Fort HealthCare Community Weight Loss Challenge: Slimdown 2022

Fort HealthCare’s annual Slimdown Challenge begins Tuesday, November 15th, with pre-registration beginning on Tuesday November 1st. More details about the event can be found on the challenge’s website: FortHealthCare.com/Slimdown. This community challenge is free and anyone at least 18 years old can participate.

Fort HealthCare Community Health Community Programming Coordinator, Traci Wilson, states, “The goal of the Slimdown Challenge is to motivate and inspire participants in our community to take charge of their health. This challenge incorporates weekly education and motivation on a variety of topics and encourages participants to focus on what matters most to their overall health, including losing weight, lowering their blood pressure, eating better or just moving more.”

Each year’s challenge focuses on a theme, and this year’s theme is “Health for the Holidays”. More than ever, a person’s health should be in the forefront of their thoughts, and this challenge will include health education that will encourage healthier eating during the holidays, stress management and ways to keep motivated during the winter months.

In the past for this challenge, a participant would need to do an official weigh-in at a designated community location, but with the pandemic, the challenge is entirely virtual, and participants will be able to self-log their starting and ending weights, and their weekly weights. This will allow for physical distancing and for participants to be on the honor system.

Fort HealthCare designs community wellness challenges with health improvement of our area residents in mind but understands that it takes collaboration with other groups and organizations to see real results and lasting changes happen. Local businesses and their employees will have the opportunity to participate in the challenge. More information can be found at FortHealthCare.com/Slimdown.

For individuals wishing to participate on a team but may not have a company or organization to affiliate with, they can sign up as a part of a Healthy Community Coalition. Fort HealthCare supports seven coalitions – in Jefferson, Fort Atkinson, Whitewater, Johnson Creek, Cambridge, Jefferson County, and Lake Mills – that regularly work toward garnering engagement for the overall health of their respective communities. For more information about the Coalition nearest you, visit FortHealthCare.com/Community-Coalitions.

Each participant will have an account they will be able to log in to and interact with information and track activity. After registering for the challenge and updating their weight, participants will have the opportunity to receive helpful guidance and motivation through the health portal (website). Participants will also need to track their weekly tasks, which include logging their weight, reading an educational piece, and filling out a quiz/survey on that education. At the end of the six weeks, participants will log their final weight, and prizes will be selected randomly from all participants that complete the challenge.

Fort HealthCare’s Community Health & Wellness Department Coordinator, Tiffany Pernat says, “The Slimdown Challenge is a great opportunity for participants to get a jump-start on their weight loss and health journey or to focus on maintaining their weight during the holiday season. It’s been a rough few years, and it can be hard to find motivation or an opportunity to be able to give back yourself, and this challenge is a great opportunity to do this.  I always look forward to watching participants make a lasting and noticeable change during the 6 weeks of the challenge.”

Tiffany continues, “The Wellness Portal [where the challenge is housed] is an amazing and FREE tool for participants that offers food logs, meal plans, exercise trackers, strength training examples, recipes and a blog, all of which can be utilized at any time. As a participant in this challenge, you are part of a community of like-minded individuals working together to help Jefferson County improve its overall health and well-being, and work toward a goal to become the healthiest community in Wisconsin.”

Fort HealthCare is committed to improving the health and well-being of our communities, with a vision to be the healthiest community in Wisconsin. As the leading healthcare provider in the region, it is our goal to reach as many members of the community as possible with health and wellness messages, providing tools and resources to help individuals improve their health and quality of life, while collaborating with several partners to positively improve the population’s health overall on a long-term basis.