BALTIMORE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Office of Benefits, Leaves and Retirement, Employee Wellness
443-809-9371
Healthiest Loser Participant Packet
Weight and Weight Loss
Weight loss is a trillion-dollar-a-year industry. Americans are obsessed with their weight, so it seems
ironic that, as a nation, we get heavier every year. Obesity is defined as a Body Mass Index (BMI) over
30 or an overall weight which is 20 percent or more over your ideal weight. For example, if your ideal
weight is 140 pounds and you weigh 168, you are considered clinically obese. If your ideal weight is 190
and you weigh 228 you are obese. In the latest national survey, 33.3 percent of men and 35.3 percent of
women were considered obese.
The key to losing weight and keeping it off isn’t about going on a diet. It is about making permanent
lifestyle changes that include healthy eating, regular physical activity, and balancing the number of
calories consumed with the number of calories used. There is no secret or trick to achieving and
maintaining weight loss. Unused calories are stored as body fat, so to lose weight you must eat fewer or
use more calories.
It sounds simple, but it’s not. We are talking about breaking bad habits that have been developed over a
lifetime. Weight loss can’t be looked at as something you do until you’ve reached your goal. In order to
achieve success, weight loss behaviors must be maintained and permanent. If you think of a “diet” as
something you go on and off, the weight will return. It must be a lifestyle change.
For the Health of it
There are many advantages to maintaining a healthy weight. In addition to feeling better and having
increased energy, maintaining a healthy weight reduces your chances of greater health concerns such as:
 Coronary heart disease
 Type 2 diabetes
 Cancers
 Hypertension
 Stroke
 Liver and gallbladder disease
 Sleep apnea and respiratory problems
The Healthiest Loser
Losing weight is not easy, and it takes commitment. But if you’re ready to get started, we’ve got a stepby-step guide to help get you on the road to weight loss and better health.
Based on recommendations from the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the Employee Wellness program
has put together a weight loss program to help you in your efforts to lose weight and keep it off. We have
broken successful weight loss down into four basic categories.
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Journaling
Calorie Reduction
Healthy Eating
Physical Activity
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Program Overview and Rules
This eight-week program is designed to educate on the steps that are needed to make behavior
changes that will result in permanent weight loss. Additionally, the program is intended to
motivate with incentives of weight loss, improved health, friendly competition, and financial reward.
The long-term goal is behavior changes that will last a lifetime.
Most health organizations recommend losing one to two pounds per week for healthy weight loss. This
program will also define healthy weight loss as one to two pounds per week. Therefore, the maximum
weight loss goal for this eight-week program will be 16 pounds. Many participants will require more than
eight weeks to reach their personal weight loss goal. While we are encouraging healthy weight loss, we
realize that some people may lose more than two pounds in a given week. There is no penalty for losing
more than the recommended maximum of two pounds a week. To determine your ideal weight and a
weight loss goal, we suggest starting with your BMI. For help calculating your BMI go to
http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/index.html.
Each participant will pay a $20 registration fee to enter the program. The accumulated registration
fees will be the final prize money. If ten people participate, the final prize will be $200.
Each participant must select an alias. Starting weight and weekly weight loss will be posted so this
alias will maintain confidentiality. Each participant should select an alias that no one would guess.
Participants should be creative and have fun with it. While the talk in the faculty room may be that “Rock
Star” has won the weekly weigh-in four weeks in a row, no one will know “Rock Star’s” true identity.
Each participant must get a starting weight on the designated day to kick off the program. This
weight will be your official program start weight. If you are unable to weigh in on this date, you may
weigh in the day before or after. If you are out that week, you may start the program the following week.
Weigh in will be done each week by a designated weigh-in person, such as the school nurse. This person
is required to keep all information, including weight and aliases, confidential.
Each participant must weigh-in on the designated weigh-in day each week during the eight weeks.
If you are not at work and unable to weigh-in on the designated weigh-in day, you may weigh-in the day
before. If you are not at work and do not weigh-in either of these two days, you are not eligible for the
weekly prize that particular week. Weigh-in may not be done at home. If you are at work, you must
weigh in.
Each participant must pay $1 at each weekly weigh-in. If you are unable to weigh in on a given week,
you do not pay that week’s $1. The weigh-in fee is required at the time of weigh in. The participant(s)
losing the healthiest weight each week will win that week’s collection. Healthiest weekly weight loss is
defined as two pounds; therefore, anyone losing two pounds (if you lose more, the first two pounds lost
count and you are included) will win money. For example, if two people lose two pounds, and one
person loses three pounds, these three people will split that week’s prize money. If no one loses two
pounds or more, the winner will be the person losing the most that week. If no one loses weight, all
money will be carried over to the following week and will be added to that week’s prize money.
