About two months ago, I took a trip to the gym I had belonged to for about two years.

Of the 24 months I belonged there, I'd say my active months, as with most gym memberships, were my first months to year.

When I joined my life was a little something like this: still in college, working two jobs and in need of some exercise, while I wasn't at Rutgers.

About a week ago, when I got home from work, I got asked to bring in the mail.

Upon opening our mailbox, I saw a magazine featuring Valerie Bertinelli, the now famous for her weight loss with Jenny Craig, spokesperson smiling at me and looking thin and happy.

Ugh!

In a day where celebrity endorsements usually help product sales, weight loss products and programs are no different.

How many of you have participated in a diet program or joined something that required you to get weighed to track your progress?

Well, I'm writing this so obviously I have.

Yesterday I had an appointment with my dietitian (I know, this is how all my blogs start, forgive me?).

I eat meat.

There’s a lot of debate about whether or not eating meat is good for you.

On the one hand people argue that meat gives you some nutrients not easily obtained by other non-meat sources. On the other, well just think about it, it’s just plain good for you.

With the emphasis on buying organic, many people stray away from the same things about meat that make others not eat it. Some people stay away from meat because they are against the way the animals are treated and killed.

To quote lyrics from Green Day’s popular and infectious anthem, Good Riddance (Time of Your Life), “Another turning point and a fork stuck in the road,” just about describes my situation right now.

Because this blog is personal, I am able to share this with readers:

I used to be on the right track to being healthy. My decisions, habits and behaviors landed me a one way ticket to health and normalcy.

While I had hoped to keep going down that road something happened and ever since, I have not found that same success.

Ipods. Wiis. TVs. Music.

What do these items all have in common?

They have transformed the way people work out and have distracted me, in particular, from staring at the time and counting down the moments until I finish exercising.

For me, the more distracted I am, the better because before I even step foot in a gym, my mind is already thinking about how great I will feel when I’m done with an extra focus on the being finished part. This does not apply to classes at the gym, strictly to working out on machines.