A proposed citywide weight loss initiative is a few steps closer, but needs fleshing out as a New Year’s resolution encouraging Lubbockites to lose 250,000 pounds in three years, board of health member Dr. Brian Carr announced during Friday’s monthly Board of Health meeting.
Carr and Lubbock’s Board of Health will spearhead the recently dubbed “a pound a person” initiative aimed to address what Carr calls one of the biggest health threats facing Lubbockites — obesity.
The program will be a public/private partnership, Carr said. It is under way already and should be firmed up by year’s end.
As many as one-third of Lubbock County adults are obese, according to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Carr said it’s a health problem Lubbockites could tackle easily.
“I know it’s a problem where the intervention is not controversial — people know what to do,” Carr said. “Nobody’s going to advocate for obesity.”
He said a weight-loss campaign would be a ideal way to show the Board of Health and Lubbock Health Department’s relevance in citizens’ lives through inspiration.
“We don’t have to outlaw Big Gulps,” he said. “We can have it as a positive thing where people do it on their own.”
GM Diet
Carr said his proposed weight-loss program was inspired by a recent and similar 1 million pound weight-loss challenge in Oklahoma City and would encourage Lubbockites to lose weight as a community in a public-information campaign guided by city leaders, Lubbock businesses and organizations.
Negative Calorie
“It’s just a wonderful way to have a public/private sponsorship with no taxpayer dollars involved,” he said.
Carr sought early sponsorship from Lubbock’s city council in June.
Though council members, including Mayor Glen Robertson, expressed support for Carr’s proposal, they urged the Board of Health member to firm up a plan before the council would endorse the concept.
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