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Losing weight is hard enough, but belly fat can be particularly hard to shift. Here are 12 science-backed ways to drop the pounds and inches from your midsection...

See also: Why belly fat is different to other types of body fat

See also: Gut health and weight loss: what you need to know

1. Cut Calories, but not too much The best way to lose weight is to cut calories and do more exercise nothing new there. But be careful. If you cut your calorie intake too low, you're likely to damage your metabolism, which will make it harder for your body to burn calories.

One study found that people who ate 1,100 calories per day slowed their metabolic rate more than twice as much as those who ate 1,500 calories per day over four consecutive days.

Worse, this drop in metabolism may continue after you start eating normally again which means you'll burn fewer calories than before you started the diet. No wonder people who lose weight on crash diets tend to put it all back on again.

2. Eat more fibre Fibre expands in your tummy and slows the rate at which your stomach empties, which helps to keep you feeling fuller for longer. Add more soluble fibre (such as oats, flaxseeds, avocados, legumes, Brussels sprouts and blackberries) to your diet and it may also help reduce the number of calories that your body absorbs from food.

A diet high is soluble fibre is also associated with lower levels of visceral fat (the dangerous kind that sits around your organs) and reduced belly circumference.

Upping your daily soluble fibre intake by just 10 grams is enough to lower fat gain around the midsection by 3.7% over five years, according to one study.

3. Drink protein shakes Most people don't get enough protein in their diet, yet studies show it can boost your metabolism, keep you feeling full, and even help to shed stubborn belly fat.

Eating lean chicken, eggs and tuna is a good way to get more protein, or consider including protein shakes as part of your overall calorie intake. Not only are protein shakes an easy way to get more protein, they've also been shown to be effective at reducing belly fat as part of a weight loss diet.

4. Make sure you get enough sleep Many studies have found a link between lack of sleep and obesity. One or two night's disturbed rest isn't going to make you pile on the pounds, but if you regularly don't get seven or eight hours of sleep a night, it can contribute to weight gain.

When you are sleep deprived, your body produces a hormone called ghrelin, which stimulates appetite. Not only that, studies show that sleep deprived people are more likely to choose calorie-dense foods which is why that chocolate muffin is so hard to resist when you're tired.

5. Take a probiotic supplement Recent studies have found a link between the quality of the bacteria in our gut and weight. People who are overweight or obese are known to have a different composition of gut bacteria than those with a healthy BMI.

Strains of probiotics that have been shown to be particularly effective at reducing belly fat include Lactobacillus fermentum, Lactobacillus amylovorus, and Lactobacillus gasseri.

In addition to taking a probiotic, try increasing your fibre intake and eating probiotic foods, such as yogurt, kefir, tempeh, kimchi and pickles.

6. Walk for 30 minutes each day There's no point doing endless sit-ups if you don't do enough exercise to burn fat. Cardio exercise, such as jogging, cycling, and aerobics not only burns calories but is also effective at toning your midsection.

Most studies suggest doing 30-40 minutes of cardio exercise per day, which could be a brisk walk with the dog or digging the garden.

Wearing a fitness tracking device is a great way to see how many calories you burn and the number of steps you take. Some trackers also measures your heart rate such as the Fitbit Charge - and will tell you when you're in the fat-burning zone.

7. Switch to whole-grain carbs Experts recommend cutting out refined carbs (like white bread, pasta and rice) and sugar in order to lose weight.

A study published in the 2010 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that people who increased their whole-grain consumption did not develop more visceral, subcutaneous belly fat unlike those who increased their intake of refined carbohydrates.

There's another good reason to cut back on refined carbs. When you eat high GI foods, your blood sugar levels spike and your body releases cortisol, which is linked to excess belly fat.

8. Keep moving Studies show that sitting for prolonged periods of time is just as bad for your health as smoking. Not only does sitting cause your abdominal muscles to become weak, it also leads to weight gain. Make an effort to stand and walk around for a few minutes every hour. To improve your core strength try sitting on fitness ball while you watch TV. Even when you sit still on a fitness ball, your muscles will be working to maintain your balance.

9. Eat a tablespoon of vinegar every day Research suggests that eating a tablespoon of vinegar every day could help fight belly fat. A study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that obese people who consumed a tablespoon of vinegar every day for two months decreased their levels of visceral body fat. Just make sure it's in a low-fat salad dressing and not sprinkled on chips!

10. Eat more calcium Eating too much saturated fat (found in hard cheese and meat) is bad news for your belly. A study published in the journal Diabetes in 2014 found that overconsuming saturated fat increases abdominal visceral fat more than those who ate the same amount of calories in polyunsaturated fat.

While you might want to cut back or switch to half-fat cheese, make sure you're getting enough calcium. Studies show that when your body doesn't have enough calcium it starts to store more body fat. Experts suggest eating at least 700mg of calcium per day.

11. Find ways to de-stress The link between stress and obesity is well known. When the body is stressed it releases the hormone adrenaline and cortisol as part of the 'fight or flight response.' Cortisol is particularly bad for weight gain, as it triggers fat to be stored around the belly, where it's easily available to be used as energy. In addition, stress can slow the metabolism, which makes it even harder to lose weight.

To make matters worse, studies show that people are more likely to crave energy-dense foods when they're feeling stressed or anxious. If you can't get to a tai chi class, you can always buy a DVD - like Tai Chi for Beginners - and learn at home. Deep breathing, going for a short brisk walk, and listening to a guided meditation can also help reduce your stress levels.

12. Eat healthy fats Not all fats are created equal, and healthy monounsaturated fatty acids (found in nuts, seeds, olive oil and avocados) have been shown to help increase satiety and reduce your chance of accumulating tummy fat. Another good reason to follow a Mediterranean diet!

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Twelve proven ways to lose weight and shift belly fat - AOL UK

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Anyone who's lost a significant amount of weight knows just how many unwarranted compliments weight loss can bring from friends and strangers, alike. And Shonda Rhimes, who has lost a fair amount of weight over the last few years, knows these comments all too well.

