USA TODAY Weight-Loss Challenge Returns For 5th Year With Eight Weeks of Compelling Stories and Onlin...( Health Tips Blogs and Video Avail...),Health

Health Tips, Blogs and Video Available at dietchallenge.usatoday.com

MCLEAN, Va., March 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Monday, March 31, USA TODAY will kick of its fifth annual USA TODAY Weight-Loss Challenge. The eight-week series will run every Monday in print and on http://dietchallenge.usatoday.com.

Each week USA TODAY will follow the story of dieters who found ways to make significant changes to their lives, and their waistlines. These stories range from a man in Georgia who was triggered into losing weight after a his dentist refused to perform a root canal due to his high blood pressure; a woman in Michigan who fought to lose weight and get healthy after being diagnosed with stage four breast cancer; and a woman in New Jersey who lost 248 pounds and regained her slim figure and athletic lifestyle. All stories will feature before and after photos and will be available in print and online at http://dietchallenge.usatoday.com.

Ongoing features on http://dietchallenge.usatoday.com will include weekly videos with registered dietitian Edith Hogan offering tips and recipes for healthy eating; a selection of interactive menus featuring great 1,500-calorie and 1,800-calorie-a-day diets with dozens of exciting new recipes; an offering of menus that incorporate comfort foods cooked in a healthful way from Cooking Light magazine; a special deal on pedometers from America on the Move; and multiple blogs with a focus on weight loss and healthy living.

Three blogs will be written by noted nutrition and diet experts: Keith Ayoob an associate professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx works with overweight children and their families; Bonnie Taub-Dix is a registered dietitian in New York City and Dawn Jackson Blatner is a regi
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