Pick up a fitness magazine or any weekly rag at the checkout counter (or just tune into one of those late night info-mercials) and you’re likely to see one of these headlines:

-       “Secret Workout Of The Stars Revealed”

-       “No Time—No Problem. World’s Fastest Workout”

-       “Banish That Belly With One Simple Exercise”

-       “Blast Fat Fast!”

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Sometimes we’re tempted to forgo purchasing foods that are better for us by putting less healthier foods in our grocery cart simply based on price. It’s the “What a deal!” syndrome. We’re so used to thinking that a bag of potato chips on sale for $2.99 is a great bargain, yet will squawk at paying full-price, say $1.99, for a bag of fresh-cut baby carrots.

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Stress eating is probably one of our most encountered complaints I hear from members in the meeting room.  You know the drill—a rough day at work, school or with the kids can lead to a food frenzy. All good plans and intentions to eat healthy go right out the window. You reach in the pantry for a granola bar and somehow pull out a candy bar.  You open the fridge for a yogurt, close it and reach for the ice cream in the freezer. How does this happen? Why does it happen?

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The CDC and The American Beverage Association estimate that sugar-sweetened drinks account for approximately 7% of American adults’ daily caloric intake.

What do you make of that statistic? Well, the CDC  and other health-related organizations feel strongly that this is an issue that needs to be addressed. They feel that this rate of consumption is linked to weight gain, obesity and plays a role in diabetes. Then you have The American Beverage Association’s take. The ABA explains that a whopping 93% of daily calories come from other sources while a mere 7% comes from sugary beverages implying that it’s no big deal.

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Knowledge is power, guys. There’s a lot of push right now to publish nutrition information of foods on restaurant menus. It’s a hot-button issue. From early research, though, it looks like even when restaurants publish the information, many customers aren’t even looking at this information. That’s a shame because all of that information is right at our fingertips.

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A commentary by Weight Watchers member, Mary Brady, about Monday night’s Celebration of Success (An event honoring Metro Detroit area members who have lost 50 pounds or more.)

Last night, Weight Watchers franchisee owner  Florine Mark and her staff held their annual celebration for members who lost 50 plus pounds. Kayleen and I went with great anticipation. We were not to be disappointed. The first person I saw as we entered was Tuesday leader Sherry! She greeted us with joy and hugs and made sure we knew where her section was for our group. I felt immediate euphoria.

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Give that all-or-nothing attitude a second thought.

So what if you had to walk the last 1/4 mile of a planned 3 mile run. You finished, didn’t you? What’s the big deal if you shared an impromptu dessert with a friend? C’mon, you fit it into your program and (or) did a good job of practicing portion control. What I want to stress is that sometimes the gray area is good enough. Celebrating small accomplishments is important when starting a long journey. Claim these successes! It’ll improve your morale and your stamina.

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It’s audit time!  Don’t panic. You still have some time to do your taxes. I’m talking about it being a good time to audit our old food trackers. I hang on to each and every one of them. The producers of “Hoarders” may be knocking on my door for this habit alone.

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Do you believe in self-fullfilling prophecies? I do.

Here’s one reason why: If a Weight Watchers member (or anyone else who wants to get to a healthy weight) tells herself all the reasons why she or he CAN’T lose weight, believe them because they’ve laid out their own destiny.

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