In the latest edition of her Shondaland newsletter, the Scandal and Grey's Anatomy showrunner talks about how she felt after a purely physical change sparked a sudden increase in attention from everyone around her.

"Women I barely knew gushed. And I mean GUSHED. Like I was holding-a-new-baby-gushed. Only there was no new baby. It was just me. In a dress. With makeup on and my hair all did, yes. But...still the same me," Rhimes shared, per EW. "And men? They spoke to me. THEY SPOKE TO ME. Like stood still and had long conversations with me about things. It was disconcerting."

But even more disconcerting, according to Rhimes, was that all these people "suddenly felt completely comfortable" talking to her about her body. They told her she looked pretty or "so hot now." They said they were proud of her and told her she looked amazing.

"After I lost weight, I discovered that people found me valuableworth of conversation," she shared. "I discovered that NOW people saw me as a PERSON. What the hell did they see me as before?...What value did they put on my presence at a party, a lunch, a discussion?" Rhimes was frustrated by the fact that she received so much more respect only after she'd lost weight. "Being thinner doesn't make you a different person," she wrote. "It just makes you thinner."

Unfortunately, Rhimes is right: Sizeism is still alive and well. Too often, anyone larger than a sample size (0-8) is seen as an object of ridicule, the punchline to a joke or a charity case to be taken care of. And Rhimes isn't the only one to draw attention to this issue lately. Actress Gabourey Sidibe recently told Refinery29 that she's tired of people congratulating her on her own weight loss. "My body actually has nothing to do with you," Sidibe said. "I don't really need your support for it. It seems ill-placed."

This article originally appeared on SELF.com

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Shonda Rhimes hated the attention she got after losing weight - Fox News

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Success on a weight-loss diet can be predicted by measuring a persons blood sugar and fasting insulin levels, according to a study presented at the American Diabetes Association meeting in San Diego.

Moreover, effective weight loss and control in some can be achieved without restricting calories, as long as the diet is rich in fiber.

The international study examined data from six studies of different diets designed to improve nutrition. It found that those biomarkers consistently predicted losing weight and keeping it off.

The kinds of diets that work depend on whether a patients blood sugar level is higher than normal as in prediabetes, or high enough to indicate diabetes. Results were presented at the American Diabetes diseaseAssociation 77th Scientific Sessions.

Those with type 2 diabetes can lose weight on a diet rich in plant fats, such as those from olive and avocado oil.

A fiber-rich diet without calorie restrictions is successful for many with prediabetes, the study found. Carbohydrate and fat intake should be adjusted according to fasting insulin levels.

Remarkably, for many patients, use of these biomarkers can lead to a six- to seven-fold greater weight loss, study leader Arne Astrup said in a statement. He is head of the Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Going forward, we can educate patients when a diet they planned to follow would actually make them gain weight, and redirect them to a strategy that we know will work for them.

The study also included researchers from the University of Colorado, Tufts University, Centro de Investigacion Biomedica en Red de Fisiopatologia de la Obesidad y Nutricion and Gelesis Inc.

The study fits in with other research indicating that weight loss diets need to be matched to an individuals own metabolic profile.

And for the diets to really stick, they cant be temporary, but part of a changed lifestyle that people can embrace without feeling deprived.

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For successful weight loss dieting, check blood sugar and insulin - Journal Times

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Billy Crook's commercial crabbing boat, Pilot's Bride. He says it's looking like it's going to be a good year for crabbing on the Chesapeake Bay. Selena Simmons-Duffin/NPR hide caption

Billy Crook's commercial crabbing boat, Pilot's Bride. He says it's looking like it's going to be a good year for crabbing on the Chesapeake Bay.

Drive east from Washington and eventually you run smack into the middle of the Chesapeake Bay, the massive estuary that stretches from the mouth of the Susquehanna River at Maryland's northern tip and empties into the Atlantic 200 miles away near Norfolk, Va.

The Chesapeake is home to oysters, clams, and famous Maryland blue crab.

It's the largest estuary in the United States.

And for a long time, it was one of the most polluted.

Decades of runoff from grassy suburban yards and farm fields as far north as New York state, plus sewage and other waste dumped by the hundreds of gallons, made the Chesapeake so dirty that by 1983, the crab population had plummeted to just 2 percent of what Capt. John Smith saw when he explored the bay in the 1600s.

For years, people tried to clean it up. States and the federal government spent millions of dollars. The first effort began in 1983 officially launched by President Ronald Reagan in his 1984 State of the Union Address.

And each time, the cleanup efforts failed. The bay's health wasn't getting much better.

By 2009, when the Chesapeake Bay Foundation sued the Environmental Protection Agency in an attempt to get the EPA to do more to clean up the bay, the Chesapeake's dead zone was so big it often covered a cubic mile in the summer.

Dead zones form when the water becomes too concentrated with nitrogen and phosphorus allowing algal blooms to grow and block out sunlight from reaching beneath the water and causing populations of fish and crabs to plummet.

Then, last summer, scientists recorded no dead zone in the Chesapeake Bay. And wildlife was returning, too. The EPA's new plan seemed to be working.

"When I first heard that spawning sturgeon were back in the bay, my reaction was, 'Yes! We can get this done,'" says Will Baker, the nonprofit Chesapeake Bay Foundation's president. "It's really exciting. You give nature half a chance and she will produce every single time."

Scientists and advocates for the bay say that success is fragile. And it may be even more so now. The Trump administration's budget proposal calls for eliminating the program's $73 million in funding.

"I think if we saw the federal government withdraw, you would see the Chesapeake Bay revert to a national disgrace right as it's becoming a great national source of pride," Baker says. "Things are going in the right direction, but nature can turn on a dime and I don't think it's a scare tactic to say within the next eight years, we could see the last 35 years of effort go down the tubes and start to change direction."

