Alabamians Gear Up For Fourth Statewide Weight-loss Campaign

Alabamians Gear Up For More Failure.

Over the last four years, Alabamians have almost lost 500,000 pounds, but according to health experts, that's just a drop in the bucket when considering the state's problem with obesity. Recent reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention peg Alabama's adults as the second most obese in the nation, a ranking that had dropped to third, but quickly inched back up.

Organizations all across the state are waging war against this trend in a contest called Scale Back Alabama. The 10-week, weight-loss competition is in its fourth year of encouraging the state's adults to exercise more and eat less.

"We began this contest with Alabama's hospitals four years ago," said Dr. Donald Williamson, state health officer. "And while it's a fairly major undertaking, there's no time to let up. A recent update from the CDC provided information on obesity rates by region, and we have some areas of the state with 36 to 48 percent of adults listed as obese, meaning their body mass index is more than 30."

The chairman of the campaign, Donald Jones a hospital CEO from north Alabama, claims hospital employees see firsthand the effects of obesity. "Patients come to us with advanced diabetes and heart disease, and we know they could have prevented much of the disease by being healthier," said Jones.

Scale Back Alabama targets adults in the workplace, with the goal of reaching the families as well. Campaign organizers stress the high cost of obesity not only to employees, but also to their employers pointing to statistics that show health care costs for obese workers are about 21 times higher than they are for employees in the normal weight range.

In four years, this is how well Alabama has done:

There are 4,661,900 people in Alabama,
Assuming an average population of 4,500,000 people over the last four years,
Then a loss of 500,000 pounds in one year would equal about 0.11 pounds lost per person,
Which over 4 years equals 0.0275 pounds lost per person per year,
Which equals about 12.485 grams of weight lost per person per year,
Which is less than one-half ounce per person per year.

With success like this, no wonder Alabama is gearing up for more. It is interesting how exact their data gathering is that they can measure one-half ounce per person.

Whatever.

In any event, success like this is consistent with their old and new state mottoes:

Audemus Jura Nostra Defendere is Alabama's second motto. Alabama's first motto, Here We Rest, was approved by a Republican legislature after the Civil War, during the period referred to as "Reconstruction." It was approved with the adoption of a new state seal, replacing the one that had been used for 50 years. The replaced state seal, a carry-over of the Alabama Territorial Seal, depicted Alabama and its major rivers. The new seal displayed a bald eagle perched on the shield of the United States Seal. In the eagle's beak was a banner that read "Here We Rest".

Over 70 years later, in 1939, the original seal was restored as the Great Seal of Alabama. At the same time, the state legislature adopted an Alabama Coat-of-Arms along with a new state motto: Audemus Jura Nostra Defendere, translated as "We Dare Maintain Our Rights." Act No. 140, to adopt an official Coat-of-Arms for the State of Alabama was approved on March 14, 1939.

The old - they rest and get fat.

The new - apparently they think it is among their rights to get fat and have the rest of society pay for them that they dare to maintain.