What: Lighten ME! wellness competition

When: Jan. 21-May 1

Cost: $15 per person

To register: www.lightenme.org

Wellness effort getting under way

LEWISTON – Lighten ME!, Maine’s statewide team wellness competition, will begin Jan. 21 and conclude May 1.

The program is registering teams from now until Feb. 29. Those who sign up before Jan. 21 will receive free T-shirts.

Teams participating in the 102-day program compete in weight loss or exercise divisions, or both, for the same registration fee of $15 per person.

Lighten ME! has helped Mainers shed unwanted pounds and become more active since 2004. In that time more than 3,500 adults on teams of between two and 10 people have reported weight loss of more than 30,000 pounds and exercise of more than 1 million miles.

Competition is the key to the program’s success, said Maine Games Executive Director Jeff Scully of Saco.

“Nothing is more motivating than competition, for most adults,” Scully said in a prepared statement. “So when teams of co-workers from one company can compete with teams from other companies, organizations, schools and other groups, it’s easy to get excited and keep moving.”

Lighten ME! is a Web-based program, so participants need access to a computer hooked up to the Internet. Registered teams will be able to see standings, find health and nutritional information, and stories featuring teams and participants during the competition each week.

Each participant on every team receives their own personal Web page where they can anonymously log their personal information such as starting weight, weight lost and exercise miles. Nobody on their team ever sees that information.

In addition to calculators and conversion tools, the Web site offers short video exercise clips, pod casts of health and nutrition news, customizable health news tickers, inter-team chat rooms and team blogs.

Lighten ME! is offered by the Maine Games, an Olympic-style sports festival.