Loyola Dining Services has teamed up with Athletics and Wellness and Residential Life to launch the Wolfpack Fit Club campaign, a six-week program running from Jan. 26 to Mar. 20 where “winning is losing.”
Students register in groups of four and the group that sheds the most unwanted weight over the course of the six weeks wins a variety of prizes.
Kristi Salvaggio, the associate director for health and wellness at Loyola, is the brainchild behind the idea. “Participants each will have weekly team training sessions as well as weekly fitness assessment to determine progress and each team will have a trainer from the USC personal training staff,” Salvaggio said.
Caitlin Craig Brewster, marketing and customer service manager for Loyola Dining Services stands by Salvaggio’s idea that this is a valuable opportunity for college students to get in shape and watch what they eat.
“The idea was to get more students involved in using the Rec Plex and thinking of it as a valuable asset in attending Loyola. I think that (Salvaggio) just wanted to do something fun starting with the new year. We’re trying to play off of ‘the biggest loser’ because that seems like a fun group work activity, and group exercise is always fun for people,” said Brewster.
Loyola Athletics and Residential Life continue their wellness initiative for the university this year, focusing on the betterment of the mind, body and spirit for each student, which reflects the Jesuit identity that Loyola prides itself on. The school wants students to be aware of the effects that heavy drinking and unhealthy eating at a young age can have on an individual later on in life.
“I think being healthy is a focus that has really gotten stronger this past year,” Brewster said.
The Fit Club will put together four teams of four persons, with each team representing a different color. Once a week, each team will weigh in and talk to their trainer to figure out what their goals are for the following week. Each group is assigned a different personal trainer. The winner will be decided on body fat percentage lost per team, and the individual who loses the most weight will also be eligible for prizes, which range from an iPod, to gift certificates to General Nutrition Center, Runners High, Earthsavers and various other stores around New Orleans that are related to physical fitness.
In order to make sure that they can gain momentum, Salvaggio and Brewster wanted to start small, with only 16 students participating in the campaign. Salvaggio is planning on running the Fit Club every semester from now on and establishing a fitness tradition on Loyola’s campus.
“We’re kind of playing it by ear to see how it goes since this is the first go-around, and with Dining Services we’re also going to be offering more healthy choices than in years past, almost like a game plan as to how you should be eating,” Brewster said.
Dining Services will tag different foods with item identifiers on a color scale: red is for foods that are high in calories and fat, yellow will be foods that of medium nutritional value and calorie count, and green will be foods with a low caloric intake and highest nutritional value. “They will now have a colored sticker to alert people, in case they weren’t aware before, of what is healthy to eat and what isn’t,” said Brewster.
Amy Brasseur, area director for residential life at Loyola, is also taking part in the campaign, incorporating her Live Well program into Salvaggio’s idea for the Fit Club. “Live Well was a program that we initiated to spark wellness programs within the residence halls from all angles: spiritual, physical and emotional. Kristi asked to partner with me to so that the Fit Club could have contribution from Residential Life to help advertise in the residence halls. Dining Services was included as well because they also had an interest in supporting and developing the program. We are all eager to help encourage a healthier lifestyle on campus,” she said.
Dan Pitta can be reached at [email protected].
