It was back-to-school for New York students this week, but there was a new policy in place. This year, a new policy went into effect, and students are being weighed as part of their health certificate. The data will enable health officials to map childhood overweight and obesity trends based on location.

There are 12 other states -- Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia -- with some form of student BMI reporting.

As a parent, I'm not overtly opposed to it. In fact, I remember getting weighed in gym class and during all of my physicals in order to play school sports. I do have a couple of concerns, though. I would hope that student privacy is maintained and their weight isn't being taken in a line where all the kids could see the number on the scale. I would also hope that health and a positive body image is being promoted -- the self esteem of children can be a fragile thing and I hope it's being protected.

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It's not always possible to measure our food into precise little containers prior to eating to ensure we're getting a properly-sized portion. That's what we have hands for. And thumbs. And palms. Yep, everything you need to know about how much you need to eat is in your hands, says Makeover Momma, who writes for the new-mom set but has tips that can transfer to all of us. Check these out.

• A protein serving should be size of your fist. Makeover Momma suggests you focus on proteins like lean chicken or fish, an egg white omelet, or a serving of quinoa.
  
• Grains or carbohydrates should fill one cupped palm. Think one slice of bread, a cup of brown rice, or a moderately-sized whole grain bagel.
• Two tablespoons of anything is equivalent to the size of both of your thumbs. Use this guide for the peanut butter you spread on that whole-wheat bagel, fresh tomato sauce you pour over pasta, or the dressing you choose for your salads.
  
  

Two other tips from this wise Momma: Keep your servings to a variety of unprocessed foods whenever possible and eat only when you're hungry. Want more from this gal, who happens to think it's entirely possible to be fit, fashionable, and fabulous after kids? Click right here.

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I have no idea right now how healthy my heart is. I eat right and exercise well but I've got three factors stacked up against me in the heart department. One: Three years ago, I received the chemotherapy drug Adriamycin for the treatment of breast cancer, a drug known for it's heart toxicity. Two: Then I received radiation to my left breast and chest wall, right near my heart. While I used a special tube for breathing in order to move my heart out of the way at the exact moment beams of radiation zapped this critical area, there's a chance my heart was compromised in some way. And third: I then received 17 treatments over the course of one year of the breast cancer drug Herceptin, also know for it's potential to weaken the heart. Bummer that I had to endure these treatments. But as cancer logic has it, I should be so lucky to have a heart problem 20 years from now because it would mean I'd survived my disease for that long.

Really, all I can do to keep my heart strong now is to continue on a wise eating and exercise path. Which is what I plan to do. I can also take a few measurements to chart my heart health.

The folks at Reader's Digest say if I measure around my waist, above my belly button, and divide it by the circumference of my hips, I'll end up with a telling number. If it's 0.8 or less, I'm all good. Men: You want 0.9 or less.

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Do you remember back (way back for some of us) around the time we were about 11- or 12-years-old when sexual education started to be a regular unit in health class? Our fearless teachers managed to sit through all of the giggling long enough to explain the many technical details about growing up into men and women. As I've gotten older, I've learned a few things (whether through the experiences of friends or on my own) that I really wish they'd covered back then.

One of those things is the basics behind buying a bra. OK, I suppose it isn't really the education system's responsibility to make sure that you know how to get the right fit but it's still something that I think we girls need to learn as early as possible in order to save years of struggling through life in ill-fitting, uncomfortable brassieres.

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I love statistics. Don't let that "D" I got in my college statistics class fool you. I love reading these numbers, interpreting them, wondering how they fit into the lives of those who inhabit this Earth. Statistics catch my eye all the time. Here's one I just happened upon while strolling through the December 2007 issue of Family Circle magazine.

More than 65 percent of women haven't had their feet measured in five years. What's the big deal, you might ask. Well, feet can lengthen and widen over the years and wearing shoes that improperly fit can cause blisters, calluses, and ingrown toenails. You don't want that, do you?

Don't forget to keep tabs on your feet, especially if you use them for regular exercise. Knowing exactly how you measure up can increase comfort and decrease problems that might arise from putting the squeeze on your tootsies.

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Are you having trouble sticking to your goal? You're not alone, and although there are many possible reasons why consider if it's because the goal you're trying to stick to is unrealistic or unclear in some way. Often people set their goals too low (motivation is an issue), too high (risking disappointment), or they aren't specific enough with how they're going to measure it. But understanding different fitness benchmarks, and using them to focus and measure your goals, can fix all that and give you both clear direction and clear ways to mark your progress. It's hard to know where you're going if you don't know where you're starting from!

Use these benchmarks to set you're starting point, and your finish line:

• Heart Rate A great way to measure your physical fitness level and cardiovascular health is to keep track of your heart rate -- hence all the heart rate monitors on the market these days. You want to aim to be at around 50% of your maximum heart rate (220 minus your age) when you're first getting started, and work your way up to 75% as your fitness level increases.
  

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Body weight, BMI, body measurements, calories eaten, calories burned, ideal body weight, muscle mass, percent body fat...it seems like there is nothing but numbers flying around out there when it comes to measuring people's health! Do you know what they all mean? How do you measure your own personal fitness? Do know if it's really the most accurate for you?

Take this quiz and see how much you really know (I like it because it gives an explanation after each answer), and read this article for some great information (or do it the other way around and read the article first -- then you'll do a lot better on the quiz!).

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So if today is becoming a world of both computers and health problems, why not combine the two? Yanko Design has a new concept for a computer mouse that reads the user's heartbeat and other vitals while they work. It tracks the information on the computer itself and can, if it needs to, then send that information to family, caregivers, or even to the hospital at regular intervals for monitoring.

Although I'm sure no doctor would recommend bypassing regular vital checks by a professional for this little mouse gadget, it would be a nice way to stay on top of things and possibly even keep tabs on your stress levels while working. I think my productivity might take a hit, though, since I'd probably get all distracted checking the reading all the time and running little experiments!

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WebMD offers a neat interactive tool, which will help you find out how many calories you burned during various activities. Even though most tools like this offer an average guesstimate, not able to take in consideration your exact muscle/body fat ratio......it's pretty close and provides a reasonable guideline.

Use it not only to see how many calories you just burned, but also use it to see how much more you can burn if you take things up a notch. Inspiration is everywhere!

Elastic waist pants are the enemy to everyone trying to stay fit. Isn't it amazing how they allow people to gain tons of weight without having to acknowledge it? Are you one of those people in the stretchy pants? If so......go jean shopping. Jeans rarely lie. Neither does the scale.

I've had several new clients come in lately who underestimated their weight by well over ten pounds. How does that happen? Elastic waists. No.......I'm not writing this to pick on pants. I'm writing this, because lately I've experienced an influx of people who just have no clue where they are at physically. When they tell me they 'think' they weigh 146, but then find out they weigh159 when they land on my scale...alarms go off in my head.

Thirteen pounds isn't an enormous amount of weight to gain, but it's not irrelevant either. Do you think if they had weighed themselves weekly or even biweekly they would have put the breaks on before they gained that much? Yeah. I think so. I'm not a proponent of obsessing about weight. If you've read my blogs in the past you'll know that I NEVER concern over a clients appearance. That is their issue to deal with...