Search Weight Loss Topics:

Page 596«..1020..595596597598..610620..»

Home » Lose Weight » Page 596

The U.S. Surgeon General recently challenged mobile device application developers to come up with apps that would provide tailored health information and empower users to engage in and enjoy healthy behavior. The first place winner in the Fitness/Physical Activity category was Lose It!, an app designed to help users lose weight. According to the Lose It! website, the average user loses 12.3 pounds with the help of the app, with a 99% success rate (defined as losing any amount of weight) over 4 weeks.

From the Lose It! description on the Surgeon Generals website:

Lose It! helps users make healthy choices by setting a clear calorie budget, by permitting users to track their fitness and activity level, and by providing them insight into their nutrition (including a great MyPlate report on Loseit.com as well a set of badges that reward users for their adherence to MyPlate fruit and vegetable guidelines). In addition, Lose It! integrates with wireless devices such as the Fitbit tracker and Withings wireless scale, making it easy to track your activity and weight change without entering any data in Lose It!

For more information, check out the video below.

The app is consistent with the recommendations of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which developed the MyPlate website in order to help Americans make healthy food choices that are customized to their needs and activity levels. Another beneficial feature of the Lose It! app over many popular diet strategies and books is that it emphasizes physical fitness as an important and integral part of a long-term weight management strategy and healthy lifestyle, which is also consistent with the recommendations of the federal government.

Excerpt from:
Lose It! wins in fitness category of Surgeon General’s app challenge

It's not a myth: women really are at a disadvantage when it comes to shedding pounds

Trae Patton / NBC

Jeremy Britt shows off his weight loss during the season finale of The Biggest Loser on NBC.

Harper's latest book is The Skinny Rules: The Simple, Nonnegotiable Principles for Getting to Thin

On The Biggest Loser,more than 60% of the winners have been men. Outside of the show, Ive heard a lot of women complain that even when they arent really trying, men seem to have an easier time losing weight. Why?

The answer lies in body composition. Even when obese, men tend to have more muscle mass than women. Women carry approximately 10% more of their bodyweight in fat. Furthermore, several studies have shown that a mans metabolism is anywhere from 3 to 10% higher than a woman of the same weight and age. That brings us to a physiological truth: the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism will be and the more calories you will burn, even when resting.

(MORE: Lets Stop Being Passive About Fighting Obesity)

The typeof extra weight youre carrying matters, too. Men tend to have more visceral fat, the kind that accumulates deep in the body, mostly around the organs in their mid-sections. It may not jiggle around, but it can give a guy some added girth or a big gut. Women have more subcutaneous fat, which sits just under the skin (most often in your hips and thighs). This type of fat tends to jiggle and move, and you might even (unhappily) be able to grab hold of it.

While visceral fat is the more dangerous of the two and has been linked to a long list of health issues, a 2009 study at Cairo University showed that it gets metabolized faster than subcutaneous fat. This means that subcutaneous fat is harder to lose, which is just another hurdle for women who are looking to lose weight.

(MORE:How Faith and Health Go Hand-in-Hand)

View post:
It's True: Women Must Work Harder to Lose Weight

A link between homophobia and weight loss?

Last month, the delicious tasting cookie brand Oreo posted an image of a rainbow-layered cookie, accompanied with the word Pride in support of Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and Transgender Pride month in the US

In a matter of hours, the gay cookie generated over 100,000 likes and nearly 20,000 comments, ranging from admiration of the brand for promoting tolerance and love and of course quite a few comments calling for boycotts.

Busybody group One Million Moms wrote in their campaign to boycott not only Oreo but their mother ship brand Kraft.

The group said: Kraft needs to hear from you. Supporting the homosexual agenda verses remaining neutral in the cultural war is just bad business. If Christians cannot find corporate neutrality with Kraft then they will vote with their pocketbook and support companies that are neutral.

While overall Oreos support of Pride has been well received, YouTuber Franchesca Leigh Ramsey has come out with a important announcement that finds a link between homophobia and weight loss.

This is great watch below.

Read the original:
International: Lose weight with homophobia!

Jul 3, 2012 6:00am

(ABC News)

TRENTON, N.J. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie opened up about his weight problem in an interview with ABC News and stressed he is trying to lose weight, a battle hes waged for 30 years, but said hes never considered gastric bypass surgery because its too risky.

I mean, see, listen, I think theres a fundamental misunderstanding among people regarding weight and regarding all those things that go into, to people being overweight, Christie said in an interview that will air Tuesday on Nightline. I think folks say yeah, well he must just not be disciplined, you know, or he must not have willpower that kind of thing. I guess the best analogy to make is some people drink too much. Some people take drugs. Some people eat too much. See, you can go live every day without drinking. You can live every day without taking drugs. You cant live every without eating.

