The Biggest Loser Challenge at Work
swagoner94
Posts: 220 Member
Hi All!
I used to use MFP regularly. It's been a few years since those days of consistent logging. I'm hoping to start doing this again, and hopefully, The Biggest Loser Challenge will help me stay motivated.
As the HR Assistant at my company, I've taken it upon myself to launch our 2017 health initiatives with The Biggest Loser Challenge! It'll be a 12-week program and I currently have about 27 participants signed up
I'm wondering if any of you have done something like this before, and/or have any suggestions for ways to keep people motivated for 3 months! I have quite a list of expenses accounting for several prize opportunities. I have prizes, incentives, challenges, and guest speakers lined up but I'm looking for a few more low cost ideas!!! Let me tell you what I have so far:
!. $30 to play (this will make up the prize pot (my company will match)
2. Weigh-in every Friday (goes by % of your weight lost)
3. Bi-weekly award for the 2 prior week's "biggest loser"
4. Challenges throughout the month and other raffle entry opportunities for a month-end raffle drawing for a great prize
5. Seminars on health and wellness, working out and nutrition
6. Classes on-site (yoga, zumba, etc.)
The prizes, classes, and seminars are quite expensive. I'm looking for any other ideas (especially challenges: I have a "drink 2 liters" challenge, plank challenge, and possibly and pedometer related challenge). ALL ideas for ANYTHING welcome!
I even created a cute email newsletter template that will go out every Monday with articles/blurbs and info for the week, plus a "fun fact friday" email to dispense little bits of knowledge on health and wellness! We have a run that is optional for people toward the end of the 3 months as well. We'll be giving out shirts with our unique design.
Let me know your thoughts!
I used to use MFP regularly. It's been a few years since those days of consistent logging. I'm hoping to start doing this again, and hopefully, The Biggest Loser Challenge will help me stay motivated.
As the HR Assistant at my company, I've taken it upon myself to launch our 2017 health initiatives with The Biggest Loser Challenge! It'll be a 12-week program and I currently have about 27 participants signed up
I'm wondering if any of you have done something like this before, and/or have any suggestions for ways to keep people motivated for 3 months! I have quite a list of expenses accounting for several prize opportunities. I have prizes, incentives, challenges, and guest speakers lined up but I'm looking for a few more low cost ideas!!! Let me tell you what I have so far:
!. $30 to play (this will make up the prize pot (my company will match)
2. Weigh-in every Friday (goes by % of your weight lost)
3. Bi-weekly award for the 2 prior week's "biggest loser"
4. Challenges throughout the month and other raffle entry opportunities for a month-end raffle drawing for a great prize
5. Seminars on health and wellness, working out and nutrition
6. Classes on-site (yoga, zumba, etc.)
The prizes, classes, and seminars are quite expensive. I'm looking for any other ideas (especially challenges: I have a "drink 2 liters" challenge, plank challenge, and possibly and pedometer related challenge). ALL ideas for ANYTHING welcome!
I even created a cute email newsletter template that will go out every Monday with articles/blurbs and info for the week, plus a "fun fact friday" email to dispense little bits of knowledge on health and wellness! We have a run that is optional for people toward the end of the 3 months as well. We'll be giving out shirts with our unique design.
Let me know your thoughts!
1
Replies
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My suggestion: cancel it. It seems - and there's been a few here on the MFP forums - that many people end up doing really stupid (aka: harmful, not healthful) things to try to win a contest, because they're ignorant of basic health.4
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I agree with Troberts, this is not a good idea. Water drinking challenges are a bad idea too.3
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My suggestion: cancel it. It seems - and there's been a few here on the MFP forums - that many people end up doing really stupid (aka: harmful, not healthful) things to try to win a contest, because they're ignorant of basic health.queenliz99 wrote: »I agree with Troberts, this is not a good idea. Water drinking challenges are a bad idea too.