At the end of the eight weeks, all participants losing 16 pounds or more will split the prize money
(original pot of registration fees collected). If no one loses 16 pounds, the winner will be the participant
that loses the most weight. For example, if two people lose 16 pounds, and one person loses 20 pounds,
these three people will split the final prize money. If no one loses 16 pounds, but one person loses 15,
that person is the winner!
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Healthy Weight Loss Step 1: Journaling
Before you begin any behavior change, it is a good idea to start a journal and record your current habits.
Journaling for weight loss purposes means you simply write down everything that goes into your mouth.
This includes all beverages and snacks. Also, it can be very helpful to note the time of day, your physical
location, and your mood while you’re eating or drinking. All of these specifics will help you evaluate
your current eating habits and triggers, and to see what changes need to be made.
Study after study has shown that journaling is a very important aspect in successful weight loss and for
many people is the secret to success. The benefits are most pronounced in the beginning of a weight loss
program. Starting a program with journaling provides you with the needed information in order to make
the changes necessary for permanent weight loss.
Benefits of Journaling:
1. Promotes conscious eating. Writing everything down and being consistent about it, will help you
make more conscious decisions about what you are eating and where you are getting your
calories. At the end of the day, you will be able to see exactly what you ate and drank and where
you can make improvements.
2. Identifies triggers to unhealthy eating. For example, after reviewing your journal you may learn
that you tend to snack while you’re cooking because you are hungry. Once you recognize this as
a problem, you can be more aware and bring out a bag of raw carrots while preparing your meal
or have a healthy snack before you start meal preparations.
3. Identifies the correlation between your eating habits and emotions. This information allows you
to implement a plan of action to better prepare for future events. If you tend to eat under stress,
you can recognize this and substitute other behaviors for eating, such as walking or talking to a
friend.
Journaling doesn't have to be all consuming or take a lot of time; it just needs to be a conscious effort to
accurately record your food, beverages, and special notes. The initial commitment of journaling should
be a minimum of two to three weeks. It will take at least that long to see the patterns emerge and to gain
a true picture of your habits. This doesn’t mean you can’t begin to make changes immediately. Some
people will find it helpful or necessary to continue their journaling for months or years.
Free online journaling and calorie calculations can be found at www.fitday.com.
Sample Journal:
Food/beverage
Orange juice
Oatmeal
Banana
Coke
Pizza (and water)
Pretzels
M&Ms
Dinner (turkey, green
beans, mashed potatoes)
Sweet tea
Ice cream
Pretzels
Total:
Calories
110
180
70
150
500
110
240
730
Special notes (time of day, location, mood…)
7 a.m. home in kitchen
7 a.m. home in kitchen
9:30 a.m. remembered to pack a healthy snack
11 a.m. (sleepy)
12:30 p.m. (out to lunch with co-workers – 2 slices)
1:30 p.m. (needed something to crunch on)
4 p.m. (needed something sweet – vending machine)
6 p.m. (a healthy dinner for me) ate with the family
100
110
110
2410 calories
6 p.m. stopped at drive through while waiting for kids
7 p.m. bored
9 p.m. (munchies) watching TV
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Healthy Weight Loss Step 2: Calorie Reduction
To lose weight, you must use more calories than you take in. Since one pound equals 3,500 calories, you
need to reduce your caloric intake or increase your activity by 500—1,000 calories per day to lose one to
two pounds per week. It is a balancing act to determine how much you need to exercise and how many
calories you can eat in order to lose weight. Tracking your calorie consumption can be difficult–
journaling helps.
Portion Control:
We have become a supersized nation. Just because a restaurant puts a half a pound of meat on your plate,
doesn’t mean you have to eat the oversized portion in one sitting. Ask for a carry out container before
you even start eating. Wrap up any food that exceeds a healthy portion. Resist the temptation to overeat.
Pay attention to serving sizes. Eat one true serving of cereal or chips, not simply what fills a bowl.
Measure the size of your plates, bowls, and glasses so you can better estimate true serving sizes. For
example, a true serving size for most cereals ranges from ¾ to one cup. If you are mindlessly filling your
bowl, you are most likely eating several servings at one meal. When eating chips or crackers, count the
number listed as a serving size.
