Still Time To Join Scale Back Alabama

The News:

Alabama is the second heaviest state in the U.S. We also rank fifth for death rates caused by heart disease, seventh for stroke, and 10th for diabetes – all obesity-related diseases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 67% of the people who live here are overweight or obese.

How we will help each other get healthier:

Scale Back Alabama is an annual effort to help Alabamians eat better and exercise more. The goal is to lose one pound a week for 10 weeks - but no one has to do it alone. To get involved, you simply need a team of four and the desire to become healthier. We’ll all weigh in the third week of January and weigh out the second week in March. For the eight weeks in between, we’ll learn valuable lessons like simple ways to make better food choices, how to ease into exercising, and how to squeeze walking into a busy workday. We’ll also be there to encourage and support each other to become healthier Alabamians.

Not only will we have each other, but in 2009 we’ll a have a leader who knows how hard it is to make major lifestyle changes. Roger Shultz, a finalist on the last season of “The Biggest Loser” will be our coach and our biggest cheerleader. Roger was not only the runner up, he broke the record during the 2008 season for losing 164 pounds - the most weight lost in the show’s history.

About Scale Back Alabama:

Scale Back Alabama is a statewide campaign held the first of each year to encourage Alabamians to get healthier by losing weight and exercising. It is a joint project of the Alabama Hospital Association and the Alabama Department of Public Health, with generous underwriting from Barber’s Dairies and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama.