Sign ups and initial weigh ins for the 12th Annual Green Hills Wellness Challenge are next week. The sign ups for the 12-week event will be at the Ketcham Community Center and Grundy County Health Department of Trenton January 10th and 11th during regular hours.
Participants must be at least 18 years old or have signed parental consent.
Wellness Challenge Coordinator and Health Educator Abby Oberman says participants must weigh in each week at the health department Thursday or Friday or the Ketcham Community Center Thursday through Saturday to be eligible for the cash prize awarded to those who lose at least 10% of their initial body weight by the end of the challenge.
Participants are allowed to miss one weekly weigh-in with no penalty.
The prize money comes from a donation of 15 hundred dollars from the health department as well as a portion of each participant’s $10 entry fee.
Oberman says participants from last year’s Wellness Challenge can compete for a $300 maintenance prize.
The prize will be awarded to the person who has maintained the highest percentage of weight loss since the end of last year’s challenge in April.
There is no fee to weigh in for only the maintenance prize, and anyone who enters into this year’s challenge who participated last year is automatically entered for the maintenance prize.
Oberman encourages all participants in this year’s challenge to keep a food and exercise journal.
Grundy County Extension will host a class at the Grundy County Health Department called Eat Smart, Be Active as part of the challenge. There will be nine classes over the course of 11 weeks starting January 18th. The Trenton Hy-Vee will provide health tips in the newspaper. The percentage of weight lost each week will also run each week in the Republican-Times. Actual weights will be kept confidential. Participants will receive a letter with rules when they sign up.
The Grundy County Health Department, Ketcham Community Center, Hy-Vee, Extension, and Trenton Republican-Times sponsor the Green Hills Wellness Challenge.
Contact the Grundy County Health Department for more information at 359-4196 or at [email protected].
