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For $190, Helix will send you a DNA kit that requires a small saliva sample be sent back. This will take six weeks to process and in the meantime, you track your food intake and exercise habits with the LoseIt app. Once you receive your results within the Lose It! app, the program will be able to tell you if your habits are on the right track based on your genetic predispositions. They also provide additional resources such as in-depth DNA reports and scientific studies so that users can see the science and data behind their results.

Specifically, the report tracks 16 different genetic markers across the categories of weight loss, nutrition, fitness, and food sensitivities (such as gluten and lactose intolerance). For example, one marker can indicate a gene variant experienced by only 5 percent of the population, which causes those who have itto gain weight if they ingest more than 22 grams of saturated fat a day, says Kevin McCoy, Senior Vice President of Business Development at Lose It!. So if a person tests positive for that trait, the app monitors their saturated fat intake, alerts them when theyre consuming too much, and recommends alternative meals that cut down on saturated fat.

Other genetic markers can tell you if a low-fat diet might help you lose weight, or if you might be especially susceptible to weight gain caused by consuming sugary drinks.

McCoy notes that receiving these results alone wont make someone instantly lose weight. We give you the report, compare it to behavioral data, and prescribe actions, he says. All this is about behavior changes and people need to be motivated. For his part, he believes receiving the information will be highly motivating for those trying to lose weight. But as the program is in beta testing, there isnt any scientific data to back up embodyDNAs effectiveness.

Experts are skeptical of the idea for many reasons, including that lack of data. While obesity can be genetic, most genetic variants only slightly increase your risk of developing obesity, with very few exceptions, says Margrit Urbanek, Ph.D. and Associate Professor of Endocrinology at Northwestern University, who specializes in the genetics of obesity. Genotyping 16 obesity-associated markers as the app proposes will only measure a relatively small set of genes contributing to obesity, she says. So while the results are based in science and fact, they only show one small piece of the genetic puzzle.

Furthermore, she says, were not far along enough in our study of genetic variations to make 100-percent effective recommendations. So even if the app did offer a complete assessment of genetic risks for obesity, the science isnt far enough along to decipher the results properly. While we can hypothesize as to which diet may be most appropriate for a given genetic background, we have no clinical data to back up this speculation, she says.

But the team at Lose It! believes that knowledge, of any kind, is power. Again, different methods work for different people. Although the scientific data may not fully be there, if the results motivate you, thats your prerogative.

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Can A DNA Test Really Help You Lose Weight? - Women's Health

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For Sumangal Agarwal, life hit a full stop when his weighing scale showed the century mark. It was only after seeing Virat Kohli's transformation, that Sumangal finally got the motivation to shed all that extra weight. Inspired by celebrities on television, Sumangal accepted the challenge in his own zeal. Read on to find out how Sumangal lost 27 kilos!

Name: Sumangal Agarwal Highest weight recorded: 102 kgs Weight lost: 27 kgs

The turning point: I was very unhappy with my body and appearance and always wanted to have a good physique like celebrities appearing on television. I started doing my research and read several interviews and fitness guidelines. The real motivation came to me when I heard about Virat Kohli's transformation after listening to his interviews.

Breakfast: Lukewarm lemon water after waking up Morning snacks: Black coffee without sugar Lunch: 50gm of Roasted chickpeas or Punjabi Chhole Evening snacks: Green tea with almonds and walnuts Dinner: Sprouts or sometimes slept hungry I had 1-2 cheat meals in a week, though I tried to avoid it as much as I could.

(TOI Health does not endorse crash dieting or vigorous dieting in any way. Individual results may vary. Please be cautious.) My workout: During the first two months, I was stuck to light cardio at home. But after losing 10-12 kilograms, I added weight training as well as high intensity cardio. I do exercises with dumbbells for around 90 minutes and have pretty much got my biceps and shoulders in good shape.

Fitness secrets I unveiled: Anybody can workout for 2 hours in the gym but to control what's in your plate for the remaining 22 hours makes a real champion.

How do I stay motivated? My real motivation is when people who body shamed me, come to me for suggestions.

How do you ensure you don't lose focus? Losing focus is also related to motivation. I never forget how I cried every night when I saw the needle (on the weighing scale) only moving upwards. I fear going back to that time again.

