By MARTHA McCLAIN
Special to the PRESS
January 1, 2015
Laguna Vista residents are invited to take “The Challenge” to eat well, lose weight and live healthy…and possibly win cash money in the process.
The Town, in partnership with the City of Brownsville, is launching the Lose Weight Challenge for its residents. Sponsored in conjunction with the University of Texas School of Public Health and the University of Texas at San Antonio Health Science Center, the Challenge is offered completely free of charge. Participants must be 18 years of age or older. Registration for the three-month Challenge is scheduled on Saturday, Jan. 10 at 1 p.m. at Roloff Park in Laguna Vista.
Participants for the three-month program may register in small groups of two to 10 people or large groups of 11 to 26 people. The large group winners are eligible to win $1,200 for first place and $200 for second place. Small group prizes are $600 for first place and $100 for second place.
Also, individual prizes will be awarded to the first and second place female at $200 and $50 respectively, and the individual male prizes are $200 for first place and $50 for second place.
Challenge winners will be determined by the percentage of weight loss, rather than by the actual amount of pounds lost. Those who finish the Challenge will receive a $5 gift card for a 5 percent weight loss; $10 gift card for a 15 percent weight loss and $40 for a 20 percent weight loss.
Early registrants will receive a free T-shirt and water bottle.
The effort is part of the “Tu Salud Si Cuenta” program designed to educate the community about the importance of their heath, and to share information about the problems associated with being overweight and diabetes.
The program seeks to help identify the health risks the South Texas community and in designing creative solutions for this area’s unique population.
Research has found that 80 percent of South Texas residents were overweight or obese and one-third were diabetic—half of those people didn’t even know they had diabetes. One of the first things the research team did in response was launch “Tu Salud Si Cuenta,” a Spanish-language program on local TV and radio stations.
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