Challenge nearing its 16th year
Grand Health Challenge is gearing up for annual competition
Going into its 16th year, the Grand
Health Challenge of 2022 is going to kick off in January to help motivate people to lose weight as part of their New Year’s resolution.
Community Outreach Coordina
tor Jenni Miller, of the Grand Lake
Health System, is pretty excited for
the event itself. Run entirely by the GLHS, it was originally started with
the help of The Evening Leader and Wapakoneta Daily News in 2007 as a way to make a positive change in the public’s health.
“It’s basically a program designed for our participants to adapt to a healthier lifestyle, whether that’s eating healthier, losing weight, being ac
tive,” stated Miller. “Typically everyone walks away learning one of those few things. But the overall goal of the challenge is through weight loss.”
Miller has stated that it’s a popular program and that more than 6,000
individuals have participated, having collectively lost around 49,301 pounds. Participants can join in teams of two to seven, required to weigh in during the months of January through
May.
Children under age 18 may participate only with a parent’s or guardian’s consent. The parent or guardian will be asked to sign a consent form for
any participant younger than age 18. Children age 8-17 years must be on
the same team as their parent or legal guardian. If the child is under the age
of 8, they may be weighed at the parent’s request (no BMI will be measured), but the results do not count in the challenge.
“They attend the weigh-ins and the team that has the greatest percentage of weight lost is the winner at the end
of the challenge,” Miller explained.
There are various prizes for the first and second place teams, the first and second “biggest loser,” attendance
raffle prizes and the Garmin Watch
drawing. “In general, we usually av
erage anywhere between 300 to 500
participants per year.”
With the grand prize being $1,000,
as well as the various physical and mental health benefits for losing the
weight, Miller does encourage people
to join in on the fun. The only people that will be unable to win any monetary prizes are those that have won on a team or individually within the past three years.
Evening meetings will also be a big
part of the challenge, with one scheduled for each month to inform people about ways to keep on improving their health. These, according to Miller, aim to make sure these changes to their lifestyle become more permanent as time goes on.
“We focus on different things like exercise, meal prepping, grocery store tours and also our kick off meeting,” said Miller. The meetings are scheduled to occur on Jan. 18, Feb. 15, March 15, April 19 and May 24. Participants will meet either at the St. Marys Memorial High School Auditorium, St. Marys Kroger or the Grand Lake/Premier Health YMCA. They even have their own programs involving repeat participants. In order to make sure people stick with it and end up working towards a long term goal, GLHS will reward some of the participants that can keep the weight off.
“We have received lots of positive comments and reviews about the challenge,” Miller said, going on to explain the Master Maintainer program. This program is available for people who come in each year and end up losing weight consistently during each program. “And the person who has maintained the greatest weight loss from January of 2021 will be crowned our Master Maintainer. So there’s also additional prizes associated with that.”
The theme this year will be the Five Foundations of Health: Back to the Basics, and the event will officially kick off. Miller is excited to have their speakers lined up, with one stated to be Kimberly Owen of Just Breathe Health and Wellness. It’s suggested to register soon, with the last day to register on Jan. 5. Registration forms can be found at https://bit. ly/3pzyBbj, and anyone with questions is asked to contact Miller at 419-394-6132 or email her at jenmiller@jtdmh.org.