What's the most difficult part of being overweight? Gravity plays its role more on us. Right from getting up in the morning to doing push ups during a workout, it just keeps on getting tougher.

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FAT BUSTER: He did this when he hit 100 kilos! - Times of India

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Morgan Bartley says she had always been the chubby girl.

I was overweight as young as I can remember, says the Instagram star, who is featured in the current issue of PEOPLE.

But Bartley says her weight-gain accelerated after ovarian torsion caused her to lose an ovary at the age of 12 and have surgery to untwist her remaining ovary at the age of 14. The Southern California native began experiencing menopausal symptoms and went from overweight to obese. Told she might never have kids, she developed depression and a binge-eating disorder, gaining 70 lbs. in a year.

Life has been hard, she says. It was all things I couldnt control.

At 17, Bartley weighed almost 300 lbs. Then she resolved to lose weightand post every step of the way on her Instagram account, @morganlosing.

I realized, Theres so many things that I want to do in my life, and Ill be damned if my weight is the thing that prevents me,' she says.

As followers cheered her on (she has 152,000 on Instagram and 16,000 subscribers on YouTube), Bartley, now 20, slimmed down to 175 lbs.

At times the support Ive received has been the only thing thats kept me going, she says.

Bartley had tried many diets since age 10, but posting photos helped her keep the weight off, she says. If everyone knew I was trying to lose weight, Id feel accountable.

She got a trainer, went on a high-protein, low-carb diet and lost 25 lbs. before getting a vertical-sleeve gastrectomy, which reduced the size of her stomach, in August 2015.

FROM PEN:Half Their Size: Christina Jordan on the Moment She Decided to Lose Weight

Theres been controversy along the way: In March Instagram apparently deleted one of her posts featuring before-and-after swimsuit shots (including the one above), possibly because other users found them inappropriate.

It sucks some people express negativity, she wrote. I look pretty freakin bomb in a bathing suit, and thats after a lifetime of letting insecurities hold me back from experiencing life.

The post was quickly restored.

Bartley had excess skin removed in 2016 and wants to have a full body lift once she reaches her goal weight of about 145 lbs.

Shes now working at a fitness studio and getting certification as a personal trainer, and she has switched her college major from child development to business so she can capitalize on her online following and create a company that helps others lose weight.

I want to help people change their lives, says Bartley, who had her eggs frozen and hopes to one day start a family. I feel thats what Im supposed to do with my life.

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She Lost 100 Lbs. with the Help of Instagram! - PEOPLE.com

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Monday, July 31, 2017 4:30 PM UTC

Many of us are always looking for the easiest way to lose a few extra pounds. Whether you are trying to slim down for beach season, or trying to fit into a slightly too tight wedding dress, dieting seems like the best option. Although healthy eating and exercise are the best ways to lose weight, fad diets sound appealing with their promises of overnight success, but which ones really work and which ones will leave you disappointed?

What is a Fad Diet?

A fad diet can be defined as any diet that promises quick weight loss through a diet that is considered unhealthy or unbalanced. Fad diets are usually targeted at those who want a quick fix to weight loss and dont really like to exercise. While some dieters claim to lose weight overnight with a fad diet, it isnt always fat that they are losing, but water weight instead.

So why are fad diets so appealing if there are many claims showing that they are not that effective? This is because some fad diets do work. The ones that restrict certain foods or the amount of calories one consumes will cause the body to burn fat but the diet must include exercise. That, and the sometimes-bland food choices, make fad diets difficult to follow for more than a month or so. Factor in the fact that fad diets could be harmful to your health and you have to question why eating right and exercising frequently arent chosen.

Determining if Your Diet is a Fad Diet

To determine if a diet you are considering is a fad diet, you should ask yourself these questions:

Does it promise quick weight loss?

Does it sound too good to be true?

Does it help sell a companys product?

Does it lack valid scientific research to support its claims?

If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, the diet is probably a fad diet. There are many fad diets to choose from and when most people choose one, they look for the diet that sounds easiest or that offers the foods they like best. This is one reason that many people fail when dieting. They want to still eat the same way that they are used to and lose weight.

