Improving Healthcare Worker Wellness Through a Workplace Weight Loss Challenge: A Quality Improvement Initiative

BackgroundOverweight and obesity are important health concerns among healthcare providers.Work-related factors, including prolonged sedentary behavior, occupational stress, long working hours, and irregular meal patterns, may contribute to weight gain, highlighting the need for workplace wellness programs that promote healthy eating and physical activity. MethodsTo address this issue, the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at King Fahad Armed Forces Hospital (KFAFH), Jeddah, designed a comprehensive weight loss program specifically for KFAFH staff, ensuring that they had the resources and guidance needed to achieve and maintain optimal health and well-being.The program aimed to achieve 10% weight loss while increasing awareness of a healthy lifestyle.The very-lowcalorie diet (VLCD) with total meal replacement (TMR) program consisted of four phases and lasted 12 weeks.Adherence to the program was monitored, and educational workshops and structured workout programs were provided to participants.To incentivize engagement, participants competed for valuable prizes throughout all phases.The Standards for Quality Improvement Reporting Excellence (SQUIRE) 2.0 guidelines were used to guide the planning and evaluation of this quality improvement initiative.