.com for information, and we are doing weigh outs the week of April 7th."
Educational materials were provided at the weigh-in site and Scale Back Alabama sends out weekly emails to help encourage participants and keep them on track.
With one-third of Alabamians considered obese, even a little bit of weight loss is a good thing. The annual health care cost is approximately $147 billion a year, and obesity leads to various health problems, many that are considered very dangerous.
Last year, the program had 27,000 participants statewide and lost 130,000 pounds collectively.
"The main goal is eating healthy and developing a healthy lifestyle while creating realistic weight loss goals," Briggs said.
The remaining dates for Scale Back Alabama are:
March 8-18: Voting for Team Name Contest
March 19: Team Name Contest Winner Announced
April 5-11: Final Week of Contest; Ending Weights Recorded
April 25: Final Event; Announcement of Winners and Prizes
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