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Caption + Comic hypnotist Rich Guzzi will perform Thursday through Sunday at Denver Improv Comedy Club and Dinner Theater. Courtesy.

"The Rich Guzzi Comedy Hypnosis Show," 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Sunday; "XXXtreme Hypnosis Show," 9:45 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Denver Improv Comedy Club and Dinner Theater, The Shops At Northfield Stapleton, 8246 E. 49th Ave, No. 1400, Denver, $18-$20; 1-303-307-1777, denver.improv.com

For all the naysayers who believe hypnotism is fake, comic hypnotist Rich Guzzi has one word for them: vomit.

He laughs as he recounts the time an audience member on stage was in such a deep trance he got sick.

"He thinks the person next to him is farting on him," said Guzzi. "I told him it was getting smellier and smellier. He must have had a weak stomach because he threw up all over this guy's boots. I say it's pretty hard to fake that."

Guzzi will perform Thursday through Sunday at Denver Improv Comedy Club and Dinner Theater, including two "XXXtreme Hypnosis Shows" for a more adult crowd.

The stand-up comedian and certified clinical hypnotherapist was an early convert to the power of hypnotism at 14, when he found a how-to booklet and used it to help a friend catch more footballs during games. Intrigued, he kept at it, even as he worked as an auto mechanic by day and a comic by night.

It was at one of those shows he decided to bring up a couple of audience members and attempt to blend the two worlds together. It worked. Audiences loved to watch Guzzi quickly talk their friends into a trance and have them do goofy things. And while it was certainly good for laughs, Guzzi also saw how beneficial it could be to help people quit smoking, lose weight and become more positive.

"The show is about the power of the mind," Guzzi said. "It's a comedy show but the real benefit is it trains and shows you that you have the power to do anything you want. Once you can control your mind you can control your life. You can go out into the world and make the world a better place."

During a typical show Guzzi will ask for volunteers and bring up about 15 people on stage. It takes him two and a half minutes to knock out the audience members by slowing their brain cycles down through various methods, including finger snapping and physical touch.

"It's a numbers game," he said. "Ten percent are natural subjects. Ten percent are really difficult. Everybody else is pretty much in the middle. Everybody can be hypnotized under the proper circumstance and in a certain amount of time. I have to act fast because the audience is getting bored with the hypnosis stuff."

With everybody safely under his spell, he starts out with easy gags involving the sensory receptors. That includes telling the volunteers they're getting colder and then hotter.

"You can see people start sweating and fanning themselves," he said. "Now I tell them it's cold and to hug the person next to you to keep warm. It could be two big burly biker guys next to each other hugging and the plot thickens."

See the rest here:
Comic hypnotist Rich Guzzi will make a stop in Denver - Colorado Springs Gazette

Nutrisystem Inc (NASDAQ:NTRI)

Q4 2016 Earnings Conference Call

February 27, 2017 05:00 PM ET

Executives

John Mills - Managing Partner at ICR

Dawn Zier - President and CEO

Mike Monahan - CFO

Keira Krausz - Chief Marketing Officer

Analysts

Frank Camma - Sidoti & Company

Mitch Pinheiro - Wunderlich Securities

Linda Bolton-Weiser - B. Riley

Alex Fuhrman - Craig-Hallum Capital Group

Matthew Gall - Barrington

Chris Krueger - Lake Street Capital Markets

Mitch Pinheiro - Wunderlich Securities

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to the Nutrisystem Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2016 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. An interactive question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Mr. John Mills of ICR. Thank you. You may begin.

John Mills

Thanks, Matt. Good afternoon everyone, and thank you for joining us to discuss Nutrisystems fourth quarter and full-year 2016 financial results. Today Dawn Zier, President and Chief Executive Officer, will provide an overview of the business and insight into the 2017 diet season. Mike Monahan, Chief Financial Officer, will review the fourth quarter results and provide first quarter and full-year 2017 financial guidance. And Keira Krausz, Chief Marketing Officer, will review and provide insight into the companys marketing initiatives. We will then open up the lines to take your questions. Please note, on todays call we would appreciate participants to limit themselves to two questions and rejoin the queue for any follow-up questions.

Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that during this conference call, Nutrisystem management will make certain forward-looking statements about its outlook for 2017 and beyond that involve risk and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements are generally preceded by words such as believe, plan, intend, expect, anticipate, or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are protected by the Safe Harbor contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risk, and changes in circumstance that are difficult to predict, and many of which are outside of the companys control.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ from expectations include, but are not limited to, those factors set forth in Nutrisystems filings with the SEC. Nutrisystem is making these statements as of February 27, 2017, and assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any of the forward-looking statements made during this call. In addition to the GAAP results, Nutrisystem will provide certain non-GAAP financial measures on this conference call. Nutrisystems earnings press release for the fourth quarter and full-year 2016 can be found under the News Release link on the Investor Relations page of the companys website at nutrisystem.com. The tables attached to the earnings release include reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures to the most direct comparable GAAP financial measures.

And with that, I will turn the call over to Dawn Zier.

Dawn Zier

Thank you, John, and thanks everyone who has joined. Today I'm pleased to report our third consecutive year of double digit revenue growth at 18%. We were also able to grow our earnings per share by 34% as our business continued to scale and we maintained a disciplined approach to cost management. These result exceeded our full-year revenue and earnings per share expectations. Based on our performance of the first two months of the diet season, Im pleased to share that we are on trajectory to deliver our fourth consecutive year of double digit revenue growth in 2017 led by the continuing strength of our core brand NutriSystem. We focus on several strategic areas in 2016 that just set up for success in 2017 and beyond. Let's start with product innovation. Turbo 10 resonated well with consumers in 2016 as did Uniquely Yours and our other flexible meal option. Our science based clinically supportive programs appeal to a broad set of consumers looking to safely and effectively lose weight. Lean 13 which we launched for diet season 2017 appears to be another home run resonating with new and existing customers.

Next, we had tremendous success this past year growing our shakes and a-la-carte sale. Our shakes are an important component of our program and are also available as an ala carte option. With now many customers adding ala carte products to their program and migrating to more flexible options as they continue on their weight loss journey. We expect continued growth of these products offerings throughout 2017. Third, NutriSystem continues to attract new customers and win back former ones. Our advertising messages resonate and we set a high bar for efficient and successful marketing campaigns in 2016 as our media team creatively capitalized on TV viewership space, while simultaneously testing across many new digital channels. Were seeing continued breakthroughs in 2017. Keira will go into greater details in her remark. Fourth, new customer growth achieved over the past three years feeds 2017 reactivation pool. Our pools continued to grow; we are offering more options and as a result have seen revenues increase due to both volume and rate. Reacs, as we refer to them, are very profitable since the majority of marketing costs are assigned to new customers.

Turning to retail. We remain stable at Wal-Mart and made continued progress in expanding into the grocery channel. We anticipate modest growth for retail in 2017 and although retail remain a small part of our total business, we believe it provides a halo effect to our direct business and it's an attractive opportunity for us as an alternative sales channel to some products. And last but certainly not least the South Beach Diet. It's hard to believe that we just acquired the brand a little over a year ago, just the brand, and have taken it from concept development to product actualization. I'm happy to report that in January we showed strong consumer interest in the South Beach Diet. We plan to build and capitalize on this brand equity as we fine tune key levers that drive length of stay such as pricing and product configuration. As with any new product launch, optimization continued iteration is expected and we're deploying that same disciplined and methodical approach that we use our NutriSystem to South Beach. Our early read is that we expect the South Beach Diet to drive 20 to 25 million in revenue for 2017 positioning the brand for meaningful growth in 2018 and beyond as we build out customer pools and increased marketing spend.

