Trainer Bob Harper, of "The Biggest Loser," has teamed up with health insurer Anthem to promote healthier habits. He kicked off the effort with a beach workout in Santa Monica, CA.

We joined ubiquitous celeb trainer Bob Harper, who can be seen on season 12 of NBC’s The Biggest Loser when it premieres Sept. 20, for a seaside workout recently outside the swanky Casa del Mar hotel in Santa Monica. The Los Angeles-based Harper led the strenuous partner fitness demo for female bloggesses to call attention to health insurer Anthem’s new Health Footprint campaign — a RealAge-style health assessment that weights your social-media clout heavily in its scoring. (We, for example, beat our workout buddy by 5,000 points, due no doubt to our multitudinous Facebook friends. You don’t have to be an Anthem member to use the calculator: You can see how you score here.)

Harper’s and Anthem’s point is a serious one, however, which is that we have more influence over others than we may be aware of, as positive or negative role models. Speaking of America’s unhealthy-lifestyle crisis, Harper says, “It’s a war out there. I see so many people who’ve just lost their way; they don’t know what to do.” He adds that social support is the key factor in making weight loss sustainable: “Losing the weight is the easiest part.”

The cost of members’ unhealthy lifestyles as reflected in chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart ailments is very real to large insurers. Anthem Blue Cross president Pam Kehaly observes that only 20 percent of the company’s insured drive about 80 percent of its spending. Annual obesity-related disease costs, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, are now at $168.4 billion, which is 16.5 percent of the nation’s total health-care expenses. That’s why the company is encouraging members and nonmembers alike to connect through its Facebook page and vie to win a personal training session with Harper.

Do you believe you can inspire others toward healthier habits?

Tags: America, Annual obesity-related disease, Anthem, Bob Harper, Business/Finance, Casa del Mar hotel, chronic diseases, Diabetes, Facebook Inc, Harper, Health insurance, Health/Medical/Pharmaceuticals, healthcare expenses, Los Angeles, National Bureau of Economic Research, NBC Limited, Pam Kehaly, president, RealAge, RealAge Inc, social-media clout, The Biggest Loser, USD, WellPoint, WellPoint Inc.