Scaling Back on the Weight

Some of us remember the era of super skinny models that were chosen over their thicker counterparts. This lead to protests by women size 12 and up that they were discriminated against. Their outcries led to the fashion craze for the heftier sister, which meant modeling jobs as well as styles for them. Today, in the battle between the skinny and the curvaceous, there's more at stake than discrimination based on weight. Health, longevity, and quality of life are the key words attached to the concerns of the medical community and insurance companies for their overweight patients and clients.

America is homeland to more obese people than any other nation in the civilized world. The states with the highest rankings of obesity are Mississippi, West Virginia and Alabama. People who are overweight can cost their insurance companies a lot of money. State sponsored Medicaid agencies tend to spend a hefty amount of tax dollars on their clients who battle with obesity.

If it were just about love handles, potbellies and thighs that rub together, it would remain a personal fight between the individual and their bathroom scale. When health problems associated with obesity are added to the mix, everyone is affected.

Friends and relatives who are obese are more likely to have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and or high blood sugar. People with out of control eating habits and sedentary lifestyles are more likely to suffer from heart disease, stroke and diabetes than their slimmer counterparts. They tend to cost insurance companies more for doctor visits, prescriptions and hospital stays. This causes everyone's insurance premiums to increase. Taxpayers foot the bill for Medicaid recipients that have medical problems associated with weight.

One state - Alabama - has taken the initiative and implemented what they hope to be a solution to the obesity problem among their employees. State employees are asked to get physically fit by 2010 or face paying $750 in surcharges on their health insurance, starting in 2011. The state is insisting employees with weight problems see a doctor and enroll in a wellness program.

One such wellness program, launched by the Alabama Department of Public Health and the Alabama Health Association, is called Scale Back Alabama. In its third year, Scale Back Alabama began on January 10^th this year. Hundreds of teams of four people across the state signed up to participate in the wellness program. The team members weigh in once a week. They diet and exercise together for 10 weeks while keeping track of their achievements. There are weigh in sites throughout the state. Barber's Dairy and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama sponsor Scale Back Alabama. The goal for the 2009 Scale Back participants is to lose 500,000 pounds collectively. That's a 150% increase over last year's goal of 200,000 pounds.

Recently, I ate lunch with my friend who is participating with three other people in the Scale Back Alabama challenge. We ate at the local university cafeteria, where there weren't many entrees or sides designed for weight watchers. She'd already lost six pounds since the challenge started. I have to say the friend overcame temptation to enjoy pizza, cheeseburgers and french fries, unlike me. I never said I was Scaling Back. She ate mostly from the salad bar. She left the table without guilt and a smidgen of pride: she had not let her team down.

Cash prizes are awarded to the teams who've shed the most pounds. But the greatest rewards come from reclaiming health, raising quality of life, and even extending life.

Not to mention, looking spectacular in a pair of those skinny jeans that's been hidden in the closet for almost five years.

Some information for this article taken from "Now We Can All Get Help With That New Year's Resolution" by Rep. Locy Baker, Abbeville Herald, Jan. 8, 2009