The groundhog didn’t seen his shadow, the snow is beginning to melt, and with that comes the painful reminder that warm months of outdoor activities are just around the corner with some of us carrying an unhealthy amount of weight.

Almost 60 per cent of adults aged 18 and over, or 14.1 million Canadians, are overweight or obese, according to The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.

This makes it convenient that March is Nutrition Month in Canada, which is meant to remind us of the importance of healthy eating and the positive impact nutrition has on our health and well-being.

This is about health, not the noxious pressure on bodily appearance created by the fashion industry and popular culture. Students, with their limited budgets, time pressures and the need to spend long hours in sedentary study, have particular vulnerabilities in the matter of fitness.

After the holidays, we tend to swarm to the gym for several months. But breaking a sweat is just one part of the way to a flat stomach. Exercise, although important, is not enough.

“One of the best ways to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight is to reduce calories, to increase activity and to maintain this changed lifestyle for life,” the Obesity Canada website states.

In a fast food age, incentive to spend extra time in the kitchen preparing a healthy meal seems lacking.

And just as we want our meals fast, we want to lose weight fast. Fad diets promising to lose so much weight or this many inches are generally not at all healthy, and in most cases, any weight lost will soon find its way back.

Eating nutritious foods can seem overwhelming, but combined with exercise it’s the easiest, healthiest, most reliable way to lose weight for good.

The Dieticians of Canada website offers advice on everything from keeping a well-stocked pantry and packing nutritious lunches to reading labels and saving money while shopping smart.

Between the stocks of healthy living cookbooks out there, and the tons of information found online, there are really no excuses for not eating well, and no reason to say it’s too hard.

Getting rid of the jiggle on those thighs should not be the goal behind trying to lose weight. Hell, trying to lose weight shouldn’t be the goal. Being healthy should be.