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LEE SUCKLING

Last updated05:00, March 23 2017

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There's no research to say that light drinking will impede any weight loss efforts.

It's the question almost anyone on a fitness mission wants to know: is it possible to still drink alcohol while you're trying to lose weight?

The short answer is no. Alcohol is unnecessary calories that provide no nutritional benefit, and most weight loss plans dictate that you cut out anything of thissort.

Anybody trying to lose weight will have a much easier time doing it without the temptation of booze.

The primary reason is not the 100-odd excess calories in one beer or glass of wine, it's the fact that alcohol doesn't like to be consumed in single doses. One drink easily leads to three or four, plus the excess food you end up eating because booze ramps up your appetite.

However, there is some encouraging news in the long answer.

READ MORE: *Eight things that happen when you quit alcohol *Should you drink water before your meal to help lose weight? *Do more, eat less - that's the secret to success

There's some science out there that has found that between one and two alcoholic units per day can actually speed up your metabolism.

THE FIGURES

Alcohol contains seven calories (29kilojoules) per gram. Your body can't store alcohol, instead, it treats it like a toxin to eliminate. That becomes you body's priority, rather than burning fat.

But some evidence finds that when your body is working on overload to do this, it may also work your metabolism harder too. Potentially helping you burn marginally more calories.

In an International Journal of Obesity study, for example, two groups of overweight participants followed a calorie-reduced diet, one consuming white wine as part of their diet and the other consuming grape juice. The white wine group lost slightly more weight.

In another International Journal of Obesity study, middle-aged and older women who consumed one alcoholic beverage per day gained less weight over the course of their later years than women who didn't drink at all. These findings have also corroborated by long-term Archives of Internal Medicine research.

Despite having the potential to temporarily speed up your metabolism, 1-2 drinks a day can slow down the body's lipid (fat) oxidation rate (the way in which fat is stored in the body).

In an American Journal of College of Nutrition study on men who were given two drinks of vodka and diet lemonade a day, lipid oxidation dropped by 73 per cent. So, despite potentially having slightly a faster metabolic rate, the rate at which you'll burn fat becomes hindered and maybe crosses that "benefit" of a drink a day out.

LIGHT DRINKING

Still, this is only a theoretical. There's no research to say that light drinking such as this will impede any weight loss efforts.

What you cannot do and still lose weight, however, is save up your "one drink per day" and consume seven drinks in one night at the weekend.

When you consume more than two units of alcohol at once, your body has too many calories from alcohol to process before it can properly process all of the other nutrients you've taken in from food.

The result is a complete slowdown of your lipid oxidation rate, where the energy you've consumed isn't expended. Instead, it becomes fat, usually around the mid-section (hence the term "beer belly").

The body simple cannot handle any type of "binging" of alcohol if it's to maintain weight loss progress.

THE BINGE EFFECT

A BioMed Central Public Health journal's analysis once found that those who binge drink those who don't drink daily, but instead regularly drink heavily (4+ drinks) in one session are significantly more like to become obese than any other assessed group of people.

Andmore than two drinks in one sitting affects your blood sugar levels and makes you hungry, leading you to consume more food than you might normally. Owing to the inebriation factor of alcohol, you'll also choose less-healthy foods when you've gone over that two-drink limit.

Before you jump straight into your nightly glass or two of wine and expect any weight loss efforts to continue, there is one other caveat to consider. In general, light drinkers are likely to be more physically active than both teetotallers and heavy drinkers.

Something as simple as this perhaps they get an hour's extra exercise in every week could actually be what's making all the difference to their weight, not that glass of chardonnay.

Lee Suckling has a master's degree specialising in personal-health reporting. Do you have a health topic you'd like Lee to investigate? Send us an emaillife.style@fairfaxmedia.co.nzwith Dear Lee in the subject line.

