Battle against obesity moves into workplace

August 30, 2010
by LINDA SHRIEVES
The Orlando Sentinel

 

At a small Sanford, Fla., company, everyone’s talking about weight.

Walk in wearing a new dress, as Paulette Howard did one day recently, and everyone oohs and aahs — and wants to know what size it is. Every week, they want to know how much their colleagues have gained and lost.

The weighty discussions started at the beginning of the year, when the company launched its own version of “The Biggest Loser” contest, and 25 of the 71 employees signed up. They formed teams and held weekly weigh-ins followed by salad-bar lunches. At the end of their first 12-week contest, the group had lost 400 pounds collectively, and the winners walked away with cash prizes of $150.

 

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