Employers encouraged to submit team registration packets
Sherman, August 1, 2008: Workforce Solutions Texoma and KTEN Television announced today that they will be joining forces to produce “The Biggest Loser: Texoma.” The contest has been designed to pit teams representing local employers against one another in a 14-week fitness challenge. The contest is open to all employers in Cooke, Grayson and Fannin counties in Texas and Marshall and Bryan counties in Oklahoma. Contestants will each receive a The Biggest Loser: Texoma contestant t-shirt, wellness screenings, a six-month gym membership, nutritional counseling, and fitness equipment to help them in their wellness efforts. The team with the highest number of points, based on percent of weight lost and other points earned through fitness challenges, at the end of the challenge will be declared the winning team. Teams will be competing for an exciting fitness prize package.
The Biggest Loser was NBC's surprise hit of the Fall 2004 television season, drawing a passionate audience and prompting people nationwide to start their own Biggest Loser competitions. This unscripted weight-loss drama is based on overweight contestants competing to lose weight and win a quarter of a million dollars with the help of a team of doctors, dietitians, and trainers Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels. Heading into its seventh season, The Biggest Loser continues to rank as one of the most popular reality shows on television today.
The popularity of this show grows each season, as the obesity epidemic in the United States continues to escalate. It is well known that overweight and obesity are considered to be the leading cause of some of the most common and costly medical problems in America today, including such chronic diseases as coronary heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. In addition, obesity has been identified as the number one factor in increased employee health costs and loss of worker productivity. A recent Duke University Medical Center analysis found that obese workers filed twice the number of workers' compensation claims, had seven times higher medical costs from those claims and lost 13 times more days of work from work injury or work illness than did non-obese workers.
A recent poll of local employers showed that simply telling employees about the long term health results of overweight and obesity, smoking, and lack of physical activity does not create any noticeable change in their attitudes and behaviors. To help combat the rising health care costs and lost productivity local employers are experiencing, Workforce Solutions Texoma and KTEN Television have joined together with Southern Oklahoma Workforce Board, Ruiz Foods, CIGNA HealthCare, Texoma Health Foundation, Choctaw Wellness Center, Nautilus Sports & Fitness Centers, #1 Fitness, and North Texas Fitness Centers to bring The Biggest Loser: Texoma to the workplace.
“By participating in The Biggest Loser: Texoma, employers will be able to add excitement and fun (and a little bit of positive peer pressure) to the process, improving chances for success,” says Teresa Foster, Chief Financial Officer of Workforce Solutions Texoma, coordinator of the initiative.
More information and registration packets may be requested by contacting Teresa Foster, Workforce Solutions Texoma, at 903-957-7408 or by e-mailing teresa.foster@twc.state.tx.us. Registration packets must be received no later than August 22 to be considered for the contest.