Are you struggling with the need to lose a few pounds? Are you taking blood pressure medication and know you could possibly stop taking it with a better diet? Do you have a family history of heart disease and understand that by being overweight you’re increasing your risk of coronary artery disease by 32 percent?

If you answered yes to any of these, I invite you to participate in Scale Back Alabama.

Scale Back Alabama is a free, state wide weight-loss program designed to help Alabama’s adults eat less and move more.

The 10–week program will celebrate its 10th anniversary this year and is designed to capitalize on those New Year’s resolutions and create a fun atmosphere for weight loss and physical activity.

After 10 years, this should be the best year ever.

Here are some of the basic guidelines that must be observed in order to participate:

* You must be 18 years of age or older and live and/or work in Alabama.

* Those who have had a weight-loss surgical procedure will not be eligible to participate until one year after surgery.

* Those who are pregnant, or who become pregnant, are not eligible to participate.

* If your BMI is under 20, you do not need to participate in this program. Please see instructions on the website for calculating your BMI.

* You have to be on a team of two to participate, no more and no less (this is new for this year).

* Once you sign up with someone, you can’t switch. And, unfortunately, if a team member has to drop out, the team isn’t eligible for the grand prize drawing. However, the remaining participants is eligible for individual prize drawings.

* You can only participate on one team.

* Team members register online at www.scalebackalabama.com. Please note, both team members must provide their information in order to submit the online registration.

* Teams must weigh-in at an official Scale Back Alabama weigh-in site during the week of Jan. 25-31 and weigh out the week of April 11-17. In other words you can’t weigh our own team.

* Participants should wear normal attire for weigh-ins. Bulky items, such as overcoats, purses, work boots, etc., will not be allowed. Participants should remove shoes when weighing. (Individuals who have medical reasons for wearing certain shoes or other apparatus should check with the local coordinator to see how they might be accommodated).

Also there are more prizes this year. With smaller teams, the prize money will go further, so here’s what you could win:

Grand prize drawings: This drawing is for all teams on which both team members lost at least 10 pounds.

Three teams will get $1,000 per team member.

Three teams will get $500 per team member.

Three teams will get $250 per team member.

Individual prizes: This drawing is for all individuals who lost at least 10 pounds, regardless of the other team member’s weight loss. There will be 40 of these names drawn for $100 cash prizes.

To participate, register at www.scalebackalabama.com or if you don’t have access to the Internet, we will have paper registration forms that can be completed when you come for your first weigh-in.

The dates and times for the official first weigh-in at the Dallas County Extension Office, which is located at 429 Lauderdale Street in Selma, are:

* Monday, Jan. 25 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

* Tuesday, Jan. 26 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

* Wednesday, Jan. 27 from 9 a.m. to noon

* Friday, Jan. 29 from 9 a.m. to noon

For more information, contact the Dallas County Extension office at (334) 875-3200.