City is going on a Diet

[oSutrooper]

Didnt see this one here so I thought I would share......

Mayor Cornett: “This city is going on a diet”





Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett has an ambitious New Year’s resolution for Oklahoma City. He is asking residents to collectively lose one million pounds in an effort to create a healthier City. An interactive Web site has been created to track the city’s weight loss progress.



“As someone who has addressed weight-loss issues my entire life, I know how difficult it can be,” said Mayor Cornett. “But we can do it. We need to pull together as a community to lose weight, exercise more often and eat nutritiously. Obesity is an epidemic in Oklahoma, and the problem is only getting worse. It’s time to end our sedentary, fast food lifestyle.”



At the heart of the program is a Web site that is being launched on New Year’s Eve: www.thiscityisgoingonadiet.com. The Web site is designed as a one-stop resource for people intending to lose weight.



The interactive Web site allows participants to confidentially track their weight loss progress and calculate their Body Mass Index (BMI), which is a simple method for estimating body fat and determining a goal weight. The site also features helpful information about nutrition, exercise and how to successfully set weight loss goals.



The homepage will feature a live counter to indicate the cumulative number of pounds the Web site’s participants have lost. Corporations, civic groups and individuals are all encouraged to register.



“Weight loss works best when people are surrounded by friends, family and coworkers who help them reach their goals,” said Cornett. “By changing our lifestyle we can become a healthier, more active city and reduce our chances of developing cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea and osteoarthritis.”



According to the Trust for America’s Health, Oklahoma City has the ninth highest rate of adult obesity in the nation and the 17th highest rate of obesity for children ages 10 to 17.



“This city is going on a diet,” said Cornett. “Putting an entire city on a diet may seem a little extreme but we have to get people’s attention. We have to promote a healthier lifestyle. This is a serious public health problem that’s not going to go away unless we act.”

[Karried]

“This city is going on a diet,” said Cornett. “Putting an entire city on a diet may seem a little extreme but we have to get people’s attention.

I'm sure we'll get plenty of attention.. can't wait to read CNN tomorrow....

heavy sigh... bring on the Oklahoma jokes - again.

In theory, it's a good idea and he has good intentions .. but come on.

Do we always have to turn on the spotlight to the rest of the nation and bring negative attention to this city/state in such unflattering ways?

Granted it is needed and I do hope that out of this, a few people will get off their couches, put down their Whopper and walk around Lake Hefner or something.

[oneforone]

I think I will start my diet at the ballot box in March.

[Matt]

What if a million people sign up, and lose one pound each? Will the goal be considered reached?

By the same token, what if a million pounds are lost, but all by one person? Same question.

[solitude]

This is mayor kind of stuff. He has no real power except the title of mayor - which is pretty meaningless in Oklahoma City. He's just a member of the council, but gets to do publicity stuff and be the "face" of announcements, etc. The only power of any consequence in being mayor of OKC is his power to appoint and re-appoint board members. The City Manager has the real power in this city. So, this health kick thing, this is definite mayor material.

[u50254082]

So are all of you saying this is a bad idea?

Even if its for kicks, it never hurts to get healthy.

[PapaJack]

My first New Year's prediction:

OKC will get far more positive pub from this than negative. We will get off the couch and "shrink" to the occasion.

As for all you nay sayers, I hope you choke on your California rolls (just kidding).

Please pass the fried twinkies!

[metro]

I agree PapaJack, the negativity from Karried and others I think is overestimated. I too think we'll get far more positive publicity from this than negative (this coming from a marketing and advertising professional). I'm glad to see him do this and personally which he would have made an even bolder statement. Perhaps if we reach the goal (Very attainable) then he will be even bolder next year (2009).

[metro]

Oh, and here is the article from the JR:

