Good News Fridays: Sign Up For Scale Back Alabama 2015

By Nathan Young on January 9, 2015

This week, the 2015 Scale Back Alabama kicked off! Scale Back Alabama is a 10‐week, statewide weight‐loss contest designed to help Alabama fight its battle with obesity by encouraging participants to develop lifelong healthy habits. The program, which is free and targeted to adults 18 and older, primarily focuses on the workplace and utilizes other local organizations as weigh-in sites. Here is a 28 minute video featuring the kickoff to the 2015 campaign!

This year, there are a couple of changes in the program. The program is still 10 weeks long, and you still have a chance to win cash money if you lose weight. But, it is now easier to join the program! Those 18 and older can now participate in teams of two, rather than teams of four, and you can go online to self register starting January 6th. Once registered, you must go to an official weigh-in site during the week of January 19-25 to have your initial weigh in.

Then, each week you and your other team member will receive health tips from a panel of experts. At the end of the contest, the names of all individuals and teams who lose at least 10 pounds (one pound a week) will be placed in a drawing for cash prizes ranging from $100 to $2000 for the entire team! All individuals who lose at least 10 pounds, as recorded by a coordinator at an official Scale Back Alabama weigh-in site, are eligible for an individual prize, regardless of their team’s achievement. To help those who sign up, the Scale Back Alabama website has plenty of resources and tips you can use to help you lose weight.

This is the ninth year for Scale Back Alabama. The free program is designed to address the state’s obesity problem, and it has resulted in thousands of Alabamians losing more than one million pounds. That’s right, one million pounds! Approximately one-third of all Alabamians are considered obese. Obesity can lead to health problems such as increased risk of diseases, cancer, and heart disease, as well as problems with bones and joints. Obesity is also costly, with medical expenses for an obese employee estimated to be 42 percent higher than a person with a healthy weight. The annual health care cost estimate is as high as $147 billion a year.

This year, only teams of two will participate. Any team of two can participate, from co-workers, friends, husband and wife, spouses, family members, and more! As long as you either live or work in Alabama! Each team must come up with a catchy name, and teams must begin and end the contest with the same members – no substitution is allowed. If a team member drops out for any reason, the team will be disqualified from the grand prize drawing. However, individuals who lose at least 10 pounds will be eligible for individual prizes. If both team members each lose at least 10 pounds, the entire team will be entered into a drawing where the top prize is $1,000 for each team member. Prizes of $500, and $250, for each team member will also be rewarded!

Here in East Alabama, Scale Back Alabama does not have weigh-in sites in Cherokee and Cleburne counties! They are needing a business or organization to become an official weigh in site for the 2015 program. If you want to learn more about becoming a weigh in site, go to: http://scalebackalabama.com/sites/

To learn more about Scale Back Alabama, and get great tips and resources, go to: http://www.scalebackalabama.com/ Follow them on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/ScaleBackAlabama and on Twitter @ScaleBkAlabama.

Scale Back Alabama is sponsored by the Alabama Hospital Association and the Alabama Department of Public Health, in partnership with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama.