JOHNSON CITY - Meier Supply Co. Inc., a Johnson City-based wholesale distributor of heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration equipment, says its employees lost more than 550 pounds in a companywide, eight-week weight-loss challenge.

The business is anticipating the collective weight loss will also help trim its health-insurance premiums, but as of now, President and CEO Frank A. Meier, Jr. isn't sure just how much his company might save.

Meier Supply announced in July plans to hold a "Biggest Loser" competition to encourage its employees to lose weight, much like the NBC television series of the same name. The competition started July 18 and ended Sept. 13.

Several of the employees at the 45,600-square-foot distribution center in Johnson City are active in recreational fitness, so they decided to get more employees involved, Meier says.

About 45 of the company's 116 full-time workers participated in the voluntary contest and lost a total of 556 pounds, Meier says.

Meier Supply, which also has a Syracuse location, is now large enough to be in its own "experience-rated" health-insurance pool through Excellus BlueCross BlueShield. So, the medical costs the company's employees incur directly relate to its future insurance premiums, says Meier.

"I fully believe that going forward that projects like this will save us money, without a doubt," he says, even though he wasn't able to put an exact number on the potential savings.

Meier figures the savings could result from lower health-insurance rates, or From simply keeping a healthier, experienced employee longer and saving on the costs of training someone new.

The company paid out nearly $900,000 in health-insurance benefit costs in 2007, a figure Meier called "a staggering amount."

Under its current structure, Meier Supply pays for 75 percent of an employee's health-insurance premium, while the employee handles the remaining 25 percent.

Meier called the company's fitness challenge a "win-win" situation for his company.

"There's no doubt we'll be doing something like this again," he says.

Meier Supply partnered with Live Fit Training of Vestal, a company operated by Frank Meier's wife, Traci Meier, a personal trainer who provided participating employees with access to an online program, from which they could privately track their own progress.

The employees were divided into teams comprised of between two and 10 members. Traci Meier also provided each team with its own home page so members could communicate with each other and track their weight-loss progress.

Employees' exercise included walking, biking, lifting weights, and other activities they felt comfortable doing, the company says. Live Fit Training also provided team members with a "Biggest Loser Diet Plan," similar to the plan used on the network television series.

To level the playing field for all participants, regardless of weight-loss goals, weekly challenges were based on weight-loss percentages, not actual pounds lost.

Employees reported their results online, and the contest involved the honor system for submitting information. Specific personal information was kept confidential and then compiled into team results or into percentages for personal results.

The contest didn't involve any one-on-one personal training, the company says, and Meier Supply doesn't have an in-house fitness center, so employees exercised away from the workplace.

The individual "Biggest Loser" winner received a $250 American Express gift card, plus an extra night stay and dinner at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino, where Meier Supply will hold its annual holiday party.

Meier Supply employs 116 full-time workers and between nine and 15 part-time workers, including 30 employees at the distribution center in Johnson City and 12 at the office in Binghamton.

The company also employs eight full-time employees and one part-time worker at its 23,000-square-foot facility in Syracuse and four full-time and two part-time workers in Utica.

All told, Meier Supply has 17 locations in New York and Pennsylvania.

Meier wouldn't disclose the company's annual-revenue figure, but indicated the business generated revenue "greater than $30 million" in 2005.

He expects revenue growth of 10 percent in 2008.

The company owns several of its buildings, including the locations in Binghamton, Syracuse, and Utica.

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