OKC mayor puts city on a diet

January 2, 2008

OKLAHOMA CITY – If you live in Oklahoma City, you’ve just been put on a diet. Mayor Mick Cornett expects you to lose at least one pound this year. “This is a community of just over a million people – surely we can get a pound out of everybody,” Cornett said at a press conference held in front of the elephant exhibit at the Oklahoma City Zoo on Monday, launching what he called the OKC Million challenge. Cornett wants the entire city to commit to lose weight together, with the collective goal of shedding 1 million pounds. The mayor is asking businesses to play a special role in the effort. An interactive Web site, www.thiscityisgoingonadiet.com, launched on New Year’s Eve, providing Oklahoma City residents with the tools and information they need to lose weight, improve their health and track the city’s weight-loss progress. The Web site includes social networking features to create a city-wide diet buddy system, helping participants maintain motivation throughout the year. “If cities could be represented by an animal, most cities would look like these elephants,” Cornett said, offering up Asha and Chandra, the zoo’s pair of Asian elephants, as an example. Oklahoma City’s future should look a bit more like zoo resident Bandit, a ferret, he said. When it comes to economic development, Oklahoma City ranks high on the wrong kinds of lists, he said. Business leaders look for places to expand or relocate where the work force is healthy, leading to lower health care costs, higher productivity and lower absenteeism, said Cornett. But in 2007, Oklahoma City had the “dubious distinction” of earning the title of “fast-food capital of America” according to Fortune magazine’s rankings of U.S. cities that had the greatest percentage of heavy users of fast food. The state of Oklahoma has the ninth-highest rate of adult obesity in the nation, at 26.8 percent, and the 17th-highest rate of overweight youths, at 15.4 percent, reports the Trust for America’s Health. “Oklahoma City is not doing the worst, but I don’t even want to be on these lists,” said Cornett. What is needed is a change in the culture of the community to value good health, he said. The city is primed to create a healthier lifestyle with plenty of park trails for biking, walking and running. Each year, local and national charities host numerous wellness runs and walks. The challenge is to get Oklahoma City residents to eat better and exercise more as a way of life, not just as another new year’s resolution, said Cornett. Corporations can assist the effort by signing up their organization as a participant, encouraging employees to become actively involved in the program. Businesses are also invited to join as a sponsor “and obtain extra bragging rights on the OKC Million Web site as well as the program T-shirt and other program giveaways to all participants,” according to the Web site. Sponsors may provide in-kind gifts, employee volunteers and other methods of support. “I don’t think any other city has been put on a diet before,” Cornett said, conceding the approach may seem a bit brash. “We needed something to get in your face and get people talking about obesity. We needed to get people’s attention. Obesity is a nationwide epidemic, but in Oklahoma City we’re not going to sit back and let it happen and let it get worse.”The goal is so important Cornett said he was willing to put himself in danger by putting an entire city on a diet. “I just put my wife on a diet,” said Cornett. “And my mother. I don’t recommend that.”

[Karried]

I'm just trying to avoid things like this.. sing to Oklahoma Rising:

'We're Oklahoma Fatties, Fatter than a car,
Stand up and Talk about us, let the world know who we are.'

Actually, I think it's great to have people get healthy and stop sucking down Sonic's shakes every chance they get.. but I just wish it wasn't so prevalent .. so much that the Mayor had to step in and put the city on a diet. It's like getting a call from Jenny Craig - only worse, since it's the entire city.

It's an embarassing stigma for our city.

[Karried]

Besides no one likes to be 'put' on a diet.

[soonerliberal]

Is it bad that I think this is a really good idea? It will at least generate positive press for the city known for its addiction to fried... anything.

[Architect2010]

I don't see it as him "stepping in" to keep it from getting worse. I just think he just wanted the city to get healthier. Its not he was like whoa! Our city is so fat, I need to have an intervention with them and make them lose weight b4 we all die.

I just think its another step forward for OKC. And it is definitely positive I think.

[bandnerd]

We've been on the fat lists for years...it's time for someone to being so damn PC and do something about it.

[jbrown84]

I think it's a good idea, and will show that we have progressive leadership that is taking big steps to help our city not just get an NBA team, but be healthier too.

[AgeSage]

Residents of Oklahoma City,

The Mayor could really help Oklahoma City Residents become more healthy by promoting multiple wellness centers as part of the next MAPS. A good example of what can be done is the Wellness Center for Adults over 50 completed by the City of Rogers in Rogers Arkansas. See the link at:

The City of Rogers Arkansas

The City of Rogers spent $7,000,000 to build this one facility and charges $25 per year for membership. They now have 9000 members and have 900 users per day and are now planning an addition. This is a city of less than 50,000 people.

If 10 similar facilities were built through out Oklahoma City as part of MAP III, then it could really be said that Oklahoma City was taking a major step forward in creating healthier residents.


PS: I have great pictures of this facility but am a first time poster and am not able to paste these pdf files onto this page. Can some one explain how to do this?

Thanks,

AgeSage

[jbrown84]

Great idea. I'd be much likelier to join a gym if it was that cheap.

[metro]

Residents of Oklahoma City,

The Mayor could really help Oklahoma City Residents become more healthy by promoting multiple wellness centers as part of the next MAPS. A good example of what can be done is the Wellness Center for Adults over 50 completed by the City of Rogers in Rogers Arkansas. See the link at:

The City of Rogers Arkansas

The City of Rogers spent $7,000,000 to build this one facility and charges $25 per year for membership. They now have 9000 members and have 900 users per day and are now planning an addition. This is a city of less than 50,000 people.

If 10 similar facilities were built through out Oklahoma City as part of MAP III, then it could really be said that Oklahoma City was taking a major step forward in creating healthier residents.


PS: I have great pictures of this facility but am a first time poster and am not able to paste these pdf files onto this page. Can some one explain how to do this?

Thanks,

AgeSage

Great idea. Perhaps you should have submitted these ideas on the MAPS3 site when it was taking suggestions. Unfortunately it's too late now as the MAPS3 projects for the most part have been decided. Perhaps you should submit your idea to the city council and Mayor anyways and it could be funded through a different mechanism.

