Here is today's edition of the Wednesday Weigh-In:

It's been an interesting week so far with first the NY Times article and now a couple bloggers on Good Morning America. What do you think of all this attention given to our community? What's good and/or bad about it? Would you participate in a piece if asked? Why or why not?

I think that the attention is a good thing. It was my discovery of weight-loss blogs that got me started. I saw a large number of regular folks who had weight to lose. They were losing it without pills or WLS, two things which, quite frankly, scare me shitless.

These regular old fat folks inspired me enough to start my own weight-loss program and to begin this journal. If more attention is shed on the subject, perhaps more people will be inspired to write their own program, start a journal, find support.

I have said this many many times (because it's true!), without the support of my fellow journallers, I wouldn't have started this. They helped me figure out that you can actually lose weight by eating healthy food and moving your body. It's simple stuff, not rocket science. We've all heard it until we're ready to poke sticks into our ears. It's a simple concept but it's not an easy thing to do. It's really difficult actually, but with support, it gets easier. Eventually, it becomes a habit to eat healthy food and exercise regularly. If you do these things long enough you will lose weight. It's really that simple.

I would happily participate in a story if I was asked. I did email Amy Harmon about the article, told her my story and sent her the link to my site. This morning, everyone who was in contact with her, was sent the following email:

Subject: NYT story on diet blogs
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 09:27:22 -0400

Hi, sorry for the belatedness of this email. My story on blogs devoted to weight-loss finally ran on Monday, Aug. 25 on the front page of the Times. I was out of the office without good email access, so I wasn't able to let you all know in time. But if you didn't see it, you can read it for online at the link below (it's free for a week). Many of you receiving this weren't quoted by name in the final version of the story (they are always shorter than we want them to be!) but all of you helped to shape my understanding of this quite amazing community, and I hope you see your collective contributions reflected in the article. Thanks so much to all who took the time to answer my questions.

here's the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/25/technology/25DIET.html

best,
Amy