Some Common Examples of Fad Diets

There are many different fad diets to choose from and some are better than others at effectively helping you to lose weight. Here are some of the more popular fad diets in the UK.

High-Protein Diets

High protein diets require that you eat large amounts of protein and little else. This may sound like a good idea since protein is good for you after all, but in fact, it could be dangerous to your health.

Eating too much protein can actually harm your kidneys and liver and protein alone doesnt build muscle. Proper diet and working out with weights does.

Liquid Diets

A liquid diet cuts out everything that is a solid food and could mean that you are missing vital nutrients and fibre in your diet. These nutrients are what keeps you healthy and helps to prevent disease.

Grapefruit Diet

Restrictive diets such as this one requires that you eat one type of food and one type of food only. As with the liquid diet, you could be missing out on nutrients and some much-needed calories that grapefruit doesnt offer.

Fasting

Fasting is a very dangerous diet that should be avoided. Even though the scientific research is there, losing weight this way could cause you to become dizzy, fatigued or very sick. Plus, when you fast, your body goes into starvation mode and slows down your metabolism. This, in turn, reduces the number of calories you will burn.

Problems Associated with Fad Diets

Fad diets may help you lose weight quickly, but the weight loss is usually short lived. Are the risks worth the reward for some people? Before you answer that, lets take a look at some of the risks and problems that are associated with fad diets:

Keeping all of this in mind, do fad diets have any positive attributes? We can clearly see that they work at helping people lose weight quickly but often that weight comes back just as quickly. One factor that we can see as a positive for fad diets is that they can be used to educate people as to how poorly they are eating and to give them some food choices and diet plans that may work for them. We can also say that the initial weight loss can be a good motivator for someone just starting a diet and exercise plan.

So, what is the best way to lose weight and keep it off? A healthy diet and regular exercise are proven effective and have already helped people across the UK lose weight successfully. Dont like to work out? Make your workout fun by using a mini trampoline designed especially for those who want to work out but dont have the time to go to the gym.

Dont like to eat healthy? Try it just a couple of days per week at first and slowly incorporate it into your diet routine. Studies show that those who choose to eat healthy all at once, often fail at sticking to their diets. By adding in healthy choices whenever possible and slowly, you will have greater success and you will begin to see a difference in your weight.

If you are considering a fad diet, consult your physician beforehand to ensure that you are healthy enough to take on such a drastic lifestyle change.

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Do Fad Diets Really Work? - EconoTimes

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After decades of pushing single plans and products that didnt prove effective for a large chunk of the population, the health and wellness industry is finally zeroing in on more precise solutions tailored to the individual.

Heres a look at some of the latest programs, tools and products designed to take your overall health to the next level.

Viome, a Silicon Valley startup founded by tech billionaire Naveen Jain, uses an analysis of the microorganisms in your gut microbiome, as well as your metabolism and the proteins in your blood to make create personalized dietary recommendations that he says will enhance biochemistry, promote weight loss and ward off disease.

The new service delivers test kits that collect information through stool samples, saliva and blood glucose testing. The results and dietary recommendations are delivered via a consumer app. Follow-up tests kits track progress.

Cost: $59 a month for a yearlong plan, or an upfront annual discount of $599. Viome.com

Viome / Viome

Viome, a Silicon Valley startup founded by tech billionaire Naveen Jain, uses an analysis of the microorganisms in your gut microbiome, as well as your metabolism and the proteins in your blood to make personalized dietary recommendations to balance that biochemistry, enhance weight loss and ward off disease.

Viome, a Silicon Valley startup founded by tech billionaire Naveen Jain, uses an analysis of the microorganisms in your gut microbiome, as well as your metabolism and the proteins in your blood to make personalized dietary recommendations to balance that biochemistry, enhance weight loss and ward off disease. (Viome / Viome)

Getting a workout plan from your gym is certainly a start, but what if it doesnt work for your body? TRX, maker of the popular suspension trainer, has launched TRX MAPS, which analyzes your individual mobility, muscle activation, posture and symmetry to prescribe a better workout just for you. The unit scans your body as you squat and in 22 seconds delivers a digital assessment of your bodys weak areas to your smartphone. This information can be used by a trainer to tailor daily workouts to address these deficiencies and to help clients avoid injuries. Fitness enthusiasts also can get their own customized workouts to stretch and strengthen these areas on their own via the TRX consumer app.

