Resident has praise for Marlboro mayor's weight-loss challenge

I am writing to thank the mayor of Marlboro, Dr. Robert Kleinberg, the dedicated staff of the CentraState Healthcare System, and all of the local eateries and other facilities that participated, for the wonderful program known as the Marlboro Mayor's Weight Loss Challenge.

As a woman with a lifelong weight problem, I have lost and gained more pounds than I am willing to admit. I have followed a myriad of diets and programs designed to take the weight off. This was the first time that I participated in a weight-loss program at which I was not handed a prescribed diet.

This program offered to help you change your outlook, learn the nutritional facts necessary to "arm" yourself against the world of infinite choices, and help you make the right choice for you. Instead of following a prescribed recipe of foods, I am learning to go anywhere from a backyard barbeque to the buffets of Atlantic City, and to still lose more than my shirt.

It's all about choice, making the right choice, making the best choice when there is no good choice, and learning to enjoy the social interaction as much as the food and drink. A group of interested residents and those wonderfully dedicated professionals from CentraState plan on continuing to meet over the summer months and hope to bring the program back in the fall. I hope others will make the choice to join us for this extraordinarily worthwhile endeavor.

Ilene Chalupski

Marlboro