Beat-the-Bird winners are announced

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Andrea F. Liechti
  • 2nd Bomb Wing Public Affairs
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. --  Winners of Beat-the-Bird contest sponsored by the Health and Wellness Center here were announced Jan. 23.

HAWC fitness specialist, Leah Beckham, developed the contest to prevent Team Barksdale members from gaining weight throughout the holiday season. The weight-maintenance program started prior to Thanksgiving and ran through the middle of January.

"My goal was to get people to develop healthy habits," Beckham said. "I wanted them to participate in regular aerobic activity and a weight-lifting program."

To do this, Beckham tracked points for each participant. She used the honor system, and three times throughout the contest participants came to her to get weighed and turn in their tracking booklets.

Inside the booklets, contestants kept track of their fruit and vegetable intake as well as their cardio and weight-lifting activities.

Points were assigned to each team member in order to keep score. Cardio or strength training three times a week earned two points, four times a week earned four points and five times a week earned six points. For every day the contestants ate five servings of fruits and vegetables, she or he earned one point.

"It is recommended people eat nine servings of fruits and vegetables, but to build a healthier lifestyle I wanted the participants to shoot for an attainable goal of five servings per day," Beckham said.

Participants did just that and the results were better than she imagined.

"One of the winners changed her body composition by 4 percent and lost 11.5 pounds," Beckham said. "Another lost 15 pounds and changed her body composition by 3.8 percent."

Beckham wanted to focus on body composition because it is a measurement of the fat mass in a person's body. Higher body fat can lead to health problems such as heart disease or diabetes, or even back pain, knee pain or muscle weakness.

"It's very important to know fat weight and not just weight on a scale," Beckham said. "Individuals can appear lean but still have a high body fat. Building muscle can increase metabolism and help diminish the fat."

There were a total of 129 people who started the competition and 87 successfully completed it. Of those who finished, most met Beckham's expectations by staying within one to two pounds of their original weight.

The winners of the group challenge were "Great Pharmacy." The team was made up of the 2nd Medical Support Squadron members to include Capt. Amy Devine, Capt. Bethany Loader, Capt. Shaoping Mo, Tech. Sgt. Regie Alejandro, Staff Sgt. Dolores Fisher and Airman 1st Class Felicia Smith.

Second place went to the 2nd Bomb Wing Public Affair's "High Rollers." Members included Senior Airman Kristin High, Airman 1st Class Micaiah Anthony, Airman 1st Class Ben Gonsier, Airman 1st Class Andrea Liechti and Airman 1st Class Samuel O'Brien.

Third place winners were "Bombshells" from Air Force Global Strike Command. Team members were Maj. Diana Burian, Maj. Janine Wiggins, Capt. Michele Kinlock, Master Sgt. Janie Rodriguez, Tech. Sgt. Joelle Silny and Michele Williamson.

Winners for the individual category listed from first through third place were Senior Master Sgt. Tammie Green, Air Force Global Strike Command, Christina Gregory and Capt. Christopher Gregory, 96th Bomb Squadron.

Those who did their best watched what they ate, were active every day and combined aerobic and strength training on a regular basis, Beckham added.