TYLER (KYTX) -- Like many people, Ivy Williams works in an office. "I sit at the desk all day and it's going to be a change because I'm going to get out more," Williams said.
Williams believes the Lighten Up East Texas challenge on November 3rd is extra motivation to do what she's wanted to for awhile.
"I'm going to incorporate more fruits and vegetables and stay away from as much sugar as possible. Also going to try to get my exercise up to an hour a day," Williams said.
Her goal is to lose at least 5 percent of her body weight and with a new car as the grand prize, she's even more willing to go the distance. "I'm claiming myself as a winner," Williams said.
Though it's tempting to want to see dramatic results, organizers are stressing healthy weight loss.
"We didn't become this way overnight, and we're not going to solve this problem overnight," George Roberts, CEO of NET Health, said.
And that problem comes with a price. "We have children who are having diabetes earlier than they ever have before," Barbara Bass, Mayor of Tyler, said.
To be considered obese you have a body mass index (BMI) greater than 30, and are overweight if it's over 25.
The official weigh-in for Lighten Up East Texas is November 3rd at Bergfeld Park in Tyler.