[Karried]

From CNN:

Mayor to town: Lose 1 million pounds

• <LI class=cnnhiliteheader>Story Highlights
• Mayor challenges residents to drop million pounds
• City rated 15th fattest in survey
• Mayor seeks more bike trails, sidewalks for walking

OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma (AP) -- With a button-popping spread of cornbread, sausage and gravy, chicken fried steak and pecan pie designated as Oklahoma's official state meal, it's no surprise that Oklahoma City's mayor wants to put the city on a diet.
Mick Cornett has challenged the city to shed 1 million pounds as its New Year's resolution.
Prompted in part by his own struggle to lose weight, Cornett wants to end Oklahoma City's dubious distinction as one of America's fattest cities.
"The message of this obesity initiative is that we've got to watch what we eat," Cornett said Thursday. "Exercise is part of it and the city is trying to change into a city that is less sprawling, has more density and is more pedestrian friendly, but you're not really going to take on obesity unless you acknowledge that we eat too much and don't eat the right foods."
As part of the initiative, residents can sign up and track their weight loss on a new Web site, www.thiscityisgoingonadiet.com. More than 2,600 people had registered by Thursday. They've lost more than 300 pounds.
Besides a body mass index calculator, the site includes recipes and links to metro-area fitness centers. Plans call for expanding the site to include the opportunity to blog and network with other participants, Cornett said.
"It's always easier if you're doing something hard if you have other people to do it with," he said.
The mayor timed the start of the weight-loss program to the beginning of the new year, when many people begin exercise programs after holiday feasts.
Oklahoma City ranked 15th in a 2007 survey of America's fattest cities conducted by Men's Fitness magazine. The survey examined lifestyle factors in each city, including fast-food restaurants per capita and availability of city parks, gyms and bike paths.
"I can't tell you exactly where you rank in our 2008 survey, but I can tell you that Oklahoma City is in the top 10," magazine spokeswoman Jennifer Krosche said. "That's not good."
The Oklahoma Legislature designated an official state meal in 1988. The menu also includes fried okra, squash, barbecue pork, biscuits, grits, corn, strawberries and black-eyed peas.
Cornett, 49, stands about 5-foot-10 and weighs 183 pounds. He began a personal fitness initiative eight months ago when he weighed 217 pounds.
"I would like to get down to 175, so I've made a goal to lose 8 pounds over 8 weeks," he said.
Carrie Snyder-Renfro, a 44-year-old teacher working out at a fitness center Thursday, said she made a resolution last month to eat healthier and exercise. While she was unaware of the mayor's Web site, she said she would consider signing up.
"Last year I dieted and lost about 10 pounds a month for three months, but I left out a key component," she said, huffing and puffing on an elliptical machine. "I didn't exercise regularly. I ended up losing muscle mass instead of fat, and I ended up gaining almost all of it back.
"Now I'm making it more of a priority to put everything in balance. I have to get the eye of the tiger back."
Cornett wants to make exercise more attractive to residents by increasing the number of bike trails and sidewalks in the sprawling city, where public transportation is minimal, most people are wedded to their cars and outdoor activities for some might be limited to watching a football game.
"In Colorado, you ski, you climb, you run ... something," said Karen Massey, community nutrition coordinator at Integris Baptist Medical Center. "In Oklahoma, we're either involved in competitive sports or we do nothing. We're spectators."

[jbrown84]

Karrie, do you still feel this is bad press?

[raw98682]

We should compete with other fatty cities!
LOL...

[raw98682]

I think this is a great idea. Very inspiring. Hopefully it will inspire the nation to get fit.
No matter what kind of bad press we get, OKLAHOMA CITY is the city stepping up and saying 'this is a problem- nation wide- and solving it starts with US.' I think we're setting a good example.

[solitude]

It's not a bad idea. The irony is he wants to build a practice facility, paid for by taxpayers, for the exclusive use of millionaire basketball players (and their billionaire owners!).

I like that Rogers, Ark. idea. Thanks for posting that.

[metro]

To all the naysayers of this initiative thinking this would make us look bad. I've seen nothing but real positive national press coverage. I saw it on FOX News and CNN the other day and they portrayed us very well and progressive for getting in front of the nations growing obesity problem. Also today on iVillage Live they had a good segment on us again and featured Mick Cornet and let him speak for a few minutes and they are going to do a follow up here in a few weeks. It was an excellent segment! They (Chicago) was really impressed with OKC taking the initiative in the growing obesity epidemic.

If you go to today's segment, it's within the first 5 minutes or so of the show:

In The Loop with iVillage - On TV, On the Web and On the Go!

[bandnerd]

I'm trying to figure out a way to have a "thisschoolisonadiet.com" kind of thing for the high school where I teach. My newspaper staff thought it sounded like a fun idea, but instead of focusing just on weight, we'd rather focus on general health, because some of our students are SO thin they really need to gain weight lol.

I still think it's a great idea!