Well that was incredibly discouraging and not that kind of input I was seeking. I've heard of many successful office ones. Plus, we'll be dispensing so much information and bringing in professionals to talk about doing it the healthy way. The water drinking challenge isn't what you may think. THey have an entire day to drink 2 liters of water (which is what you should drink in a day...)0 -
If anything, maybe you should switch it from a challenge to just a support group. Keep the on site classes and seminars for people to learn new things and to exercise some work stress off. It makes me think of how a lot of Japanese companies have general assembly exercises where everyone just comes and does a workout for 30 minutes. It's supposed to increase work productivity too. I know some companies stateside, if you prove you workout during lunch or something you get rewarded that way (be it monetary etc). Maybe your company might consider that instead. That way it's long running instead of just how long the contest was supposed to run.3
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If anything, maybe you should switch it from a challenge to just a support group. Keep the on site classes and seminars for people to learn new things and to exercise some work stress off. It makes me think of how a lot of Japanese companies have general assembly exercises where everyone just comes and does a workout for 30 minutes. It's supposed to increase work productivity too. I know some companies stateside, if you prove you workout during lunch or something you get rewarded that way (be it monetary etc). Maybe your company might consider that instead. That way it's long running instead of just how long the contest was supposed to run.
it's 3 months. I'm at the point where cancelling this or changing it is not an option. If the next comment could be even a pinch of encouraging, that'd be great.1 -
I loathe this type of challenge. Many people who need to lose will do dumb things to win and then their weight will likely rebound. I've also seen fit people carb up big time to gain weight for the first weigh in so they can shed it and win the prizes. Overall I think Biggest Loser competitions are completely unhealthy and unhelpful.2
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Not trying to be discouraging but contests really don't do anything. After the contest, have people really learned anything? I like the fact you have professionals coming to speak to your employee, this, I think, is a great idea. Teach people how to fish, so to speak.1
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I loathe this type of challenge. Many people who need to lose will do dumb things to win and then their weight will likely rebound. I've also seen fit people carb up big time to gain weight for the first weigh in so they can shed it and win the prizes. Overall I think Biggest Loser competitions are completely unhealthy and unhelpful.
I think your comment was completely unhelpful. Like I said, I'm beyond cancelling the challenge. For a "motivation and support" category, this is ridiculous. I'm not cancelling so if you have a helpful suggestion of how to avoid promoting unhealthy strategies, that'd be great. Thanks.2 -
swagoner94 wrote: »If anything, maybe you should switch it from a challenge to just a support group. Keep the on site classes and seminars for people to learn new things and to exercise some work stress off. It makes me think of how a lot of Japanese companies have general assembly exercises where everyone just comes and does a workout for 30 minutes. It's supposed to increase work productivity too. I know some companies stateside, if you prove you workout during lunch or something you get rewarded that way (be it monetary etc). Maybe your company might consider that instead. That way it's long running instead of just how long the contest was supposed to run.
it's 3 months. I'm at the point where cancelling this or changing it is not an option. If the next comment could be even a pinch of encouraging, that'd be great.
It wasn't to discourage you. I think its great that your company is even willing to do something health conscious for its workers, however I think it would be better for yall in the long run if it wasn't just a challenge, but that it was something more. A lot of people get the idea of winning into their heads and only see the end of it being that they won. Then what? They regain the weight? They just slack off because they won now and there's nothing else to be done?
Some of the things mentioned sound neat, like that newsletter and again the exercise classes and seminars.
Either way, good luck to you all. Hope it turns out to be a great and healthy contest.1 -
queenliz99 wrote: »Not trying to be discouraging but contests really don't do anything. After the contest, have people really learned anything? I like the fact you have professionals coming to speak to your employee, this, I think, is a great idea. Teach people how to fish, so to speak.
And it's 3 months long. It take less than 3 months for a habit to be formed. This is chiefly about creating healthy habits and improving health and wellness. We're driving that point throughout. We're starting with a medical healthcare provider coming in to talk about keeping resolutions in a healthy way. We have nutritionists, we have personal trainers.0 -
Wow - all of the negativity on here - not sure I get it.
Sounds like fun, OP.
Fruits/vegetables - get a certain number of servings in a week?
Sleep is important - get a certain number of hours per night for a week?
Have a clean eating week - no processed foods? Or you could just make it "no sweets" week?0 -
Wow - all of the negativity on here - not sure I get it.
Sounds like fun, OP.
Fruits/vegetables - get a certain number of servings in a week?
Sleep is important - get a certain number of hours per night for a week?
Have a clean eating week - no processed foods? Or you could just make it "no sweets" week?
Most of us realize that this does nothing to actually help the people, and in most cases (just like the real biggest loser) the person who wins is right back to where they started within a couple months. If you want to have a REAL competition, have a competition to see who can keep their BF% loss the closest to their actual weight lost. That would be a MUCH healthier challenge. But it's not as "appealing".2 -
Wow - all of the negativity on here - not sure I get it.
