The West Allis-West Milwaukee Health Department is hoping to help its residents get in shape over the holiday season with the "Maintain, Don't Gain" program.
The online program has been used internally by employees since 2008, this year they are offering it to the public.
Run by the North Carolina Public Health Department, the online challenge includes healthy recipes and activity tracking to aid participants in losing or maintaining their weight. "They simply need access to an online platform either through a computer or a smart phone they log on and sign up for the challenge," said West Allis Project Nutritionist Cheryl Davies.
Davies says that West Allis knows it has a high average of people that are overweight. Seventy-four percent of the population versus 67 percent of Wisconsinites and 64 percent of the nation respectively.
That data is from a 2015 Community Health survey and the city has been working on lowering their numbers ever since. Davies says, "It is a big number and it exceeds our state average so we have really been trying hard in our community to improve our residents' health."
The website is free of charge and the city urges residents to sign up with friends for accountability. You can find a link here.
