{"id":2067,"date":"2011-10-03T22:36:33","date_gmt":"2011-10-04T05:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.57.196.122\/~gdatwofo\/theavtimes\/?p=2067"},"modified":"2011-10-24T13:29:19","modified_gmt":"2011-10-24T20:29:19","slug":"lancaster-youths-take-challenge-to-lose-weight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2011\/10\/03\/lancaster-youths-take-challenge-to-lose-weight\/","title":{"rendered":"Lancaster youths take challenge to lose weight"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_1762\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1762\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"..\/?p=2067&amp;preview=true\" target=\"_blank\">Preview post<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theavtimes.com\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/131.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1762\" title=\"(L to R) Kenyon Rose, Dashond Newsome, Kayla Walker, Joseph Walker, and Yolanda English are taking part in the Weight Loss Challenge.\" src=\"http:\/\/www.theavtimes.com\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/131.jpg\" alt=\"(L to R) Kenyon Rose, Dashond Newsome, Kayla Walker, Joseph Walker, and Yolanda English are taking part in the Weight Loss Challenge.\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/131.jpg 640w, https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/131-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1762\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L to R) Kenyon Rose, Dashond Newsome, Kayla Walker, Joseph Walker, and Yolanda English are taking part in the Weight Loss Challenge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>LANCASTER \u2013 A group of Lancaster youths are on a mission to shed pounds for various reasons.<\/p>\n<p>For 14-year old Joseph Walker, it\u2019s about appearance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to lose as much as possible and turn my weight into muscle,\u201d says Joseph.<\/p>\n<p>For 18-year-old Yolanda, it\u2019s about health.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am trying to lose about 50 pounds at the most to get healthy,\u201d says Yolanda.<\/p>\n<p>Yolanda and Joseph are two of the first participants in the new Weight Loss Challenge created by the Healthy Empowered and Ready to Succeed (H.E.A.R.T.S.) organization.<\/p>\n<p>The Weight Loss Challenge kicked off on September 24<sup>th<\/sup> as part of the City of Lancaster\u2019s UNITE Program and aims to combat the obesity epidemic among children. The Antelope Valley reportedly has one of the highest mortality rates and cases of childhood obesity, Type 2 diabetes and other serious diseases in the nation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur goal is to promote healthy living and wellness in our youth ranging from ages 10 to 18,\u201d said H.E.A.R.T.S. Representative Natalie Boddie.<\/p>\n<p>The program sponsors 12 youths for a 12 week period. During this time, youths have access to a wellness coach to learn proper nutrition and guidance. Youths also take part in multiple healthy activities throughout the Antelope Valley, including bike riding, roller skating, jogging, and hiking. Youths weigh in periodically to track their progress, and their measurements are taken. \u00a0At the end of the 12 weeks, organizers remain in contact with the youths for a one-year period or until they reach a healthy weight goal, providing them with group support, healthy self-esteem building, and continual guidance in making healthy food selections at home, at school or while dining out.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf it works it\u2019s incredible, because nothing seems to be working right now and obesity seems to be a wave sweeping this country,\u201d said Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris. \u201cIt should work if they stay with the buddy system and encourage each other\u2026 really all it takes is 30 minutes of walking every day.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Youths had their first weigh in on September 24<sup>th<\/sup>. The next official weigh in is this coming Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>The AV Times will be following the youths throughout the Weight loss Challenge and reporting on their progress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LANCASTER \u2013 A group of Lancaster youths are on a mission to shed pounds for various reasons. For 14-year old Joseph Walker, it\u2019s about appearance. \u201cI want to lose as much as possible and turn my weight into muscle,\u201d says Joseph. For 18-year-old Yolanda, it\u2019s about health. \u201cI am trying to lose about 50 pounds [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":1762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2067"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}