Sounds like fun, OP.
Fruits/vegetables - get a certain number of servings in a week?
Sleep is important - get a certain number of hours per night for a week?
Have a clean eating week - no processed foods? Or you could just make it "no sweets" week?
I love this! Yes. Just the kind of ideas I was looking for Thank you! 0 -
Flapjack_Mollases wrote: »Wow - all of the negativity on here - not sure I get it.
Sounds like fun, OP.
Fruits/vegetables - get a certain number of servings in a week?
Sleep is important - get a certain number of hours per night for a week?
Have a clean eating week - no processed foods? Or you could just make it "no sweets" week?
Most of us realize that this does nothing to actually help the people, and in most cases (just like the real biggest loser) the person who wins is right back to where they started within a couple months. If you want to have a REAL competition, have a competition to see who can keep their BF% loss the closest to their actual weight lost. That would be a MUCH healthier challenge. But it's not as "appealing".
This isn't a reality show. Nor are my employees obese. Nor am I bootcamp trainer making them do extreme workouts to lose excessive amounts of weight. Geez. It's an OFFICE HEALTH INITIATIVE that focuses on health. Plus, it's % of your own weight lost, not just overall lbs. Ya'll... this is seriously ridiculous. I worked on this closely with a medical healthcare provider... I think they would've advised against it if they thought it was unhealthy.2 -
swagoner94 wrote: »Flapjack_Mollases wrote: »Wow - all of the negativity on here - not sure I get it.
Sounds like fun, OP.
Fruits/vegetables - get a certain number of servings in a week?
Sleep is important - get a certain number of hours per night for a week?
Have a clean eating week - no processed foods? Or you could just make it "no sweets" week?
Most of us realize that this does nothing to actually help the people, and in most cases (just like the real biggest loser) the person who wins is right back to where they started within a couple months. If you want to have a REAL competition, have a competition to see who can keep their BF% loss the closest to their actual weight lost. That would be a MUCH healthier challenge. But it's not as "appealing".
This isn't a reality show. Nor are my employees obese. Nor am I bootcamp trainer making them do extreme workouts to lose excessive amounts of weight. Geez. It's an OFFICE HEALTH INITIATIVE that focuses on health. Plus, it's % of your own weight lost, not just overall lbs. Ya'll... this is seriously ridiculous. I worked on this closely with a medical healthcare provider... I think they would've advised against it if they thought it was unhealthy.
Would they have advised against it? I went to a medical healthcare provider to talk to them about my obesity/weight problems. You know what they did. Put me on diet pills and gave me a 1200 calorie per day diet. Do you think that was sound advice?1 -
Like a poster said above. These competitions create a competitive atmosphere where people (not all, but some) use these hyper-dieting techniques to try to lose as much weight, as fast as possible, and that's not really healthy.0
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The YMCA is doing a challenge for number of workouts logged. At the end you get a free tshirt, but at the YMCA everyone is a winner
Maybe some organized runs or walks together.
Or some demonstrations on cooking healthy with free samples handed out.
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Awards (not money) for fruits & vegetable servings, OR exercise/steps.....sounds fun.
"Clean eating".....meh, you would have to provide a definition (there are so many). Sleep is great but some people are going to require less.
I read something funny where a couple high schools had a step challenge for teachers......in both cases the music directors had a huge advantage when wearing a wrist model activity tracker. They didn't cheat.....it took awhile to figure out what the issue was.2 -
It does not focus on health. It focuses on weight loss. Prizes are based on weight lost. You called it a Biggest Loser competition. Cut that out and I'd be fine with it.0
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It does not focus on health. It focuses on weight loss. Prizes are based on weight lost. You called it a Biggest Loser competition. Cut that out and I'd be fine with it.
The "Grand Prize" (3 winners) is for weight loss, but there are loads of prizes throughout the program that are not contingent on weight loss.0 -
swagoner94 wrote: »Flapjack_Mollases wrote: »Wow - all of the negativity on here - not sure I get it.
Sounds like fun, OP.
Fruits/vegetables - get a certain number of servings in a week?
Sleep is important - get a certain number of hours per night for a week?
Have a clean eating week - no processed foods? Or you could just make it "no sweets" week?
