St. John’s co-workers lose two tons, take home cash and prizes in first Weight Loss Challenge

23 winners from 6 teams shared the $28,000 pot, which divided out to approximately $1,200 apiece.

When Sterling Coker was facing his 35th birthday in late 2004, he knew he needed to make some changes.

The director of St. John’s Clinic Business Office ate as many as three meals a day from fast food restaurants or from the vending machine in his office. A health risk assessment revealed that his cholesterol was 239 and he was about 70 pounds overweight. He often worked 12-15 hour days, leaving little time for exercise.

“I felt tired and unwell, even nauseous, on occasion. I blamed it on stress, but I knew that my lifestyle wasn’t helping,” Coker says. “On New Year’s Day of 2005, I started the process of overhauling my lifestyle and getting healthy, and I set a goal: in November of that year, I was going to run a marathon,” Coker says.

When the St. John’s Weight Loss Challenge was announced later that month, Coker had even more of an incentive. He signed up for the challenge and formed a team with co-workers in his office.
Over the course of the next nine months, he worked to improve his eating habits and started training for the Oklahoma Marathon in Tulsa.

“People like to be challenged. They like to have a reason to do something,” says Susan Blackard, R.N., vice president of St. John’s Corporate Health and Wellness.

About 1,100 St. John’s co-workers and spouses signed up for the challenge in January 2005 and were monitored throughout the year. Participants contributed $25 each and agreed to develop team weight-loss goals, which included lowering body fat percentage and total weight. The goals were then approved by a medical supervisor.

The final weigh-in took place in December 2005. The challenge resulted in a total loss of nearly 4,000 pounds – roughly the weight of a pickup truck. Winning teams must have had all participants meet their goals. Twenty-three winners from six teams shared the $28,000 pot, which divided out to approximately $1,200 apiece.

The team that walked or ran the most miles over the course of the challenge was awarded $200 each. All participants were eligible for prize drawings that included a night at Chateau on the Lake, movie passes, DVD players and more.
Coker, the “biggest loser” of the challenge with a 65-pound weight loss, was awarded a weekend at the Chateau.

“My biggest reward was being able to run the Oklahoma Marathon in November,” Coker says. “I run twice a day now.”

Fast-food-free for more than a year now, Coker keeps healthy food at the office, such as instant oatmeal and fruit for breakfast and wraps and turkey sandwiches for lunch. He can’t imagine returning to his former unhealthy lifestyle.

“As much as I miss french fries sometimes, I just couldn’t go back to the way I was before. I feel so much better now. I had my cholesterol checked recently and it’s now 157, down from 239 when I was eating fast food and vending machine snacks all the time,” he says.

St. John’s next challenge is the Risk Factor Challenge, in which St. John’s co-workers will compete to reduce risk factors such as high blood sugar, high cholesterol, smoking, blood pressure and abdominal fat. Winners will be announced in September and will again split a jackpot created from the $25 entry.

St. John’s Corporate Health and Wellness also offers the Weight Loss and Risk Factor Challenges to other area companies. Please call 417-820-2172 for more information.