By JOYANNA LOVE/ Senior Staff Writer

Nick Burnett will serve as a local encourager for Scale Back Alabama participants through the YMCA of Chilton County.

The location is serving as a weigh-in site for the program.

Scale Back Alabama is an opportunity for teams of two to help each other lose 10 pounds each and a chance at cash prizes. Both team members need to weigh in at the same time, then weigh out together nine weeks later.

Burnett will chronicle his journey through videos of weigh ins on the YMCA’s Facebook.

Allison Tubbs of the YMCA of Chilton County said Burnett was asked to participate in the videos because he is well-known in the community and already had plans to lose some weight.

Burnett said the motivation and accountability of having a partner are what appealed to him about the program.

YMCA Director Lori Patterson said the videos are designed to remind other participants to weigh in themselves. Weekly weigh ins at the YMCA are not required but are offered to Y members.

To achieve his goal of losing 30 pounds, Burnett plans on “doing a lot of cardio and really try to stick to the low carb diet.”

He said he was looking forward to “having a good time and being able to lose weight at the same time.”

Brannon Burnett, Nick’s brother, will be his partner for the program.

“We were talking about it over Christmas … while we were eating all of the Christmas and holiday foods, we realized we are both short and are becoming more wide than we are tall,” Nick Burnett said.

He said Patterson told him about Scale back Alabama, and it seemed like a good fit.

“If I can have someone hold me accountable, then I’ll come to the gym,” Nick Burnett said.

Without this accountability, he said he would come up with excuses for not going.

Ultimately, Burnett wants to get down to the weight he was when he returned from his tour of duty with the U.S. Marines.

To help them with their weight loss goals, Chilton County participants will have the opportunity to meet with a nutritionist from Scale Back Alabama. The nutritionist will be at Associated Foods on Feb. 23 at 10 a.m. to explain how to shop for healthy foods, what to avoid and how to properly read nutrition information on food packaging.