Most of us realize that this does nothing to actually help the people, and in most cases (just like the real biggest loser) the person who wins is right back to where they started within a couple months. If you want to have a REAL competition, have a competition to see who can keep their BF% loss the closest to their actual weight lost. That would be a MUCH healthier challenge. But it's not as "appealing".
This isn't a reality show. Nor are my employees obese. Nor am I bootcamp trainer making them do extreme workouts to lose excessive amounts of weight. Geez. It's an OFFICE HEALTH INITIATIVE that focuses on health. Plus, it's % of your own weight lost, not just overall lbs. Ya'll... this is seriously ridiculous. I worked on this closely with a medical healthcare provider... I think they would've advised against it if they thought it was unhealthy.
The point is - for money - for competition - a small % of people will do stupid things. That small % can google Biggest Loser "tips." It's going to center around water weight & waste elimination....not exercise. But, most people are not going to do anything stupid.
Shift the focus to health initiatives as much as possible (not weight loss). Make the $$ prizes relatively small. Give everyone a T-shirt, or "badges" for consistent behavior (steps, exercise, fruits & veggies).3 -
Do a preparticipation survey on their health habits and weight. Then do postparticipation surveys at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months to determine what parts of the program were helpful long term.3
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If your office is large enough and the atmosphere allows it maybe have an morning and afternoon walk around the building. We did this at my old job and it was great. It only took 5 minutes but it got your 250 steps an hour you should strive for, twice a day as well as gave employees a small break. Another suggestion was if you have any scheduled walks have mangers or bosses there and that way whosoever walking has an opportunity they may not have previously had to network and get to know leadership in your office. Personally this sounds like something fun that I would love to do. Have fun and good luck!12
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You could buy all the participants fitness trackers and use steps taken as motivation to move more.3
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Also don't know if at all possible but a bunch of us had fitbits so if any of your signed up participants do as well they can have a work week challenge between them. We loved doing this and I can distinctly remember our front desk person standing at her desk walking in place trying to increase her steps and it was just a lot of fun.0
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We have just finished Season 5 at work of a similar Weight Loss Challenge. There really wasn't any financial incentives and it was only a motivational tool. Out of 9 people one person lost a significant amount of weight in the course of the year and the other 8 yo-yo'd back and forth to their start weight. The most successful challenge was the Steptember 70,000 steps a week and our challenge was a minimum 10,000 per day (ie couldnt bank them up) this was done for charity and people were more motivated to achieve this than any of the other challenges for themselves. Good luck and I hope you have a lot of fun with this challenge.4
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Never done a weight loss challenge at my office, but I have spearheaded a couple of challenges...one was a step challenge and the other was this kind of fun thing where we picked a destination on the U.S map and participants could use any combination of walking, running, or cycling to reach the mileage necessary to reach that destination...we all had different colored pins to roughly mark on the map where we were.
We also now have a policy that allows for 30 minutes of administrative leave four days per week to exercise...all someone has to do is fill out the contract and have their supervisor sign off and submit it to HR. A lot of people have been taking advantage of that and I now see many more of my colleagues out doing something...many of them combine it with the lunch break to get additional time in.3 -
I think this is a great idea! Do not listen to the negativity. Adults should be held accountable for their own actions. Blaming the competition for a person's own bad decisions is ridiculous. A little friendly competition is a good thing and I do not think it promotes unhealthy weight loss.
Not all healthcare providers are complete nuts. My oldest brother is a physician and my youngest is a nurse practitioner. Both have advised me NOT to take diet pills in order to lose weight. It's great that you've worked with one to insure the challenges promote healthy living.
I also think the survey before, during, and after is an awesome idea. I do the same thing with my students. It's a great way for an individual to hold him/herself responsible.3 -
I did one of these that wasn't company wide, just in my department. It kicked off my weight loss in 2015 and I won, losing 10% in 3 months. I've kept up with it since and I've lost over 100lbs. For me, that simple game was greatly motivating and has completely changed my life.3
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We don't really have many of these challenges here in the UK, although I would love to partake in one (I'm a little bit competitive). How about:
- Weekly measurements of key areas and something silly like having horses on a track (like a chart on the wall) and they move forward by every inch lost. Winner is the one in front at the end of the 3 months. Other staff members can take bets and the prize money is split between the winner and the winning bets;
- A step based pass the baton style race - split the competitors into teams and then each week one of the team gets a step counter - they have that week to get as many steps as possible before they pass it onto their team mates. Most steps achieved by a team wins;
That is all I've got but hope it goes well for you!1
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