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ENID, Okla. Exercise, fruit and vegetables, lean meat and whole grains are all keys to fighting obesity.

There are a couple of different perspectives in the fight, said John Friedl, physical activity and nutrition manager for Oklahoma State Department of Health.

Theres the individual level, at which individuals should take in a balanced diet and be physically active up to the recommendations, he said.

But then theres also things outside of the kind of individual responsibility that go to how are citizens of the communities we live in, the state that we live in, how do we start to re-shape the environment to where it really promotes health and wellness, rather than promoting an unhealthy lifestyle to where we have to go out of our way to be healthy?Friedlsaid.We want people being physically active, but theres also the responsibility of communities of this state to give people a healthy environment so that its not as hard to be healthy.

Recommendations on eating and exercise can be found at shape yourfutureok.com. The website, maintained by OSDH, is in collaborationwith Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust. Its a clearinghouse of information with links to other places to be healthy, but its all vetted through physical activity and nutrition experts, he said.

Its kind of an easier way to make sure that what youre looking at is actually valid and not just pulled off the internet from anywhere,Friedlsaid.

Another source is the U.S. Department of Agriculture website.

Its all the things most of us have been taught all our life. The fruits and vegetables, the lean meat and good, whole grains is the foundation of really what we should be taking in,he said.

Children need age-appropriate physical activities,Friedlsaid.

Along with shapeyourfutureok.com, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website provides guidelines for children.

Obviously, if a younger child doesnt have the coordination to partake in an activity, they shouldnt be doing that physical activity,he said.

Children under age 18 need about an hour a day of moderate, vigorous physical activity.

Their heart should be going just a little bit faster, they should really be breathing just a little bit harder. Its not a casual walk. Adults need 30 minutes on most days of the week, with the combination of cardiovascular exercises like jogging, biking, swimming, but also some strength-training exercises. So it could be bodyweight exercises, it could be lifting some weights, but to really help build those muscles. Then you also want some flexibility training in there to do some light stretching to make sure your muscles dont get too tight. Children need all three types of those as well, but at an age appropriate level, he said.

If the weight status of an individual is so high they really need to lose some weight, and burn more calories and adjust intake, it has to be a balanced, slow approach,Friedl said.

Not the, How rapidly can we lose this? Thats not really a healthy way to lose weight, he said.

Long-term, fad diets are really not successful, and really not healthy,Friedlsaid.

I think we all have the examples of somebody thats gone on a fad diet and rapidly in one to two to three weeks seen some success in losing some weight. Initially, oftentimes people can lose some weight, just because its different, just because its a reduction in calories. But in the long term, theres a reason theyre all fad diets, he said. In the long term, its really not a sustainable diet, its really not a sustainable level of calories to take in, and so after that initial drop, you tend to kind of see things level off and possibly even kind of regain some of the weight as your body adjusts to that current intake of calories.

Or its just unsustainable to eat whatever the fad has to eat every day for the next 20 to 30 years of your life; theres no way you can actually live that way. In the long term, fad diets really arent successful. Again, thats why theyre fad diets and not ongoing diets. Thats why the balanced fruit and vegetables, lean proteins and whole wheats, as far as carbohydrates, is really kind of sustained because its something that people really can do. It is maintainable, where these fad diets, its just not a sustainable way to survive and exist in the environment that we live in.

Depending on the type of diet, there are some inherent dangers.

The focus on a particular type of food, or a particular type of substance to take in, then if youre not taking in that balance ... youre not getting the vitamins, and minerals and things that your body really needs to function. You can lose the weight, you can survive on it for a little while, but your body doesnt really work properly, and eventually some of the body systems start to shut down or slow down, and you just dont feel good and youre not operating at a high level,Friedlsaid. Just like if you never get your oil changed in your car, it can run for a little while, but the damage youre doing to that engine oftentimes isnt reversible.

You can take in the one thing theyre telling you to eat all the time, but if youre not getting the protein you need, your muscles arent developing, theyre starting to break down; your organs are made of muscle, so the organs start to break down, theyre not functioning the way you need to.

