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Striving to be the 'Biggest Loser'

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Joshua Eikren
  • 375th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. --  The Health Promotion Flight kicked off its Biggest Loser Challenge in support of Healthy Weight Month Jan. 19 at Scott Air Force Base.

The purpose of the challenge is to bring a team approach to improve physical activity, healthier eating habits and achieving a healthy weight. Teams consist of two to four individuals.

"This is our 7th annual Biggest Loser challenge, with no changes to the program the last three years because we've gotten such positive feedback," said Christine Cooley, 375th Aerospace Medicine Squadron health promotion dietitian. "We will continue running the annual program as long as we can."

The program's goal is for people to find fun, challenging and competitive ways of improving their overall health.

"Everyone seems to enjoy the challenge, from having fun with their teammates and supporting each other to seeing improvements they are making," said Cooley. "We've had some of our top teams come back and visit us; they have maintained their weight loss or have lost more, and it's nice to see that this program was one of the things that helped them get started."

The importance of this program and others the HPF offers is finding incentives to get people involved.

Julie Wittenstrom, a participant, said, "This is my first time participating, and my reason is to get in better shape and feel good. It helps with motivation that things like this are offered for free and on base."

Cooley added, "Our goal is to motivate people in reaching a healthier weight for themselves and to adopt and maintain a healthier lifestyle. The New Year's timeframe is when most people are thinking about how to make improvements in their health, so it is an excellent time to offer a weight loss challenge to strengthen that energy and assist them in making improvements."

Biggest Loser is just the first challenge of the New Year, but the HPF offers a variety of other programs and opportunities throughout the year for base members to take advantage of.

"We strive to keep people motivated not just during certain parts of the year, but all year to make lifestyle changes for life," said Renee Wilcox, 375th Aerospace Medicine Squadron health fitness specialist. "We have, for instance, the Mount Everest Challenge next month. Each minute of a workout session equals 10 feet, so the more they workout, the faster they reach the top of Mt. Everest."

The Running Clinic is another opportunity that's held throughout the year, and it helps people improve their 1.5 mile time by an average of one minute and 15 seconds. Participants can sign up for multiple programs at once, so they can work on running while climbing Everest and being the Biggest Loser.

"It's important to me to help people who are starting their journey to be a healthier, fitter person, or to assist someone who has started their journey already," said Wilcox. "Our three main focuses are fitness, nutrition and tobacco cessation. It's our mission to cultivate a community engaged in healthy lifestyle activities to enhance mental, physical, spiritual and nutritional well-being."

For more information on programs the HPF offers, contact 256-7139.