Take It Off (and Put It On Your Blog)

Hi folks -- so as blogger John mentioned yesterday, this week, AOL and Good Morning America kicked off a 30-day weight-loss and healthy living campaign called America Takes It Off:

Now, as a lot of you know (because you're doing it), blogs are tailor-made for keeping track of your weight-loss and fitness progress, as well as sharing it with other people.

This is because blogs are by their very nature chronological -- the new stuff goes on top, and with archives, you have a moving, living record of your progress: You can see where you are now and how you got there.

Plus, it's easy to show off your photos of your new svelte self, and for other people to share tips and give encouragement via links and comments.

Anyway, if you'd like to create your own blog, just click this link: Create Your Blog.

Also, check out the community section of America Takes It Off, where they're featuring members's success stories, via links to their blogs, boards posts and galleries. And don't forget to check out the ongoing AOL Editors' Better Body Blog that Romy, Margit and Tammy do.

If you're interested in adding the America Takes It Off badge graphic to your blog or Journal (like in your "All About Me" section), all you have to do is cut-and-paste the following HTML code:

<a href="http://peopleconnection.aol.com/americatakesitoff"><img src="http://cdn.digitalcity.com/blogs/badge120x120.gif" alt="America Takes It Off" width="120" height="120" border="0"></a>

For AOL Journalers and AIM Bloggers, follow these steps:

1. In your blog's "All About Me" area, click the blue Edit button. (If you don't have an All About Me area, you can add it by clicking the blue Edit Journal button at the top ofyour blog, then click the link that says "Edit Layout and Features" and check the box next to "All About Me" to add it to your blog.)
   
   
2. On the Edit screen, take a look at the formatting toolbar. There will be an item that says "View as:", next to a pulldown menu that says either "Text" or "HTML":
   
   
   
   
3. Grab the pulldown and choose "HTML" -- this will put you in the HTML view and show the HTML tags that are normally hidden:
   
   
   
   
4. Copy and paste the HTML code above:
   
   
   
   
5. Click "Save" to save your the badge.
   
   FYI: If you toggle the "View as:" pulldown, you can switch between the Text and HTML views, which can be useful when you're editing an entry:
   
   

You can also copy and paste the badge graphic at the top of the page and paste it into the Text view of your blog, though working in the HTML view gives you more control (once you get used to the HTML tags).

Thanks -- Joe