In short, heading into 2017, we believe our core NutriSystem brand is stronger than ever and its not one thing that is working right, its many things. We expect our direct to consumer business to continue to be the major driver of growth in 2017. Furthermore as I just mentioned, the steps we took to build on our multi-brand strategy have us well positioned for addictive growth through the South Beach Diet brand and more flexible options including ala carte coupled with state of the art marketing engagement tool will continue to extend our relationship with the customer and deliver additional lifetime value.

I will now turn the call over to Mike who will walk through our 2016 financial results and discuss our first quarter and full-year 2017 guidance. After that Keira will add more color to the success were seeing this diet season and at South Beach.

Mike Monahan

Thanks Dawn, and good afternoon everyone. 2016 finished strong, revenue for the full-year 2016 increased nearly 18% to 545.5 million compared to 462.6 million last year driven by new customer growth, improved reactivation and continued improvements of the customer experience in our economic. Adjusted EBITDA and earnings per share increased 31% and 34% year over year for the full year respectively. Gross margin for the year increased 140 basis points to 52.9%. Marketing spend increased 23% further expanding our customer reach profitably. And marketing as a percentage of revenue was 27.9%. Revenue in the fourth quarter was especially strong and came in at 108.9 million, up nearly 21% year over year. We continued to benefit from increased viewership surrounding the presidential election. Adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter was 18.7 million with earnings per share of $0.29 representing year-over-year increases of 54% and 123% respectively. We invested 14.8 million of capital expenditures into the business during 2016 and finished the year with 33 million of cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments on hand.

During 2016, we returned 21 million of cash to shareholders through our dividend. Driven by the continued success of NutriSystem brand, we are projecting 2017 to deliver our fourth year of double-digit revenue growth. For the full-year of 2017 we are projecting revenue to be in the range of 630 to 650 million, adjusted EBITDA of 95.8 to 100.3 million and consolidated earnings per share of $1.55 to $1.65. Capital expenditures are projected to be 12 to 14 million for the full year. For the first quarter of 2017 we're projecting revenue to be in the range of 202 to 207 million, adjusted EBITDA in the range of 11.6 to 13.6 million and earnings per share of $0.14 to $0.19. We expect of course the first quarter of 2017 to be particularly strong due to favorable television viewership and timing of retail shipments. The revenue contribution for quarter as a percentage of the full year consolidated revenue should follow a similar cadence to 2016. Due to the success of Lean 13, our model assumes incremental marketing spend in the second quarter of 2017 year over year. This spent helps to drive full year profit but impacts the cadence of EPS contribution in the year pushing some of the Q2 EPS contribution into the second half of the year.

As Dawn mentioned were pleased with the launch of the South Beach Diet. For 2017, we expect the brand to drive roughly 20 to 25 million. Were excited that the customer response to our advertisements has been favorable demonstrating that demand for the brand and product is there. Through customer feedback weve recently learned that customers are experiencing some storage issues due to the freezer space constraints which is leading to delays in second shipments and some early cancellation. Unlike NutriSystem, our South Beach Diet currently has very few grab and go or non-frozen items available. To resolve this, the product development team is focused on introducing more grab and go offerings in the upcoming month. As a result, 2017 guidance factors in modest solution for the brand primarily in the first half of the year. We believe the South Beach Diet is resonating with customers and we are confident in its future growth. We are continuing to deploy marketing dollars to build brand awareness and the customer database, this will position the brand for growth and profitability in 2018. With each of our brands we are focused on and investing behind four core principals to support long-term growth. One, attract more customers, revenue from customers in their initial diet cycle were up over 18% year-over-year in 2016 primarily driven by increased customer starts, improved pricing and increases in upsell and ala carte sales. Our marketing campaigns and product improvements have been effective.

For the full-year 2017 we are projecting continued increases in new customer revenues due to increased product demand and our ability to profitability deploy marketing dollars to reach new consumers. Reactivation revenue continues to strengthen as a result of increased customer count and improved reactivation yield. We delivered nearly 33 million and 142 million of reactivation revenue in the fourth quarter and full-year 2016 respectively. For the full year this represents approximately 26% of consolidated revenue and 20% growth year-over-year. We expect reactivation revenue to continue to be doubled to be double digit growth driver in 2017. Two, improve the overall satisfaction and economic contribution of each customer. The average customer profit contribution continues to expand as we introduce new product offerings and manage our cost of goods. Revenue per customer has improved due to pricing and product enhancement. This increase was also complemented by meaningful increases in upsell rates. Gross margins on an annual basis are improving due to increases in average selling price and effective management of food and distribution costs. For the full-year 2016 gross margins increased year-over-year by 140 basis points to 52.9%. 2017 guidance assumes additional improvement in gross margins as we continue to grow revenue per customer and manage cost of goods.

Three, extend our marketing reach. Marketing expense for the fourth quarter of 2016 was 23.9 million or 22% of revenue compared to 20.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2015. Our improved customer economics continue to enable us to deploy additional marketing dollars to attract more consumers. For fiscal year 2017, our Lean 3 campaign is strong. We are projecting increased media spend in both online and offline channels as we continue to profitably expand our customer reach. In 2017, year-over-year revenue growth is projected to be largest in the first quarter as we continue to see increased viewership as a result of the presidential inauguration. We are expecting viewership to return to more normal levels for the remainder of the year. Marketing as a percentage of revenue is expected to increase year-over-year due to two drivers. One media investments to support the South Beach Diet and two, improve lifetime value of NutriSystem customers enabling us to reinvest dollars to expand our media reach while still improving our operating margins. Retail continues to be an important channel for us. In addition to product sales, we believe having a presence in both direct to consumer and retail provides improved brand awareness. The retail channel is expected to grow in 2017 and reach approximately 35 million in revenue for the full year.

Four, invest in the business to support future growth. In early Q2 2017 we will be opening our fourth frozen warehouse to support increased volumes and reduce shipping time to the end consumer. We also continue to invest in our digital platform making improvements to our websites and enhancements to our tracking tools and content site. Finally, we are focused on the South Beach Diet brand and positioning it for top and bottom line growth into 2018 and beyond. During 2016, we returned 21 million of cash to shareholders through our dividend which has been consistently in place since mid-2008. Our business model remains capital efficient enabling us to both return capital to the shareholders and invest in strategic growth initiatives to drive shareholder value. The board of directors has declared a dividend of $0.175 per share payable March 20, 2017 to stockholders of record as of March 9, 2017.

I'll now turn the call over to Keira.

Keira Krausz

Thanks Mike, 2017 if off and running. We had an exciting January with the healthy rise in customer starts, continued growth in the popularity of our Uniquely Yours program and an increase in customer engagement via our digitally delivered content and apps which in turn enabled increases in incremental sales to existing customers. We expect to grow revenues from new customers by double digits in the first quarter. In addition, our ramp up of the South Beach Diet is going well and we are pleased to have two well known differentiated brands in the weight loss space. The keys to our continued success are many, but can be grouped into two main themes. First, we embrace trends in the larger consumer environment and adjust our offerings accordingly to serve consumers better in order to help more of them lose weight and improve their health in ways that are simple, effective and easy to follow. Let me share some observations about our world and then mention quickly how we seek to meet consumer needs.

