Leflore County came to terms with its weight problem in a big way Saturday morning, committing to drop more than a ton by April.
About 140 people, most of them clad in sweat suits, showed up at Greenwood Leflore Hospital's Wellness Center to record their starting weight for the first ever Scale Down for Your Health program. The Leflore County Obesity Committee, which organized the program, expected only 50 to come.
Some of the participants are attempting to lose weight for the first time. Others, such as Sarah Holmes, have been on diet after diet but struggle to keep their weight down once they lose it.
"During the summer, I had gotten it down pretty good, but now I've picked all those pounds back up," said Holmes, 36, a Greenwood clerk for Mississippi Action for Progress.
Her goal is to lose 15 to 25 pounds, and she wants to do it "the healthy way," she said.
That entails a lot of patience, according to Jenny Humphryes, a member of the obesity committee, who says losing weight should be "a gradual process." Humphryes has done it that way, losing 62 pounds over the last year.
The participants hope to shed four pounds a month for six months by exercising and eating healthy.
Attaining that goal is going to require a lot of effort, said Dr. William Ware, another committee member. Ware encouraged the participants to cut the fat out of their diet and stay active.
"This is a community effort," Ware said. "It's not just a one-day effort. It's one we hope will last a lifetime."
It's also a life style change that the nation in general should heed, according to state Rep. May Whittington, D-Schlater. Studies show that 61 percent of Americans are obese.
"We want Leflore County to be the healthiest county in the state," Whittington said.
The Leflore County program is a spin-off of the Obesity Commission Bill, which Whittington authored in the Legislature, creating a comprehensive health plan for the state. In the county's program, participants will weigh in monthly, with prizes awarded to those who lose the most pounds off the weight they registered Saturday.
Four scales were stationed by the Wellness Center's exit to make sure no one left without stepping on them.
"We're giving you absolutely no way to get out of this," Whittington said. "You can't even leave this place without getting weighed."
The overall winners will get free limited memberships to Greenwood health clubs.
Ray Evans weighed in at 228. A retired truck driver from Itta Bena, he recently had a stent inserted in one of his arteries to keep it from closing up. He wants to get back to his normal weight to recover his health, he explained.
"In six months, I hope to get back down to about 180 pounds, where I belong," Evans said.
To get there, he's going to need to exercise a little more than he does now. "They doctors said I need to walk at least two miles a day, and I doubt if I walk 10 feet or more."
Heart trouble is just one of many health risks associated with obesity. It also can lead to diabetes, hypertension and joint problems, said Dr. Alfio Rausa, a state public health officer who spoke to the participants before the weigh-in.
"This is a serious, chronic medical condition, and we don't pay attention to it," he said.
Being overweight is defined as weighing 10 percent more than normal for one's age, sex and body composition. Those who weigh 20 percent more than that are classified as obese.
"That doesn't seem like a lot, but it's one-fifth more of us," Rausa said.
But that one-fifth is a part of us we can control unlike some other factors. "I was genetically engineered to be a certain height, and I was designed to be a certain body size," he said. "But I can control what hangs off me. That isn't genetic."
According to Rausa, 90 percent of obesity cases have to do with lifestyle.
Children aren't immune from the effects of obesity, either. And when someone routinely gains too much weight growing up, it becomes harder for them to break the habits that led them to obesity in the first place, said Aliene Downs, a director of the hospital's free clinic.
"When we are overweight children, we grow up to be overweight adults," she said. "We keep that eating pattern."
Holmes' three children are the reason she's participating in the Scale Down for Your Health program. Holmes wants to set a good example for them.
"I want to be healthy so I can keep them healthy," she said.
