Never arrive hungry. Count your appetizers. Limit ‘tastes’ while cooking. Divert your attention. Pace yourself.

These are just some of the suggestions for staff members looking to be successful in Region 16’s “Maintain Don’t Gain” Competition.

The competition is designed to encourage staff members to maintain their current weight while exercising at least three days a week. This hopes to curb the trend that most Americans gain between three and seven pounds over the holiday season according to keenan.com. Staff members will also pledge to exercise for about 30 minutes at least three days a week.

Mary Hrenko, Math teacher at Woodland, brought this challenge to the Region. She got the idea after attending boot camp at her gym. Being a physically active staff member, Hrenko was already focused on maintaining her weight but thought that staff members would be more motivated with the idea of competition.

“The pedometer challenge from last spring was so successful, I thought faculty and staff would just ‘eat this up’,” said Hrenko.

Staff members will form teams of five people and earn one point for each thirty minutes they exercise over a 10 week period. On the last day of the competition, January 16, 2015, participants will weigh in and decipher whether they maintained weight, lost weight, or gained weight. The winning team will receive a prize.

To help the staff members be successful, Hrenko has provided a list of acceptable and suggested activities to fulfill those thirty minutes. Some of these activities include biking, swimming, running, ice skating, shoveling snow, or zumba.

Whether it be staying away from sweets or finding a new favorite physical activity, staff members of Region 16 will be staying active during the “Maintain Don’t Gain” competition.