The world is increasingly complex. We keep things simple to make it easier for people to take control. People want healthier food options at an affordable price, NutriSystem and South Beach food has no artificial colors, sweeteners or flavors; most of our South Beach food is gluten and our frozen food is as fresh as home delivery gets at a price accessible for millions. There is no such thing as a one size fits all loss approach. We now have two distinct approaches NutriSystem which allows people to eat favorite foods made healthy and the South Beach Diet which makes following to low sugar, low carb, high protein light snack. Everyone uses their mobile devices 24/7, we've invested to make our sites responsive, are optimizing for every device and have apps that support our customers and keep them connective, expect everything on demand, our counseling group is the most accessible in the industry, customers can email, chat online or call us seven days a week, 17 hours per day. Buying online and home delivery are now the norm. So we have a simple shopping experience and a supply chain ready to pick and pack each customized order of hundreds of items and deliver quickly. A second theme being that underlies our success in our team. We fight hard for every next inch of progress, employ rigorous analytics on our never ending quest to uncover problem, bring forward solutions, identify the next big opportunity and better serve our customers.

With those overarching themes in mind, we've had some specific breakthroughs that are making this diet season a success. Our Lean 13 program with clinically support results is quite strong and is attracting more new customers and reactivations alike. We've been able to expand our television reach. Were on more stations, more network, more shows in more dayparts. We've expanded our digital reach. We're able to use digital channels like display, social media, email and content marketing to introduce ourselves to new consumers. Our television channel is healthy and we're growing our digital channels so that we meet consumers wherever they are. Our Uniquely Yours program which allows customers to select from over 150 frozen grab and go items continues to grow. Last January, we shared that just over 50% of our customers choose Uniquely Yours. Now that percentage has jumped to 60% and we expect that it will continue to climb. We're happy that our freshest nutritious great tasting frozen food has become such a customer favorite. Our add-ons like ala carte items and shakes which we sell primarily to existing customers also continue to expand. More people are adding them to their orders and average spend per annum order is increasing.

Engagement with our digitally delivered content and apps is way up this year. NuMi users are up to 50% in January and we had over 26 million page views in one month. We had over a 1.5 page views on the [indiscernible] content site. This level of engagement demonstrates how much are customers look to us for simple credible advice. We are building what we hope are strong and lasting relationships. These high used platforms are also on their way to generating significant revenue as we have more ways of communicating with our customers throughout their weight loss journeys which means more opportunities to offer appropriate products. In addition to having a great start to 2017 for NutriSystems Lean 13 campaigns, we are equally excited to have launched the South Beach Diet. The programs nutritional approach with the focus on lean protein, healthy flats and low sugar with groundbreaking when Dr. Agatston first introduced it and we believe it is even more relevant and on trend today. We had a solid start to acquisition in January and spend in order to build brand awareness and start testing expansion opportunities. Going forward well be disciplined and methodical about balancing our desire to grow reach with a need to achieve a profitable acquisition costs for customers.

Now that we have the basic South Beach Diet customer acquisition engine up and running, we will employ the same quick and highly iterated approach to maximizing revenue per customer as we have used with NutriSystem. As a reminder its this approach that allowed us to grow the percentage of customers taking NutriSystems highest price program option from about 30% to over 60% over the past few years. It also led to success of price increases on our basic, core and Uniquely Yours program without lowering demand and motivated NutriSystem customers to add ala carte and shakes to their program. Frankly, maximizing our RPC and customer lifetime value is where our team excels. We hypothesize that having two strong brands in the market will allow us to expand more quickly and so far we are encouraged by our ability to attract new non-NutriSystem customers with South Beach. Perhaps because of the differentiation in die tapproaches, food portfolios and branding the vast majority of South Beach customers are not on the NutriSystem database and the overlap in new leads is low. This is a good sign that our multimedia strategy should generate long-term incremental revenue and EBITDA.

The addressable market segment is large and growing and the South Beach Diet should allow us to get a larger portion of the $10 billion to $15 billion opportunity. We believe every woman and every man has the power. The power to dream of improving one's body and health, the power to take control. Our job is to help by developing simple easy to follow effective programs and to communicate with customers anywhere they are anytime they need us. We look forward to the rest of 2017 in which NutriSystem and the South Beach Diet, two great weight loss brands expand side by side.

Now Ill turn the call back over to Dawn for some closing remarks.

Dawn Zier

Thanks Keira and to everyone on the call today for your interest in NutriSystem. As we head into 2017 we believe the NutriSystem brand is as strong as ever and our multi-brand strategy is taking hold. Based on our diet season performance during the past two months, we're well on our way to achieving our fourth consecutive year of double-digit revenue growth fueled by our continued focus on our key initiatives, proven business model and analytical rigor that drives continuous improvement. As we look to the future we are operating from a position of strength having not one but two powerhouse brands to help us extend our reach to new customers and capture more of the large addressable weight loss market. Our priorities are to, one, continue to grow the NutriSystem brand in a financial meaningful way. Two, continue to build our multiband strategy making us well positioned to achieve 20 to 25 million on revenues from the South Beach Diet in 2017 positioning the brand for meaningful growth in 2018 and beyond; and three, run a very disciplined business that is focused on topline growth through price and marketing innovation while not taking our eyes off cost. Im really proud of all that the NutriSystem team has been able to accomplish. The engagement across every level of the organization and the private eye employees take in helping people become healthier versions as themselves are extraordinary. The strategy and vision that the leadership team has said, outlines the path forward but it's the exceptional companywide execution that runs gold into results. So big thank you to the entire NutriSystem team for 2016 that delivered results beyond our expectations and for a great start to 2017.

With that Id like to open up the lines for questions. Operator?

Question-and-Answer Session

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Frank Camma from Sidoti & Company. Please go ahead.

Frank Camma

Just with respect to Mikes comments on the cadence of the guidance, because obviously that kind of sticks out, I mean so it's a nice jump in Q1 and granted I mean I understand you don't want to be too aggressive here and also you did get obviously the bump from the inauguration. But is there any reason to believe that the average customer for example wouldnt be as sticky later in the year. I mean I know you get a lot of visibility in Q1 but I wonder if you can just talk about that a little bit.

Mike Monahan

Frank, its Mike. As I mentioned on the call we expect the quarterly revenue as a percent of annual revenue to be reasonably similar to last year. On a year over year basis there's two reasons why the growth is a bit heavier in the front half of the year. First is timing of retailing QVC revenues, in 2017 the revenues from retail and QVC are a little bit more front loaded due to timing and shipments in the shows. And the second really has to do with the fourth quarter of 2016 similar to new customer acquisitions and reactivation revenue we're able to deploy a higher percentage of media dollars to attract customers in that quarter due to increased viewership as a result of the presidential election. So for this year in 2017 we modeled in more seasonal growth.

Frank Camma

Ill go back to my model. I was just looking as you're coming up against pretty difficult comp in Q1 and obviously youre going up against that even higher, so that was unusual. My other question was related to the gross margins since you talked about the expansion. Is there any reason to believe that the South Beach Diet, do you get a similar margin profile on that product or is it lower in the beginning since your scaling up? And thats all I have.

Mike Monahan

So we're still early on with the South Beach Diet, but we've modeled gross margins to be a little bit less than NutriSystem for the year but we continue to adjust the program and expect them to rise over the long term. But for 2017 the South Beach Diet isn't having a material impact on our consolidated gross margin.

Operator

Our next question comes from Mitch Pinheiro of Wunderlich Securities. Please go ahead.

Mitch Pinheiro

Yeah. Hey, good afternoon. That was a heck of a quarter and even probably better guidance, which I want to ask about. So when I try to sort of back in to new customer revenue growth for 2017. And if I take the bottom end of your guidance range and subtract the 35 million of reactivation revenue and call it, 25 five million of South Beach, I get to a number that somewhere, it looks like new customer revenue growth -- somewhere in the mid -- maybe mid to high teens. Is that about right?

Mike Monahan

Yes. And new customer revenue and reactivation revenue are kind of within the guidance ranges that we gave. So you're not far off. That's in the general direction of where it should be.

Mitch Pinheiro

And that feels like -- I mean so that's a continuation against, I think Mike you said 18% new customer revenue growth for 2016.