Its very tailored to the individual user, says Paul Zadoff, TRX president. We can show you how to train better and get fit more quickly. But just as important, he says, we can make you more durable.

Cost: Varies with the gym. App subscription is $4.99 a month. Get.TrxTraining.com

TRX / TRX

TRX, maker of the popular suspension trainer, is launching a new in-gym innovation in mid-July called TRX MAPS, which analyzes your individual mobility, muscle activation, posture and symmetry to prescribe a better workout for you. The unit scans your body as you squat, and in 22 seconds delivers its digital assessment of your body's weak areas to your smartphone.

TRX, maker of the popular suspension trainer, is launching a new in-gym innovation in mid-July called TRX MAPS, which analyzes your individual mobility, muscle activation, posture and symmetry to prescribe a better workout for you. The unit scans your body as you squat, and in 22 seconds delivers its digital assessment of your body's weak areas to your smartphone. (TRX / TRX)

Fitness tracking is getting more individualized too, so that all of that activity you engage in, from spinning to yoga to house cleaning, now counts toward your fitness goal. Rather than shooting for the traditional one-size-fits-all 10,000 steps, Mio Globals Slice fitness tracker looks at your overall daily effort.

It translates heart rate data from its bracelet into a single personal activity intelligence (PAI) score, so any effort that gets your heart rate up increases your score and helps you reach a personalized goal, which changes as your fitness improves. The idea is to try to keep your individual PAI score above 100 each day to decrease your risk of disease and increase your lifespan. The algorithms behind PAI use a host of factors from age to gender to resting heart rate and are derived from the Hunt Study, which tracked outcomes for 45,000 individuals over 25 years, pinpointing the activity threshold necessary for greater health.

Cost: $129. MioGlobal.com

Mio Global / Mio Global

Mio Global's Slice fitness tracker.

Mio Global's Slice fitness tracker. (Mio Global / Mio Global)

Trying to go Whole 30? Not sure whether the Mediterranean diet is right for you? Prepared meal delivery service Territory (formerly called Power Supply) allows you to filter prepared meals by nutrients, calories and diet programs (Paleo, low carb, etc.) and get deliveries up to twice a week. You can also filter your picks at the outset to avoid ingredients that are problematic for you.

Price: Meals start at $10.50. Shipping is $4.99, or free if picked up at local gyms. TerritoryFoods.com

Johnny Jaquez / Territory

Grilled salmon, by Territory.

Grilled salmon, by Territory. (Johnny Jaquez / Territory)

READ ON!

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Maybe this is why you can't lose the weight - Los Angeles Times

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The wind is cold, the rain hurling in my face is even colder, and about the only upside to the frigid January temperatures is that Im too numb to feel the blood oozing out of my ear. A class of bewildered schoolchildren and their teachers on a nature ramble are looking askance at us and its all I can do not to put on a Christopher Lloyd voice and yell Its a science experiment!

Were on a local climb with one bike, five kilos of lead weights, a five kilo weighted vest and a very cold scientist, Paul Hough, who leads the physiology team at St Marys University and wrote Advanced Personal Training: Science to Practice.

In keeping with his work in that book, were taking some of the science of climbing out of the lab and onto the road where it will actually be applied. In the run up to a hilly event such as Velothon Wales, its easy to become obsessed with saving weight for the climbs, but unless you have a body fat percentage in single figures and a bike that you needed a mortgage to buy, theres a good chance youll face the cyclists dilemma: with limited time and resources available, is it better to lose weight from me or the bike?

My first run was with the weight vest

Cycling Plus deputy editor Paul Robson and I will take turns to dash up the 1.5km climb at rather more than our comfortable pace, equipped with heart rate monitors, power meters and a stopwatch. My first run will be with the weight vest, after which Paul will do the same ride on a bike adorned with kilo weights in the bottle cages and frame bag.

After that it will be my turn with the weighted bike and his turn with the vest. The tests are done in that particular order so that excess spikes in our blood lactate will be highlighted there will be a natural increase in blood lactate in our second runs due to the lactate generated by the first climb, but by making sure that were not working in identical patterns well be able to see if there are spikes rather than natural climbs in our levels, and relate them back to the load being carried.

