When we’re trying to lose weight, we all wish we had a few more days or weeks to reach our goal.

Participants of Health Quest are getting just that — an extra month to drop as many pounds as possible.

Originally, the public weight-loss initiative was slated to wrap up in early August.

But now the Health Quest finale celebration is schedule for Sept. 24 at 10 a.m. at Mount Berry Square mall in Rome.

That’s where it kicked off Feb. 26.

Health Quest 2011 is presented by the Rome-Floyd County, YMCA, Floyd Medical Center and the Rome News-Tribune. Mount Berry Square and Subway joined this year’s initiative as sponsors.

Amy Patterson, membership director for the YMCA, says details of the finale are still being organized, but she wants to make sure Health Questers know they have the additional month for weight loss.

Almost 300 people started Health Quest, some participating as individuals and some as teams.

Each month the top individual and a team win Subway gift cards and a T-shirt as the Subway Winners of the Month by losing the highest percentage of weight.

The June and July winners have just been announced.

The individual winner for June was Anna Beth Middleton, second place was Sam Johnson and third went to Jenny Ward. Team winners for June were Tons of Fun. In second place was Charlie’s Angels and in third was SOFAPA.

July individual winner was again Middleton, second place was Ward and third place was George Nix.

July Team winners were the WOPS with second place going to Tons of Fun and third to SOFAPA.

So far the individuals have lost a total of 534 pounds and the teams have lost 478 pounds for a a grand total of 1,012 pounds so far, according to Patterson.

The overall top winners will be announced at the Sept. 24 finale.

Doug Walker, Rome News-Tribune associate editor, was the 2010 Health Quest winner, shedding almost 73 pounds, a quarter of his body weight. Walker will be on hand at the finale to share how he has continued to keep the weight off.

During the course of this year’s program, participants have been able to access and health, fitness and nutritional information on the Health Quest website on RN-T.com.

Trainers from the YMCA have contributed columns about fitness and wellness. The Healthy Gourmet returned for the second year with personal and entertainment chef Kathy Patrick once again sharing ways to make cooking and eating both interesting and healthful. Nutritionist Barbara Carter shared information about what we need to be paying attention to in the foods we choose to eat. And Health Quest alums from last year — including Walker, Tara Nolan, Ellen Garrard — will also contribute to the Tales from the Treadmill blog.

Health Quest participants should continue to weigh in each Wednesday between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. at the YMCA through Sept. 21. That will be the final weigh-in to determine the 2011 winners.