Twenty-year-old William White of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was awarded $5,000 on Jan. 31 for his weight loss efforts in the Homeland Grocery Stores‘ second annual Get Healthy Challenge.
White lost a total of 83 pounds throughout the 14-week challenge. Collectively, 12 contestants finished the program and lost 363 pounds and 264 inches. The contestants also lowered their total cholesterol by 144 points and increased their HDL (good cholesterol) by 66 points.
The Homeland Get Healthy Challenge is a comprehensive, long-term commitment to provide customers with the education and resources they need to make sustainable, healthy decisions for themselves and their families.
The 2014 contest united community members as they worked together to reach their health goals during the challenge, which was sponsored by Kellogg’s Special K, the Ambassador Hotel in Oklahoma City, Roughhouse Boxing and Fitness and Title Boxing Club.
The challenge began last Oct. 25 with a two-day wellness camp during which the contestants received personalized instruction on cooking, meal planning, fitness and other behaviors needed to begin a healthy lifestyle. During Wellness Camp, contestants also received a baseline health screening and education on key biometric numbers so they could track their improvement.
The 12 contestants met with Alyson Fendrick, corporate dietitian for Homeland’s parent company HAC, at their local stores to apply their nutritional know-how and purchased healthy foods to restock their pantry as part of the “Alyson Approved” program.
The participants also took part in weekly group workouts at Title Boxing Club in Edmond, Oklahoma, and ultimately finished the challenge at Roughhouse Boxing and Fitness.
After just two weeks of the challenge, the participants had lost a total of 123 pounds and were well on their way to the 363-pound total loss.
“We could not be more pleased with this year’s results,” Fendrick said. “Our contestants completely surpassed the health goals we set for them and they continue to exceed our expectations. We are confident they will continue on their healthy journey and be ambassadors for the community.”
Winner William White is well on his way to doing just that by inspiring his mom to lose more than 50 pounds during the 14 weeks.
“My family, they’ve been working out more. My mom was with me every step of the way. We would work out together and it was really cool to have that support system,” William said during his acceptance speech.
Homeland will begin its third annual Get Healthy Challenge later this year and plans to continue and expand that support for the greater Oklahoma community throughout 2015.