Mike Monahan

A little more than 18%. Correct.

Mitch Pinheiro

A little more than 18%. So that's also strong growth. I mean how do you see the components. Is it like an equal parts new customers, average pricing like the mix and want to stay, I mean how do we look at the components of that generally?

Mike Monahan

Yeah. So -- I'm sorry, go ahead.

Mitch Pinheiro

Well, generally speaking. I mean I know you don't get out exact, but just need to understand if it's weighed to more average pricing or mix or how do you look at it?

Mike Monahan

And so a large portion of our growth factored into the guidance comes from overall customers, the combination of new customers and reactivated customers that are driving it. Were also getting a good percentage from an increase in upsell rates. So these are things like our shakes and a-la-carte items that have been improving. And the next piece of it is the revenues were collecting from the South Beach Diet. So those three things are modeled into 2017 growth. We are getting a small benefit from pricing and length of stay, but those are a little bit less of the drivers we've factored into the guidance for 2017.

Mitch Pinheiro

And just follow-up on that, on like -- you talk about upsell, I mean how significant is the upsell component of the new customer revenue growth?

Mike Monahan

So we don't get the exact dollars for it, but where we're seeing an upsell is were able -- for new customers coming in, were able to sell about a third of those new customers, some sort of an upsell on their initial order and then we're also able to keep them a little bit more sticky after they're done with the program by selling them a-la-carte items in more of a transition sense.

Mitch Pinheiro

Okay. And then just so second question just around South Beach is when you look at just your initial feedback, the initial economics that you're getting, is there any material difference in the way South Beach is behaving on those metrics compared to Nutrisystem, core Nutrisystem. Is there anything fundamentally different that you've learned that is, that changes the way your longer term look at South Beach?

Mike Monahan

Initially, I can speak to initially what were seeing. So we launched South Beach as we said in the script, we launched the South Beach Diet with primarily frozen offerings. So after watching customer behavior, we're seeing slightly higher delay rates and second order cancellation due to storage. So people receive the product and they -- it's a little bit more difficult to Nutrisystem to set it in your freezer space. So this is the one issue that is impacting length of stay in the near term for South Beach that makes it different than Nutrisystem. But what we're working on right now and the product development team is going to be launching in the upcoming months are more Grab `n Go items. So these are things that you can put in your pantry that don't take up freezer space where it would look a little bit more like the product configuration Nutrisystem and we expect that to address the length of stay and have it come up closer to where Nutrisystem is.

Operator

Our next question comes from Linda Bolton-Weiser from B. Riley. Please go ahead.

Linda Bolton-Weiser

Hi. Congratulations on the strong growth. So when you look at the sales growth projections for 2017, it looks like it's about 16% to 19% sales growth, but then if you add back the $0.14 of investment in 2016 and the $0.03 from the [indiscernible], I mean really the EPS growth is like 14% to 21% is what I calculated. So it's kind of in line-ish with the top line growth. So am I thinking of that the right way? So I mean on a base level business, you're not really getting really a lot of margin expansion or am I thinking of that the right way for 2017?

Mike Monahan

Well if you're looking on an adjusted basis, I would say just looking at the revenue and taking out the South Beach revenue component that we've talked about because thats not really contributing in year one to the bottom line. That's going to be more of a long term into 2018 contributor. So if you look at the growth there, you're going to notice you should see that there is scale in the business where on an adjusted basis, the EPS is growing at a faster pace than the top line revenue.

Linda Bolton-Weiser

Right. I got you. So is South Beach like around break even in 2017 or is it actually a little bit loss making on the operating profit?

Mike Monahan

So we mentioned that there would be some dilution this year, primarily in the first half of the year for South Beach as we build the database.

Linda Bolton-Weiser

Okay. And then so I know you're probably still testing and whatnot, but I guess one of the things I always understood was the frozen food leads to higher customer satisfaction and longer lengths of stay. So I'm wondering if you [indiscernible] into the South Beach, do you think theyre going to have a compromise on the satisfaction or length of stay that you might otherwise achieve?

Dawn Zier

No. This is Dawn. No, we don't actually -- as Mike had said, the issue that were having right now is the freezer space issue where they cant fit all the frozen into the freezer and what we know from feedback from the customer is that it depends on what meal occasion you're talking about. So for breakfast and lunch, people do like to have some ready to go actions and for dinner, it's more the frozen. So we're looking for -- we're going to get some more of a mix where people can do Grab `n Go. We think it will be -- and even as we about Uniquely Yours, which is our premium option, remember that's not all frozen, it does have a longer length of stay, but that is a mix of frozen and ready to go item.

See the article here:
Nutrisystem's (NTRI) CEO Dawn Zier on Q4 2016 Results - Earnings Call Transcript - Seeking Alpha

When a fighter almost dies from a weight cut you have to start taking the issue seriously.

Fighters have been going to extremes for many years to make weight for a fight - you only have to look at UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor at the UFC 194weigh-in to see the visually shocking toll it can take on a man's body.

But the practice of cutting weight and extreme dehydration 24 hours before a fight almost cost Bellator's Dada 5000 his life.

The heavyweight reportedly cut 40lbs in the weeks before his headline fight with fellow former street fighter Kimbo Slice to make the 265lbs heavyweight limit.

But Dada, real name Dhafir Harris, collapsed midway through the third round and reports stated his heart stopped on the way to hospital before he underwent life-saving treatment for kidney failure.

It's a dangerous game fighters are playing, but one man looking at the science of MMA weight-cutting is sports scientistBen Crighton.

He is about to launch a study into British amateur and professional MMA fighters at Liverpool John Moores University.

SportsJOE spoke to Crighton about an issue which could come to define the sport of MMA.

Ben Crighton: As long as he does it the right way, then yes. I'm sure he's got the right guys on board. As long as your time frame is big enough, it's possible to start gradually cutting that weight.

For example, he's walking around at round 168lbs now - if he had four weeks to get down then it's not going to be doable. Or it's not going to be doable safely, because you're going to have to starve yourself, your energy intake is going to be super low and then on top of that you've got to do a massive water cut.

The UFC 200 card is July 9. If he did fight at featherweight he's got more than three months.

Any time you're losing muscle mass, you're probably going to lose some punching force. But I think that will be in relation to bodyweight. So relatively speaking his punching power may still be as heavy as it was.

It all comes down to how sensible you are with the weight cut. This is the interesting thing - depending on your body type, depends on how easy it is for you to cut weight.

You look at Gleison Tibau. He fought Terry Etim at 155lbs but he was something ridiculous like 192lbs on fight night. He could have potentially fought at middleweight - it's frightening to think he was fighting a guy at 155lbs.

But if you look at him, he's heavily muscular and the more muscle you carry, then the more water your body can carry. Some guys have got the body type and shape to be able to cut more water.

It's like physique athletes. You can diet down to a low body fat percentage and you will lose muscle as a result of it. McGregor has packed a lot of muscle on because of the training he's been doing and because of the extra calories.

He will be able to lose that weight over a prolonged period of time. But the longer the time period you have to lose that weight, the safer it's going to be.

However, regardless of whether you've got 20 weeks or you've got eight weeks, it's not going to be fun because any time you want to shed body fat you're going to lose a bit of lean tissue and your body doesn't necessarily know you're doing this for a sport - so you're going to get hungry all the time, you're going to be irritable because you're not getting enough energy.

Long term if he wants to go between featherweight and lightweight and maybe welterweight, then those cycles with him fighting three or four times a year at different weights isnt necessarily going to be good for his long term health.

If he's going to be doing big water cuts several times a year and going up and down in weight, the chances are he may have issues with his kidneys either short term or long term.