And that could have implications not only for the future of the bay cleanup, but for any other states hoping to clean up some of the country's other most polluted waters from Lake Erie to the Gulf of Mexico.

Eric Young, Matthew Gaskins, and Steve Hinks went out crabbing for fun, and caught five blue crabs on their first run of the day. Gaskins says so far it's shaping up to be a good year for crabbing on the Chesapeake. Selena Simmons-Duffin/NPR hide caption

Eric Young, Matthew Gaskins, and Steve Hinks went out crabbing for fun, and caught five blue crabs on their first run of the day. Gaskins says so far it's shaping up to be a good year for crabbing on the Chesapeake.

Locals like 22-year-old Matt Gaskins say the difference in the bay's health is noticeable.

He's on a boat with two of his friends. A handful of blue crabs click in a bucket resting in the middle of his small boat. Gaskins says he can tell how the bay's doing by how many crabs he's catching. He was out on the South River the day before.

"Everyone pretty much around the whole river has been doing really well," he says. "The rockfish are doing really well this year, and also the crabs are doing really well."

Scientists from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation say that's proof the cleanup efforts are making a difference.

"The trend is for a smaller volume of the dead zone over time, which is really encouraging. For the last two years, they never measured water that had zero oxygen, which is the first time that it had ever happened in the history of collecting data," says Beth McGee, a scientist with the foundation.

Beth McGee, director of science and agricultural policy at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, rides on a boat in the Chesapeake Bay. The foundation conducts regular tests on the water. Selena Simmons-Duffin/NPR hide caption

Beth McGee, director of science and agricultural policy at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, rides on a boat in the Chesapeake Bay. The foundation conducts regular tests on the water.

But why is the cleanup finally working now, after all those years of trying?

In 2009, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation sued the EPA, trying to compel the agency to enact a tougher cleanup plan. In the past, a group of six states that make up the Chesapeake Bay watershed Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware and New York, plus the District of Columbia, had put in place various pollution control plans to limit the fertilizer and sewage they released into the bay.

But without sufficient funding or any real consequences for states that didn't meet benchmarks, things didn't really improve.

The Obama administration needed to change that. To do it, the administration came up with a novel interpretation of the Clean Water Act of 1972, which gives the federal government the power to require that states write a "pollution diet" for any body of water the feds declare polluted. States have to calculate how much of each pollutant a body of water can take on, and then figure out how to hit those numbers.

But actually making the reductions had always been voluntary. Only one in five of these pollution diets had actually been implemented, and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation wanted to ensure states followed through. The Obama administration would use its powers under the Clean Water Act to compel states to take action by withholding funding from states that didn't follow through on implementing their cleanup plans.

Baker says that's part of the challenge cleaning up the Chesapeake requires cooperation not just from the places that have the bay in their backyards but also from states in the whole watershed whose rivers and streams feed into the bay.

"The critical role of the EPA has been to be the glue that holds the six states and the District of Columbia together working in concert to save the Chesapeake Bay system," Baker says.

How do you convince states without that tangible tie to make sacrifices for a bay they don't even border?

"The Chesapeake Bay is a system of six states, 64,000 square miles," Baker says. "And when you work in Pennsylvania for clean water in the Chesapeake Bay, you're really working for clean water in Pennsylvania."

The EPA's plan was controversial from the start. The American Farm Bureau Federation sued over it. As attorney general of Oklahoma, Scott Pruitt signed an amicus brief supporting the Farm Bureau's position. He's now running the EPA the agency that is tasked with administering it.

The Supreme Court declined to take up the case letting a lower court's ruling stand that upheld the program.

Chip Bowling's farm sits on banks of the Wicomico River in southern Maryland. The Wicomico flows into the Potomac River, which flows into the Chesapeake Bay.

He farms 1,600 acres of corn, soybeans and wheat on land that's been in his family for seven generations.

Chip Bowling is a Maryland farmer and chairman of the National Corn Growers Association. He farms on land that's been in his family for seven generations. Selena Simmons-Duffin/NPR hide caption

Chip Bowling is a Maryland farmer and chairman of the National Corn Growers Association. He farms on land that's been in his family for seven generations.

"When we got our work done, we literally would jump out of our work clothes and put a pair of shorts on and T-shirt, and run down here, and either swim, fish, get on the boat," he says.

He's been doing that more than 50 years.

"If you walked at the end of this pier when I was a kid, you'd see aquatic grass growing," Bowling says. "You actually had a hard time walking through it because the grass was so lush underwater."

That lush grass provided a habitat for crabs and fish. Now, it's beginning to return.

Agriculture was a big focus of the cleanup plan. As chairman of the National Corn Growers Association, Bowling and his organization joined the lawsuit. In Maryland, for example, the state imposed regulations as part of the cleanup that required farmers to write pollution diets for their farms.

Bowling's farm in Southern Maryland is on the banks of the Wicomico River, which eventually flows in to the Chesapeake Bay. Sam Gringlas/NPR hide caption

Bowling's farm in Southern Maryland is on the banks of the Wicomico River, which eventually flows in to the Chesapeake Bay.

The federal government provided money to help, like funds for planting buffer strips between cropland and waterways that feed into the bay. States wrote their own plans to meet federal benchmarks and the federal government could withhold funding from states that didn't comply.

That upset farmers, who felt the EPA was going too far.

But Bowling has come around.

"Nobody likes rules," he says. "Nobody really likes regulations. But you also know that you have to have both."

What changed? The plan appeared to be working.

Bowling, who once joined a lawsuit to rule the program unconstitutional, is fighting for the program's survival.

"It was a struggle to get there," he says. "I was critical in the beginning. What we do know now is that working together, we have figured out a way with funding to get those programs in place and to get the bay on track."

But the big part of that, at least for Bowling, is funding. And the Trump administration has proposed cutting it entirely from the federal budget from $73 million to zero.