The body does not process a multivitamin quite the same as eating fruits and vegetables, he said.

You dont want to restrict your body from getting something thats a healthy nutrient,Friedlsaid. Thats one of the things that oftentimes we talk about. What are the bad things that I should be avoiding? The high sugars, the fats, those things. And thats a good conversation to have, but on the flip side its, What do I really need to take in to be healthy? What do I need to take in to be well? Thats where we look at that balance of those macronutrients, the carbohydrates, the proteins, the dairies, but then also those other chemicals that are in a variety of fruits and vegetables. Getting a different array of colors in your fruits and vegetables kind of comes with different vitamins and minerals.

Making sure youre really taking in a variety of fruits and vegetables, a variety of meat or protein sources and some good, healthy carbohydrates really keeps your body taking in what you need so you can really function at your best.

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DAKOTA DUNES, S.D. -- A silicon balloon, which is less invasive than other weight loss procedures, made its debut at Midlands Clinic in 2016.

ORBERA, an intragastric balloon, has been used for weight loss worldwide for years, but the device, which has been placed more than 220,000 times in patients' stomachs, didn't gain U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval until August 2015.

William Rizk, a bariatric surgeon who is offering the device atMidlands Clinicalong with his colleague Keith Vollstedt, said a previous gastric balloon was an option in Siouxland 20 years ago, but he said that particular model had a much higher complication rate than that of ORBERA.

"This new balloon is made of different material and instead of being filled with air it's filled with saline. It tends not to leak or deflate like the old ones did," he said.

"I think we kind of gave it a try 20 years ago and it didn't work so well, so we kind of shelved it."

Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy is the most popular weight loss surgery in the United States, topping laparoscopic gastric bypass, which is the most effective and most invasive, and laparoscopic gastric banding, which has declined in popularity, according to Rizk.

He said ORBERA will appeal to patients with a BMI between 30 and 40 who don't qualify for weight loss surgery. The balloon,which Rizk likens to a breast implant, takes up space in the stomach, causing the patient to feel full after consuming a smaller amount of food. ORBERA, which isn't covered by health insurance, must be paired with a dietary coaching program to ensure success.

"If someone has diabetes or high blood pressure and their BMI is 32 and we can get them with this tool to lose 40 pounds, that would really dramatically improve their health," Rizk said.

ORBERA is inserted with a scope through the esophagus into the stomach while the patient is sedated. Then the balloon is inflated with 600 milliliters of saline to about the size of a grapefruit. The procedure takes about 15 minutes, according to Rizk. Patients can return home about two hours later.

"When you start losing weight the first few pounds come off rather quickly. When you place the balloon, the first week is kind of an adaptation phase," he said.

"There can be some symptoms of nausea in the first week, which really limits how much people can eat. Maintaining hydration is really important."

The balloon stays in place for six months, then Rizk said it's punctured and retrieved in a procedure similar to the one used during insertion.

The FDA trial that assessed the safety and effectiveness of ORBERA showed patients with the device who participated in diet and exercise lost 3.1 times more weight than people who just tried to lose weight with diet and exercise alone.

Ayear later, Rizk said trial participants who had the balloon gained back a small amount of weight, but maintained the majority of their weight loss and still managed to lose more weight than participants who relied on diet and exercise alone.

"It's another kind of weapon in our arsenal or tool in our toolbox," he said. "For a specific patient it can be really good, but as the BMI gets higher, that balloon may not be appropriate."

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Balloon joins gastric sleeve, bypass, band as Siouxland weight loss tool - Sioux City Journal

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February 17, 2017

BY JACLYN BRICE Ministry Medical Group, Rhinelander

Current dietary guidelines recognize the health benefits of certain oils and call for a moderate intake of fat for most Americans.

If you are looking to lose or maintain weight, there is no denying that fats are higher in calories than proteins or carbohydrates. Thats one reason for moderation. As for cardiovascular health, the American Heart Association (AHA) makes the choice pretty simple, by stating Replacing bad fats (saturated and trans) with healthier fats (monounsaturated and polyunsaturated) is better for your heart.