That seems to be one of the major problems we're finding now with the guys that do the big water cuts. Especially if they're doing water loading on top of other methods like hot baths or saunas. Your body wasn't designed to be dehydrated so drastically and then rehydrated to fight the next day.

I would say the dehydration is even more extreme in MMA than in bodybuilding. Because in bodybuilding you want to be 'dry', as they say, so you look as ripped as possible - but you also need to have fullness in the muscle so you've got to have enough water to hold onto the glycogen and carbohydrate stores in the muscle, so you look 'full' on stage.

Whereas the MMA guys are dry as a bone. McGregor against Mendes - look at how bad McGregor looked. He looked like a concentration camp victim or something, that was how dehydrated he was.

If you go to any weigh-in events around the UK there are guys hobbling onto the stage because they can barely walk because they're that dehydrated.

We've seen deaths in the sport in the past few years because of dehydration. Okay, it's linked to diuretics and other extreme methods. But fighters want to gain an advantage over their opponents. There was a death of a judoka in 1995 and three deaths in college wrestling in 1997 and as a result the NCAA brought in new regulations about weight making in college wrestling.

But what we find with MMA are that these methods that were banned in wrestling are trickling down into MMA. If you can suck that weight and then be bigger than your opponent on fight night, then it enables you to be heavier and dominate your opponent.

Most guys will diet down over a number of weeks on the fight camp, then the final week before fight night they will drop their carbohydrate intake right down. It's fine to do that because carbohydrates aren't essential to the body, as long as you get enough protein and sufficient fats it's not a problem.

They will cut their carbohydrate content so that means they will lose the glycogen stored in their muscles. Along with that you lose the water that's attached to glycogen.

There's roughly 3g-4g of water per 1g of glycogen. So you will lose a few kilograms in that final week just from restricting carbohydrate intake. On top of that guys tend to 'water load'. This is similar to bodybuilding.

You will drink a set amount of water - like two to three gallons of water for a few days and then you cut your water intake right down for a day or so. If you weigh in on Friday then those guys will cut their water intake out completely about midday the day before weigh-ins.

They go 24 hours without drinking. As well as loading up with water they drastically reduce their sodium intake. Salt is taken out of everything, because sodium makes you hold onto water. It's this manipulation of water intake and removal of salt which makes your body enter a 'flushing mode'.

This is whereby you've got such a large intake of waterfollowed by a cessation of water intake, your body still continues to produce urine even when you've stopped drinking water.

There's no definitive research to say this is the best way or whether it actually works, but fighters say it works and guys lose weight doing it. But until something better comes along, it will continue to be a go-to method.

Any more weight loss comes from getting in a sauna wearing a sweat suit, hot baths is another one.

What we have seen with the deaths in MMA is that one guy collapsed and died in the sauna. He had a stroke, which was linked to diuretics as well.

The guy that died in the sauna took a fight on short notice - maybe 21 days. He ended up losing a ridiculous amount of weight - like 33lbs - in the time frame he had.

Both deaths were in the flyweight division, which is 125lbs. It worked out at something ridiculous like over 20% of his bodyweight he tried to lose. Any time you're getting above 2-3% it might have an effect on performance. But when you're getting above 10-15% you've got a potential for a cardiac arrest and for you body just to shut down.

Not only are you losing so much water, but if you're reducing sodium and messing around with your electrolytes, your electrolytes are responsible for muscle contraction and making sure everything, including your heart, keeps going.

If you're playing around with this and pushing the boundaries,your body isn't designed to take this stress.

If guys are doing massive amounts of dehydration there's a chance that they're not going to be able to ensure the fluid volume around their brain is back when rehydrating.

If they're not completely rehydrated and haven't got all this fluid around their brain back then any strikes to the head are going to be more devastating because they haven't got that cushioning there.

Any impact on a dehydrated brain, the chances of sustaining some kind of brain trauma are a lot higher.

There's also a chance later in life of getting CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) which they're finding more and more in NFL players, which is a deterioration of the brain because of the amount of trauma.

You look at guys like Diego Sanchez. He's one of my favourite fighters and a legend in the sport. But the amount of punishment he takes. He's one of these guys that bites down on his gum shield and wades forward and is willing to take it. There will be a pay off later in life.

He cut down to 145lbs recently. The figure was something like 22lbs he put back on the next day - the majority of that is water. If you don't do that correctly or rehydrate properly then any impact you take on the brain is going to be intensified.

We have to protect young fighters coming through in the sport. You see young kids having to cut weight just to compete in amateur competitions. It's crazy.

The first part is getting as many guys as possible to interview. Asking them questions about the sport, how they got involved, problems they may have had with healthcare professionals and other things. All this information will be anonymised. We want amateur level guys, coaches, judges and doctors.

The next phase is to get the guys into the lab and just follow them on their normal weight cuts without intervening in any way.

Blood samples are just measured for liver and kidney functions - were not looking for PEDs at all. We're just concerned with some markers of health and some markers of vitamin profile to get an idea of how healthy these guys are.

We want to find out what effect the weight cut has on their body. We want to see what happens on the human body because there's not much research out there.

Fighters wanting to get involved in the study will benefit. Not many guys have access to a DEXA Scanner - it gives us a picture of people's muscle mass, bone density and fat mass. So if you're a fighter coming in throughout your camp you're going to have some real accurate scientific data to take back to your coaches, nutritionists and strength and conditioning coaches, if you've got them, and see how you're losing the weight and if you're losing the right type of tissue.

We do an RMR test to measure your metabolism too, because again we're interested to see how the energy deficits and weight cuts effect a guy's metabolism.

Check out Episode 4 of The Hard Yards rugby podcast as Donncha O'Callaghan, Mike McCarthy, Johnny O'Connor and Pat McCarry chat to Andy McGeady.

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Sports Scientist explains to SportsJOE just why Conor McGregor is so reluctant to cut to 145lbs - SportsJOE.ie

Its hard to believe, but we are celebrating 20 years in business this year. How time flies!!

My ambitions in 1996 were simple, to work for myself & provide the highest possible quality of care to my patients, with no waiting list. I had no interest in growing a huge company with dozens of employees and shareholders to answer to.

20 years later, nothing much has changed! We are a little bigger out of necessity; after all one person can only do so much. We are now a team of three, with 83 years of experience between us. We work out of 2 locations, our main clinic in Lanchester and a satellite clinic in Rickleton, Washington.

We specialise in the assessment treatment and prevention of musculoskeletal problems. These include, back & neck pain, shoulder, knee & elbow problems, strains, sprains, sports injuries, fibromyalgia & headache. Our treatments combine (as appropriate) manual therapy, massage and acupuncture for pain relief, exercise, injection therapy, and of course advice & education.

Unfortunately, from a musculoskeletal perspective at least, modern life is bad for us! Most of us sit far too much, dont exercise enough, or occasionally too much. Either way aches & pains are a common side effect. Isnt it strange how we are only too happy to give our cars a regular service to help stave off problems, but when it comes to our bodies we tend to wait until the wheels have fallen off! A regular maintenance session every few months can help prevent problems.

Indeed, why wait until you have an issue at all? Injury prevention is very much the way forward. We are all being encouraged to be more active, lose weight and improve our levels of fitness. But how do you go about it without injuring yourself? We can advise on which types of activities might suit you best, given your current level of fitness, weight & personal goals.

Our population is aging. Chronic degenerative conditions which cannot necessarily be cured are therefore also on the rise & need to be managed. We can help with advice on does & donts, tailored exercise programmes & hands on therapies or acupuncture for pain relief, as appropriate.