Billy Crook has crabbing been on the Chesapeake Bay for 41 years. He says a healthy bay can have a positive impact on his family's finances. Selena Simmons-Duffin/NPR hide caption

Billy Crook has crabbing been on the Chesapeake Bay for 41 years. He says a healthy bay can have a positive impact on his family's finances.

For Billy Crook, a commercial crabber who makes runs on the Chesapeake, a healthy bay can have a big impact on his family.

"I got a bunch of little kids. I had a good year last year, so they got a trip to Disney World," he says.

But that doesn't mean he gives the EPA credit.

"The EPA they do some good, but mostly, they do a lot of talk," he says, leaning over the side of his boat. "They always talk about putting money in the bay. We never see the physical evidence of them doing much."

Bowling may support the Chesapeake Bay's cleanup program, but that doesn't mean he's clamoring for a similar program elsewhere such as in the Mississippi River watershed. Runoff into the rivers and streams there feed the Gulf of Mexico's dead zone predicted this year to cover an area the size of New Jersey.

"I can guarantee you, they're not going to ask for one like the Chesapeake Bay," Bowling says. "Hopefully we won't have a mandate nationwide. In my opinion, knowing what we're doing, I think that voluntary is a great way to start. The mandate made us do it, but I can guarantee you we would still change the way we farm."

Lauren Lurkins, director of natural and environmental resources for the Illinois Farm Bureau, says farmers in her state have increasingly prioritized water cleanup over the last few years, but that a Chesapeake-like program would be a step too far for states bordering the Mississippi River.

"It's a huge land mass that is covered and it gets really complicated and it makes for a bigger effort that is pushed down from the federal government," Lurkins says. "(Illinois farmers) don't have the ability to help shape or start to engage in a plan that covers 31 states or even half of that. It's just something that's brought down on top of them."

Even EPA officials under the Obama administration and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation have refrained from touting the bay cleanup as a program ready for adoption elsewhere.

The beach at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation headquarters in Annapolis, Md. "You give nature half a chance and she will produce every single time," says Will Baker, the nonprofit's president. Selena Simmons-Duffin/NPR hide caption

The beach at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation headquarters in Annapolis, Md. "You give nature half a chance and she will produce every single time," says Will Baker, the nonprofit's president.

"We're not talking about cleaning up the waters of the world. We're talking about one iconic national treasure. If others can use the protocols that have been put in place here so successfully, go for it," Baker says.

Sen. Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat who's been advocating for the Chesapeake cleanup for decades, is more confident the plan can be employed in other places. Even so, he acknowledges adopting the plan elsewhere won't likely happen in the near future.

"I think this model will expand and be used in other parts of the country," he told NPR. "There's no question that if we had a different administration that put a higher priority on the environment, that it would be more aggressive in using this type of model in other places in the country."

During his confirmation hearing, Pruitt told Cardin he promised to preserve the program. The EPA did not respond to a request from NPR for an interview.

But Cardin says he's optimistic about the Chesapeake cleanup's future. White House budgets are just proposals and almost every federal program has an advocate somewhere in Congress.

"I've talked to my Democratic and Republican colleagues and they're very supportive of the federal role in the Chesapeake Bay program," he says. "It's in everyone's interest to preserve this unique body of water. It's not of one state or one region, but a national treasure."

Bowling is also confident the funding won't disappear.

"We think that when the new administration figures out what they're going to cut and how they're going to cut it, that there's still going to be funding left for programs like environmental cleanup," Bowing says. "I can guarantee you we're doing something in D.C. today to make sure that we pass on to the administration and Administrator Pruitt what we're doing works and we need funding to get there. I don't think they're going to allow something that's come so far to go away."

But funding for new programs? That will be a tough sell.

A couple of years ago, environmentalists outside the watershed may have looked eagerly to the Chesapeake Bay as a model cleanup they could adopt in their own backyards.

But now there's an even more basic worry whether the model plan itself will continue.

Selena Simmons-Duffin produced and Jolie Myers edited this radio story.

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Chesapeake Bay Dead Zones Are Fading, But Proposed EPA Cuts Threaten Success - NPR

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Putting on the pounds: 10 top tips to build muscle

BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

Although training weight loss is a huge part of the fitness industry, there are just as many people who have their sights set on gaining weight by building muscle.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/health/putting-on-the-pounds-10-top-tips-to-build-muscle-35866519.html

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Although training weight loss is a huge part of the fitness industry, there are just as many people who have their sights set on gaining weight by building muscle.

However, there are many different ways to go about it, and it's often just as difficult a process for some as achieving long-term weight loss. It can be every bit as frustrating.

As with weight-loss, there endless amounts of information available to help you work towards your goal, so to save you time, here's 10 of the best, most informed tips you can use to start slapping on a few pounds of solid muscle.

Instead of wasting time filling up your sessions with exercises targeting single muscles, focus the majority of your training on bigger, multijoint movements.

'Compound' exercises, such as the squat, bench press, deadlift and chin-up work multiple muscle groups, and are better choices for heavily loading the muscles and creating the best hormonal response for muscle growth.

We can't build muscle out of nothing- we need a surplus of calories to do so.

Aiming to eat around 15% above our maintenance needs will help minimize bodyfat gain, while giving us room to eat the minimum of 0.8g per lb of bodyweight in protein that we need to kick-start muscle growth. Fill up your plate!

The intention behind all weight-training programmes is that they push you to improve over time, by increasing workload (volume) or the weights which you are using.

Making sure you're following a programme which helps you make improvements week by week will help you avoid spinning your wheels.

Recovery is a huge and underrated part of muscle growth.

Training too frequently and with high workloads means that over time your fatigue will start to outweigh your recovery, and you will struggle to build muscle or improve training performance.

Aiming to train between 3-5 days a week, with a minimum of 7 hours of sleep each night, are two of the best methods to improve recovery and help you keep making progress.

