Staff team up in a contest to become 'The Biggest Loser'
Staffers around the campus are doing their own version of a popular reality show. They're vying to become "The Biggest Loser" at UCLA, but without making their weekly weigh-ins a spectacle on national television.
On Jan. 6, people from public affairs, law, engineering, dentistry, the UCLA Library, psychiatry, nursing, earth and space sciences, and other locales on campus gathered at the School of Public Affairs to begin a 16-week competition to shed extra pounds under the motto: "Let's get healthy together for life."
The 33 participants – a few wearing T-shirts purchased from NBC's
"The Biggest Loser" show – are part of the annual crush of faculty and staff who start the new year hopping on treadmills at the gym, joining aerobics classes or signing up for weight-loss programs with new resolve to get healthier.
"It's all about our health and getting fit together for life. We're in this together," said one participant.
Each Monday, Biggest Loser Buddies, as they call themselves, will weigh in privately between 7 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. at the school's Human Resource Office, where one of the organizers, Bernetta Riley, manager of human resources, works. After calculating the percentage of weight lost, participants then wait for an e-mail announcing the biggest loser of the week and winner of $40. Each week, participants pay a $5 fee that goes into a kitty to pay out cash incentives. The person with the highest percentage of weight loss after the mid-point eighth week collects $200, while the overall winner after 16 weeks will collect $1,100. Other cash prizes are offered as well.
"It's not about the money. That's not why we are here," said Pamela Harris, academic coordinator for the school and one of the organizers. The prize will certainly help finance a new, svelte wardrobe, but "it's all about our health and getting fit together for life. We're in this together."
Participants can follow any diet or exercise program they choose. Once a month, they will meet for a brown-bag lunch to discuss their progress – or plateaus – and share exercise tips and recipes or listen to a nutritionist, fitness trainer or other experts on campus. Participants are urged to watch the TV show, the new season of which began on the same day the group met, for inspiration.
"Our dean is really excited about this program," said Riley, who greeted participants enthusiastically with a hug or a handshake. Last year, she was part of a much smaller group that ran the competition for a short time on a pilot basis. The biggest loser shed 16 pounds.
Marvin Selga, a participant from the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, is hoping to lose a few pounds before his wedding at the end of March. "I thought I'd try to look good," he said. "If you can lose some weight and win some money, why not?"
Selga used to be a triathlete, but after injuring his knee, he had to give that up. "I'll be happy if I can get back to that again," he said.
One staffer, who has lost and regained 100 pounds three times over the course of his battle with weight, decided to try again and joined. "I've been to all the classes. I know what I should eat. I know how I should exercise. But I work in a high-stress environment, and my reaction to stress is to eat."
Doing this together with others, he said, may motivate him to try it again. "It's an idea whose time has come."