Another consequence of an aging population is falls in the elderly. 30% of over 65 year olds & 50% of over 80 year olds fall at least once a year (NICE, 2013). Falls & even the fear of falls causes a huge amount of anxiety, loss of self confidence, loss of independence & reduced quality of life. Muscle weakness & impaired balance are risk factors underlying many falls. We offer a tailored falls prevention programme.

I know not everyone is a fan of needles, but seriously, if you have a flare of arthritis in your knee, thumb or shoulder a small volume of corticosteroid can start to settle stubborn inflammation within 48 hours. In arthritic joints relief can last for months & injections may be repeated safely every 6 months in most cases, if required. As an alternative we can use drug free Ostenil Plus.

In August 2015 we started opening 7 days a week to give our patients more choice. This has proven very popular with those working away from home during the week, shift workers & those whose lives are slightly less chaotic on a weekend!

Check out our website at http://www.kiwiphysiotherapy.co.uk for more details of the services we provide & our current prices. Remember we offer morning, afternoon, evening & weekend appointments.

Dont suffer in silence! Go on, pick up the phonewe are here to help you 7 days a week.

Call us on 01207 528 332

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Kiwi Physiotherapy Ltd - Consett Magazine (blog)

Atkins, Gluten-Free, The South Beach, The Zone, Paleo.

Do these sound familiar?

Its just a short list of fad diets youve probably heard at least someone talking about.

But what is it that about these food fads that keeps them coming back?

Registered dietician Lori Smart with Health BC says the reason why fad diets keep popping up is because people are always looking for a new way to better themselves.

A lot of the popularity around fad diets come from ones own personal beliefs that this is a diet that would be healthy for them, or this is a diet that would help them lose weight, she says.

Smart adds they seem to crop up more often this time of year, when people coming out of the winter are looking to make lifestyle changes or lose weight and are looking for a way to do it.

She says a big contributor is the internet.

With so much information on the web it can be very, very hard to figure out whats true, whats not true or whats beneficial, whats potentially harmful.

Smart says its important to remember that some of these diets are meant for people with clinical conditions, for example people with celiac disease must eat a gluten-free diet, or people suffering from cardiovascular disease might take special care about what they eat.

It may be turned into a fad diet because others believe its beneficial, but they could really have a benefit for that person with the food condition.

She says if youre interested in trying a new diet you read about online, or have heard from a friend has tried it, its still best to speak to a healthcare provider, physician, dietician, or by calling 8-1-1 the nurses line. She recommends asking questions such as:

And she says its important to have an honest conversation about it.

Certain diets are okay as long as youre aware of the things, or the nutrients that you might be missing out on if you follow that diet. Now some are just not healthy in general, but thats why its always good to talk to a health care provider, especially a dietitian who has been trained in this area to help you navigate that information and then to point you to some resources that if you choose to continue follow that diet, you can do so safely.

Smart adds this is important because its also a good way to prevent yourself from falling off your new routine.

Its usually that people start off really strong and then they end up falling back on old eating patterns, she says.

Id say some [diets] are easy to follow, most are not easy to follow because a lot of them end up eliminating a food group or they become overly restrictive or they require a lot of extra work and preparation, which is why we always recommend that when youre thinking about going on, or adopting a different way of eating, you look at something that would be more sustainable long term.

Smart says if you plan on giving up something you love like bread, maybe try phasing it out so you dont end up breaking down and give up entirely

Smart says that means if, say, youre trying to cut out carbohydrates that you do it in steps, set yourself small goals, and work out a pattern that you can stick to.

As for the future of fad diets? She says it doesnt look like they are going anywhere.

The food industry, the nutrition industry, all of these things keep coming up, so theres all these new and better ways of doing things, she says, but adds that is constantly being mixed with opinions and peoples personal beliefs.

What I would hope is that theres more information available so that consumers and individuals can make informed choices about what they want to do with their own diet and lifestyle and then seek out advice and help from a health care professional.

But Registered Holistic Nutritionist Bridgette Clare raises caution, warning theres a never ending supply of new fad diets, not all of them created equal.

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. They promise weight loss in seven days, or thirty days, or its the new miracle, that sort of thing thats simply isnt the truth, she says.

Clare says rather than focusing on excluding things, we should be looking at ways to include healthy, whole foods into our diets

Clare says the key is a well-balanced diet that isnt restrictive to the point of being uncomfortable.

The reason being is that even if you were to stick with it for say thirty days or sixty days especially if youre cutting out entire food groups, its not sustainable, its not teaching you positive eating habits or teaching you about new and exciting foods, its far too restrictive to keep going long term.

Clare says she hopes to see a transition from restrictive fad diets to more people adopting more balanced diets built around whole foods.

It almost feels like it needs to be crazy for people to buy into it. Like it needs to be something way more complicated than just eating a balanced, varied diet with a focus on more plants and more veggies.

Clare says thats tough with the competition between fad diets, each trying to distinguish itself from the others with some special feature.

She recommends the Whole 30 diet, which she says could be seen as a fad diet but boils down to fit with her core principles.

[It] has such a great back bone, really just focusing on eating more whole foods. It does require some restrictions; eliminating dairy I believe and sugar and that sort of thing, so it might not be sustainable in the long term but of all the diets Ive seen, its the one that has the most holistic sustainable view to it.

Clare says if youre looking for a magic pill or magic diet, youre out of luck.

But she says if you do plan on trying a fad diet, do your reading, see if it really will help your body, and make sure you are still getting balance in what you eat.

Tune into your body and if it doesnt work for your body dont do it.

With fad diets having a start date, it can either set you up for a success or you will inevitably revert back to old habits.

Clare saysits often best just to create lifestyle changes by making one small difference at a time and build on positive eating habits, rather than straining your mental well-being by focusing on an end date.

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CKNW Health Series: Why are 'fad diets' so persistent? - iNews880.com

Virtual reality gives you the chance to experience new worlds, play the most immersive gaming experience available to modern consumers, and even get some indoor exercisesome pretty darn effective exercise, it turns out. One HTC Vive owner has managed to lose more than 50 pounds over the past five months by regularly playing a game on his VR headset.

In an interview with UploadVR, Job Stauffer explained how he lost 50 pounds playing the VR game Soundboxing. Soundboxingis a game that lets you select a video via YouTube that plays on your VR headset's screen. The game then projects objects that fly at you to the beat of the music. The aim of the game is to punch each of those objects while you hold a pair of controllers in your hands.

"When I first started out I spent like 20 minutes in the headset," Stauffer said. "Twenty then became 25 and 25 became 45 and 45 became an hour and sometimes an hour would become 90 minutes." He eventually bought a set of one pound weighted gloves, which "may not sound like much," but made his workout sessions even harder by forcing him to engage his upper body more. And as of last week, that's translated into some serious weight loss.

Stauffer began his journey after hitting more than 300 pounds on the scale. He was experiencing regular headaches and other health ailments, and his doctor essentially gave him an ultimatum: You need to start losing weight, or you could die. Unable to start jogging outside due the extra weight (and the serious impact it would have on his joints), and unmotivated by the idea of hitting the gym, Stauffer, who works in the video game industry, decided to give some VR-based workout games a try. Soundboxing ended up being a natural fit.

Now that he's lost this initial weight, he can safely head to the gym and add more traditional workouts such as weight lifting and rowing to the mix, too.

Despite sounding rather sweaty, Stauffer's experience is inspiring others to give VR-based exercise a try using Soundboxing and other games. Perhaps this is the beginning of a new home fitness revolution. Is there a Jane Fonda VR app out there?