Lifting heavy is an important part of building muscle, however, including a mix of rep ranges, which also help both tear down and stress the muscles allow you to cover all bases for what is required for muscle growth.

Low, medium, and high reps can all have their place in a training programme.

The lower body holds the body's biggest, strongest muscle, but people often neglect training them in favour of the upper body.

However, although leg training can be nasty, training them creates a big hormonal response which encourages not just muscle growth in the lower half, but in the upper half of the body too.

To optimize muscle growth, don't allow yourself to begin getting too comfortable dodging that squat rack.

Studies suggest that training muscle groups multiple times per week might be more optimal for muscle growth instead of trying to thrash muscle groups in a single training session each week.

Consider a programme which hits muscle groups more frequently, stimulating them to grow multiple times throughout the week. And yes, that includes your legs.

Cardio is a great tool for improving or maintaining fitness, but can be detrimental when trying to build muscle.

Cardio activity burns a lot more energy than lifting weights, so even with an increase in food intake, you may still burn through those extra calories.

Throw high intensity cardio sessions into the mix and your recovery may even suffer. Feel free to include some cardio for fitness purposes, but keep total amount in check, and be aware of how your food intake may need to further change to accommodate it.

There are many programmes you can find online or in magazines which show you the training routines and diets followed by professional bodybuilders.

However, it pays to remember that there are a host of reasons they may be able to train the way they do, and their routines are usually completely inappropriate for the majority of other trainees.

Following a programme by a qualified PT or coach is usually a much better, safer option, and more likely to help you get the results you want.

Muscle growth is a slow process, and it is suggested that a trainee can only aim to grow around 2lbs of actual muscle per month.

Staying consistent across the weeks and months is the only way you will begin to notice results, but your patience will pay off.

Find these tips useful? Make sure to check out the Facebook page for further tips to help you work towards building muscle, losing weight, or improving fitness.

Belfast Telegraph Digital

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Putting on the pounds: 10 top tips to build muscle - Belfast Telegraph

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For decades, weve been taught the same golden rule for maintaining a healthy weight: Simply burn more calories than you consume.

Therefore, being overweight, weve been told, is a personal flawa failure to follow the rules, or a result of weak willpower, laziness, or out-of-control gluttony.

But in recent years, a burgeoning number of scientists and journalists have come forward to suggest that the obesity crisis is caused by something far bigger than us: bad nutrition science, bad food policy, and chronic misinformation from the government and nutrition experts. In other words, its not (all) our fault.

In fact, the dietary advice weve been given for the past half century, they say, has created the perfect storm and near-ideal conditions for an obesity epidemic.

At the crux of issue, say advocates, is the demonization of fat that has been drilled into us since the 1970s.

It all started on Sept. 24, 1955, when then U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower suffered a moderate heart attack. Heart disease had been on the rise among middle-aged American men for years, and the presidents illness thrust the issue to the forefront.

As researchers scrambled to pinpoint a cause, charismatic and combative American physiologist Ancel Keys put forward a hypothesis: Saturated fat was the culprit, from foods like butter, red meat, eggs, and cheese. And it sounded completely logical: Eating fat makes you fat.

By the 1970s, Keyss theory had taken hold among nutrition experts as the dominant paradigm, despite weak evidence and conflicting research that pointed to sugar, not fat, as the culprit.

As the war on fat took hold, dietary guidelines were changed and the food pyramid was introduced. Based on the idea that a calorie is a calorie, the pyramid advised minimizing all types of fat, which contain twice the calories of other major nutrients, such as carbohydrates. Instead, it recommended a diet centered around low-fat, high-carb foods (up to 11 servings of grain products like bread and pasta per day).

Meanwhile, food companies jumped on the marketing opportunity, stripping the fat out of products and promoting healthy options like low-fat cereal, crackers, cookies, and salad dressing. But they also knew that taking the fat out of food products meant losing flavor. The solution? Add sugar.

As saturated fat from foods like cheese and butter was put on the enemy list, they were replaced with products containing new heart-healthy fats, such as margarine made from chemically processed vegetable oils known as hydrogenated oils. (These oils, which contain trans fats, are now facing widespread boycotts as we learn more about the dangers they pose. In 2015, the FDA determined that trans fats are not generally recognized as safe and set a three-year time limit for their removal from all processed foods.)

The idea that fat and saturated fat are unhealthy has been so ingrained in our national conversation for so long that we tend to think of it more as common sense than a specific hypothesis, writes journalist Nina Teicholz in her fat-exonerating book The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet.

But, like any of our beliefs about the links between diet and disease, this one, too, began as an idea, proposed by a group of researchers, with its origin fixed at a moment in time.

Although much of the Western world adopted this new low-fat, calorie-counting approach, often replacing dietary fat with refined carbohydrates, we continued to get fatter. And fatter. Since the 1970s, obesity has increased by 200 percent, and diseases related to obesity and diabetes are currently responsible for the deaths of two out of every three Americans.

The old adages of calories in, calories out and eat less and move more simply havent worked for most people in the long term. There are many benefits to exercising more, but weight loss often isnt one of them, since exercising tends to make us hungrier. And its nearly impossible to out-exercise a bad diet; to burn off one doughnut, you would need to walk briskly for almost an hour.

(Daisy-Daisy/iStock)

Its also very challenging to count the exact number of calories you consume every day and compare it accurately to the amount you burnjust a minor miscalculation could add up to several pounds a year. And even when you do successfully restrict calories, your body works against you, fighting back as it goes into starvation mode.

The calorie theory also suggests that eating a handful of almonds is the same as drinking a can of Coke, because the calorie count is similar. Or that low-fat cookies and no-fat, high-sugar yogurts are healthy options.

New research has revealed the flaws in this way of thinking, said Dr. David Ludwig, obesity expert and professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, in his latest book Always Hungry? Conquer Cravings, Retrain Your Fat Cells, and Lose Weight Permanently.

