State Senator Aaron Bean is taking a page from reality television and challenging fellow legislators and their staff to lose weight for a good cause…or two.
The Fernandina Beach Republican kicked off his second annual “Biggest Loser” contest in Tallahassee Thursday.
Bean says participants weigh in with a nurse on the day they sign up and again at the end of the 60-day legislative session. How they go about shedding pounds in the interim is up to them.
“You are on your own. And you are personally accountable for your own weight and your own plan which is the way it is in real life," he said. "In real life we’re all accountable for our own weight and so, yeah, we think we can be examples.”
Bean says everyone pays a $20 entry fee when they sign up. A portion of that money, he said, will go to the Salvation Army this year. The rest will be spent on prizes for the winning losers.
Last year's biggest loser lost 40 pounds in eight-and-a-half weeks, Bean said.
Although the contest is limited to lawmakers and their employees in Tallahassee, Bean said anyone else who wants to take up the legislature's weight loss challenge is welcome to play along at home.
