BUILDING A FIT AND HEALTHY NATION  – 1 POUND AT A TIME

 

The Philippines is one of the developing countries in the World with a high level of obesity. Presently, 1 out of 4 Filipinos are overweight, and from that group, 3 out of 10 are obese. That roughly translates to 25 Million Overweight Filipinos and 7.5 Million Obese Filipinos!

With such a high health risk for something that can prevented and reversed, why don’t we see Filipinos moving more and eating better?

Because “exercising and losing weight is hard, boring and lonely”.

How much fun can it be when you are trying to diet while everyone around you is eating to their heart’s content?  How excited can you get when you have to grind on the treadmill or elliptical machine for an hour or so everyday?

When you finally start seeing some results, what form of reward do you get?  “Great job” and “Keep it up” remarks from your family and friends and off they go.  You’re back with your lone self to continue grinding away.  That’s not really much for all the hard work, sacrifice and discipline you put in.

No wonder it’s so easy  to just “quit” or not even start to begin with. Nobody wants to go thru a lot of hard work and sacrifice alone — even if they know it’s going to be good for them.

 

Enter the FIT FILIPINO 10 Million Lbs NATIONAL WEIGHT LOSS CHALLENGE (FitFil Challenge).

The FitFil Challenge is a Nationwide Fitness and Wellness Advocacy Coach Toni and I came up with where we Challenged Filipinos to “Donate (lose) Weight,” not just for themselves, but for a Fitter and Healthier Nation as well. Having been the Coaches of ABS-CBN’s “The Biggest Loser Philippines,” Coach Toni and I know very well how tough losing weight can be specially if you are doing it on your own. The Biggest Loser Franchise works because everyone had a “support group” of like-minded people that were all undertaking the same journey.

We also knew that having a support group was just one of the ingredients for success, you also needed be motivated, inspired and educated with the right tools and knowledge, plus it had to be fun!

The overall concept was to make dieting, working out and losing weight enjoyable.  We wanted people to diet together, workout together and lose weight together!  We also wanted people to get rewarded for working out and losing weight. We also wanted to create a community of people that all had the same goals of becoming healthier wherever they were in the Philippines. Because of the FITFIL Challenge, losing weight will now become a journey ALL OF US – and the entire country — will be doing together. And this was all for FREE!

What started out as a simple Advocacy idea suddenly “ignited” to become the biggest health, fitness and wellness program in the country! It was a simple idea that suddenly got the whole country united and moving.

First to join and make the pledge was the Philippine Heart Association which was immediately followed by the other Medical Organizations. Eventually, the entire Philippine Medical Association came on board and supported the FITFIL Program.

The fitness industry came on board next with Fitness First, Anytime Fitness and Elorde’s Gym leading the way. Then came General Bato bringing with him the entire PNP and making the biggest pledge of all — 500k lbs!

Mayor Edwin Olivarez was the first mayor to join us and pledged 10k lbs for Paranaque City. Mayor Sara Duterte joined the campaign as well pledging 12k lbs for Davao City and 10 lbs for herself personally. Ten other City Mayors joined us after that.

Jose Rizal University was the first University to Accept the FITFIL Challenge and 8 more universities followed after them. The National Kidney and Transplant Institute followed by Makati Medical Center, Manila Medical Center and Philippine Heart Center led the way for the Hospitals

One by one, private corporations started joining the FITFIL Challenge and made it a part of their Corporate Wellness Program.

At the end of 6 months, we were able to collect a total of 1.02M lbs of weight lost! This was a first for the entire country – and a first in the world as well!

What started out as a simple “fun” challenge suddenly took a life of its own and united an entire country in the name of health and wellness.

This 2018, we are re-launching  FITFIL again with the National Youth Commission, together with all the 30 Million Youth under them, paving the way by pledging to donate 1 Million lbs for a Healthier and Fitter Youth!

If you have always wanted to be stronger, fitter, sexier and healthier, then join us as an individual or have your entire company join us as well! It’s completely FREE. Eating better and working out harder is a lot more fun when you are doing it together with your officemates, classmates, family members – or with the entire country.

Thank you to everyone that joined us! Let’s all start getting healthier again this 2018!

Let’s Get Fit Philippines – One pound at a time!

Do you need to lose weight?

Do you know someone that need to lose weight?

Ok. Now how many of you (or those that you know) are actually doing something about it?

 

 

By Coaches Jim and Toni Saret

Coaches of The Biggest Loser Philippines; Founders of The FITFIL Movement