Recent studies show that highly processed carbohydrates adversely affect metabolism and body weight in ways that cant be explained by their calorie content alone. Conversely, nuts, olive oil, and dark chocolatesome of the most calorie-dense foods in existenceappear to prevent obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

Ludwig, dubbed the obesity warrior by Time magazine, has joined other doctors such as Robert Lustig, David Perlmutter, and Mark Hyman, and journalists like Teicholz and Gary Taubes, to introduce a new theory: We dont get fat because we eat fat or too many calories; we get fat because we eat sugar and processed carbohydrates, which are quickly digested and cause spikes in the hormone insulin. This reaction promotes fat storage in the body and sparks a vicious cycle of overeating as insulin spikes and plummets.

The new thinking goes, cut out the sugar and fast-digesting carbs (which your body treats as sugar), and you wont get fat.

As anti-sugar crusader Lustig put it in his popular YouTube video Sugar: The Bitter Truth: You are not what you eatyou are what you do with what you eat.

The advice to focus on calorie counting and low-fat diets to lose weight was based on weak science and has caused people great suffering while thwarting their sincere efforts to be healthy, says Hyman in his book Eat Fat, Get Thin.

We now know from the research that sugars and refined carbs are the true causes of obesity and heart diseasenot fats, as weve been told, he writes.

Our views on fat, thankfully, are shifting. Over the last five years, the scientific evidence has been mounting that high-fat diets outperform low-fat diets for weight loss and for reversing every single indicator of heart disease risk, including abnormal cholesterol, diabetes, hypertension, inflammation, and more.

Instead of counting calories, Ludwig suggests retraining your fat cells with high-quality foods, including healthy fats. Using the right types and combinations of foods (as well as managing stress, and getting good-quality sleep and enjoyable physical activity), fat cells can be reprogrammed to release their pent-up calories, he says.

Fat is a crucial part of our diet, he notes, because it so highly satiating. Avoiding it makes us overeat the wrong foods to appease cravings. Contrary to what weve been told, healthy fats from foods like nuts and cheese do not get stored in fat cellsunless theyre eaten with refined carbs and sugar.

Dr. Mark Hyman,author of 'Eat Fat, Get Thin'

Ludwigs approach aims at shutting down the starvation response typical to most weight-loss diets by using nourishing whole foods that lower insulin levels and reduce inflammation. He advises eating a wide variety of nutrient-dense foods including full-fat dairy products like cheese and yogurt, healthy oils such as olive and avocado, and proteins like tofu, salmon, and lamb, as well as nuts, vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, whole grains, and even dark chocolate.

He also suggests that each individual may have a different sensitivity to carbs, so its a good idea to test your bodys reactions to them. Start by cutting out all starches, added sugars, and artificial sweeteners for two weeks. Then add back moderate amounts of whole grains and starchy vegetables. After that, reintroduce bread, potatoes, and other processed carbs, depending on your bodys ability to handle them. Do you instantly gain weight and feel sluggish when you eat white rice? Try brown rice or quinoa instead.

In recent years, some policymakers have started to back away from the focus on fat, as sugar takes its place as public enemy No. 1.

In 2015, the U.S. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion removed limits on dietary cholesterol in its Dietary Guidelines and softened its view on reducing fat in its advice. Eggs, yolks included, were again touted as good for us. In recent years, the American Heart Association and other health organizations have backed away from the low-fat message and revised guidelines to focus more on the types of fat in foods and on the diet as a whole.

A 2015 study published by the British Medical Journal concluded that dietary advice on fat consumptionissued to millions of U.S. and U.K. citizens in 1977 and 1983 to cut coronary heart disease incidencelacked any solid trial evidence to back it up and should not have been introduced, researchers concluded.

A nonprofit led by Taubes, a science journalist at the forefront of the anti-sugar, fat-friendly hypothesis, was created in 2014 to address this research problem. The aim of the organization, Nutrition Science Initiative (NuSI), is to throw out everything we know about nutrition science and start from scratch.

With the help of generous funding, NuSI aims to conduct the type of long-term, independent, and ambitious studies that nutrition research rarely gets the money for to find reliable answers to our big nutrition questions. Taubes also invited naysayersproponents of the low-fat, calorie balance approachto do some of the research.

While many scientists and nutritionists start questioning the supposed dangers of saturated fat, the progress is slow and policymakers are treading carefullylest they make another big, fat nutrition mistake.

Originally posted here:
In Defense of Fat - The Epoch Times

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Most of us have been there: You're eating healthily, working out, and the pounds are coming off, then there's a break in the momentum and you gain a few pounds out of nowhere. It's a frustrating setback, to say the least.

Tired of yo-yo dieting and determined to find out what was keeping her from losing those last few pounds, Sylvia Tara, Ph.D., author of The Secret Life of Fat, spent five years researching fat and speaking with more than 50 world leaders in the field. The complicated answer involves genetics, bacteria, viruses, gender, age, hormones, and, yes, water weight.

Gaining a pound or two in just a few days is almost always the culprit of water weight, because fat takes more time to accumulate. Glycogen, the stored form of glucose, holds much more water than fat because of its biochemical makeup. Tara compares it to a checking account: something we reach for when our glucose levels are low. "It's not as readily available as glucose, the 'cash' in this scenario, but is nearby," says Tara. "Fat is a whole different, long chain molecule that follows a completely different pathway than fat. Fat can be compared to a certificate of deposit. You will burn it last. It holds a lot more energy, the most compact energy we have compared to glycogen."

Stored in the liver and muscle cells, glycogen is hydrated with three to four parts of water. (It's essentially hydrophilic or "water loving" and fat is hydrophobic or "water hating.") So, when you lose weight quickly, you lose glycogen stores, but that leaves the liver and muscles greedy and wont to hold onto any bit of glucose consumed and its accompanying water. Here's how to stabilize or lose water weight, according to Tara.