Watch ABC News Jake Tappers full interview with Gov. Chris Christie on Nightline tonight at 11:35 p.m. ET.

Christie, who often jokes about his weight, but rarely opens up about the struggle, acknowledged that its a really difficult thing to deal with.

Christie said he works out with a trainer four days a week and is trying to eat better, but said its really difficult like to eat better.

With running around all the time and grabbing things on the go. But Im trying to eat better, Christie said in the interview from the state capitol. Im working at it. But obviously, Im not there. But I also have hope that I can get there.

Christie suffers from asthma and was admitted to the hospital last summer, but said besides that ailment he is healthy and sees the doctor regularly.

Want more off-the-cuff politics? Check out OTUSon Facebookand follow us on Twitter@OTUSNews.

Go here to see the original:
Chris Christie Opens Up About His Weight

EMERYVILLE, Calif. and BOSTON, July 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Tethys Bioscience, developers of the PreDx Diabetes Risk Score (DRS) blood test that predicts the 5-year probability of progression to type 2 diabetes among adults with prediabetes, and Lose It!, the consumer weight-loss program, are combining their technologies to improve weight loss and diabetes prevention. The terms of partnership call for the PreDx DRS to be incorporated into the Lose it! weight loss program. This agreement follows the completion of a 3-month assessment conducted in primary care practices, which showed that the combined use of their two technologies extended the average "days of engagement" with the Lose It! program by over 10%, and was associated with significant weight-loss.

"We know from diabetes prevention studies that healthy eating and physical activity can lower the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. A challenge has been motivating patients to make and then continue these lifestyle changes," said Juan P. Frias, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Tethys Bioscience. "The impact we observed when our technologies were combined confirms our belief that an informed patient - one who is aware of the likelihood that they may progress to type 2 diabetes - may be more motivated to adhere to a weight-loss program."

Charles Teague, Co-founder and CEO of Lose It!, concurs. "To our knowledge, this is the first time a novel prognostic test has been paired with a leading consumer weight-loss program to evaluate the power of the combined technologies. Our partnership with Tethys reinforces the link for the user between their risk for disease and action they can take to lower that risk, which may lead to better long-term results. It also enhances our ability to connect with people who are in greatest need of the service we offer an easily accessed, user-friendly program combined with technology that will help them lose weight and lower their risk for developing type 2 diabetes."

About the Tethys/Lose It! 3-Month Program

Tethys and Lose It! conducted a 3-month program in three primary care practices to evaluate whether an individual's knowledge of their likelihood of progression to type 2 diabetes, as measured by the PreDx DRS, would increase his or her use of the Lose It! application. The number of days that participants used the application ("days of engagement"), the percent of participants that used Lose It! for greater than 2 weeks, and self-reported weight loss were assessed.

Eighty-nine patients (54 men; 35 women) ranging from 20 to 70 years of age participated in the program between November 2011 and January 2012. All were provided with their PreDx DRS results by their physician before starting the Lose it! program, with the majority (75%) electing to use the Lose It! smart-phone application.

Results showed that the average "days of engagement" for participants was 10% longer than that of the typical Lose It! consumer.

The 27 participants with greater than 2 week's engagement averaged 51 years of age and 53 "days of engagement." Their mean PreDx DRS was 4.9 out of 10 ("moderate risk") with 12 (44%) at low risk, 7 (26%) at moderate risk, and 8 (30%) at high-risk. Their average starting body weight was 221 pounds and their initialBMI was 35 (Note: 90% of the participants had a BMI >30, defining them as obese). At the conclusion of the 3-month program, they had lost approximately 10 pounds (4.5% of their body weight). In one very successful case, a 60-year old participant with 113 "days of engagement" lost 15 pounds (7.5% of his body weight) and his DRS was reduced from 9.7 ("high risk") to 5.7 ("moderate risk").

About the PreDx DRS

PreDx DRS is a fasting blood test that combines the results of seven predictive biomarkers, plus age and gender, into a numerical score that predicts the 5-year likelihood of progression to type 2 diabetes among adults with prediabetes, a condition that places them at increased likelihood of progression to the disease. Validated by the Tethys Clinical Laboratory (TCL) in a number of large populations, the PreDx DRS has been shown to be highly accurate in predicting likelihood of progression to diabetes, as well as a reliable method for monitoring the impact of lifestyle interventions on a patient's likelihood of progression to diabetes. The PreDx DRS is intended to be used in conjunction with other clinical information to aid healthcare providers in determining optimal prevention strategies to delay or prevent the onset of diabetes.

