CoxHealth Fitness Centers offers Just Lose It weight loss challenge to the community – for free

For the past three years, CoxHealth Fitness Centers has offered the Just Lose It weight loss challenge program – and participants have combined to lose more than 4,000 pounds. This year, the program is being offered to everyone in the community ages 12 and up, for free, in an effort to help improve obesity rates in adults and children in the Ozarks. 

A recent study by the CDC shows that Missouri is one of the 12 most obese states in the nation. This statewide trend holds true in the Ozarks, too, where every county in CoxHealth’s 22-county service area has an obesity rate equal to or greater than the state average of 30.3 percent.

“With programs like Just Lose It, we hope we can begin to help reverse that trend,” says Ashly Stelling, with CoxHealth Fitness Centers. “The program focuses on nutrition and exercise, so participants can learn everything they need to make healthy choices and live a healthy life.”

Just Lose It kicks off 6 - 8 p.m., Thursday, Aug. 30 at The CoxHealth Meyer Fitness Center, 3545 S. National. During this Kick-Off Expo, participants can register, talk to CoxHealth health and wellness professionals, and complete their initial weigh-in. Program participants who choose to join CoxHealth Fitness Centers during the expo will get two months of membership for free. (Weigh-ins will also be held Sept. 2 - 8 at any CoxHealth Fitness Center location.)

Just Lose It includes nutrition challenges, cooking demonstrations, weekly guided wellness walks at locations throughout Springfield and the Ozarks, weekly motivation and education via email, and more. The overall male and female winners will receive a 6-month membership and a $50 gift card to CoxHealth Fitness Centers. For more information about the program, to see the full list of nutrition challenges and wellness walks, and to read success stories from past participants, visit http://www.coxhealth.com/JLI.