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Man loses 50 pounds by playing a VR game - The Daily Dot

WESTON, WV--(Marketwired - February 23, 2017) - The physicians and researchers at Diet Doc medical weight loss are urging consumers to choose wisely when it comes to weight loss strategies this year. Certain diets are gaining popularity due to an enormous internet presence, which leaves little room for proven, researched based weight loss strategies. This can lead many individuals to make unsafe dietary choices simply because a fad has allegedly produced satisfactory results for other dieters. The hGG diet is a prime example of this. Produced during pregnancy, the human chorionic gonadotropin hormone (hCG) is purported to stimulate weight loss in conjunction with a calorie restrictive diet plan (only 500 calories per day are to be consumed). Supporters claim that HCG injections, drops or tablets target and eliminate long-stored fat reserves within the body. Over the past few years, the marketing and promotion of the hCG diet for weight loss have grown astronomically on the internet and the vast majority of the information on hCG and its corresponding products offered online are designed to confuse and make profit from an unknowing public. The truth, is that the medical industry has never supported the hCG diet. In fact, since its emergence in the 1950s, it still has yet to be deemed effective, or safe by any reputable medical organization.

Consuming a mere 500 calories per day can lead to health problems and since hCG isn't FDA regulated, most online retailers are selling products that contain little to no hCG. Therefore, any quick weight loss that occurs from the hCG diet is due to starvation dieting. There are claims that hCG is a permanent cure for obesity and that patients who on the hCG diet are losing two pounds of fat per day. However, any legitimate weight loss expert knows that starvation dieting is dangerous and can cause more harm than good. Rapid muscle loss, excessive bloating, binge eating, weight rebounds, poor nutrition and low-energy are just a few of the potentially negative side effects of such diets. Lastly, many existing websites claim that hCG permanently resets the metabolism. But experts suggest that any method one utilizes to lose weight, whether it be diet, exercise or gastric bypass surgery, once the weight is off long-term, a consistent weight maintenance regimen must be implemented to keep the weight and health in check.

Diet Doc wants consumers to know that there are in fact, many other safer dieting strategies for weight loss which are more effective than the severely restricted diet. The best options will be those which offer nutritional support and doctor supervision throughout the process. Dr. Rao, Medical Director of Diet Doc states that, "Weight loss goals can be met by the development of specific nutrition plans, dietary supplements and guidance to ensure that body composition changes are optimal for each individual." Diet Doc also offers their clients unlimited access to nutritional coaches and weight loss experts by phone, which means no traveling to weight loss centers for weigh-ins and prescription pickups. Dedicated patients can follow Diet Doc's guidance and start safely losing up to 20 pounds per month.

New patients can get started immediately, with materials shipped directly to their home or office. They can also maintain weight loss in the long-term through weekly consultations, customized diet plans, motivational coaches and a powerful prescription program. With Diet Doc, the doctor is only a short phone call away and a fully dedicated team of qualified professionals is available six days per week to answer questions, address concerns and support patients.

Getting started with Diet Doc is very simple and affordable. New patients can easily visit https://www.dietdoc.com to quickly complete a health questionnaire and schedule an immediate, free online consultation.

About the Company:

Diet Doc Weight Loss is the nation's leader in medical, weight loss offering a full line of prescription medication, doctor, nurse and nutritional coaching support. For over a decade, Diet Doc has produced a sophisticated, doctor designed weight loss program that addresses each individual specific health need to promote fast, safe and long term weight loss.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DietDocMedical

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DietDocMedicalWeightLoss/

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Diet Doc Reminds Consumers that the hCG Diet is not a Viable Weight Loss Strategy - Marketwired (press release)

PHOENIX, AZ--(Marketwired - February 22, 2017) - When it comes to weight loss, some of the most important factors include genetics, general health, daily behavior and physical activities. Based on research, dieting is the most important component that affects weight gain or weight loss. By improving eating behavior, for instance, one can dramatically affect their weight. This is why emotional eating, binge eating and other common dietary abnormalities can have long-term effects of body weight. Effective weight loss generally involves losing more calories than you gain. Because one pound of weight is equivalent to 3,500 calories, one needs to reduce caloric intake by 500-1000 calories per day in order to lose 1-2 pounds per week. However, this type of extreme dieting is often starvation-based and therefore risky.

The starvation approach to dieting is nothing new. For example, the original hCG diet from the 1950s, also called the Simeons method, was practically a starvation diet that limited daily consumption to 500 calories. It led to many harmful side effects ranging from weakness to muscle loss. According to the Obesity Medicine Association, the hCG-based Simeons method and diet for weight loss is unsafe and not recommended.

There are healthy alternatives to dieting, however, and doctor-supervised dieting is always the safest approach. hCG can be applied more safely with a flexible diet program that necessitates between 800 to 1250 calories daily without reducing the rate of rapid weight loss. The Simeons method for hCG dieting is not only outdated but also unnecessary and unrecommended. High-calorie programs offering safe weight loss are the ideal option for patients considering the hCG diet treatment. Doctor-supervision and diet customization based on nutritional needs is highly recommended.

At Diet Doc, patients can get a thorough understanding of the weight loss needs and develop an individualized diet based on their nutritional needs or even their genetics. All Diet Doc programs, provide a doctor-supervised, customized diet plan.Instead of encouraging patients to adopt harmful dietary practices with no prior medical knowledge, Diet Doc consults with patients to provide a detailed weight loss plan based on their nutritional needs and medical history. Losing weight with Diet Doc is safe, simple and affordable. Nutrition plans, exercise guidance, motivational support, and dietary supplements are all part of the package. More than 90% of Diet Doc patients lose 20 or more pounds every month.

Patients can get started immediately, with materials shipped directly to their home or office. They can also maintain weight loss in the long-term through weekly consultations, customized diet plans, motivational coaches and a powerful prescription program. With Diet Doc, the doctor is only a short phone call away and a fully dedicated team of qualified professionals is available 6 days per week to answer questions, address concerns and support patients.

Getting started with Diet Doc is very simple and affordable. New patients can easily visit https://www.dietdoc.com to quickly complete a health questionnaire and schedule an immediate, free online consultation.

About the Company:

Diet Doc Weight Loss is the nation's leader in medical, weight loss offering a full line of prescription medication, doctor, nurse and nutritional coaching support. For over a decade, Diet Doc has produced a sophisticated, doctor designed weight loss program that addresses each individual specific health need to promote fast, safe and long term weight loss.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DietDocMedical

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DietDocMedicalWeightLoss/

LinkedIn: https://www.LinkedIn.com/company/diet-doc-weight-loss?trk=biz-brand-tree-co-logo

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Diet Doc Provides Customized And Healthy Weight Loss Alternatives To Starvation-Based hCG Diet - Digital Journal

Home General Health Low impact exercises to get fit safely

Were told constantly how important exercise and keeping in shape is to our health, but not everyone is capable of performing the same fitness routines due to health conditions affecting their joints and mobility. If you find yourself limited to less intense workouts, continue reading to discover a list of low-impact exercises that can help keep you fit without causing injury.

Swimming: Water exercises are a fantastic way to keep fit without putting too much strain on your joints and muscles. The buoyancy of the water helps relieve any stress on joints and ligaments, while the water keeps you from overheating and provides light resistance to work your muscles.

Cycling: Riding a bike is a great cardio workout that is easy on your cartilage and ligaments in a way that running may not be. Cycling also has a social aspect, as you can join a club that organizes rides of varying intensity to suit your personal fitness level.

Tai chi: Traditional tai chi is slow and meditative and can help to get your body moving while relieving stress. Recently, a cardio intesive type of tai chi was created by Dr. Chi-Hsiu D. Weng that combines low-impact movements with a faster tempo to get your blood flowing while remaining joint-friendly.

Water aerobics: Like swimming, water aerobics can keep you in shape while reducing the stress on your joints due to the increased buoyancy provided by the water. The increased density of the water adds resistance that is not present when working out outside of the pool as well, which can help you get an even better workout.