View post:
Tethys Bioscience and Lose it! Announce a Strategic Partnership to Support Diabetes Prevention

By Serena Gordon HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, June 25 (HealthDay News) -- Starting your morning with a high-protein food and a "dessert" -- such as a doughnut or a slice of cake -- may help you lose weight and keep it off, a new study suggests.

However, several nutritionists said they weren't ready yet to embrace the study's conclusions.

When researchers from Tel Aviv University's Wolfson Medical Center in Israel compared two diet regimens -- one featuring a low-carbohydrate breakfast, the other a high-protein, high-carb breakfast -- the sweets-with-breakfast group lost more weight after eight months.

"Although dietary restriction often results in initial weight loss, the majority of obese dieters fail to maintain their reduced weight," wrote the study's authors.

Diet-related weight loss often triggers hunger and cravings while decreasing suppression of ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates hunger, the researchers said. This may encourage weight gain. But, "a high protein and carbohydrate breakfast may overcome these compensatory changes and prevent obesity relapse," they concluded.

The findings are scheduled for presentation Monday at the Endocrine Society's annual meeting in Houston.

But at least two U.S. nutrition experts question the wisdom of encouraging regular consumption of sweet, calorie-dense, low-nutrition foods.

"A combination of protein and carbohydrates may have kept these study volunteers satisfied, but you have to pay attention to the quality of foods you're eating, too," said clinical nutritionist Lauren Graf at Montefiore Medical Center, in New York City. "You don't want to encourage people to eat a lot of foods with trans fats, like doughnuts, cookies and cakes." Trans fats, which are partially hydrogenated oils found in baked goods and other products, can raise blood cholesterol levels.

Samantha Heller, a registered dietitian and clinical nutrition coordinator at the Center for Cancer Care at Griffin Hospital in Derby, Conn., also expressed concerns.

Here is the original post:
Study: 'Dessert' with breakfast boosts weight loss

Five million women in the UK lose weight for the big day More than one in 10 brides are losing four stone or more 57% of women are piling the pounds back on their honeymoon

By Bianca London

PUBLISHED: 18:44 EST, 28 June 2012 | UPDATED: 18:44 EST, 28 June 2012

With every new wedding season comes a revolutionary diet and brides will do anything to squeeze into their dream dress.

Losing weight before the big day has become an obsession amongst many brides-to-be

But now, leading experts are calling for women to consider their dieting habits to avoid long term health problems related to drastic weight loss and yo-yo dieting before their big day.

According to new research by XLS-Medical , over five million women in the UK lose weight before they walk down the aisle, with more than one in 10 losing a massive four stone or more.

Yet despite all the effort that goes into slimming down in time for the wedding bells, 57% of women undo all their hard work by gaining weight on their honeymoon and beyond, with over a quarter gaining at least half a stone.

Dr Matt Capehorn, Clinical Director at the National Obesity Forum, said: 'Drastic and rapid weight loss for a particular event or occasion, such as a wedding, is not advisable for a number of reasons.

'You should be aiming for steady weight loss, as a result of sensible dietary and lifestyle change, that promotes sustainable weight loss and health benefits. Any variation from this should only be on the advice of a clinician.

Original post:
The big vow: More than one in 10 brides lose four stone or more for their wedding day

by Rob Stein, National Public Radio

June 27, 2012

For the first time in 13 years, the Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug to help people lose weight.

The FDA gave the green light to Arena Pharmaceuticals to sell Belviq, or lorcaserin generically, a twice-a-day pill that suppresses appetite and appears to affect metabolism by influencing levels of the brain chemical serotonin.

"Obesity threatens the overall well being of patients and is a major public health concern," Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA's drug center, said in a statement. "The approval of this drug, used responsibly in combination with a healthy diet and lifestyle, provides a treatment option for Americans who are obese or are overweight and have at least one weight-related comorbid condition."

The drug was approved for obese people (those with a body mass index of 30 or more) and overweight people with a BMI of 27 or more, who also have at least one weight-related health condition, such as high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes or high cholesterol.

In studies sponsored by Arena, about half of patients taking Belviq lost about 5 percent of their body weight after a year. The most common side effects include headache, dizziness, fatigue, nausea, dry mouth, and constipation.

The FDA had rejected the drug in 2010 after a panel of experts advised the agency to give it a thumbs down because of safety concerns. Early studies indicated the drug might cause tumors in rats and possibly heart problems in people. Lorcaserin works in a way one part of the fen-phen diet pill combination that was pulled from the market in 1997 because it caused heart valve damage.

But agency the company submitted new data aimed at alleviating those concerns and the same panel endorsed approval in May. Some panel members, however, again expressed concerns about the drug's safety, especially the heart problems, as have some consumer advocates.

