The first weigh-in for Chilton County residents participating in the 2012 Scale Back Alabama Contest was Jan. 25-26 at Chilton Medical Center.

Scale Back Alabama is a 10-week, statewide weight loss contest in which teams of four adults compete to win cash prizes and get healthy.

“I’m not asking people to do anything that I personally would not do,” said Anne Taddicken, CMC physician, community liaison and Scale Back Alabama participant. “The goal is to make healthier lifestyle choices. It’s changing how you think and feel about yourself … from the inside out.”

Taddicken asked Ginny Hallmark, Get Moving Jemison program organizer, to give participants exercise tips and help them start their weight loss journey at the weigh-in.

“Don’t let yourself make excuses, and then you’ll succeed,” Hallmark said. “You’ve got to take care of yourself.”

Participants receive a recipe, food log, daily diary sheet, healthy snack and water at each weigh-in.

“We’ve done it in the past, but it’s going to be more motivational,” Taddicken said of the contest. “Knowing what you’re supposed to do and making yourself do it is the big thing.”

Taddicken recently spoke with Olivia Ward, winner of “The Biggest Loser” TV challenge, Season 11.

Ward’s sister, Hannah Curlee, was runner-up. Both women graduated from the University of Alabama and spend a lot of their time traveling the country and spreading the message about the need for Americans to eat less and move more, a Jan. 2 press release said.

“As a true Southern girl and a University of Alabama graduate, the state holds a special place in my heart, and I would want nothing more this year than for us to take the obesity rate and reverse it,” Ward said. “What an amazing opportunity with Scale Back Alabama for us to take our state back as far as health is concerned. It is time to grab your friends, your co-workers and your family and Scale Back Alabama.”

In order for a team to be eligible to win, each team member must lose 10 pounds by the final weigh-in, Taddicken said.

The contest is free of charge and is sponsored by Alabama’s hospitals and the Alabama Department of Public Health, with generous underwriting by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama.

For more information, call Anne Taddicken at (205) 280-3536.