Kaiser Permanente Supported Weigh and Win Pays Coloradans to Maintain Weight throughout 2014 Holiday Season

November 26, 2014 Weigh and Win Leave a comment

MEDIA CONTACT: Kaytee Long | Health Promotion Manager|O: 303-694-8012 |C: 303-619-8571 | [email protected]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Over 2,700 Participants Have Enrolled in the 2014 Healthy Holiday Challenge

All Residents to Stay within One Pound of Current Weight Will Receive a $15 Amazon Gift Card

DENVER, Nov. 25, 2014 – Kaiser Permanente supported program, Weigh and Win, launches the first annual Healthy Holiday Challenge encouraging Coloradans to maintain their current weight throughout the 2014 holiday season. All residents who lose or stay within one pound of initially recorded weight will receive a $15 gift card to Amazon.com. Participants are required to complete an initial weigh-in November 19-26 at any kiosk location. A final weigh-in must be completed January 1-8 to qualify for the Healthy Holiday incentive. Over 2,700 Coloradans have enrolled in the challenge.

“On average, a person will gain 1-2 pounds during each holiday season” said Lia Schoepke, Program Manager of Weigh and Win. “This excess weight is typically never lost which, over time, can add up to a significant weight gain. Weigh and Win creates an incentivized challenge for Coloradans to maintain a healthy lifestyle during the season.”

Weigh and Win is a free community program available to all Colorado residents (18 years and older) that teaches healthy habits and pays cash rewards for weight improvement and maintenance. Participants who join the program at an unhealthy weight (BMI >/= 25) qualify for cash incentives. Additional prizes are awarded just for participating. Kaiser Permanente is the founding funder of Weigh and Win as part of its commitment to promoting healthy eating and active living.

The average weight improvement for successful Weigh and Win participants after one year in the program is 17.7 pounds or an eight percent weight loss. Participants involved in the Weigh and Win Team Challenge see a higher success rate: 20.5 pounds for team members and 22.3 pounds for team captains. The next Team Challenge will begin February 1 and run through April 30, 2015.

In addition to the Healthy Holidays Challenge and bi-annual Team Challenges, Weigh and Win offers the one-on-one Challenge-a-Friend feature. Available year-round, the challenge creates a friendly competition with an incentive of the participant’s choice.

To date, more than 53,000 Coloradans have signed up for Weigh and Win as a commitment to health improvement. Participants have lost a total of 160,496 pounds, earning a total of $280,000 in cash rewards.

“Our goal is to reward 100 million people for engaging in a H.E.A.L. (Healthy Eating, Active Living) lifestyle. Our success in Colorado is one piece of the puzzle,” said Schoepke.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE HEALTHY HOLIDAY CHALLENGE:

Participants can visit WeighandWin.com, sign-up for free (or log-in to existing Weigh and Win account) and click ‘Healthy Holidays’ under the ‘Challenges’ tab, followed by ‘Join the Challenge’.
A pre-holiday weigh-in must be completed between November 19-26, 2014 at any Weigh and Win kiosk location. Weekly tips will be provided to assist with weight maintenance during the holidays.
A post-holiday weigh-in must be completed between January 1 – 8, 2015. If recorded weight is within one pound of participants’ pre-holiday weight, a $15 Amazon gift card will be rewarded.

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ABOUT WEIGH AND WIN: As a free, one-of-a-kind community program, Weigh and Win utilizes verified weight loss data through patented photographed weigh-ins and provides Colorado adults with access to an effective weight management platform. The program engages participants with rewards tied to measured results and is aimed at decreasing obesity rates. This is the first program of its kind to translate an evidence-based worksite wellness program, developed by incentaHEALTH, into a community program for the general public. Weigh and Win is funded by Kaiser Permanente to complementthe organization’s other efforts to increase healthy eating and physical activity throughout the state. Currently, 45 percent of all Weigh and Win participants with two or more weigh-ins have achieved a 3 percent or more weight improvement. Recent research suggests that even a weight loss of 3-5 percent produces meaningful health benefits, such as reducing risk for Type 2 Diabetes and need for cholesterol and heart medications.

