Biggest Loser Contest is Big Win for ACI Specialty Benefits

ACI Specialty Benefits kicks off National Workplace Wellness Week with a great success story as employees lose over 100 pounds in 10-week Biggest Loser Challenge. Inspired by the hit TV show, “The Biggest Loser” ACI Specialty Benefits kicks off National Workplace Wellness Week with big results from its own Biggest Loser challenge: in just 10 weeks, 26 employees lost over 100 pounds combined, and performed nearly 400 hours of physical activity.

“The real success was the dramatic change at ACI’s workplace. Lunches were healthier, yoga breaks replaced cell phone breaks, and employees inspired and motivated each other to make healthier life choices,” says ACI Specialty Benefits founder and CEO, Dr. Ann D. Clark. “We’re ready for our next wellness challenge.”

As a national provider of wellness services, ACI Specialty Benefits started the New Year with its own wellness resolution: to serve as a model of wellness on the job. Staff was broken into teams, each led by an executive for this wellness challenge. To ensure fairness, ACI’s wellness team created a unique points and reward system that measured success by percent of total body weight lost, not just pounds. Additional points were earned for participating in physical activity, including ACI’s on-site yoga and strength-training classes, and smoking cessation. At the end of each week, individual and team winners earned anything from ½-day Fridays to healthy catered lunches.

“ACI has been successful in implementing Biggest Loser challenges for wellness clients, and clients love to see that at ACI we ‘walk like we talk’ with wellness” assures ACI’s Senior Vice President of Marketing, Erin Krehbiel; herself a marathon runner. “We had an incredible 86% participation rate. It was great to see everyone motivate each other to eat healthier, take the stairs, try yoga, and make healthier choices in general. That’s what wellness is all about.”

Longtime employee Keri Gutierrez says, “I signed up for ACI’s Biggest Loser challenge for a little friendly competition, and ended up losing over 20 pounds. I feel great.”