The 50 Million Pound Challenge
A common ‘resolution’ that many people set up for the New Year is to lose weight, so I thought a great help for those who are going to work on this goal this year would be to share different programs/studies related to what’s new in the weight loss arena.
Dr Ian Smith is the founder of the 50 Million Pound Challenge. He has teamed up with State Farm Insurance Company to issue a 50 million pound weight loss challenge to African Americans. He has set up the website, http://www.50millionpounds.com/default.aspx, to help participants around the country get information and tools to help them lose weight, and to offer a placed where they can come to get and give encouragement and track their progress. As of the time of writing this, a total weight of 1,152,369 pounds had been lost!
It’s not new news that the obesity rate of America is over 66%, but the statistics for African American’s is even worse at 80% of adult women and 67% of adult men, as well as 20% of African American kids between 12 and 19 are overweight and this number is rising. These kids are developing Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and even early heart disease, already!
Dr. Smith spends a lot of his time educating the public on health. He is a medical contributor to ABC’s The View, Men’s Health Magazine, and Celebrity Fit Club on VH1. He has also written multiple books on topics of health and nutrition.
The advantage of joining the Challenge is the support you will receive through a community of others who are also working towards losing weight and improving their health. Although this program focuses on African American’s, anyone who wishes to lose weight can join, and membership is free.
There are two ways you can join: You can sign on from the website, or you can pick up your free Challenge Kit from any participating State Farm office. As soon as you sign up, you then go onto the site and enter your starting weight and the date. Then, you can update your weight any time you want. Your losses will be added to the total. Your free Challenge Kit includes a pedometer, a booklet written by Dr. Smith, and a motivational CD. There are also free live events throughout the country.
Once you have joined, you then can join a team. The advantage of joining a team is you will have a community of people with similar interests who you can share losses and struggles with. You may want to join a team from a certain part of the country, or from a particular interest group, such as a churches, schools, families, companies, etc. The number of teams to join is almost endless, and you can search through them all to find one that you’d like to join. You can form your own team, however, perhaps with friends or family. And, you can join more than one team, too! What the teams do is track their weight loss as a team, and the top three losers of each category are listed on the website.
There is a great sense of community on the Challenge website. The blog is quite active and for anyone who wishes to lose weight, I would suggest you check this program out! Studies have shown that online support is proving to be a key to successful weight loss. Will this be YOUR year to finally take off and keep off those extra pounds?
Dr Ian Smith is the founder of the 50 Million Pound Challenge. He has teamed up with State Farm Insurance Company to issue a 50 million pound weight loss challenge to African Americans. He has set up the website, http://www.50millionpounds.com/default.aspx, to help participants around the country get information and tools to help them lose weight, and to offer a placed where they can come to get and give encouragement and track their progress. As of the time of writing this, a total weight of 1,152,369 pounds had been lost!
It’s not new news that the obesity rate of America is over 66%, but the statistics for African American’s is even worse at 80% of adult women and 67% of adult men, as well as 20% of African American kids between 12 and 19 are overweight and this number is rising. These kids are developing Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and even early heart disease, already!
Dr. Smith spends a lot of his time educating the public on health. He is a medical contributor to ABC’s The View, Men’s Health Magazine, and Celebrity Fit Club on VH1. He has also written multiple books on topics of health and nutrition.
The advantage of joining the Challenge is the support you will receive through a community of others who are also working towards losing weight and improving their health. Although this program focuses on African American’s, anyone who wishes to lose weight can join, and membership is free.
There are two ways you can join: You can sign on from the website, or you can pick up your free Challenge Kit from any participating State Farm office. As soon as you sign up, you then go onto the site and enter your starting weight and the date. Then, you can update your weight any time you want. Your losses will be added to the total. Your free Challenge Kit includes a pedometer, a booklet written by Dr. Smith, and a motivational CD. There are also free live events throughout the country.
Once you have joined, you then can join a team. The advantage of joining a team is you will have a community of people with similar interests who you can share losses and struggles with. You may want to join a team from a certain part of the country, or from a particular interest group, such as a churches, schools, families, companies, etc. The number of teams to join is almost endless, and you can search through them all to find one that you’d like to join. You can form your own team, however, perhaps with friends or family. And, you can join more than one team, too! What the teams do is track their weight loss as a team, and the top three losers of each category are listed on the website.
There is a great sense of community on the Challenge website. The blog is quite active and for anyone who wishes to lose weight, I would suggest you check this program out! Studies have shown that online support is proving to be a key to successful weight loss. Will this be YOUR year to finally take off and keep off those extra pounds?
posted by Margie Geiser, MBA, RD, NSCA-CPT at
3:20 AM
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