Biggest Loser II helps participants instill healthy lifestyle changes

Published March 11, 2009
By Senior Airman Bekah Phy
87th Air Base Wing public affairs

McGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE, N.J. -- Losing weight can be one of the hardest feats for anyone to tackle. With temptation all around, including fast food chains on every corner acting as obstacles in your weight-loss journey, it's no wonder it's so difficult.

The Health and Wellness Center staff put together Biggest Loser II "Healthy Holiday Challenge" to help Team McGuire members who wanted to get healthy and lose weight - especially over the holiday season. The second round recently wrapped up with some inspiring results.

"The goal of Biggest Loser II was to provide participants with the knowledge, tools, support and motivation to not only maintain their weight during the holiday season, but to start making healthy lifestyle changes to lead into the new year," said Megan Smith, HAWC health education program manager. "Our hope is that participants walked away from this program with a better understanding of how they have the power to make healthy choices every day and that we were able to provide them with the knowledge and tools to act now."

During the 12-week friendly competition, weekly weigh-ins were conducted at the HAWC in order to determine team progress and to turn in extra points for each team and pedometers were encouraged for participants to wear in order to increase daily movement and activity.

Teams were also encouraged to participate in fitness and nutrition team challenges and educational classes offered by the HAWC, as well as aerobics classes offered by the fitness center, Ms. Smith said. Teams ended the competition with a final team total weight that was completed immediately following week 12 of the challenge.

The second round of Biggest Loser differed slightly than the first event.

"In this round, we created choices for individuals to tailor their wellness education. In previous programs, we had one topic per week that participants learned about; this time, we allowed participants to pick from a list of topics so they could enhance their learning based on their specific needs," Ms. Smith said. "We also added more fitness challenges and worked with the fitness center staff, who volunteered personal time to teach an extra spin class a week just for our participants."

Even with the holiday season occurring during the competition, Ms. Smith said the program was quite successful.

"In light of the program being right in the middle of the holiday season, when most people tend to shy away from programs that focus on healthy eating and exercise, we had a very successful program," she said.

In feedback, participants noted that they truly enjoyed the motivation from the HAWC staff, the educational classes and programs offered, and genuinely learned helpful information to get them started on the path to healthy living, Ms. Smith said.

"I really loved the program - my only wish was that it extended longer than the 12 weeks, maybe six months or even a year; I really think that would help instill more of a lifestyle change in the participants," said Master Sgt. Donna Jeffries, 514th Air Mobility Wing public affairs chief and Fab 4 Losers team member. "Just like the Air Force's Fit to Fight program, physical fitness is more about self - nutrition, eating habits and daily exercise are all a part of that. You really have to be mentally prepared to incorporate all of those things into your life continuously.

"Being a participant in the Biggest Loser program (Healthy Holiday Challenge), I realized getting through the holidays is easier than people think," said Sergeant Jeffries, who lost 12 pounds. "If you're a part of something like this, especially during the holiday season, it makes it that much easier because rather than food, your overall goal is in mind."

The top three winning teams, which included weight lost and points earned, from the Biggest Loser II Healthy Holiday Challenge are:

1st place: Fab 4 Losers with a total team loss of 46.9 pounds;

2nd place: Skinny Dippers with a total team loss of 26 pounds;

and 3rd place: More 4 Less with a total team loss of 30.9 pounds.

Stay tuned for more great HAWC programs in the future, Ms. Smith said. The HAWC staff is always looking for new and innovative ideas for wellness programming, so if you have suggestions the HAWC is conducting an ongoing community survey everyone is welcome to complete at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=5UKMQAb2IgBO1xjunORd6A_3d_3d.