Interesting fact in this article I thought you might like to know.

Guest post by Tom Raithel

Being a loser is a lot more fun than it used to be.

In fact, being the Biggest Loser in a weight-loss competition sponsored by the Tri-State Business Group on Health this spring resulted in cash bonuses, not to mention the likelihood of improved health and happiness for the 266 participants.

The Business Group sponsored a Biggest Loser competition, modeled after a television program of the same name, to encourage employees of Tri-State businesses to lose weight.

Employees at 12 companies took part in the 10-week contest, said Lisa Gish, executive director of the group.

The first-place team of eight won $800. The second-place team won $400. Employers of some of the teams chipped in additional incentives, Gish said.

“Obviously, our interest was to provide some sort of program on the obesity front, because that is one of the concerns that businesses say they are most challenged with,” Gish said.

“It’s a known problem, and even more than that … they (employers) will tell you that tobacco use and BMI (body mass index, or weight) are two of the biggest problems they have trouble impacting,” she said.

If it shares the stage with tobacco use as a national problem, obesity is increasingly hogging the spotlight. A 2007 study by the Milken Institute, “An Unhealthy America: The Economic Burden of Chronic Disease,” found that the most important way to reduce health costs in the U.S. is to reduce obesity. Obesity is commonly defined as having a body mass index greater than 30.

The study concluded that, if the country reduced the growth of its obese population to 1998 levels, it could save more than $300 million in the treatment of high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

That’s just reducing the growth. In fact, the total cost of U.S. obesity and physical inactivity in 2000 was $117 billion, according to a 2008 study by Trust for America’s Health.

Businesses pay part of that cost through higher health insurance premiums, worker absenteeism and loss of productivity, said JoEllen Vrazel, director of the Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity of the Indiana State Department of Health.

Just how much this costs businesses locally and nationally is hard to determine, said Andrea Hays, program director for two Welborn Baptist Foundation programs aimed at reducing obesity. “Folks can come up with all the figures they want. Obesity is a tough one.”

But the local problem appears to be worse than national one, she said. A random telephone survey of adults in five counties in the Tri-State revealed that the percentage of overweight and obese people here was in most cases higher than state and national averages.

For example, in Vanderburgh County, the percentage of obese people was 34 percent compared to 27 percent in Indiana and 26 percent nationally. In Warrick County, the percentage of obese people was 40 percent.

As a result, the Foundation has a school-based initiative called Heroes that emphasizes good nutrition and exercise among young children, and an adult program called movement, which encourages healthier eating and more physical activity, Hays said.

Individual companies are also taking action. Flanders Electric has one of the longest-running and most innovative wellness programs in the Evansville area. “The reason why they started it was basically as a cost containment for insurance purposes,” said Jennifer Wakeland, wellness director at the company.

A key aspect of the program is financial incentives for employees, she said.

The program includes an annual health screening for employees in which risks, such as tobacco use, obesity and high blood pressure, are identified. Employees receive information about their risks and develop goals to reduce them. They get money if they make progress toward a goal.

“We’ve been getting results,” Wakeland said. Between 85 and 95 percent of the employees participate compared to many companies that have rates as low as 20 percent participation, she said.

The program includes follow-up blood pressure screening, tobacco cessation classes and the posting of information on a variety of health matters.

As for obesity, the company offers a fitness reimbursement for those who exercise regularly and arranges reduced corporate rates for employees at three local fitness centers, said Wakeland.

Tracy Mallory, benefits specialist for Berry Plastics, said that the Biggest Loser competition generated enough interest the company is offering its own Biggest Loser Part 2 — an individual competition where employees receive financial incentives for losing weight over 12 weeks.

The contest also succeeded because obesity, weight loss and healthier living are all hot topics now, Mallory said. “A lot of people were interested in losing weight, and we just gave them a start.”

Tom Raithel

EBJ correspondent

Cool idea isn’t it…run your own biggest loser contest and get your employees healthy. Win/Win in my book!
-Darrin Walton

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Filed under: Fitness