Read Labels and Compare:
Get into the habit of reading labels and comparing. How many calories does one serving of brand A have
compared to brand B? Here are some smart comparisons:

Stonyfield Farm low fat plain yogurt is 90 calories
Stonyfield Farm whole milk French vanilla yogurt is 170 calories
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Snackwell’s Devil’s Food Fat Free Cookie Cakes (2 cookies) are 100 calories
Oreo Chocolate Crème Cakesters (2 cakes) are 250 calories
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½ cup of Haagen-Dazs low fat chocolate sorbet is 130 calories
½ cup of Haagen-Dazs vanilla fudge ice cream is 290 calories
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Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowl is 489 calories
Chipotle Chicken Burrito is 1092 calories
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Papa John’s 2 slices thin crust cheese pizza (14”) are 480 calories
Papa John’s 2 slices original crust The Meats Pizza (14”) are 700 calories
Drink Water:
Liquid calories often put a dent in people’s daily calorie quota. Consumption of 10 ounces of orange
juice (150 calories), 16 ounces Caffe Latte with 2% milk (190 calories), 16 ounces sweetened ice tea (115
calories), and 12 ounces soda (150 calories) results in over 450 calories a day from beverages. Reduce
your liquid calories:
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Drink water. Plain old water should be the beverage of choice during most meals. Additionally,
keep a bottle of water with you to quench your thirst and fill your stomach throughout the day.
Go basic with coffee. Coffee drinkers should forgo the sugar sweetened, high calorie, flavor
syrups and skip the whipped topping.
Add zest to water. Make water more exciting by adding a slice of lemon or a splash of 100%
juice.
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Healthy Weight Loss Step 3: Healthy Eating
Healthy eating is about eating nutrient-dense foods–foods that provide a great number of nutrients per
calorie content. The more nutrient dense foods you eat, the more likely you are to meet your nutrient
needs without exceeding your calorie requirements. For example, choose fat-free (skim) milk instead of
whole milk, or unsweetened applesauce instead of sweetened applesauce. Also, consider how the food
was prepared. For example, choose skinless baked chicken instead of fried chicken and fresh fruit instead
of a fruit pastry. You are getting the same or better nutrients for far less calories.
When making food choices, remember that in order to meet all your nutrient requirements, it is essential
to eat foods from all food groups. It is never recommended to eliminate entire food groups. A healthy
diet should include calories from proteins, fats, and carbohydrates.
Choose Natural Foods:
As a rule of thumb, eat foods that grow on plants, not foods that are manufactured in plants. For example,
an avocado may be the most fattening fruit, but it is extremely nutrient dense. It has more beta carotene
than many other fruits and 60 percent more potassium than a banana. You can add sliced avocado to a
sandwich or a salad to pump up the nutrients. Mashed avocado is great to top off many soups or
sandwiches. Remember to stick to the natural:
 1 avocado – natural, nutrient dense
 Herr’s Creamy guacamole dip – processed, made with avocado powder (no actual avocado)
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1 cup steamed whole grain rice with fresh herbs, garlic, and sautéed onions and peppers – natural,
nutrient dense, less then 250 calories
1 cup chicken flavored Rice-a-Roni – processed, 310 calories, and 1,160 mg of sodium
Superfoods:
Brightly colored fruits and vegetables are big winners in nutrient density. That's one reason why so many
fruits and vegetables qualify as “superfoods,” or foods that are rich in nutrients and other compounds that
have healthy benefits such as fiber, phytochemicals, and essential fatty acids. The superfood fruits and
vegetables include carrots, tomatoes, broccoli, kale, spinach, berries, apples, cherries, pomegranates, and
oranges.
Other nutrient-dense superfoods include salmon, tuna, trout, low-fat dairy products, oatmeal and whole
grains, soy, dry beans, and even some fortified foods. On the other hand, high calorie, nutrient-poor
foods include things that are high in sugar and fat such as refined white breads, pasta, pastries, processed
lunch meats and cheeses, ice cream, candy, soda, potato chips, and corn chips.
Choosing nutrient-dense superfoods at the grocery store is pretty easy if you stay along the edges of the
store, where the produce, fresh lean meats, low-fat dairy, and fresh bakery goods are found. These freshfoods may be more expensive than the processed foods, but you buy more nutrition for your dollar. Of
course, most shoppers choose some packaged foods for convenience, but you can still make smart choices
with those products-just read the labels. For example, most people think popcorn is a healthy snack and it
can be…if you choose wisely. White cheddar cheese flavored popcorn is 160 calories for 1 ¾ cups while
natural air popped corn in, only 60 calories for 2 cups.
Foods to Eat Everyday:
Challenge yourself to eat these eight health foods everyday: spinach, yogurt, tomatoes, carrots,
blueberries, black beans, walnuts, and oats. You’ll be healthier for it!
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Healthy Weight Loss Step 4: Physical Activity
Only a few lifestyle choices have as big of an impact on your life (longevity and quality) as physical
activity. It is reported that inactivity contributes to more than 300,000 deaths a year in our country. One
of the main factors contributing to the obesity epidemic in our country is inactivity. A program to change
unhealthy habits and incorporate healthy habits into your lifestyle must include physical activity. There is
no way around it.