Paul pops on the five kilo weighted vest

Paul Hough will be taking blood samples from our earlobes immediately after each climb and relating them to the other data. So our rides arent influenced by watching power figures, the Garmin is taped up to hide the stats that Hough will use to analyse our performance.

Armed with a roll of biohazard tape I head down the hill to prepare the course, marking a start line 1.6km from the top and a warm-up line a few hundred yards further down, allowing us to shake off inertia and start turning the gear over before hitting the second mark and starting to go harder.

From the moment I start to push its apparent that something is off kilter. This is a familiar climb, and although Im pushing a bit harder than I normally would, Im not seeing as much of a return on the effort as Id expect. It feels like theres just a tiny bit more resistance than usual, as if the air were denser.

As I round the first bend I knock it down a gear and find a rhythm at a slightly slower cadence than usual. Im not labouring over the climb, Im making a sustainable effort, but Im slower and less comfortable. As I approach the next bend I become aware of an ache in my lower back, and as I round the corner I find myself unexpectedly puffing and blowing, my ribs stretching the straps of the weight vest with each inhalation.

Kilo weights are loaded into the bikes saddlebag

Its not a terrible experience, and certainly not one that would stop me if I were in the middle of a long ride, but as I come to a halt at the top of the hill Im aware that a climb that I usually take great pleasure in was no fun at all.

As Paul Hough scratches a drop of blood from my ear and notes down the readings from the Garmin, I explain to Paul Robson where to find the warm up and start markers, and he begins loading the weighted bags and bidons onto the bike for his first ascent.

Its slightly embarrassing how quickly hes back in the picnic area thats serving as our impromptu phlebotomy lab. His ascent has been two minutes and 37 seconds faster than mine. The question is, how much is that down to our respective difference in fitness, and how much is due to the difference in where weve carried our extra 5kg?

We rode blind, basing our performance on feel, rather than any specific power numbers

Having discarded the vest, swabbed my ears and remounted the bike, I start my second run. The difference is instantly apparent. The weighted bike is stodgier, with the back wheel feeling fixed in place while the front roves back and forth, but for all that its marginally less nimble, its no less sprightly. Im quickly up to speed, spinning comfortably, my cadence a little higher, my speed a little faster, and all for less effort.

Unlike the first ascent, the climb is fun again. Not unlike the first run, Paul proceeds to smash my time to bits on his second run. A second round of ear-piercing follows and then, in true cyclist fashion, we head to the cafe to eat cake and talk about our ride.

By the pricking of my my... earlobes? That wasnt in Macbeth

The first thing we discover is that the lactate tests imply (but dont prove) that any build up is natural, rather than affected by the location of the weight. My figures climbed from 5.6mmol/L to 10.6mmol/L between the first and second rides, while Pauls went from 3.6 to 11.3, despite the tests being carried out in the opposite order.

Your vest score was lower than with the bike says Hough, and with Paul it was the opposite. Thats why we do a counterbalance if youd both gone with the vest or bike first, it might have looked like the spike related specifically to that. On a cold day like this, the blood flow is less, so the lactate isnt shuttled back into the muscle and recycled.

Poring over the data, it becomes apparent that theres comparatively little in it. Regardless of whether the weight was on the bike or the body, our average power outputs never varied by more than a few watts, and our average heart rates were broadly similar for both climbs. The weighted bike run saw my cadence increase by about 9rpm, while Pauls barely varied between runs, increasing by just 3rpm.

Three brains stare at the numbers and conclude that, yes, Paul is that slow

What is noticeable is that in both cases the climb with the weight on the body was faster than with it on the bike, in my case by a statistically insignificant two seconds, but in Pauls case by 16 seconds having extra weight on the bike apparently costs him around a second every hundred yards of climbing.

For a lot of cyclists that last point would represent the only part of the data that mattered, and yet it throws into sharp relief the contrast the tests revealed: It was much harder and less enjoyable with the vest on, says Paul. I definitely noticed the weight more when it was on me, even though I was technically faster. I noticed the weight on the bike, but when the weight was on me the bike felt light and I felt much worse.

