One of the organizers of a program to get Iowans to lose weight says the first year was a success.The Iowa Department of Public Health and the Iowa Games teamed up for “Lighten Up Iowa” — a program where teams of 10 Iowans competed for six months to see who could lose the most weight. Iowa Games executive director Jim Hallihan says the final tally on the weight loss shows the 137 teams shed just over 57-hundred pounds. Hallihan says the idea is to get people to change their lifestyles to be more active.Hallihan says the stats show about 50-precent of adults and over 30-percent of kids are overweight.He says the state needs to reach out to people who aren’t active and get them started. Hallihan says obesity is the cause of many of the health problems for Americans. The participants weighed themselves in January and then again at the end of June.
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