Colorado residents 18 and over can sign up for free at www.WeighandWin.com and will receive daily coaching on healthy eating and active living by email or text message. The coaching includes tips for weight loss, daily exercise and meal plans, weekly grocery shopping lists and more. Progress is tracked through quarterly weigh-ins at one of 56 community kiosk locations throughout the state. Success is rewarded with quarterly cash rewards for weight loss and maintenance, as well as monthly prize drawings for participating. Those who begin the program at an unhealthy weight (BMI >/= 25) qualify for cash rewards. For more information on Weigh and Win, please visit www.weighandwin.com or “like” Weigh and Win on Facebook.

Challenges, Health Information, Nutrition

Healthy Holidays Tip #1 – Healthier Holiday Meals

November 24, 2014 Weigh and Win Leave a comment

When the table is filled to the brim with food (some of it unhealthy) it can be hard to stick to your health goals. If you keep a few small tips in mind, you can enjoy the big holiday dinners and still maintain your weight.

1 – Buddy Up

Find a healthy buddy and sit next to them. You’ll find yourself making healthier choices if someone else is too.

2 – Survey the Spread

Survey all the food before filling your plate. This way you are less likely to take more than you need. Skip the items you don’t like or that are not as healthy, while still leaving room to indulge (moderately) on your favorites.

3 – Healthier Alternatives

If you’re hosting, try cooking healthier options of your family favorites. For example, try roasting vegetables in a small amount of oil instead of butter or using sugar substitutes and/or fruit purees or yogurt in place of oil or butter in desserts. Have you tried swapping mashed cauliflower for a third of your mashed potatoes? This will increase the nutritional content and no one will notice the difference!

4 – Stay Active

Instead of sitting on the couch after eating a big meal, do something active! Get outside and go for a walk or play touch football or catch. It will burn a few extra calories and help with digestion.

Health Information, Nutrition

Cleaning Out Your Fridge: Setting Yourself Up for Success

November 17, 2014 Weigh and Win Leave a comment

National Clean out Your Fridge Day is Saturday, November 15^th. It’s that time of year to get rid of anything you don’t recognize anymore and to start organizing in a way that will set you up for a healthy holiday season. Take the time to really get into cleaning the fridge and figuring out a way to organize your food so that the healthy foods stay fresher longer and are the first ones you seen when you open the fridge!

When it’s time to organize the foods in your fridge, keep these healthy habits in mind:

Freezer: Try to keep things in tightly sealed or wrapped containers so they are easier to stack and organize. Avoid using anything glass so it doesn’t freeze and possibly break. Using bins with labels is a great way of keeping food organized and easy to find

Fridge Doors: The doors are typically the warmest due to the constant temperature change from opening and closing and should therefor contain the items that are least likely to spoil. Think of condiments, juices and other nonperishables going here. Since milk can’t handle all the constant temperature fluctuations, try not to store it in the door if possible.

Upper Shelves: These are the shelves we typically see first since they are at eye level and they should be foods that are already prepared and ready to eat. Use these shelves for leftovers, deli meats, precooked grains and precut fruits or veggies. Try to keep the unhealthy items in the back so you are less likely to reach for them. With the healthier options right in front, you’ll quickly grab those as opposed to looking for the unhealthy options in the back.

Lower Shelves: This is thebest place for raw meat, eggs, seafood, and other dairy to be stored at the coldest temperatures. It also keeps any raw meat from spilling onto other foods since it is at the bottom and underneath everything. Make sure to clean any containers that hold raw meat regularly and to label it so that no bacteria are passed along to other foods. Also, try not to over-pack your shelves so cold air can still flow between all of the items and keep everything at a constant temp.

Crisper: These drawers are meant to keep a moist environment for fruits and vegetables like the one you see at the grocery store. Since fruits have a chemical that helps them to ripen and leaving them next to vegetables can cause those vegetables to go bad as quickly. For this reason, keep fruits in one drawer and vegetables in another one.

On top of the Fridge: Since heat rises, this is not the ideal location for food to sit, even though it seems like a space saver. Breads especially, tend to get moldier faster so leave this space for other nonfood appliances.

