Overweight and obesity are associated with reduced quality of life and directly linked to the leading causes of death including diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and certain cancers (Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2020). Moreover, currently, people who are overweight or obese are at a higher risk of severe illness from Covid-19 (CDC, 2020). According to the World Health Organization (2020), in 2016 over 1.9 billion adults worldwide over the age of 18 were overweight with 650 million of them being obese. At this rate, half of the world’s population is projected to be overweight or obese by 2030 (Tremmel et al., 2017). Today, in the majority of the world, overweight and obesity account for more deaths than underweight (World Health Organization [WHO], 2020). Nationwide, according to data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), the prevalence of adult obesity in 2017-2018 was 42.4% with 9.2% being severely obese (Hales et al., 2020). This means we are moving further away from the Healthy People 2020 goal of 30.5% (Hales et al., 2020).

In New Jersey, between 2011 and 2017, obesity rates for adults aged 20 and over rose from 23.8% to 27.7% (New Jersey State Health Assessment Data [NJ SHAD], 2020). This equates to one out of every four New Jersey residents being obese. In 2018, the prevalence of adult obesity in Bergen County, New Jersey, or the county of Hasbrouck Heights, was 22.1% (Data USA, 2018). Moreover, rates of overweight were at a staggering 33.5% (Data USA, 2018). On top of the physical burden, the economic burden of obesity is substantial. New Jersey spent 2.2 billion dollars on obesity-related healthcare in 2008 (NJ SHAD, 2020). This equates to over six million dollars per day. It is expected that by 2018, this number will have quadrupled to 9.3 billion, or an astounding 25.5 million per day (NJ SHAD, 2020).

The good news is that research shows evidence-based intervention strategies are effective in weight loss and management. For instance, the Community Preventive Services Task Force (2009) recommends multicomponent weight counseling interventions as sufficient evidence supports that they are, “…effective in maintaining weight-related behaviors or weight-related outcomes.” The causes of overweight and obesity stem from factors such as excessive calorie intake, physical inactivity, and poor dietary choices. New Jersey is no exception from these behaviors with over one-third, or 35.3%, of residents consuming less than one serving of fruit per day and one out of five, or 21.4%, consuming less than one serving of vegetables per day (New Jersey Department of Health [NJDH], 2016). Furthermore, only one out of five residents meet the recommended physical activity guidelines (NJDH, 2016).

With the prevalence of overweight and obesity rising in Bergen Country and residents still consuming fast food four times per week, the immediate need for intervention is undeniably crucial (Data USA, 2018). Quest Fitness of Hasbrouck Heights is eager to offer up a space for the promotion of healthier dietary and physical activity habits. For this to be possible, all they require is a modest fee from participants. This program’s goal is to keep costs down in order to remain affordable for anyone who is interested in joining. The proposed weight loss program, Choose to Lose, aims to combat overweight and obesity through evidence-based strategies of encouraging positive health behavior changes through in-person counseling as well as online support. This multicomponent program will include will focus on individualized approaches to helping participants learn how to incorporate healthy foods and physical activity into their lifestyle, how to incorporate all foods into a healthy diet, how to prepare and cook healthy meals, how to build a positive relationship with food, and how to maintain these positive behavior changes for a lifetime. The unquestionable success of this evidence-based program will have the community shouting, “We chose to lose!”