Non-tropical vegetable oils are better than solid fats such as butter, shortening, lard and hard stick margarine, according to the AHA. The better-for-you oils listed in alphabetical order on its website are canola, corn, olive, peanut, safflower, soybean, sunflower and blends of any of these oils. Tropical oils such as palm and coconut have more saturated fat and, as a result, do not make the AHA list.

Saturated fat tends to increase total cholesterol and LDL, raising your risk of cardiovascular disease. It also increases the risk of type 2 diabetes. Trans fats, usually made from oils through a partial hydrogenation process, are considered hazardous to cardiovascular health.

Solid vs Liquid: Generally speaking, saturated fatsbutter, lard, shorteningare solid at room temperature. Most oils have at least some saturated fatty acids, and the majority of fatty acids in coconut, palm and palm kernel oil are saturated.

Polyunsaturated fats are always liquid, even if you put them in the refrigerator. Monounsaturated fats become cloudy when chilled.

Monounsaturated: Monounsaturated fats have been linked to lower total and LDL cholesterol and higher levels of HDL (the good cholesterol). Subjects whose diets included more than 12 percent monounsaturated fats had lower fat mass and lower blood pressure than those eating less than 12 percent of these fats, according to one study.

Oils that are high in monounsaturated fats include olive, peanut, avocado and canola. Extra virgin olive oil also contains antioxidants (polyphenols) that are associated with good heart health.

Canola oil is more neutral in flavor (a plus for some, a minus for others) and is often highly refined and has fewer antioxidants than olive oil. It does have a relatively long shelf life, however.

Oil that has gone rancid or oxidized has an unpleasant smell and taste and has been found to speed up the process of atherosclerosis. Keep oils in a cool, dark, dry place.

Both canola and peanut oil have high smoke points, the temperature at which oils tend to break down and lose nutrients. This makes them a good choice for cooking over high heat.

Polyunsaturated fats have also been found beneficial to cholesterol and heart health. Oils that are high in polyunsaturated fatty acids include cottonseed, soybean, corn, sunflower, safflower, walnut, grapeseed and flaxseed oil. They do not offer equal health benefits.

Two major types of polyunsaturated fatty acids are omega-3 and omega-6. Both are beneficial, but the American diet contains far more omega-6 fatty acids, primarily from packaged foods, refined plant oils, poultry and eggs.

A European study found a lower incidence of heart disease in countries that have diets high in omega-3 fatty acids and use oils with a high ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids.

Sunflower oil is almost entirely omega-6 fatty acids; grapeseed and corn oil also have a high percentage of omega-6 as opposed to omega-3s. Blended vegetable oils usually contain mostly soybean and corn oil, considered two of the least beneficial of oils.

Tropical Oils: The AHA essentially rules out tropical oils such as coconut, palm and palm kernel oils because they are high in saturated fatty acids.

Not everyone agrees. Studies have demonstrated that coconut oil raises total cholesterol but increases HDL even more. Whether or not this matters in terms of cardiovascular health has not yet been determined, but most doctors are reluctant to start recommending coconut oil.

As you make changes in your selection and use of oils, keep in mind that views are undergoing changes as new findings are made available.

One thing is clear: oils have an important place in a good diet. Your goal should be to find the best oils that meet your tastes and your health needs.

Jaclyn Brice is a certified health coach with Ministry Medical Group, part of Ascension.

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Does your diet need an oil change? - Starjournalnow

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February 17, 2017 Credit: Monash University

New research involving Monash University biologists has debunked the view thatmalesjust pass on genetic materialand not much else to their offspring. Instead, it found a father's diet can affect their son's ability to out-compete a rival's sperm aftermating.

The study sought to understand if the nutritional history of fathers had an effect on their sons. Experiments werecarried out in the fruit fly, which shares many similar pathways and characteristics with human genes.

One of the lead authors of the study, Dr Susanne Zajitschek from the School of Biological Sciences, said the study highlighted the importance of the paternal environment on future generations, even a long time before offspring were produced.

