The Questar III Wellness Committee 2013 “Lose to Win” Weight Loss Challenge is underway and is open to all employees of Questar III. The program is completely voluntary and runs for two five-week sessions.
To encourage friendly competition, teams are formed at any of the Questar III buildings. Employees working in district-based locations can form a team with other district-based employees or join one of the building teams.
Currently, there are eight teams competing from a variety of Questar III locations with a total of 100 participants.
“It is really encouraging to see the number of employees who are getting involved and want to be part of the Challenge,” said Sally Lauletta, Wellness Committee Co-Chairperson.
The teams’ goal for the first five weeks is a 2-percent team total weight loss.
“Each team has their own strategies to keep motivated. Many of the teams have chosen to use pedometers to encourage walking” said Lauletta. Each week, members attend weigh-in sessions and the team captain sends the team results to the Wellness Committee where a report is created and is sent back to the captains. Individual weights are not reported. “The teams like to know how they rank against the other teams. It’s all friendly competition,” continued Lauletta.
To determine weight loss, the team’s percentage of weight loss is calculated as follows:
- Beginning team weight – ending team weight = total team weight loss
- Team weight loss ÷ beginning weight × 100 = percentage weight lost (rounded to the nearest 100th)
- If a team member drops out of the program, the initial team weight will be reduced by the average weight per team member to create a revised beginning team weight.
During the challenge, there are educational seminars and interactive workshops on wellness being offered at various Questar III locations. Some teams are meeting together for lunch where members take turns bringing in healthy lunches for the group to share. “The food is always delicious and nutritious. Team members also share tips on cooking, exercising, and staying motivated,” said Lauletta.
In addition, Field Goods, which is a local fresh food delivery service from small area farms, is available to all Questar III employees weekly and is delivered to the Main office, Columbia-Greene Educational Center, and the Rensselaer Educational Center. Field Goods in an opt-in service that all employees can subscribe to (not only Win to Lose Challenge members) in order to have fresh produce and cheese delivered to their workplace for a weekly fee. For more information about Field Goods, visit http://www.field-goods.com/.
The names of all members of teams who have achieved a 2-percent weight loss are eligible for prize drawings at the end of each session.
The Wellness Committee would like to thank the following groups/businesses for their donation of prizes: BlueShield of Northeast NY (cloth grocery bag for each participant), Field Goods Inc. (bag of Field Goods produce), Questar III GASB 45 (salad containers), and Yoga for All Seasons ($100 Gift certificate for yoga classes).
At the end of the year, BlueShield will donate a mountain bike to be raffled off. Anyone who has participated in the “Lose to Win” Challenge during the course of this year will be eligible to be in the drawing.
The second session began March 4 and will run through April 12.
For more information on Wellness activities and events, click here.
