University Times

Ready to shed those extra pounds? Resolved to get healthy for the new year? Want a little friendly competition as an incentive?

If so, consider signing up for Pitt’s third annual Fitness for Life Weight Race challenge — dubbed New Year, New Race, New You.

Pitt faculty and staff, as well as their spouses and domestic partners, are eligible to participate; students and UPMC employees are not eligible, except those employees who work in the same department as Pitt employees.

The 10-week race runs Jan. 30-April 10, with prize drawings held each week for faculty and staff participants, as well as at the race’s conclusion. Both team and individual prizes will be awarded. The five campuses and the Mechanicsburg satellite location will hold separate races.

Registration for the challenge will be Jan. 11-20. This year’s race encourages employees to form teams of three-five members, but also permits participation by individuals. Instructions for registering and for participating in a team “draft” will be posted at www.hr.pitt.edu/fitness/wr2010.htm by Jan. 11.

The weight race isn’t solely for those who want to lose weight. Those who want to maintain a healthy weight also are eligible to participate.

This year, individual and team goals will be determined by participants’  body mass index, rather than self-designated goals as in past races. Following registration, participants will be informed of their goal by email. A point system based on reaching weight-loss or weight-maintenance goals will determine the race winners, with a random drawing breaking ties.

Weight racers will face three official weigh-ins, with times and locations to be posted on the Human Resources Fitness for Life initiatives/incentives web site. During the weeks between the weigh-ins, participants are required to self-report their weight by 5 p.m. on Friday on a password-protected web site.

As extra motivation to cross the finish line of the 10-week challenge, participants will be sent daily emails and encouraged to sign up for health and nutritional counseling through UPMC Health Plan and Life Solutions. During the race, three workshops will be sponsored by “Pitt crews,” a conglomerate of representatives from the School of Nursing, the departments of health and physical activity, physical therapy and sports medicine and nutrition, UPMC Health Plan and Life Solutions.

—Peter Hart