Weight

Melissa Joan Hart may have been able to work magic when she played teenage witch "Sabrina" on television about a decade ago. But losing pounds after giving birth to her third child in September wasn't likely to happen with the snap of magical fingers. Instead, she reportedly turned to Nutrisystem for help in shedding the pesky pounds (20, so far). On Tuesday, Nutrisystem announced via news release that Hart, 36, is its newest spokes-celebrity. In that role, she'll be able to "explain it all" for you -- kind of like her character Clarissa did in another popular show from the early 1990s.

If we've  learned anything from March Madness, it's that an office pool is fun: It not only holds out the promise of a financial windfall; it pits us against our co-workers in vying for the payoff.  So when it comes to tackling obesity, could the same combination of inducements work to trim workforce fat? A new study , published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, says it can. At Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, 105 employees who were obese (having a body-mass index between 30 and 40)

Weight-loss programs at work can help people shave pounds and keep them off, researchers said in a new report. Among the people who signed up for a six-month program at two Boston-area workplaces, the average weight loss was more than 17 pounds; among the control group, people gained an average of about 2 pounds, the researchers said in the April issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. "Worksites have the potential to become a central element in national efforts to reduce obesity because the majority of adults work and worksites offer naturally occurring social groups that, in theory, could facilitate weight control, the researchers from Tufts University and Massachusetts General Hospital wrote.

Mathematician Tim Chartier has the best job on Earth once a year: when the NCAA men's basketball tournament begins, so does March Mathness. His telephone rings, he's on the radio, he's talking to ESPN, and for once he can explain what exactly he does for a living at North Carolina's Davidson College. “For the first time in my life I can talk about what I'm doing, on a higher level, and people understand,” Chartier said. What Chartier does is use complex math to win the Final Four pool on a regular basis.

Employees at one of the nation's largest drugstore chains must disclose personal health information -- including their weight -- or pay a $600-a-year fine, according to a published report. CVS Caremark Corp. is requiring workers to reveal the information to their company's insurance carrier or pay an extra $50 a month for health coverage, according to the Boston Herald. CVS could not immediately be reached for comment. But a spokesman told the newspaper that “our benefits program is evolving to help our colleagues take more responsibility for improving their health and managing health-associated costs.” Employees must reveal their weight, height, body fat and blood pressure, the paper reported.

Blue Ivy's mom, Beyoncé, is opening up about motherhood, her struggle to lose her baby weight, and specifically, the example she wants to set for her daughter. "I just adore being a mother, hearing her say 'Mama' and call me when she needs something, it makes me feel like I have a real purpose here," the singer said in the April issue of Shape magazine, whose cover she graces. I enjoy all the things people warned me would be tough to handle. " Queen Bey is already a role model to millions of women and proved her star power with her powerhouse performance at this year's Super Bowl.

This post has been updated to include comments from a researcher and an American Heart Assn. spokeswoman. Giving toddlers skim or 1% milk to keep them from growing overweight doesn't seem to work, according to a study out Monday that gives pause over the common advice to avoid whole milk from age 2. Researchers led by Dr. Mark DeBoer of the University of Virginia School of Medicine looked at 10,700 U.S. children at age 2 and 4, and found that...

Kourtney Kardashian cried on the latest episode of "Kourtney and Kim Take Miami" and the tears flowed courtesy of her baby weight and boyfriend Scott Disick. On Sunday's episode of her reality series co-starring sister Kim Kardashian, the eldest Kardashian sister, 33, stepped on a bathroom scale to monitor her weight-loss progress since she gave birth to daughter Penelope last July.  The petite mother of two weighed in at 115 pounds after reportedly gaining 45 pounds during her second pregnancy.

Attention smokers: Have you been putting off quitting because you're afraid you'll gain weight? Do you tell yourself that those extra pounds will be just as damaging to your heart as cigarettes? A new study says it's time to get real and kick the habit. Yes, American smokers typically gain nine to 11 pounds in the first year after they quit. And yes, those extra pounds are hard to get rid of. It's true that being obese - especially for people who have type 2 diabetes - can lead to complications from cardiovascular disease.

Dieters may want to forget episodes of falling off the wagon, but researchers say an attentive memory for what is eaten could help people eat less at their next meals. So sitting at a movie with a bucket of popcorn holding perhaps a day's worth of calories might be a bad idea for the present and the future, the research in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests. In an analysis of 24 studies , the researchers found that while distractions can lead to increased eating, that distraction is even more influential on later eating.