Clinton schools nurse Renee Martin has completed statewide training aimed at preventing the rise of childhood obesity.

Mike Rank has a life-changing decision ahead of him.

The 32-year-old Houston television cameraman is trying to decide if he wants to pursue weight loss surgery — again. Rank had his stomach stapled when he was 25, reducing his stomach pouch, which enabled him to lose weight. But in the seven years since that procedure at a South Dakota hospital, his weight has inched back up.

Let them serve themselves. They probably won't dole out a supersize portion on their own.

Or pour drinks into tall, narrow glasses rather than short, wide ones; they'll think they are getting more (so will you).

Why do some people simply pack on the pounds effortlessly? It's not always genetics and it's not always gluttony and you can't always blame it on lack of exercise. Indeed, getting fat is often a result of some simple -- and easily correctable -- bad habits, especially when it comes to dining out.

M aywood Middle School teacher Melissa Norman, 31, never thought she could finish a half-marathon.

“As I was running, I found I had tears in my eyes a couple times when I would think about it,? she said. “I never believed I could do something like that.?

At 238 pounds, Melissa embarked on a weight loss program with her husband, engineer Darren Norman, 33, shortly after they were married in 2006.

From devising parameters to gauge your risk for metabolic disorders to identifying the virus that might be responsible for obesity, Dr Nikhil Dhurandhar, associate professor, Infections and Obesity Laboratory, Pennington Biomedical Research Centre, Louisiana State University System, LA, has been in the forefront of the battle of the bulge. Here, Dr Dhurandhar, son of well-known weight-management guru Dr Vinod Dhurandhar, talks about the damage that obesity can inflict on the body and the need to look at the bigger picture, beyond the conventional BMI parameter to gauge metabolic disorders among Indians.