You can do anything you want, if you want it bad enough.

That was the message Saturday afternoon from Florine Mark, president and chairwoman of the board of Weight Watchers, speaking at the University of Michigan Medical School’s Women’s Health and Fitness Day.

Mark spoke to a group of about 225 people who gathered at Ypsilanti High School for a day of workshops, speakers and fitness classes geared at teaching women how to care for their minds and bodies.

“I have two choices every morning when I get up: happy or unhappy,” Mark said. “(I ask) what can I do today to make me happy?”

The twice-widowed mother of seven shared her success story of how she went from an overweight woman with low self-esteem to become an active, healthy person who is now a leader of one of the country’s largest weight-loss companies.

Mark said she was forced to get a job in her early thirties when her first husband became ill. At that point, she was a size 20 and did not think anyone would want to hire her.

“I did not think I was good enough,” she said.

Mark, who said she had lost and regained 50 pounds on nine separate occasions using diet pills, was not able to successfully transform her life until she joined WeightWatchers and learned to eat right and exercise.

She told the crowd to stop making excuses and to set achievable goals. The payoffs, she said, are incredible.

Decades later, Mark has kept the weight off by continuing the WeightWatchers program, eating a healthy diet and exercising. She said the biggest reward, however, was more than just physical.

“It was the feeling of self-respect,” she said. “You will start to like yourself.”

Mark’s keynote speech ended the fitness event, which featured a morning’s worth of workshops regarding nutrition, exercise and mental health.

Ypsilanti resident and U-M employee Martin Stenzel was one of the few men to attend the event and said he came to improve his health. He took part in a Chinese cooking class so he could learn more vegetarian recipes.

“It’s been very good,” he said. “There’s a lot of good stuff.”

Janna Loechli, of Willis, chose workshops in musculoskeletal health, colon cancer and fitness. She said she couldn’t choose her favorite session.

“I think it’s excellent that we have doctors and other professionals doing the workshops,” she said. “They’re all going to apply (to my life).”

Erica Hobbs is a reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at ericahobbs@annarbor.com or 734-623-2537.