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How to Lose Water Weight - WomansDay.com (blog)

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Twins Dillon and Cory Sasvari are identical in almost every way. Their laughs sound indistinguishable, their blood pressures match and even their pulse rates are the same. And, they both spent their entire lives overweight.

While playing football in high school kept their weight around 200 pounds, after graduation they just gained until they both weighed more than 400 pounds. They felt unhappy but didnt know what to do.

Looking at myself in the mirror ... I knew I needed to do something about it, Cory, 25, told TODAY.

Dillon, 25, also felt helpless and weighed 400 pounds at the time.

I didnt know what else to do, he told TODAY. I didnt have diabetes, but I was close to it.

That's when their grandmother, Leona Mesler, intervened.

She said Listen, you and your brother are the biggest I have ever seen you, Cory said. My family, they were concerned about my health I was always fatigued. I was depressed.

Mesler felt especially worried because the then 23-year-olds faced health problems. Both experienced high blood pressure and cholesterol. And Cory had gout that prevented him from moving some days.

Their entire lives Dillon and Cory were overweight. Finally, their grandmother intervened and urged them to lose weight for their health.

Mesler urged them to do something. She mentioned gastric bypass surgery and thought maybe it could help them.

They researched it and visited a doctor at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Magee-Womens Hospital, who told the twins they needed to lose 10 percent of their body weight before surgery. After meeting with a nutritionist, they had a better understanding of how to change their diets.

The first thing they did was cut soda.

I would drink two or three liters a day, Dillon said.

Simply cutting soft drinks helped tremendously.

Pre-op the weight actually fell off really quickly, said Cory who weighed 405 pounds at the time. I just stopped eating bad foods.

That meant the twins cut sugary cereals, chips, pizza and other processed foods. They noshed on vegetables, fruits, lean proteins and drank lots of water.

Before the surgeries, Dillon lost 50 pounds and Cory lost 70 pounds.

Dillon had his surgery first in April 2015 and Corys took place a week later in May.

Thats how we usually do it. Everything that I do, he does, Dillon said.

Since losing weight, the Sasvari twins feel happier and enjoy playing sports again.

Throughout their weight-loss journeys, the twins supported each other.

Luckily I had a brother who went through the same thing. We always like to compete, said Dillon.

They continue their healthy eating habits and have added exercise into their lives. Both play softball, football and hockey while lifting and running at the gym.

Surgery is not a cure all. It is just a tool to help, Dillon said.

Now, Dillon weighs 225 and Cory weighs 238. While they are happy with their weight, they both agreed they wouldn't mind losing more.

I would definitely like to get around 200 flat and start building muscle after that, said Cory. Dillon agreed hed also like to reach 200.

I dont want to be as big as I used to be, he said. "I like buying smaller clothes. I dont want to buy bigger clothes or go back to my old clothes." Today, the twins no longer need medications and feel confident.

Because I lost the weight, I am more out of my shell, Dillon said. I am more social now.

They provided tips to help people interested in losing weight.

Cory knew he had to lose weight for the doctors to perform surgery. He set a goal to lose 20 pounds. Because he focused on meeting the promise he made himself, he lost much more.

Create more goals and reach those goals, he said. Stay dedicated to what you are doing. Dont lose hope even though you will reach road blocks.

Sometimes Dillon and Cory slip into a pair of fat pants and marvel at how much smaller they are. It helps them remember how exhausting it was being overweight.

The difference is amazing and makes me want to keep going, Dillon said.

Since twins Dillon and Cory lost weight, about 175 and 167 pounds, respectively, the two can fit into one pair of pajama pants that one of them wore when they weighed more than 400 pounds.

While the twins had each others backs while they lost weight, they had loads of people encouraging them, which made it easier.

If you have negative people it is going to make you quit and gain the weight back, Cory said.

For more inspirational stories, check out our My Weight-Loss Journey page.

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Brothers lose 342 pounds combined in 2 years - Today.com

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Alya Mooro | Contributing Writer | 9 hours ago

The Debrief: Are we policing them our ourselves?

In some not so newsworthy news: presenter Holly Willoughby has lost some weight. At least, thats what the panel on Loose Women were gossiping about yesterday, unaware they were already on air. 'Holly Willoughbys disappearing!' Loose Womens Nadia Sawalha was heard exclaiming, while a shocked Holly looked on.

Social media users have also been expressing their thoughts on Hollys supposed weight loss, writing things like: Wish I knew how to lose that much weight so quickly and #WhereHaveHollysBoobsGone.

Its sadly not the first, nor the last time someone has expressed their opinion on someone elses physical appearance. When theres a noticeable change in a celebritys weight, especially when said celebrity is a woman, people talk about it.

If they lose weight, everyone wonders how and why, if they gain weight, everyone wonders if theyre pregnant or sick or depressed. The positive and negative connotations involved with this are a whole mine-field in themselves but also why is this any of our business? We saw the same thing recently when Rihanna, who has apparently gained some weight as of late, was re-nicknamed Thickanna. After the initial is she pregnant speculation most of the internet seemed happy with her new appearance - bar a sports writer who worried shed make being fat a trend and encourage all the hot girls to gain weight - UM WHAT!? (He subsequently lost his job so yes there is good in the world.)

Elsewhere on the interwebs came hundreds of thousands of heart eye emojis. Perhaps some departure from the usual reaction to famous women gaining weight but wait hold up why is this our business again? The fact that we place so much emphasis on womens appearances as important and valuable is detrimental, no matter whether that judgement is coloured as criticism or praise.

Thing is, it kind of feels like were basing our own worth, and forming our own judgements on appearance through that same sphere. Because if Rihanna gains weight it means its okay if I gain a little weight too, right? The internet seems to think so, with tweets like: "Rihanna's getting thick. I feel so much better about my thighs. You go gerl [sic] #Thickanna.

And while its important to have all sorts of definitions and examples of beauty, and we can rejoice that weve come quite some way to having broader definitions of that, perhaps what would be even better would be to not place so much emphasis and importance on outer appearance.

