Roundup, week of April 4th

What Happened Last Week?

We had a good time discussing the merits of having buddies to help us on the road to healthier weights and healthier lifestyles. If you have a buddy that would like to join our meetings, please bring them along! They can always check out a meeting for free.

Celebrations this week included a 5% celebration for Cheryl, a 5 pound star for Mona, and a 20 pound star for Sarah.

So What's Coming Up?

If you're disappointed that you're not making the celebrations list more often, this might be the week for you. We've already discussed how it's important to have goals. But this week we're going to relate that specifically to exercise. Having an activity goal can help you be more consistent, which is why...The Walk-It Challenge is back!

Once again you'll have the chance to join other Weight Watcher members in completing a 5K or other walking/running event. I'll give you the details in the meetings this week.

Linkapalooza

This past week has found me saving all sorts of links that are health-related that I want to pass along as food for thought.

New Health Bill - You Must Post Calorie Counts!

All right, let's just be CRYSTAL CLEAR here. I am not posting this to become a forum for political debate. But did you know that one of the little things included in the healthcare bill was mandatory calorie labeling for chain restaurants?

I feel like this could be a blog entry of its own - no matter how I feel politically, I find it hard to be emotionally distant from calorie labeling. I hate that it has to be legislated, but I can't tell you how much I love having easy access to it. In the last few months I've already used nutrition information that's popped up around town because of California's regulations. Once again, no matter how you feel about the politics of it all, if we have this information out there, we can certainly benefit from it...provided we pay attention to it.

Time Magazine: Overcoming Obesity

It looks like the folks at Time have done a whole spread on the topic. There are several articles, and I haven't had a chance to read all of them yet....

How Much Exercise Do You Really Need?

I saw a lot of headlines related to this study. Basically what they're finding is that to maintain weight, you've really got to spend a lot of time being active. That's not necessarily something to get discouraged about, just know that it will be an important part of your life...for the rest of your life. So make sure you love what you do. You'll need it!

92% of the Padres Roster - OVERWEIGHT!

Okay, this last one is a fun one. BMI is what Weight Watchers uses to determine their weight ranges. For most of us it works out as a good rule of thumb, but for professional athletes, it just doesn't really take into account the full picture. Having said that, I loudly proclaim any member of the Padres staff to be heartily welcome in my meeting rooms. I'll keep your weigh-ins 100% discreet, boys.

Thought for the Week

Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or to lose. - Lyndon B. Johnson