While a CrossFit class or boot camp may not be in the cards for you, there are plenty of other low-impact ways to keep fit and prevent injuries. Swimming, cycling, tai chi, water aerobics, and dancing are just five activities that can get your heart pumping while remaining easy on your joints and ligaments. Many of these exercises also have a social aspect, so why not get together with some friends and start your new workout today?

Related: Exercises and tips to improve posture and alleviate back pain

Related Reading:

The Healthy Truth: My favorite exercises for a full-body workout

Shoulder arthritis exercises: Stretching, rehab, and aerobics

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Low impact exercises to get fit safely - Bel Marra Health

Commentary By Amanda Merck, MPH | February 19, 2017

Kathryn Boyd-Batstone / Rivard Report

Runners charge up one of the many uphills along the Mission Reach trail.

Updated 19 hours ago

For San Antonio tobe at itshealthiest, its residentsneed and deserve safe places to move more and sit less.

However, there is inequity in the citysplaces designated for walking, biking, playing, and being active. City officials mustlook beyond maps of facility locations to the context of real people trying to make healthy life choices.

For example, a map of the Howard W. Peak Greenway Trail System shows an emerald necklace going around and through San Antonio. Yet, these trails are only open from sunrise to sunset, which means they are open less than 12 hours per day for six months out of the year.

Many working families striving tobe more active and less sedentaryare unable to access the trails within this limited window. Southside residents, in particular, face additional barriers because the southern-most access point of the Mission Trail off Villamain Road is only open between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Thats why I asked the San Antonio mayoral candidates about their plans to solve this inequity at the recent town hall forum hosted by the Rivard Report at the Pearl Stable.

What are you going to do to transform our incredible trail system from a recreational facility to a health and transportation facility that is safe and accessible for everyone? I asked Mayor Ivy Taylor, District 8 Councilman Ron Nirenberg, and Bexar County Democratic Party Chairman Manuel Medina.

Listen to their full responses to the questions here.

Heres a quick snapshot of their responses:

I dont know about the hours that it should be open or not, because certainly we also want to make sure that anyone thats out there is safe, Taylor said.

It needs to [be] more than just a system that connects one park to another, Nirenberg said.

We need to make it easier for people to get to them, Medina said.

None of the candidates mentioned expanding hours, lighting, or patrolling trails, but we cannot ignore the great need for access to safe, active places.

Why? Heres a quick biology lesson (from someone who is not a biologist):

Our cardiovascular system is our lifeline for delivering oxygen, vitamins, minerals, proteins, hormones, and other chemicals to our organs, muscles, bones, and all other tissues. It also is our lifeline for getting rid of carbon dioxide and other waste. Our veins and arteries are constantly squeezing and releasing vasoconstriction and vasodilation to pump our nutrient- or waste-filled blood. Like any muscle atrophies without use, our blood vessels lose function and become less effective without physical activity. However, the exact mechanism through which this occurs is complex and not fully understood.

Basically, sitting increases inflammation, which damages the inner walls of your vessels (endothelium). Moderately intense physical activity, however, preserves the inner walls of these vessels and prevents plaque buildup and hardening.

These benefits are separate from the numerous other benefits obtained from variousother chemical, molecular, and biological processes that occur when you are physically active, such as reduced risk for diabetes, stroke, cardiovascular disease, depression, osteoporosis, and manytypes of cancer.

The good news is that walking works regardless of weight status or diet, and you can walk or be active in short bursts throughout your day without having to depart from your normal daily routine.

If you have access to safe places, that is.

Educating people about the trails is moot when they are closed for half the day. Similarly, considering the trails as a resource for connectivity isnt painting a complete picture because they are only open part-time, which is counterproductive to the essences of connectivity.

Arecent SA2020 report identified four indicators in San Antonio that have stopped progressing or are going in the wrong direction: public transportation, obesity, air quality, and walkability. According to the report there is a need to continue to make both behavioral and systemic changes in our policies and infrastructure in order to make lasting change.

I hope our city leaders consider making lasting infrastructure changes.

In the case of our greenway trail system, the infrastructure is mostly in place, so its a matter of opening it to the public to use at whichever times accommodatetheir busy schedules.

Kathryn Boyd-Batstone / Rivard Report

Broadway Street was closed for Sclova so hundreds of bikers could safely ride the streets.

While there are incredible programs and events across the cityFitness in the Park, Sclova, Fit Pass, Fit Family Challenge, San Antonio Walks, Mobile Fit, Walk This Way, and many more permanent infrastructure like trails and sidewalks need to be safe and accessible year-round.

I also hope our leaders can distinguish the line between physical activity for health and for exercise or recreation, which are historically only accessible for the privileged and less available for residents living in underserved areas. Physical activity for health includes walking, biking, dancing, playing, skating, doing yoga, swimming, and many otheractivities.

People of color and low-income populations are disproportionately burdened by pedestrian injuries and deaths.

According to Salud America!s research review on active spaces and Latino kids, fewer Latinos (70%) than whites (82.5%) describe having neighborhoods with safe places for kids to walk and play.

Studies show that walkable neighborhoods provide many economic, safety, environmental, health, and social benefits; however, not all neighborhoods in San Antonio are created equal, with many low-income, predominantly Latino neighborhoods lacking safe, walkable infrastructure.

Inequity in access to safe places to walk, bike, and play can be seen on the South, West, and East sides of San Antonio. Lack of safe places to be active means people living in these areas face disparities in obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.

Some bright spots are occurring:In February 2017, State Rep.Celia Israel(D-Austin)proposed House Bill 1368 to lower the default speed limit in urban areas from 30 mph to 25 mph, as well as House Bill 1745 to allow cities to lower speed limits on certain highways withoutthe costly burdens mandated bycurrent legislation. Making it easier for cities to lower speed limits is critical because most crashes involving pedestrians or cyclists occur on arterial or collector roadways where default speeds are far greater than 30 mph.

District 5 Councilwoman Shirley Gonzales is leading the San Antonio Vision Zero initiative, with the goal to eliminate traffic fatalities, especially those of pedestrians.

According to SA2020, San Antonio continues to make progress on Complete Streets, but not at a rate great enough to meet the 2020 goal. When the City didnt meet Dignowity Hill residents standards for a street construction project, urban planners and residents got involved by requesting and successfully gaining more walkable streetscape elements.

Regardless, safe places to walk and be active are big part of public health and equity issues that need attention.

San Antonians would surely like to hearthat City leaders are working to improve equitable access to health facilities, includingexpanded hours, lighting, and safety. Research shows that scheduling park programs later in the evening keeps parks occupied bypeople engaging in beneficial activities, thusdeterring undesirable ones.

San Antonio has a new set of bond measureson the ballot in May.Its vital for community members to get involved and keep the focus on the real-life context in which these projects will be completed. Fifty-two plus miles of trails sounds great on paper and look awesome on a map, but if people cant walk their dogs on them before or after work, they representa missed opportunity.

Salud America! has a bank of resources and nationwide stories to help community members work with City leaders to increase access to safe places to walk and play, particularly in Latino communities.

Follow Salud America!on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest and register on our site. You can connect with local groups and organizations that are already working to make the healthy choice the easy choice, such asthe Active Living Council of San Antonio,a public-private partnership of policymakers, business leaders, school administrators, program providers, and community membersthatdeveloped the Active Living Plan for a Healthier San Antonio.Or you can learn from case studies of successful healthy change across the country.

Together, we canprioritize equitable access to safe, active places in San Antonio and beyond.

Amanda Merck is a content curator/research area specialist for Salud America! at the Institute for Health Promotion Research at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio.

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Salud America!: On SA's Need for Safe, Accessible Recreation Spaces - Rivard Report

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