The placement of the weight has comparatively little effect on the physiological numbers, seems to have a small effect on the speed, but has a huge effect on the perception of the effort.

We both dealt with the extra weight on the bike better than the extra weight on our bodies

Both Paul and I had a miserable time lugging bodyweight up the hill, but were perfectly happy when dealing with extra bike weight. Over the course of a long, hilly event, avoiding that misery might be worth more than potentially being a little bit faster, especially as that misery took a physical form during my bodyweight ride I had a burning ache in my back, a discomfort Paul noticed slightly later too.

Thats the ergonomic effect of carrying weight, explains Hough. Often, if youre overweight youre more likely to have lower back problems, especially when cycling, because in that position theres more load on the spine. Also, if youre an overweight cyclist its not just about the weight, its about surface area. If youre carrying a lot more body fat youre less aerodynamic as well. Thats an additive effect: not only is your power-to-weight ratio lower, but youve also got more drag, so thats going to make you slower as well.

It turns out that losing weight from your body rather than your bike could be a better investement

Depending on what your body fat percentage is, I think it would be better to lose weight off yourself rather than focus on the bike too much. Its a bigger investment in both time and effort, but over the long term its a better price to pay. Less drag, better long-term health outcomes, and it can improve your training by improving your vitality.

Often when you try to lose body fat you clean up your diet, and with a better diet training adaptations can be better as well. The process of losing body fat has all sorts of little additive benefits.

Thats all well and good, but there are very few cyclists who arent also bike-fetishists, and hearing a physiologist suggest that theres more benefit in working on your body than your bike can be disheartening, but fear not according to Hough losing weight off the body can justify buying a lighter bike...

Weve tested people in the lab who come in with ceramic bearings and two-grand wheels, and its obvious that they could have lost a couple of kilos to make those same gains, but if you get your body in its best shape possible, the benefits when you move to a better bike with better components will be exponential.

This feature was supported by Velothon Wales.

This article was originally published in Cycling Plus magazine, available on Apple Newsstand and Zinio.

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Losing weight from your bike or your body which makes you faster? - BikeRadar.com

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How many of us have pledged to eat more healthily and exercise on a regular basis only to find that we are very soon falling into our old methods of eating and lazing around on the couch? Rather than make empty promises and go cold turkey on all the foods and drinks that we love (the recipe for all diet failings!) there is a new approach that we can take that will allow us to lose weight easily.

Surgical intervention

If you are looking for a quick fix solution to streamlining your silhouette, whether you are male or female, one of the ways in which you can do this is through undergoing vaser lipo. This method of fat removal is far less invasive than what we may know of in the traditional sense of liposuction. The targeted fat removal of this process means that less damage is done to the areas you want to remove fat from and thus means there is less needed for recovery and virtually no scarring too.

Reduce how much you eat out

While eating out can offer you the chance to catch up with friends, avoid doing the washing up and make for an easy dinner solution, it can actually make it that much easier for you to pile on the pounds! Eating out less will allow you to make better food choices and probably end up eating something far healthier at work. If you should have to eat out then why not consider swapping a bowl of pasta for a chicken salad instead?

Out of sight, out of mind

Many people have proven the fact that it is much easier to feel better about yourself and lose weight when you stop stocking the house with snacks and confectionary. When you have a preserve of chocolate or crisps in the house or in the drawer at home of course you will be more tempted to snack. Through removing temptations from your living space you will find that you start dropping weight off easily.

Have breakfast

While a lot of people tend to blame their busy working lives on missing breakfast perhaps they should reconsider missing when they find out that they could actually be adding to their weight as opposed to it helping them lose it. Through eating a healthy 300 calorie breakfast you will be better able to not only concentrate but last longer before having to snack or eat more than you usually would for lunch.

Stop smoking

One of the best ways to lose weight quickly and easier as well as improving the overall wellbeing of your body is to quit smoking. Smoking not only has a devastating impact to almost every part of your body but it also prevents you from working out to your fullest potential as your lungs are weaker and can take in less oxygen.

Regardless of what steps you take to lose weight just be sure to gradually introduce more healthy habits into your day to day life. This will ensure that your weight loss is not only consistent but for the long term too!

