To address the problem of obesity and hypertension among children and adults, the municipality of Siayan, Zamboanga del Norte (LGU-Siayan) successfully launched its annual “Biggest Loser Challenge: Adult and Schoolchildren Edition last March 22, 2022. As part of the LGUs strategies to reduce the number of obese individuals in the municipality, this program was designed to encourage the target groups to lose weight, improve physical activity, and make lifestyle changes while having fun.
People who are overweight or obese are at increased risk for many serious diseases and health conditions. These include high blood pressure (hypertension), high LDL cholesterol, low HDL cholesterol, or high levels of triglycerides (dyslipidemia), type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, breathing problems, and mental illness such as clinical depression, anxiety, and other mental disorders. To minimize the problem of obesity, LGU-Siayan, in collaboration with the Department of Education (DepED), was able to come up with an initiative “The Biggest Loser Challenge: Adults and Schoolchildren Edition” to encourage obese individuals to lose weight and adopt a healthy lifestyle.
The program aims to further harness camaraderie among its constituents for a healthy and fit-centered community through the collaborative effort of the health and education sectors which will run from March-June 2022. For the schoolchildren category, all participants must be obese, 6-17 years old, and to be assisted by their parents and teachers. For the adult category, all participants must also be classified as obese. Obese participants will be grouped according to the obesity classification using the Body Mass Index (BMI).
Furthermore, to win the said challenge, all children participants must lose 8 kgs from their baseline weight. For the adults, Obese Class 1 must lose 8 kilos, Obese Class II with 10 kgs, and Obese Class III must lose 12 kilograms from their baseline weight respectively. Schoolchildren winners will receive a cash prize of Php 15, 000.00 and Php 10, 000.00 each for adult winners. Non-winners will be given a token of participation and other giveaways if they successfully lose a minimum of 3 kgs and a maximum of 7.9 kgs. from their initial weight.
The LGU-Siayan, headed by Municipal Mayor Atty. Josecor S. Gepolongca with the support and partnership from the Republic of Korea through Korea International Cooperation Agency Philippines (KOICA) and UNICEF, is taking a whole of community approach to ensure good health for every child. They are committed to continuing in scaling up nutrition interventions, especially in the first 1000 days of a child’s life. The National Nutrition Council IX likewise enjoins all LGUs to support nutrition by investing in the critical nutrition programs that yield positive nutrition outcomes. By working together, we can end all forms of malnutrition. Let us scale up critical actions in the first 1000 days of life!
-PNFP Rowence F. Zorilla, RND
