Ideas for Office Diet Contests

Setting up a diet and exercise contest for your office can help you improve the health of your co-workers, while educating them on nutrition and physical fitness. Setting up an office contest can be a fun way to socially bring your office together, while motivating them to set up and achieve personal physical fitness goals. Before beginning an exercise contest, have employees check with their personal physicians to validate they are healthy enough to participate. Although not required, you also may wish to have consent forms signed by participants and their doctors.

Contest and Prizes

• You can pattern your contest on fitness competitions such as "The Biggest Loser" or The Body-for-Life Challenge. Set up your contest with a time frame, such as 12 weeks, and offer numerous prizes for categories like most weight lost, greatest improvement, most dedicated and most likely to continue. You can make the prizes monetary or give away things such as gym memberships or sports equipment. If you can get your company to sponsor the contest, so much the better.

Diet Plan

• Base your contest on a specific weight-loss plan. If not all your contestants are on board with this idea, you can always offer it as a guide. You can also subdivide your contestants into teams following specific diets.

Motivational Board

• Set up a progress board to track all of your contestants. You can include photographs of the participants during each week of the contest. Make the board as motivational as possible, highlighting each person's achievements, no matter how small; it's easy for people to get discouraged, remember the point of the contest is to keep them inspired.

Gym Memberships

• Check with your local gym about group membership discounts and schedule office workout times. By making exercise a social activity, you help your co-workers meet their goals and make the contest more of a shared experience.

Guest Speakers

• Arrange to have guest speakers, such as personal trainers or athletes, speak to your group to motivate and educate your contestants. Many corporations have motivational speakers with which they work; see whether your company can schedule a motivational speaker in support of the contest.

Challenge a Rival Office

• If applicable, coordinate a contest between rival departments, such as sales vs. accounting, or among all departments; this works better in large organizations. By simultaneously having a contests among departments, you can help develop a sense of community among the separate teams. Establish a prize for the winning team, but also honor individual accomplishments.