Neither I nor my partner are willing to give up craft brews and southern cuisine to be healthy. We're both working on being Flexitarians -- eating more poultry than red meat, more locally raised, organic meat and more North Carolina produce than otherwise. We want to find exercises we ENJOY, and train our brains to grab an orange instead of a cheesy tortilla at snack time. Join us as we embark on our journey to be healthy, fit, and HAPPY.

So its Friday and once again I have found myself unable to work towards my goals... the reason this week, I caught a virus.

I went to the doctor Tuesday and she prescribed me some medicine that literally knocks me out whenever I take it. So I try to take it only when I need it.

Comedian Rosie O'Donnell is losing weight -- 15 pounds so far, she said on The Dr. Oz Show this week, shaking a fistful of belly fat in front of the camera.

She started her diet-and-exercise regimen on Nov. 6. She didn't say how much she hopes to lose overall -- disclosing only her goal of dropping a pound a week, one  Dr. Oz applauded as a healthy objective.

After decades of denial, O'Donnell knows her health depends on it.

After a week of jury duty and trying to get caught up at work, I am changing my plan and going with something a little more structured.

I'm not going to tiptoe around this. I weighed 144 pounds today, and it makes me want to throw up. What now?

Hello, my name is Ashley. I am a mother of two boys- a four year old and a 16 month old.

After having two kids, I find myself struggling to lose the extra pounds I gained when I was pregnant. As a working mother, I find it even harder. When I started working again in May, I was hoping that it would help me stop snacking all the time at home and get me away from eating whenever I get bored. However that hasn't been the case.

If fat around your abdomen is more dangerous than lower body fat, can some types of fat actually promote health? Raquel Schott of Harvard Health Publications shared this provocative report from the January 2012 issue of Harvard Men's Health Watch.

Happy new year! I'm fresh off a 10-day vacation, and y'all know what that means. The scale isn't looking as friendly as it did before that. Not horrible, though, just 1.1 pounds over my 5-pound cushion, so I will be able to get things under control quickly. (I hope.)

The avalanche of emails that awaited my return included a gem from TOPS Club, Inc. If you're unfamiliar with TOPS, it stands for Take Off Pounds Sensibly. (Here's where to find info on local chapters.) The group shared tips from a Texas member, Loisann Dulaney, who suggests we all mind our "Ps" and "Qs" as 2012 begins.

Community blogger Muriel Watson writes: Starting weight as of Jan. 1, 2011--  326/ Current weight --  236. Goal weight: 185.
What prompted you to start a weight-loss program? A photo taken of me during our Thanksgiving dinner in November 2009. When I saw it, I cried the whole way home! I lost my weight by working out at the gym 6 days a week and eating a low carb/lean protein diet.

Community blogger Teri Boggess writes: People joke about dealing with trying times by grabbing a pint of ice cream and some chips and curling up in front of the TV.

Now I understand. If I hadn't committed to the weight loss blog nearly a year ago, this would have been an ice cream-and-chips kind of year.