For the fourth straight year, faculty and staff who participated in Health Matters’ “No-Gobbler Club” demonstrated success in maintaining their weight during the period between Thanksgiving and New Year's.
As part of membership in the club, participants attend two weigh-in sessions, one prior to Thanksgiving and the other at the start of the new year. During the time between weigh-in sessions, club members receive e-mail tips, recipes, and an invitation to join a No-Gobbler Club-only Facebook site. Anyone who maintains or loses weight between weigh-in sessions earns “No-Gobbler" status and is entered into a drawing for one of four $25 LionCash prizes.
This year, 153 people participated and 64 percent were successful at either maintaining or losing weight.
Even though weight maintenance is the main goal of the club, 79 participants actually lost weight during the holidays this year. The average weight loss was above 2.6 pounds per person, for a total of 211 pounds lost.
Several of the campus locations enjoyed a bit of friendly competition this year by trying to outdo other participating campuses in enrollment and number of people who met the “no-gain” goal.
Penn State Fayette took the top spot for having the highest percentage of faculty and staff enrolled in the program -- 7.3 percent of Fayette employees joined the club, while Berks took second place in this category, with 3.3 percent employee participation.
Berks campus boasted the highest percentage of participants who maintained or lost weight -- 88 percent of those enrolled -- while Fayette came in second with 84 percent of participants reaching the “no-gain” goal.