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How to Lose Weight Easily - Times Square Chronicles (press release) (registration)

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QUESTION: My friend stocks her cupboards with low-calorie versions of everything and seems to be losing weight. Are diet foods really the key to long-term weight management?

ANSWER: Diet foods can certainly help, but they have to be used in moderation, just like anything else. When theyre used as a crutch, achieving your weight loss goals can be much more difficult. Look what happened in the 1980s and 90s when low-fat diets were all the rage. People consumed fat-free cookies, low-fat muffins and reduced-fat chips in an effort to lose weight, and the nations waistline continued to bulge. Fat intake dropped slightly (still a higher amount than healthy standards), but carbohydrate intake skyrocketed, resulting in an increase in total calories for many folks. Bottom lineeven supposed health foods can make weight loss difficult if you simply eat too much of the packaged foods and not enough produce, beans, and other real foods.

Andrea Ivins is the club manager and Zumba Instructor at Anytime Fitness in Palestine, TX. To submit a question for future articles, please contact the author at palestinetx@anytimefitness.com or thrivingivins.com.

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Anytime Gal: Are diet foods key to long-term weight loss? - Jacksonville Daily Progress

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My friend stocks her cupboards with low-calorie versions of everything and seems to be losing weight. Are diet foods really the key to long-term weight management?

Diet foods can certainly help, but they have to be used in moderation, just like anything else. When they're used as a crutch, achieving your weight-loss goals can be much more difficult.

Look what happened in the 1980s and '90s, when low-fat diets were all the rage. People consumed fat-free cookies, low-fat muffins and reduced-fat chips in an effort to lose weight, and the nation's waistline continued to bulge.

Fat intake dropped slightly (still a higher amount than healthy standards), but carbohydrate intake skyrocketed, resulting in an increase in total calories for many folks.

Bottom line even supposed "health" foods can make weight loss difficult, if you simply eat too much of the packaged foods and not enough produce, beans and other "real" foods.

About the author: Andrea Ivins is the club manager and Zumba instructor at Anytime Fitness in Palestine. To submit a question for future articles, contact the author at palestinetx@anytimefitness.com or thrivingivins.com

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Ask the Anytime Gal: Are diet foods ket to long-term weight management? - Palestine Herald Press

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In Sand Springs, the fires may be dying, but the trouble is far from over.

What was, until earlier last week, the nation's largest wildfire is now under control. As ranchers receive donations of hay and other supplies from around the country, they're surveying the land, seeing how and if the livestock survived.

They may have to sell livestock because there's no more usable grazing land and the price of hay has skyrocketed. But that's just this year the immediate effects of the fire.

The Lodgepole Complex fires didn't just wipe out this year, they wiped out years to come. Many ranchers will likely have to sell off cattle to survive losing years of carefully honed genetics. Other ranchers will have to wait until 2019 to see new calves reach market age and who knows how they'll make it until then. And for new, young ranchers, the fires may have wiped out their budding businesses before they even got on their feet.

It's not just about acres of grazing land or head of cattle. It's also the less obvious losses like fencing nearly 1,400 miles of which has been charred beyond use. The cost of replacing the fencing alone is estimated at $15 million, not to mention the cattle those fences will keep penned in.

Garfield County rancher Brett Dailey talks about the effects of the drought and the Lodgepole Complex fire Thursday.

Brett Dailey, leaning against his tractor and peering down toward the highway as he awaited a delivery of hay Thursday, noted his relative luck. His Weeding Ranch west of Jordan had been spared by the blaze, although he lost a smaller pasture in the heart of the burn area where he typically grazes his yearling cattle.

Charred trees stand on blackened earth along Old Stage Road in Garfield County Thursdayafter the Lodgepole Complex fire burned through the area.

The main thing is if those people can find a place to take those cattle, Dailey said. Some of them have worked for generations on those genetics, and to take them to the market now, theyre losing a lifetime of work.

Trucks of donated hay are coming from as far away as West Virginia, said Anne Miller, a spokeswoman for the firefighting team,but it may not be enough to get ranchers through the rest of the season. The cost of feeding cattle during the drought could be staggering compared to a typical year, with the average price of hay in the region hovering around $180 per ton, compared with a more normal range of $100 to $120 per ton.

