Employee Weight Loss Challenge- Get Your Employees Motivated!

Did you know that about 66% of people in the USA are overweight or obese, which increases their risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer and other illnesses. Health experts consider a person obese if he or she is 30 or more pounds over a healthy weight; overweight is 1 to 29 pounds over that standard. Obesity has been linked to higher medical bills, greater absenteeism, reduced productivity, increased worker-compensation costs and higher disability expenses.

Billions of dollars are lost to employee absenteeism and low productivity. It has been calculated that the price of obesity at a company with 1,000 employees is about $285,000 a year in increased medical costs and absenteeism.

The corporate world is fast discovering the positive benefits of creating a fitness program for employees. A successful fitness program has several benefits to the employee as well as the employer and reaches far beyond simple weight loss. Employees will have a better concentration, feel better about their performance, have more energy, improved health and a significant reduction in stress. Employers will see an increase in productivity, a decreased in staff turn over and an increase in morale and teamwork.

The first step is to get the employees involved with the program. Sometimes it is hard to get employees to participate in a weight loss program. A good way to present the program is as an employee weight loss challenge. A challenge gives the sense of competition. A lot of times employees are more motivated to participate if there is a competition and incentive.

Before you start putting together an employee weight loss challenge take into consideration the age and the fitness levels of your staff. Make sure that your program is accessible to all employees. Begin by building a fitness team of motivated and interested employees. The fitness team should be responsible for coordinating group activities. Assign a fitness leader to the group to help with coordination.

• Outline the employee weight loss challenge so that all employees understand the importance of the challenge and why the company is promoting and encouraging the employees to participate.
• Promote the importance of physical fitness among the employees. Put together fitness seminars once a week. Choose a topic that relates to fitness and healthy living and either bring an expert in to discuss or have the one employee choose a topic and report to the group.
• Create a challenge calendar where employees can read about upcoming activities. Also put together a Weekly Participant Summary Form where the employees can document changes and simplify tracking and reporting. Each employee should be expected to complete the Weekly Participant Summary Form and return it to the Program Leader on a weekly basis.
• Put together at least three fitness activities per week (20-30 minutes of group walking during lunch, yoga classes in the office, team competitions)
• Put together a rewards program, where the top 5 or 10 most successful participates receive - reimbursement for a gym membership or other financial incentives. You can set up a rewards system that is based on points that each participant accumulates throughout the program. Here are some examples of how points may be received:

1. Record keeping - Participants will receive 5 points for each day that food/exercise records kept.
2. Exercise - Participants will receive 1 point for every 15 minutes of exercise performed.
3. Food choices - Participants will receive 1 point for everyday that 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables have been eaten.
4. Weight Loss - Participants will receive 1 points for every one-half pound lost.
5. Attending weekly educational presentations - Participants will receive 10 points per presentation attended.

Keep the employee weight loss challenge fresh and new to keep the employees motivated. You will see employees will have a better concentration, feel better about their performance, have more energy, improved health and a significant reduction in stress. Employers will see an increase in productivity, a decreased in staff turn over and an increase in morale and teamwork. All of this leads to a more productive workplace.

Understanding weight loss and fitness is a process. Do you make the same mistakes over and over again and watch your fitness plans fail? Find out now how to get the knowledge you need to stay motivated and succeed with your weight loss goals.

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