-Stuff

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When you're trying to lose weight, do you have to cut out all alcohol? - Stuff.co.nz

Most employees spend at least 40 hours a week in the office. Over the course of the year, thats 2,080 hours. Much of that time is spent sitting. And long workdays often make it difficult for workers to find time to squeeze in trips to the gym.

But, with health-related expenses costing companies millions of dollars a year, employers can, and should, be doing all they can to get their employees fit.

How? Here are four tips to help workers adopt the Little-Engine-That-Could mindset (I think I can!) and get on a healthy track.

1. Integrate healthy living information into everyday tasks. Some examples:

Encourage employees to download a free workout app such as Sworkit or the Johnson & Johnson 7 Minute Workout. Set the company intranet homepage to a healthy living website, or incorporate a dedicated health section. The American Heart Association, The Nutrition Source by Harvard School of Public Health and The American Diabetes Association have informative websites. Also, provide a list of healthy living organizations on social media that employees can follow to keep nutrition and exercise on their mind. Declare Wednesdays as Walking Wednesdays by hosting workday walking meetings or listening to conference calls on foot. Also, encourage employees to park farther away and take the stairs.

2. Put it on paper pros and cons style. As part of a health campaign, have employees jot down the pros, including benefits and perks, and the cons, including challenges and fears, that chasing weight loss or other personal health goals will entail. It can be difficult to be motivated a person to do something when the risks and reward arent clear. Ready to take it to the next level? Have an area where employees can share their lists, which will increase accountability and make it official.

3. Work the buddy system. There is power in numbers and groups can add to both the fun and accountability. Create a community where employees can find a friend or co-worker to partner with as they tackle the challenges of healthy eating and exercising. Consider coordinating fun workplace initiatives such as a walking or running group, a team weight maintenance program during the holidays, signing up a team for a recreation league or inviting local health and wellness professionals to host workshops and cooking demos.

4. Build a supportive culture. People will not succeed if they do not believe in the process. Employers must build a space that supports healthy activities and living. If employees do not feel that the employers efforts are sincere, they are less likely to participate. Employers must offer a supportive culture and an array of activities to reach every employee, regardless of preferences and lifestyles. Also, they need to make sure that employees understand that results wont happen overnight. Small changes over time can add up to big results.

These tips will help employers and their employees work together to create a healthy, productive workspace that encourages everyone to be active and live well. Getting started on a weight loss journey can be intimidating, but with the right tools and support, employees should be able to fit health into our busy lives. And what better place to start than where employees spend the majority of our time?

The rest is here:
Views 4 ways employers can motivate employees to lose weight - Employee Benefit Adviser (registration)

Women's Health

Exactly How To Use Cheat Days To Lose Weight Women's Health The cheat day has mixed reviews. Some say that by labeling your burger, bowl of pasta, or ice cream as a "cheat" or a "splurge," you're putting that food on a pedestal and will spend all week dreaming about it. On the other hand, 39 percent of women ...

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Exactly How To Use Cheat Days To Lose Weight - Women's Health

Despite thousands of studies spanning decades, alcohol remains one of the most controversial and confusing topics for people concerned about controlling their weight.

People trying to lose weight or not gain weight are frequently advised to lay off the booze. Although organizations like Weight Watchers offer ways to drink wisely within their plans, alcohol, with 7 calories a gram and no compensating nutrients, is commonly thought to derail most efforts at weight control.

After the winter holidays, I often hear people blame alcohol for added pounds, not just from its caloric contribution but also because it can undermine self-control and stimulate the appetite and desire for fattening foods.

Yet you probably know people who routinely drink wine with dinner, or a cocktail before it, and never put on an unwanted pound. Given that moderate drinkers tend to live longer than teetotalers, Id love a glass of wine or a beer with dinner if I could do so without gaining, so I looked into what science has to say about alcohols influence on weight.

Despite thousands of studies spanning decades, I discovered that alcohol remains one of the most controversial and confusing topics for people concerned about controlling their weight.

I plowed through more than two dozen research reports, many with conflicting findings on the relationship between alcohol and weight, and finally found a thorough review of the science that can help people determine whether drinking might be compatible with effective weight management.