Regular physical activity is one of the most important things you can do for your health. Being physically
active on a regular basis:
 Helps maintain a healthy weight.
 Reduces your risk of cardiovascular disease.
 Reduces your risk of type 2 diabetes.
 Reduces your risk of some cancers.
 Strengthens your bones and muscles.
 Improves your mental health and mood.
 Increases your chances of living longer.
We always hear about the importance of regular physical activity, but what does that mean specifically?
According to the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, adults need at least two hours and 30
minutes of moderate intensity physical activity (150) minutes every week plus muscle strengthening
activities two or more times a week.
If you are one of the millions of Americans that is currently not exercising at all, this recommendation can
seem impossible. It doesn’t have to be. Like all lifestyle changes, incorporating exercise into your life
should be started slowly. Exercise can be beneficial even if it is broken down into 10 minute increments.
As long as you are being active at a moderate intensity for those 10 minute increments, you will see a
difference.
Start Slowly
Cardiac events are rare during physical activity, if you start slowly. You are at greater risk of injury to
your heart or other muscles if you go from being inactive to doing strenuous activity that your body isn’t
used to. Start slowly and gradually increase your level of activity.
Always check with your doctor before beginning an exercise program.
Getting Started
Try going on a brisk 10 minute walk at least three times a day for at least five days a week. Keep a pair
of tennis shoes in your car. Take a walk while you’re waiting for the kids at practice or if you get to an
appointment early. Make wasted time exercise time!!! Once you have done this for a week or so, add
time and intensity to your workout. Walk longer and faster.
Measuring Intensity
The talk/sing method is a great way to measure your intensity. You should not be exercising so intensely
that you can’t catch your breath to talk. However, if you are able to sing while you are exercising, you
are not exercising vigorously enough. The more you exercise, the better your endurance will get. Before
long, you will need to walk faster and faster in order to reach the same fitness intensity.
The amount of calories you burn doing different activities depends on many factors, including your body
weight and lean to fat ratio. The following Web site gives you an approximate calculation for some
activities and how many calories you will burn: http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/physical_activity/.
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Tips for Success
Mother Nature knows best – Sticking to the natural forms of foods is always your best bet. Stay away
from foods that are manufactured. The manufacturing process tends to add fats and preservatives and, in
many cases, takes what is good out of the food.
Don’t let yourself get too hungry – When you are starving, you tend to make less healthy food choices
and eat twice as much. Bring healthy snacks to work so you don’t head for the vending machine between
meals.
Eat in the kitchen – Snacking in front of the television is very dangerous. You tend to eat significantly
more when you are watching television. Make a rule that you only eat in the kitchen.
Measure, measure, measure – If you really want some ice cream or chips, that is fine. Do not take the
bag or carton and snack from it. Measure a serving size in a bowl and put the rest away!
Eat what you love – It is very important to eat the things you love. Just because you are trying to lose
weight and adopt a healthier lifestyle doesn’t mean you can’t eat ice cream or potato chips. What it
means is you can’t eat them everyday. Remember, you are adopting lifestyle changes for a lifetime.
Don’t make changes now that you can’t maintain. You will be setting yourself up to fail. Eat what you
love. Just eat half as much, half as often!
Back to the basics – Try making as much from scratch as possible. You have total control of the amount
of fat, sugar, and salt when you make it at home. Homemade salad dressing and marinades are not only
easy and healthier, but taste better and cost less, too!
Eat before you go – When going to a party, eat something healthy before you go. Parties tend to have a
lot of unhealthy foods.
Watch the clock – A great way to limit your food intake is to have an eating cut-off time. Make a deal
with yourself that you won’t eat past 7 p.m. Most food eaten in the evening isn’t healthy anyway!
Make an appointment – Put your exercise time on your calendar in pen! Make it a priority.
The buddy system – Find a friend who will exercise with you. It helps you keep your exercise
appointment if someone else is counting on you. Plus it makes it a lot more fun.
Love notes to yourself - Hang things to motivate you on the refrigerator door to remind yourself how
important this is. Find a quote that inspires you. For example, “Nothing tastes as good as being healthy
feels!” Read this to yourself before reaching for the chips and dip. It may make you think twice.
Picture this – Hang your favorite picture of yourself somewhere that you will see it often.
Reward yourself - Come up with a nonfood reward system. Set goals for yourself and reward them. For
example, buy yourself a new outfit or get a massage for every ten pounds you lose.
Do some spring cleaning – Get rid of all the clothes that don’t fit you anymore. Don’t keep clothes that
are too big, in case you gain the weight back. Plan to succeed, not fail.
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