Charred trees stand on blackened earth along Old Stage Road in Garfield County Thursday, after the Lodgepole Complex fire burned through the area.

Jay Bodner, the natural resources director for the Montana Stockgrowers Association, has spent much of the week fielding phone calls from worried ranchers affected by the fires. Respiratory damage from heat and smoke inhalation often gives way to infection, he said, and hooves burned by the grass fires may slough off during the next three weeks.

Cows and calves likely suffered weight loss if they were displaced by the fires, especially those that got lost and spent days wandering without food or water. If cow-calf pairs were separated too long, Bodner added, the young will become weaned too early and will weigh far less than they would have otherwise.

Theyre going to be coming in much earlier than (the ranchers) had forecast, he said. The phase right now, theyre trying to gather cows and just do an initial assessment.

Charred trees stand on blackened earth along Old Stage Road in Garfield County Thursday after the Lodgepole Complex fire burned through the area.

But in the long term, he said the combined financial setbacks from livestock loss, selling cattle early and replacing fences and other infrastructure destroyed by the fires will be overwhelming for many ranchers. Some pregnant cows will likely have to be sold off to make ends meet, meaning stock growers will have to buy them back next year to re-start the process of impregnating and raising calves for the 2019 season.

Each one of those could be a year, two or three years, to recover from something like that, he said.

The federal government offers several forms of assistance to ranchers affected by the combined severe drought and wildfires that have wracked the region, but funding is limited, and some of it wont be available until next year.

And unlike farmers, ranchers lack access to the crop insurance programs that help to defray the lack of income during a catastrophic drought or weather event.

Amy Webbink, the acting executive director for the federal Farm Service Agency office in Bozeman, said Wednesday that ranchers will be eligible for several cost-sharing and disaster assistance programs. That includes the Emergency Conservation Program, which helps cover the costs of fences destroyed by the fires. Currently, ranchers can apply for the assistance, but those grants wont be awarded until the agencys national office begins its review of applications.

Were just going to be doing everything we can to try to get assistance to those producers as quickly as we can, Webbink said.

Charred fence posts lay on the ground Thursday after the Lodgepole Complex fire burned through Garfield County on.

Webbink said she didnt have details on how much money would be available to replace fences, but Garfield County FSA director Walt Bales said that more than 1,400 miles of livestock fencing was destroyed by the fires. Noting that the fires burned so hot that even the steel fence posts are too brittle to reuse, he estimated the total cost at around $15 million.

Other emergency assistance programs will offer federal dollars to help cover a portion of the range land and livestock losses due to drought and wildfires, but Webbink said some of those grants wont be distributed until next spring at the earliest.

People gather at the Sand Springs store along U.S. Highway 200 as a thunderstorm brings rain to the Lodgepole Complex fire area Thursday.

As the morning thunderstorms tapered off Thursday, the smell of wet ashes and sagebrush hung heavy in the air near Sand Springs. Firefighting crews, their work on the nations largest wildfire coming to a close, were beginning to filter out of the sprawling fire camp as they prepared to be deployed elsewhere in the following week.

The Sand Springs Store along U.S. Highway 200 is surrounded by campers and vehicles as the incident management team is set up for the Lodgepole Complex fire Thursday.

But for locals, an uncertain future still lies ahead.

Eric Miller, the local agent for the Montana State University Extension, said the vast majority of acreage burned by the Lodgepole fires comprised grazing lands. On average, he said 80 to 100 percent of those lands have experienced a complete loss of grass.

That means that their grazing for this season is basically completed, without a lot of rain and regrowth, Miller said.

The fire information board for the Lodgepole Complex at the Sand Springs store along U.S. Highway 200 on Thursday.

Dailey knows that many of the more established ranchers in the region will find ways to weather the setbacks from a historically difficult year for the Montana cattle industry. What worries him more, he said, are the younger ranchers who may not have the resources to bounce back.

Theyve just barely got cattle out there, theyre just getting started, then they get the drought, then the fire comes through, he said. Thats who I really feel for, those young kids that worked so hard and just need a little break.

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Long-term losses of Montana's fire season amount to much more ... - Billings Gazette

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