The review, published in 2015 in Current Obesity Reports, was prepared by Gregory Traversy and Jean-Philippe Chaput of the Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group at the Childrens Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute in Ottawa, Ontario.

The reviewers first examined so-called cross-sectional studies, studies that assessed links between alcohol intake and body mass index among large groups of people at a given moment in time. The most common finding was that, in men on average, drinking was not associated with weight, whereas among women, drinking either did not affect weight or was actually associated with a lower body weight than among nondrinkers.

Their summary of the findings: Most such studies showed that frequent light to moderate alcohol intake at most two drinks a day for men, one for women does not seem to be associated with obesity risk. However, binge drinking (consuming five or more drinks on an occasion) and heavy drinking (more than four drinks in a day for men, or more than three for women) were linked to an increased risk of obesity and an expanding waistline. And in a departure from most of the other findings, some of the research indicated that for adolescents and (alas) older adults, alcohol in any amount may promote overweight and a higher body fat percentage.

Prospective studies, which are generally considered to be more rigorous than cross-sectional studies and which follow groups of people over time, in this case from several months to 20 years, had varied results and produced no clear picture of the relationship between alcohol and weight. Several found either no relationship or a negative relationship, at least in women, while others found that men who drank tended to risk becoming obese, especially if they were beer drinkers.

The conclusion from the most recent such studies: While heavy drinkers risked gaining weight, light to moderate alcohol intake is not associated with weight gain or changes in waist circumference.

The studies Chaput ranked as most reliable and providing the strongest evidence were controlled experiments in which people were randomly assigned to consume alcohol under monitored conditions. One such study found that drinking two glasses of red wine with dinner daily for six weeks did not result in weight gain or a greater percentage of body fat in 14 men, when compared with the same diet and exercise regimen without alcohol. A similar study among 20 overweight, sedentary women found no meaningful change in weight after 10 weeks of consuming a glass of wine five times a week.

However, the experimental studies were small and the intervention periods were short. Chaput noted that even a very small weight gain over the course of 10 weeks can add up to a lot of extra pounds in five years unless there is a compensating reduction in food intake or increase in physical activity.

Unlike protein, fats and carbohydrates, alcohol is a toxic substance that is not stored in the body. Alcohol calories are used for fuel, thus decreasing the bodys use of other sources of calories. That means people who drink must eat less or exercise more to maintain their weight.

Chaput said he is able to keep from gaining weight and body fat despite consuming about 15 drinks a week by eating a healthy diet, exercising daily and monitoring his weight regularly.

Big differences in drinking patterns between men and women influence the findings of alcohols effects on weight, he said. Men are more likely to binge drink and to drink beer and spirits, whereas women mostly drink wine and are more likely than men to compensate for extra calories consumed as alcohol.

Genetics are also a factor, Chaput said, suggesting that alcohol can be more of a problem among people genetically prone to excessive weight gain. People who are overweight to begin with are more likely to gain weight if they increase their alcohol intake, he said.

Furthermore, as I and countless others have found, alcohol has a disinhibiting effect and can stimulate people to eat more when food is readily available. The extra calories taken in with alcohol are stored as fat, he reminded drinkers.

Heres the bottom line: Everyone is different. The studies cited above average the results among groups of people and thus gloss over individual differences. Even when two people start out weighing the same and eat, drink and exercise the same amount, adding alcohol to the mix can have different consequences.

More:
Do you need to give up alcohol to lose weight? Not necessarily - The Seattle Times

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8 MyFitnessPal Mistakes That Are Sabotaging Your Weight-Loss Goals Women's Health Tracking your mealswhether in a journal or an apphelps you eat less because it increases your awareness of what you put in your mouth. That said, using the app to lose weight isn't foolproof. In fact, some mistakes could push you further from your ...

