Employees at Seven of Minnesota's Largest
Companies Shed 37,000 Pounds in Three Months
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, Cargill, General Mills, HealthPartners, Medtronic, Target and
UnitedHealth Group get leaner by competing against each other in “The Biggest Loser Summer Challenge”
The Alliance for a Healthier Minnesota organized initiative; RedBrick Health’s online health engagement and
social networking technology powered competition
September 15, 2010 08:38 AM Eastern Daylight Time
MINNEAPOLIS--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Three months and more than 37,000 pounds later, The Biggest
Loser Summer Challenge has a winner: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and its employees, who lost more
than 3,780 pounds or 2.80 percent of their total weight in pounds per employee since Memorial Day. Blue Cross
and Blue Shield of Minnesota also accumulated the greatest average minutes of exercise. UnitedHealth Group won a
separate competition for engaging in healthy nutrition practices.
Cargill, General Mills, HealthPartners, Medtronic, and Target also competed in the Biggest Loser Summer Challenge
– organized by The Alliance for a Healthier Minnesota and powered by RedBrick Health and its online health
engagement and social networking technology.
More than 10,000 employees participated in the challenge, exercising more than 16.5 million minutes – the
equivalent of walking around the earth 33 times. Participants also tracked their healthy eating practices, notably
improving their nutritional choices as the competition progressed.
Final Biggest Loser Summer Challenge standings are available at www.competeforhealth.org. A donation of
$25,000 was made to the Second Harvest Heartland food bank in the name of the winning companies.
“The Biggest Loser Summer Challenge at Cargill brought together groups of employees who encouraged and
motivated each other throughout the competition,” said Beth Zenisek, Wellness Specialist, HR Benefits at Cargill.
“Cargill encourages employees to take pe