Outside of the fridge: Many of the fruits and vegetables you find in the store are not refrigerated and can stay that way to help free up space. Keep tomatoes, squash, potatoes and onions on the counter so they don’t lose their flavor. Nuts and nut butters can also be kept in a pantry and will last just as well outside of the fridge as they would inside.

Challenges

Healthy Holiday Challenge

November 11, 2014 Weigh and Win Leave a comment

On average, a person will gain 1-2 pounds every holiday season that they never lose. Over time, those pounds add up! Let’s work together to stick to our health goals this holiday season and maintain our weight instead of gaining.

Join the Weigh and Win Healthy Holiday Challenge and if you maintain your weight over the holidays, you’ll receive a $15 Amazon gift card!

HOW IT WORKS

1. JOIN THE CHALLENGE

Visit the Healthy Holiday Challenge page on the Weigh and Win website and click the ‘Join the Challenge’ button. Anyone can participate in the Holiday Challenge, regardless of BMI!

2. COMPLETE YOUR HOLIDAY WEIGH-INS

Visit a Weigh and Win kiosk between November 19-26, 2014 to complete a pre-holiday weigh-in. See how well you did by completing your post-holiday weigh-in between January 1-8, 2015.

3. STAY HEALTHY

Weigh and Win will provide you weekly tips to help you maintain your weight during the holidays. It doesn’t mean you have to give up eating Christmas cookies completely!

4. EARN A PRIZE

If your post-holiday weight is within 1 pound of your pre-holiday weight, you will earn a $15 Amazon gift card!

For more information and the official rules, please visit the Healthy Holiday Challenge on our website.

Team Challenge

Fit For Fall Team Challenge Winners!

November 4, 2014 Weigh and Win Leave a comment

Congratulations to everyone who competed in the ‘Fit For Fall’ Team Challenge! Teams competed from August 1 – October 31, 2014 to achieve the most cumulative weight improvement (percentage) or the most average HEALTHpoints per team member.

We had over 121 teams and 553 people participate and the results were impressive! Congratulations to everyone who participated. Hopefully joining a team helped you toward your healthy eating and active living goals. Don’t worry if you missed out on this challenge, our next challenge will start February 2015.

Weight Improvement Team Challenge Winners:

1st – The Slim-Possible Dream: 8.84% weight improvement
2nd- In It To Thin It x2: 8.15% weight improvement
3rd- Jesus Chicks: 5.99% weight improvement

HEALTHpoints Team Challenge Winners:

1st- 3 Chicks & A Jay Bird: 7559.5 HEALTHpoints
2nd- Dragon House: 7330.5 HEALTHpoints
3rd- Mission Slimpossible: 7094.86 HEALTHpoints

Each winning team won a variety of prizes, ranging from Naturebox Snack Subscriptions to iPod Shuffles and REI gift cards. In addition, the winning teams choose a qualifying charity for a $1,000 donation to be made on their behalf.

The Next Team Challenge

The next team challenge will start February 1, 2015. It’s not too soon to start thinking about who you want to be on your team. The teams from the current challenge will be cleared in the coming weeks. More details on the next team challenge will be emailed in January.

Other Ways to Compete

Check out the Healthy Holiday Challenge! If you maintain your weight over the holidays you will earn a $15 Amazon gift card!

Have you noticed the new Challenge-A-Friend feature? It allows you to create custom challenges and compete against friends and family for weight loss, HEALTHpoints, Fitbit steps and more. You set the rules and you set the prizes!

Questions about the team challenge or any of the other challenges? Contact: Jillian Tongate | [email protected]

HEALTHpoints

Win a New Fitbit Charge!

November 3, 2014 Weigh and Win Leave a comment

Want to win one of the new Fitbit Charge activity trackers? Earn 300 or more HEALTHpoints in November and you could win (1) of (3) – a $129.95 value!

Congratulations to the October HEALTHpoint drawing winners of iPod Nanos! The winners have been contacted by email.

Brenda – Aurora, CO
Kalina – Aurora, CO
Elyse – Fort Collins, CO

The Healthy Weigh

Monthly Archives: November 2014