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8 MyFitnessPal Mistakes That Are Sabotaging Your Weight-Loss Goals - Women's Health

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Is It EVER Safe To Try To Lose Weight While You're Pregnant? Women's Health But even if your BMI is above the normal range for women, actively trying to lose weight during pregnancyespecially by following a restrictive diet for weight loss' sakereally isn't smart, Cackovic says. That's because when your body goes into ...

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Is It EVER Safe To Try To Lose Weight While You're Pregnant? - Women's Health

A number of diets Paleo, Atkins, ketogenic, and more suggest limiting carbs to achieve optimal weight and health. But if youre trying to shed pounds, are carbs off limits?

Perhaps surprisingly, no a variety of carbs can actually be part of a healthy weight loss diet. It all depends on the type of carbs, and the amount, Sheah Rarback, a registered dietitian at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, told Fox News.

In fact, A good, healthy, whole grain, high fiber carb source can help you feel fuller longer, Kristen Gradney, a spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and a dietitian based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, told Fox News. These types of carbs can actually help lower your appetite, increase satiety, and help keep your blood sugar in check, she said.

7 FOODS THAT HELP FIGHT FAT

Fox News asked a few nutritionists for their tips on which carbohydrate-rich snacks are the best choices for those looking to lose weight:

1. A green apple with nut butter When youre eating a snack with carbohydrates, try to balance it with a bit of protein, Rarback recommended. That way, youll feel full longer. Protein-rich foods also use up a few more calories to digest and metabolize, Rarback said. She recommended a green apple, which is lower in sugar than a red apple, with some nut butter as a healthy, carbohydrate-rich snack.

WHAT'S BETTER FOR WEIGHT LOSS: CARDIO OR LIFTING WEIGHTS?

2. Cut-up vegetables with a bean dip or hummus Another great combo is vegetables and bean dip, Rarback said. The beans provide complex carbohydrates and protein, while the vegetables (and beans!) provide fiber.

3. A smoothie with milk, yogurt, and fruit Instead of ice cream, try a smoothie packed with milk, yogurt, and fruit, Gradney suggested. She noted milk is actually a carbohydrate because it contains lactose, a type of sugar. It also has protein and plenty of vitamins and minerals, just like yogurt.

6 WAYS TO KICK-START YOUR WEIGHT LOSS IN THE MORNING

4. Fruit and nut bars Gradney recommends eating carb-rich snacks in the mid-morning to help prevent you from overeating at lunch and right after work, when you may be hungry and more likely to be tempted by fast food or quick, unhealthy options. If youre on the go, try fruit and nut bars with no added sugars, or even a small portion of dried fruit.

5. Half of a turkey or cheese sandwich Lori Chong, a registered dietitian at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, told Fox News that half a sandwich can be an ideal snack, especially one made with a sprouted grain bread. This bread has a high amount of fiber, and because its not made with flour, has a lower glycemic index meaning it causes less of a spike in your blood sugar. Mix it up to keep things interesting: Try deli turkey, roast beef, leftover salmon, or even cheese and veggies, Chong recommended.

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6. Air-popped popcorn Another healthy, carbohydrate-rich snack is air-popped popcorn, Chong said. This snack is high in fiber, and you can sprinkle herbs or even a dash of salt on the popcorn to increase flavor.

Read more here:
How eating carbs can actually help you lose weight - Fox News

Some people join Dancing with the Stars for fame, some join to inspire others or to prove something. And apparently there are also people who join the ABC dance competition series to lose weight. But according to Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Girardi, also known as Erika Jayne, the latter is the dumbest idea she's ever heard in her life. Dancing with the Stars Season 24 Premiere Recap: The First Dances>>>

"I'm having a great time and everyone is so, so kind, but it's tough. The schedule is strenuous. I cant imagine someone doing this show without being physically fit. Someone told me the other day that people sometimes come on the show to lose weight. I said, 'Are you kidding me?! That is the dumbest idea I've ever heard in my life!' To anyone who wants to join DWTS to lose weight, just don't do it! You'll die! You just won't make it. I'm barely making it!"

