How to start an office weight-loss challenge

When you are on a weight-loss mission, dodging the office cupcake crew can become a challenge. So why not rope your colleagues into your weight-loss challenge as well?

It will create healthy competition and camaraderie, while everyone benefits from getting healthy. Here are some tips to starting the work-space weight-loss challenge:

Put a plan in place

Start off with assigning a really organised person with the task of collecting data, while being discreet and honest. Ideally an office wellness coordinator would be the first choice, but you can also give this task to the health conscious, gym goer in your office. Chances are they already know what measurements to take, how to do it and where to store this information.

Let's move on to the finer details of the challenge:

• Establish a start and end date for the challenge. Popular choices are eight- to 12-week challenges, that give everyone more than enough time to participate. These challenges are also short enough to keep people engaged and focused on the end goal.
• Set a specific day during the week when participants check in with their measurements.
• Bonus point: Get management on board to sponsor a few prizes for those who lose the most weight and you’ll definitely have a good response from your co-workers.

Create ground rules

Before starting the challenge, establish a few ground rules and criteria that you will use for the challenge.

Remember, heavier people can lose weight quicker, so rather determine the percentage of total weight loss rather than kilograms lost to make sure everything stays fair.

Also, make sure that there are bans in place against participants using unhealthy methods to lose weight, like diet pills. Encourage people to choose healthy diet and exercise plans. You could even invite colleagues to train with you.

Creating a weight-loss challenge will help raise health awareness and you might start an annual trend in the office.

1. Prev:Finally! Delicious, family-friendly fat burning recipes youll ALL love
2. Next:See Your Abs - Abdominal transformation system