PROVIDENCE — So you have made your New Year’s resolution. This is the year, you tell yourself, that you will lose weight.

Help is out there from Shape Up RI, a group founded by Brown University medical student Rajiv Kumar to reduce obesity in Rhode Island.

People seeking to lose weight are organized into teams and receive support from Shape Up RI staff, which is financed in part by Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island, the state’s largest medical insurer. Team members receive an aqua-colored wristband, a digital pedometer and access to Shape Up RI’s online Team Tracker system, which helps participants stay on top of their progress.

“Shape Up provides a service that is greatly needed in our community,” said James Purcell, president and CEO of Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island. “Rhode Island is facing a public health crisis, in that more than half of Rhode Islanders are now overweight.”

Obesity-related illnesses, including heart disease, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, colon cancer and depression add more than $300 million each year to health care costs in the state, Purcell said.

Last year, Shape Up RI helped more than 1,800 residents log almost 70,000 hours of exercise and shed 5,911 pounds.

Shape Up RI is supported by a group of prominent Rhode Islanders, including U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, Rhode Island Hospital president Joseph Amaral, state Rep. Gordon Fox, D-Providence, the House majority leader, First Lady Sue Carcieri and WPRI news anchor Karen Adams.

For more information about Shape Up RI, visit the group’s Web site at www.shapeupri.org or contact Maria Schiavone at (401) 421-0608.

“The solution to our national obesity epidemic lies in the power of teamwork and peer support,” Kumar said. “Shape Up RI is the answer — a way to activate and engage Rhode Islanders, build a strong sense of community spirit and harness the power of teamwork to change our attitudes and behaviors toward our health.”