Besides ruffling feathers on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Girardi regularly performs at nightclubs and has had several Billboard hits including "Rollercoaster," "Stars" and "Give You Everything." The blond bombshell is married to 76-year-old Thomas Girardi, the founding partner of the L.A. law firm Girardi and Kees.

Though the reality star is used to performing on stage, she admits that doing Dancing with the Stars is a completely different ball game and it's something she's been struggling with.

"I love getting out on stage and putting on a show, but I have no ballroom experience. This is a completely different animal. And I'm not going to lie, it's been a struggle at times," she revealed.

"Obviously this isn't my first 'reality show,' but RHOBH and DWTS are on two completely different planets. This is a competition show shot live. There isn't much time for sit-down and commentary. You get out there and perform live. There's no sitting there worming out of any tacky thing you may have said about someone. It's dance or shut up," she continued.

(Image courtesy of ABC)

Read more:
Dancing with the Stars - BuddyTV (blog)

Most employees spend at least 40 hours a week in the office. Over the course of the year, thats 2,080 hours. Much of that time is spent sitting. And long workdays often make it difficult for workers to find time to squeeze in trips to the gym.

But, with health-related expenses costing companies millions of dollars a year, employers can, and should, be doing all they can to get their employees fit.

How? Here are four tips to help workers adopt the Little-Engine-That-Could mindset (I think I can!) and get on a healthy track.

1. Integrate healthy living information into everyday tasks. Some examples:

Encourage employees to download a free workout app such as Sworkit or the Johnson & Johnson 7 Minute Workout. Set the company intranet homepage to a healthy living website, or incorporate a dedicated health section. The American Heart Association, The Nutrition Source by Harvard School of Public Health and The American Diabetes Association have informative websites. Also, provide a list of healthy living organizations on social media that employees can follow to keep nutrition and exercise on their mind. Declare Wednesdays as Walking Wednesdays by hosting workday walking meetings or listening to conference calls on foot. Also, encourage employees to park farther away and take the stairs.

2. Put it on paper pros and cons style. As part of a health campaign, have employees jot down the pros, including benefits and perks, and the cons, including challenges and fears, that chasing weight loss or other personal health goals will entail. It can be difficult to be motivated a person to do something when the risks and reward arent clear. Ready to take it to the next level? Have an area where employees can share their lists, which will increase accountability and make it official.

3. Work the buddy system. There is power in numbers and groups can add to both the fun and accountability. Create a community where employees can find a friend or co-worker to partner with as they tackle the challenges of healthy eating and exercising. Consider coordinating fun workplace initiatives such as a walking or running group, a team weight maintenance program during the holidays, signing up a team for a recreation league or inviting local health and wellness professionals to host workshops and cooking demos.

4. Build a supportive culture. People will not succeed if they do not believe in the process. Employers must build a space that supports healthy activities and living. If employees do not feel that the employers efforts are sincere, they are less likely to participate. Employers must offer a supportive culture and an array of activities to reach every employee, regardless of preferences and lifestyles. Also, they need to make sure that employees understand that results wont happen overnight. Small changes over time can add up to big results.

These tips will help employers and their employees work together to create a healthy, productive workspace that encourages everyone to be active and live well. Getting started on a weight loss journey can be intimidating, but with the right tools and support, employees should be able to fit health into our busy lives. And what better place to start than where employees spend the majority of our time?

Go here to see the original:
Views 4 ways employers can motivate employees to lose weight - Employee Benefit News (registration)

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When Sal Paradiso was a senior in high school, his father died of a heart attack at age 42. The teen, who had always been the heaviest student in his class, comforted himself with food and steadily gained weight.

By the time he was in his early 30s, he weighed about 700 pounds. As he struggled to stand in the shower, get out of bed or cook food without getting winded, he thought life shouldnt be so difficult.

I wasnt getting any younger and I realized I had to make a drastic change or I would end up like my father, Paradiso, 35, of Land O' Lakes, Florida, told TODAY.

