In the face of the typical year-end onslaught of high-fat foods and rich holiday meals, some Penn employees left family gatherings lacking something - extra weight.
The "Maintain, Don't Gain" program, run by the Health Promotion and Wellness division of Human Resources' Quality of Worklife Department , challenged participants to keep their weight after New Year's within two to three pounds of their starting weight as measured on the day before Thanksgiving.
135 participants enrolled, and unlike the individual-focused program in prior years, this year 101 participants formed themselves into 20 teams.
Suzanne Smith, Human Resources' Health Promotion and Wellness project administrator, described the program as a success, with 93 percent of participants maintaining or losing weight. This marks an improvement, in contrast to 75 percent and 90 percent of participants maintaining or losing weight in the program's first and second years, respectively.
Terri Ryan, Human Resources communications manager, said the "team competition helped motivate" participants.
Smith agreed, saying, "People liked having someone they are accountable to."
Anthony Fabricatore, Psychiatry professor at the School of Medicine's Center for Weight and Eating Disorders, said working in a team can lead to a better outcome.
Larry Bell, director of Business Services, said the program was particularly helpful to him as a diabetic.
"I watch myself anyway, but [the teamwork] gave me extra incentive," he said.
Fabricatore also attributed the program's success to its structure. "We do know from research that the more structure you put in a weight-control program, the greater the adherence and the greater the success," he said.
In addition, Smith also sent weekly e-mails with recipes and tips to assist participants.
As an added incentive, participants whose final weight fell within the target range were entered into a raffle to win an Apple iPod nano or a Creative Labs pocket video camcorder.
Although Smith said the program was "not a weight-loss competition," the "Heavy Hitters" lost thirty pounds, more than any other team.
Heavy Hitters member and the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business' program coordinator Tessa Gurney said "Maintain, Don't Gain" had "very positive results."
"It's a great program, and I'm looking forward to doing it next year. I'll see if we can beat this year's record," she said. "We motivated each other because we didn't want to let anyone down."
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