Three years of added life expectancy. Weight loss of almost 3 pounds on average. Increased vegetable consumption. Less people reporting days of depression.

Albert Lea residents got their first hard look at some of the results of the AARP/Blue Zones Vitality Project on Tuesday during the project celebration at Albert Lea High School.

While not all of the details were shared at the celebration, project leaders gave the Tribune a full list of results for the different initiatives of the project.

Blue Zones founder Dan Buettner said out of the 2,300 people who took the Vitality Compass, there are 1,400 people who still need to retake the compass. The more people who retake the compass, the more accurate the results for that initiative will be.

Vitality Compass:

 Increase in projected life expectancy by 3.1 years on average

 Weight loss of 2.6 pounds on average

 An 8 to 14 percent improvement in the following longevity measures:

Self assessment of health: People reporting excellent or very good health.

Depression: People reporting zero days of depression.

Vegetable consumption: People reporting eating two or more servings daily.

Fish and seafood consumption: People reporting eating three or more servings per month.

Social group activities: People reported participating in social activities more than once a week.

Adult participation:

 At least 21 percent of the adult population was directly involved in the project.

Children:

 One hundred percent of children in third- through eighth-grade (1,400 students) were reached about the project.

Walking school buses:

Five walking school buses started, with an estimated number of 80 children participating.

Moais:

 Four percent of the adult population participated in walking moais. They formed 70 teams, logged 2,276 volunteer hours, and walked 37,558 miles.

Employers:

 More than half of the city’s largest employers signed the employer pledge. Together those employers impacted more than 4,300 employees. Productivity has increased and absenteeism has decreased. Twenty-three businesses are exploring tobacco-free campus policies.

Grocery stores:

 Hy-Vee tracked 30 longevity food items. Comparing data from July through September of this year and last, there was an increase in growth sales of those items. Specifically, the store saw progressive growth of these items by 46 percent.

Restaurants:

 Twenty-four of 34 locally owned or operated restaurants signed a restaurant pledge. Trail’s Family Restaurant has seen the half-size portions increase by 100 percent, while the super large meals are down. French fries sales are down.

Cooking classes:

 More than 320 people attended cooking classes.

City government:

 The Albert Lea City Council amended the Comprehensive Plan to include recommendations from national expert Dan Burden on how to make the community more walkable and bikeable.

 The City Council adopted the first complete bicycle system map.

 The council amended the subdivision ordinance to require sidewalks in all new development.

 The city spent four times the typical amount on sidewalks in 2009, building 1.7 miles of sidewalks.

Neighborhood picnics:

 Twenty-one new neighborhood picnics were held with more than 1,700 people participating.

Community gardens:

 The city had 70 community garden plots; because of a demand for more plots, 46 were plowed and rented.

Purpose workshops:

 Nearly 1,000 people attended one of the five workshops.

Volunteers:

More than 150 people volunteered as ambassadors for the project.

 The Freeborn County United Way launched a new volunteer matching Web site.

 Moais logged 2,276 volunteer hours.