RELATED: 3 steps helped this woman lose more than half her body weight in 3 years

In February 2014, he visited a doctor for a consultation for weight-loss surgery. He was so heavy that the office scale couldnt register his weight. The doctor and nutritionist put him on a strict low-carb, high-protein diet, noting he had to shed weight before surgery.

As someone who was eating upwards of 10,000 calories a day prior to it, it has been a monumental change and it is what worked for me, he said.

At his heaviest weight, Sal Paradiso estimates he weighed about 700 pounds. He's unsure because he could not find a scale that could register his weight.

RELATED: Combined, this couple lost 298 pounds in a year

While he dropped pounds right away, he wasnt sure how much he lost initially because he didnt know what his starting weight was. Then he started dropping seven or eight pounds a week. Because he weighed so much, exercise was difficult.

Early on, I really couldnt work out. When you are that big, it is hard to move around. Fortunately for me, my family has a swimming pool, he said.

Paradiso swims laps he must do low-impact exercise because his years of being extremely obese ruined his knees.

As he slimmed down, he added free weights to his routine and also started riding an exercise bike.

Over two years, he lost 254 pounds and underwent surgery in the summer of 2016, which helped him lose another 120 pounds.

In total, he lost 374 pounds. The tremendous weight loss means he has excess skin hanging from his 6-foot frame about 65 to 80 pounds worth of it and Paradiso is trying to raise money for skin removal procedures.

These surgeries can be expensive, according to Dr. Jeffrey Gusenoff, a plastic surgeon and co-director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's BodyChangers, a lifestyle and support program for people who are trying to lose weight or have lost weight. On average, each surgery costs between $4,000 to $6,000, plus extra costs for anesthesia and a hospital stay.

"(Insurance companies) often will cover the abdominal skin removal, but insurance companies often require that the patient proves medical necessity by having persistent rashes that require either prescription creams or oral antibiotics to treat rashes under the skin folds," explained Gusenoff. "This extra skin must also hang low enough to block the genital region or thighs. Arms, thighs, breasts, buttocks and other areas are often not covered and are considered cosmetic."

Paradiso's excess skin causes him physical pain it chafes and he gets sores and infections and it makes him feel insecure at times.

You are making all this progress, he said. But your shell resembles someone you no longer are.

At 32, Paradiso realized if he didn't lose weight, he might end up like his father, who died of a heart attack at age 42.

RELATED: Weight-loss success: 7 steps this woman took to lose half her size

Yet, Paradiso wants others to feel inspired by his story.

Change is possible. I speak as someone who was 700 pounds, he said. "Im a pretty happy guy and I am a lot happier today than I was three years ago."

Here is his advice to others hoping to lose weight.

Friends and family supported Paradiso as he worked to lose weight. Hearing encouraging words motivated him on days when it felt too hard.

Since losing 374 pounds, Paradiso has been able to enjoy a more active life.

My friends and family continue to push me every day, he said. If you can surround yourself with a decent enough support system you can overcome 10 or 15 years of beating yourself to the ground by putting on so much weight.

Paradiso wanted to weigh between 200 to 225 pounds, a loss of 475 to 500 pounds, and more than half his starting weight (though about 65-85 of it is skin, which cannot be lessened no matter how intense the dieting and exercise).

Thinking of losing so much weight seemed insurmountable.

Looking at it in smaller pictures it is possible to conquer the mountain, he said.

Looking at pictures of his father encouraged Paradiso when he struggled.

He is a constant reminder of why I do this, he said.

After losing 374 pounds, Sal Paradiso has about 80 pounds of excess skin that needs to be removed.

For more inspirational stories, check out our My Weight-Loss Journey page! And if you'd like to support Sal Paradiso in his efforts to raise money for skin removal surgeries, please visit his Go Fund Me page.

Follow this link:
How this man shed 374 pounds, more than half his body weight - Today.com

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