UGA Extension Sets Challenge to Help Keep Holiday Pounds Off

By Cal Powell

Holidays can be a time of continuous feasts for some, leading to excess pounds when it’s all over. To ward off the unwanted weight, University of Georgia Extension is offering the “Zero Weight Gain Holiday Challenge,” a free program that seeks to help Georgians avoid the overeating usually so common to the season.

The challenge begins Nov. 18 and ends Jan. 3. Participants will receive twice-weekly emails with advice and encouragement on how to avoid gaining additional pounds. 

“Many people say that there’s so much temptation—it’s just one continuous feast,” said Connie Crawley, an Extension nutrition and health specialist in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences. “And the food is so plentiful now that there are just so many options. The problem is, the more options you give people, the more they eat.”

Participants in the program sign up for the messages, which last year featured titles such as “Keeping an Eagle Eye on What You Consume,” “Curving Your Cravings” and “No Exercise, No Weight Control.”

In all, participants will receive 14 messages during the program. This year, Crawley has added a low-calorie recipe participants will receive weekly. 

“People said they liked having those reminders,” Crawley said. “It was like a little prompt that kept them on track. It wasn’t so much that they got new skills, it was that they got support.”

Last year’s tips also are archived on the site.

Crawley said 57 percent of the people who participated in the post-program survey last year reported experiencing zero weight gain.

To sign up for the challenge, click here.