Three months later, I’m 17 pounds lighter.

How did I accomplish this?

I don’t give all the credit to Weight Watchers, but I do believe that weekly weigh-in provides accountability I can’t get from myself. Much of what has worked for me didn’t come directly from a Weight Watchers guide.

None of it is revolutionary.

In fact, I’m mostly following advice I’ve written for The Post-Standard’s Health & Fitness section over the years.

See which of my strategies might work for you: (And below, please share your strategies for a future story.)

* I record everything I put in my mouth. On Weight Watchers, we count “Points Plus,” but some people count calories.

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Once you’re married with children, fitness and weight loss programs often fall by the wayside. Every day is filled with work and more work. In addition to your daily round of housework, cooking and childcare, you probably hold a job outside the home as well.  Busy, busy, busy.and I understand.

It’s no wonder that you collapse onto your bed each night, exhausted from a day spent doing things for others, often at the expense of your own fitness and well being.

Life, however, doesn’t have to be like that. Every day—in small ways—you can make food and exercise choices that will get you back into shape. Over time,

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So this past November and December I finalized an Abs course, called Abs Blueprint 1.0. The idea was to launch it as a paid course in late Spring of 2011. I wanted to introduce it at $27 to my newsletter, then add a few more modules and eventually release it for sale for $47. The goal was to create a laser-focused ab routine, skipping all of the movements that were a waste of time. The whole routine was based on the principles taught to me over 20 years ago by a golf pro that me and my workout partner met back in college. This guy had the best abs I had ever seen…and what he taught us worked way beyond any routine I have seen since. I

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As of February, the front labels of packaged beverages now include the total number of calories in containers of 20 ounces or less. “Liquid caloric consumption can be quite a significant contribution to weight gain so this is a tremendous effort to educate the public,” said Dr. Bartfield, who is part of the Loyola University Health System campus physician-led team of exercise physiologists, nutritionists and psychologists who work together to change the behaviors of those significantly overweight.

“Beverage containers traditionally ‘hid’ the nutritional content at the back in a small square with small print and cleverly listed just the calorie content per serving,” Bartfield said.

“Unbeknownst to those who are happily guzzling their favorite cola or fruit drink, most packaged beverages contain multiple servings, and most Americans fail to do the math on the total calorie count.”

Dr.

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The World Professional Martial Arts Organization named Coker to its Hall of Fame in January, a month after the International Federation of Martial Arts gave him a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Coker, 58, of Cicero, holds an 8th-degree black belt.