"Faced with this serious concern, it would be dangerous and unconscionable for you to allow the FDA to disregard the available evidence and subject large numbers of obese patients, already at risk for cardiovascular disease, to the added risk of damaged heart valves," wrote Sidney M. Wolfe of the Public Citizen's Health Research Group, in a letter to FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg.

More here:
FDA OKs first new weight-loss drug in years

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT)-

A new study challenges the notion that a calorie is just a calorie by finding that diets reducing the surge in blood sugar after a meal are preferable for weight loss, ultimately praising the low-glycemic index diet.

Many people are emotionally distressed after regaining weight that took so long to lose in the first place; only one in six overweight people will maintain even 10-percent of their weight loss long-term. Regaining weight as often been attributed to a decline in motivation and maintaining an exercise and diet regimen. After people lose weight, the rate at which people burn calories (energy expenditure) decreases, reflecting a slower metabolism. This explains why people tend to regain lost weight.

In order to keep energy expenditure at a high rate, the study researchers suggest a low-glycemic load diet as a more effective way to burn calories at a higher rate after weight loss. "We've found that, contrary to nutritional dogma, all calories are not created equal," David Ludwig, MD, director of both the New Balance Foundation Obesity Prevention Center and the Optimal Weight for Life Clinic at Boston Children's Hospital, was quoted as saying.

"Total calories burned plummeted by 300 calories on the low fat diet compared to the low carbohydrate diet, which would equal the number of calories typically burned in an hour of moderate-intensity physical activity," he was quoted as saying.

The study recruited 21 adult participants ages 18-40 years old who were first directed to lose 10 to 15 percent of their body weight. After weight stabilization, each participant completed all three of the following diets in random order, each for four weeks at a time. The randomized crossover design allowed for rigorous observation of how each diet affected all participants, regardless of the order in which they were consumed:

A low-fat diet: reduces dietary fat and emphasizes whole grain products and a variety of fruits and vegetables. Comprised of 60% of daily calories from carbohydrates, 20% from fat, and 20% from protein

A low-glycemic index diet: made up of minimally processed grains, vegetables, healthy fats, legumes and fruits. Comprised of 40% of daily calories from carbohydrates, 40% from fat, and 20% from protein. Low-glycemic index carbohydrates digest slowly, keeping blood sugar and hormones stable after a meal

A low-carbohydrate diet: modeled after the Atkins diet, this diet was comprised of 10% of daily calories from carbohydrates, 60% from fat and 30% from protein

Each participant was measured with state-of-the-art methods, including stable isotopes to measure participants total energy expenditure as they followed each diet. Additionally, each of the three diets fell within the normal healthy range of 10-35% of daily calories from protein.

Excerpt from:
A better way to lose weight?

By Serena Gordon HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, June 25 (HealthDay News) -- Starting your morning with a high-protein food and a "dessert" -- such as a doughnut or a slice of cake -- may help you lose weight and keep it off, a new study suggests.

However, several nutritionists said they weren't ready yet to embrace the study's conclusions.

When researchers from Tel Aviv University's Wolfson Medical Center in Israel compared two diet regimens -- one featuring a low-carbohydrate breakfast, the other a high-protein, high-carb breakfast -- the sweets-with-breakfast group lost more weight after eight months.

"Although dietary restriction often results in initial weight loss, the majority of obese dieters fail to maintain their reduced weight," wrote the study's authors.

Diet-related weight loss often triggers hunger and cravings while decreasing suppression of ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates hunger, the researchers said. This may encourage weight gain. But, "a high protein and carbohydrate breakfast may overcome these compensatory changes and prevent obesity relapse," they concluded.

The findings are scheduled for presentation Monday at the Endocrine Society's annual meeting in Houston.

But at least two U.S. nutrition experts question the wisdom of encouraging regular consumption of sweet, calorie-dense, low-nutrition foods.

"A combination of protein and carbohydrates may have kept these study volunteers satisfied, but you have to pay attention to the quality of foods you're eating, too," said clinical nutritionist Lauren Graf at Montefiore Medical Center, in New York City. "You don't want to encourage people to eat a lot of foods with trans fats, like doughnuts, cookies and cakes." Trans fats, which are partially hydrogenated oils found in baked goods and other products, can raise blood cholesterol levels.

Samantha Heller, a registered dietitian and clinical nutrition coordinator at the Center for Cancer Care at Griffin Hospital in Derby, Conn., also expressed concerns.

Read the original here:
'Dessert' with breakfast boosts weight loss

Page 596«..1020..595596597598..610620..»

Home » Lose Weight » Page 596