Its important to remember that our bodies are likely to grow and change multiple times over the course of our lives. That there are tons and tons of factors that play a role in the appearance of our bodies, lives and minds and that actually whats most important is that were living healthy, happy and fulfilling lives. The truth of that will, and often is, reflected in a healthy and happy appearance.

Because the thing is, not only is looking at pictures of someones shrinking or expanding ass and trying to judge them or ourselves accordingly a waste of time, but it actually wont get us any closer to achieving that. Ever.

The fact is, we just dont need bigger boobs (or a flatter stomach, or a bigger ass, or a more Instagram face.)

Like this? You may be interested in:

A Survival Guide To Dressing For Humid Summer Days Courtesy Of Rihanna's Wild Thoughts

Shona Vertue On Exercises To Combat Sitting Down At A Desk All Day Long

Lena Dunham's Response To '20 Slimdown Tips' Is A Reminder That We Need To Be Sensitive When It Comes To Weight Loss

Follow Alya on Instagram @moorizzla

Tags: rihanna

At work? With your gran?

You might want to think about the fact you're about to read something that wouldn't exactly get a PG rating

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Why Women Commenting On Other Women's Weight Is (Sadly) Not So Shocking - The Debrief

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With joint pain and inflammation from psoriatic arthritis (PsA), everyday movements can be extremely uncomfortable. In some cases, regular activity can even be unbearable. While its tempting to rest your achy joints, too much rest can actually do more harm than good. Over time, your joints will soften so that activities may become even more painful.

Doctors recommend regular exercise as a means of helping ease PsA symptoms by reducing pain causing inflammation. Plus, it can aid in preventing the number of arthritis flare-ups you might experience.

But if youre too uncomfortable to move, what can you do? Read on to learn about eight of the ways you can move better with PsA.

Just as its difficult to get moving when youre not used to exercise, it can also be tempting to overdo physical activity. After all, you may be excited to get in shape again, and to improve your overall health. But jumping into an exercise routine too quickly can exacerbate PsA symptoms and leave you on the sidelines. Its best to start in five- to 10-minute increments, and to build up from there. This way, your joints are slowly conditioned and can better support your movements as you do them more often.

The National Psoriasis Foundation recommends 15 minutes of stretching as the core of your daily workout. Flexibility exercises help prep your joints for more intense workouts, and these types of stretching routines can also help prevent injuries.

For a more comprehensive workout, consider yoga or tai chi. These also carry the added benefit of deep breathing exercises, which can help alleviate stress and improve sleep. As with any other type of workout, yoga and tai chi are best practiced on a regular basis to reap the most benefits. Consider signing up for a gentle yoga class at a local studio or gym, and ask the instructor how you might modify some of the movements to accommodate your joint pain.

Walking is perhaps one of the best activities you can do with PsA. This is especially true if you are new to exercise, or havent done a lot of physical activity in a while. Walking doesnt require any special movements. Its also the most versatile exercise that can be done almost anywhere. Plus, because walking is a low-impact activity, its easier on your already-achy joints.

Yet the key to walking, like all forms of exercise, is to start off gradually and work your way up to more intensity or longer stretches of time. Stay close to home until you know your walking limits. You might also consider soliciting the help of a walking buddy for safety and accountability.

Swimming is another low-impact cardiovascular workout that is preferable for arthritis because of the added resistance of the water. Even walking around in a swimming pool is a beneficial workout. If the fear of irritating skin patches is preventing you from swimming, try to limit your time in the water to start. Follow up each swim session with a quick warm shower (not hot), and moisturize your skin immediately.

Cycling also serves as good way to get a low-impact workout. Just be sure you have a bike that fits your size. You may want to consider a unisex frame to make mounting and dismounting easier. Stick to paved bike paths to avoid impact on your joints. And as with other types of exercise, youll want to start slow, then gradually increase distance and speed.

Although there is natural resistance in some forms of aerobic exercise, such as walking and swimming, you may consider moving up to strength-training exercises to build muscle. Aside from helping to burn calories, muscle mass can also help protect your joints from stress and injury. Hand-held weights and resistance bands can help build muscle without over-stretching already painful joints.

Moving around comfortably is contingent on having the right gear that can support your joints. Knee braces for walks can support knee joints, while walking shoes can support joints in your knees, hips, and back.

The right clothing should also be included in your exercise gear. Choose loose cotton clothing that wont irritate your skin, and be sure to wear layers in cooler weather rather than single bulky items that can trap sweat.

With PsA, your joints may already be inflamed and achy. Extra body weight can compound the problem by placing added pressure on already irritated joints. You might consider talking to your doctor about ways you can safely lose weight with PsA treatment. In addition to exercise, they may recommend specific dietary considerations that can help.

Keep in mind that safe weight loss is gradual. Speed up the process through starvation diets, and youll likely gain the weight back as a result of a disrupted metabolism.

Moving around regularly is just one of the keys to improved well-being with PsA. Before starting any new exercise, be sure to discuss plans with your doctor first. They might have some safety concerns, as well as helpful tips that can ensure your success.

PsA can make moving uncomfortable. But once you gradually build your activity level, youll likely reap the benefits when its combined with your ongoing treatment plan.

Bieler, Steve. (2015, August 11). Yoga and psoriatic arthritis: How it helps. Retrieved from https://www.psoriasis.org/blog/yoga-and-psoriatic-arthritis-how-it-helps

Biking. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.arthritis.org/living-with-arthritis/exercise/arthritis-friendly/biking.php

Dunkin, M. A. (n.d.). When knees need support. Retrieved from http://www.arthritis.org/living-with-arthritis/pain-management/joint-protection/knee-brace.php

Physical activity and psoriatic arthritis. (2016). Retrieved from https://www.psoriasis.org/psoriatic-arthritis/living-well/exercise

Psoriatic arthritis. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.arthritis.org/about-arthritis/types/psoriatic-arthritis/

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