The beginning of a new year is always a time to reach for new goals and one of the most popular is living healthier and losing weight. Bryan W. Whitfield Memorial Hospital’s Wellness Center is working to help people meet and exceed that goal through the 11 the annual Scale Back Alabama program.
Scale Back Alabama (SBA) is a free statewide weight-loss program designed to encourage Alabamians to get healthy and to have fun while doing it. Since the first competition in 2007, Alabamians have lost more than one million pounds. The program is designed to address the state’s challenge with obesity.
The program officially kicked off on Monday, but weigh-ins for participants begin Wednesday, Jan. 11 and continue through Jan. 18. The Wellness Center is serving as an official weigh-in site for the program. In addition, participants may join the Wellness Center for one month at the usual fee reserved for those signing an annual agreement.
For those who meet the goal of dropping 10 pounds by the final weigh-in in March will be eligible for cash prize drawings.
The program involves a team of two committing to lose the weight. If both meet the goal they are each entered into the statewide drawing. The first three teams drawn will win $1,000 for each member, the second three teams will win $500, and the final three teams drawn will win $250. There will also be 40 $100 cash prizes for individuals who meet the goal. The prize drawings will be available for live viewing via webcast.
The “weigh-out” dates for the program will be held March 15-22 at the Wellness Center.
“We will encourage those participating to come in each week and weigh-in our scales — the same one they used at the initial weigh-in — to keep track of their progress and the weight they are losing,” said Wellness Center Director Betsy Adams.
Adams said the Wellness Center had 33 teams participate in 2016, an increase from the previous year.
Last year, 10,826 teams of two participated statewide. More than 1,000 of those teams had each team member lose 10 pounds, and there was a total of 76,485 pounds lost.
The program is free, and two-member teams can also register to participate at scalebackalabama.com. Participants must be 18 years of age, live in Alabama or work in Alabama, and must weigh in during the week of January 11–18 at an official weigh-in site.
Participants may weigh-in and weigh-out at the Wellness Center during their operating hours of Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The center is closed on Sunday.
Scale Back Alabama is sponsored by the Alabama Hospital Association, Alabama Public Health, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama.
For more details about the program and contest, visit scalebackalabama.com.

(This article originally appeared in the Wednesday, Jan. 11, print edition of the Demopolis Times.)