I fell in love with this story. A tiny town in Oregon has started their own “Biggest Loser” campaign. Every Tuesday a lime cardboard sheet goes up in the only grocery store in the town with the name of the town’s biggest loser of the week. 20% of the town’s population is involved and together they have lost more than 600 lbs.
There are weekly weigh-ins followed by a group meeting in a small conference room. Everyone cheers for the biggest loser of the week. The weekly winner gets a trophy of a pound of fat to take home(!). Local business assist by offering gift certificates as prizes. After the meeting, the biggest loser group heads over to the school gym, which is the only place to work out without having to drive for hours.
Seven day a week dieters walk, meditate, and perform resistance training and aerobics. The only pieces of equipment are the floor mats from the school and bargain resistance bands they have found on the internet for $5. Before they got the resistance bands, they used water bottles filled with sand. When they climb stairs they have to climb actual stairs, the old fashioned way.
There is only one grocery story in town, which makes it very hard to cheat. Store co-owner Betty McNeil says some cash-register conversations go like this: “Two hundred thirty calories in that cupcake. Do you know what you’re doing? Do you really want that?” she says, laughing.
Then she notes that townspeople have to leave town to cheat. “It’s 20 miles to the next Twinkie,” she adds, laughing again
“The Merc,” as the locals call it, also aims for positive reinforcement with more fruit, vegetables and yogurt in its coolers. Demand for the good stuff has skyrocketed. And of course there are the signs in the storefront window charting the town’s thinning waistlines.
Around the corner, the Shamrock Bar and Restaurant weighs in with a daily “biggest loser” special.
The participants have had miraculous results. Blood pressure is down, in at least one case knee surgery no longer required. It has also brought the town together in a positive, healthy way. The weight-loss contest wraps up at the end of the month. The winner gets the pound of fat and $600 (unlike $250,000 grand prize from the Biggest Loser TV show). After the weight-loss contest ends plans are in place to keep the momentum going. Participants vow they will not give up and they set a goal of an upcoming half-marathon.
Betty McNeil thinks the poor economy helps keep the weight off. “It’s given us something else to think about,” McNeil asserts. “We’ve had so little control over what’s happened to our retirement. What can you control? Well, your diet. And your weight loss. And your physical activity. You can control that.”
We can learn a lot from this town, like….
-It’s easier to lose weight if you’re doing it with buddies. So seek out good friends with similar goals and give each other support and encouragement.
-It doesn’t take a chance at winning a quarter-million dollars to get motivated. Treat yourself with small rewards that have no calories, like new shoes.
-It doesn’t take fancy gyms or expensive equipment to get you moving. No matter where you live or how bad the economy gets, you can ALWAYS find ways to get physical!