"Our study found that males that were raised on either high or low protein diets, but spent their adulthood on an intermediate diet, produced sons that had large differences in gene expression, which most likely contributed to the resulting differences in sperm competitiveness," Dr Zajitschek said.

"They differed in their ability to sire offspring, with the high-protein dads producing sons who were doing much better in sperm competition, which means their sperm was more likely to win against a competitor's sperm within the female tract.

"We also found that the immune response genes were less active insons of low-protein fathers, while metabolic and reproductive processes were increased in sons of fathers on a high protein diet," she said.

The research, published in Biology Letters, is one of only a few studies to have so far reported trans-generational effects in relation to diet quality, and one of the first to report on the post-copulatory advantages conferred by parental diet.

Researchers from Monash University, George Washington University, and the Spanish-based Donana Biological Station took part in the study which examined how high- and low-protein paternal larval diet influenced post-copulatory sexual selection and gene expression in the sons of fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster).

Explore further: Dad's preconception fitness regimen may increase obesity, insulin resistance risk in offspring

More information: Felix Zajitschek et al. High-protein paternal diet confers an advantage to sons in sperm competition, Biology Letters (2017). DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2016.0914

Journal reference: Biology Letters

Provided by: Monash University

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Damaging the reproductive system in a male fruit fly with a deficient diet was not shown to mirror the reproductive system in human beings.

The research is simply meaningless to human reproduction.

So, if you go to an orgy with the intent of producing a child, you need the most competitive sperm in the room. Who paid for this study??

This is "click bait". Perhaps they're paying these "writers" by the click? I like this service to see what's going on a little bit, but this sort of story suggests I am misinformed.

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'I Tried Going Vegan For A WeekHere's What Happened' Women's Health As food trends go these days, going vegan is about as cool as you can get. Not only does eating a diet of just plants promise to lower your cholesterol and make your skin look positively glow-y, but its devotees carry a certain aura of righteousness ...

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Italian sausage rolls made up the first of six courses at a birthday luncheon at The Dove III in downtown Melbourne.(Photo: Suzy Fleming Leonard/FLORIDA TODAY)Buy Photo

Is there anything sadder than a food writer on a diet?

OK, OK, there are lots of things. This is a real First World problem. But its mine, and Im trying to come to terms with it.

Knowing this is a journey best embarked upon with company, I joined a program touted by a Well-Known Celebrity just after Christmas with a couple of friends. We decided this wouldnt be a New Years Resolution, so we started early, before 2016 fizzled into the mists of midnight.

Well-Known Celebrity is all over TV talking about the program. Its easy! Its delicious! It works! Its not a diet, its a lifestyle!

When Im hungry, Im tempted to throw a shoe at Well-Known Celebrity.

Dont say that: Cringe-worthy wordplay

The first week was kind of rough.

Note to self: Before starting next diet, go grocery shopping. When trying to lose weight, it helps to have something in the house other than Froot Loops and ButterFingers.

It didnt help that one of my diet buddies was freakishly cheerful about the whole process.

Im never hungry, she said. And everything Im eating is so good!

Note to self: Its mean to slap your friends when they act like they actually enjoy self deprivation.

By the second week, Id stocked up on fresh fruit and baby carrots. Id ditched my afternoon M&Ms break in favor of an apple or Halo orange.

The scale, while not breathing a sigh of relief, no longer groaned when I stepped on it in the mornings. I began to feel the slightest bit of room in the waistband of my favorite jeans.

This white chocolate mousse creation with raspberry jam at Les Chefs de France in Epcot stole my heart on Valentines Day.(Photo: Suzy Fleming Leonard/FLORIDA TODAY)

I started to believe Well-Known Celebrity. This was turning out to be easy.

I even survived a business trip that involved visiting a restaurant that served fried chicken and doughnuts. On the same plate.

For the first five weeks, the numbers on the scale dropped steadily.

Then February hit, bringing with it:

A six-course birthday lunch at The Dove III in downtown Melbourne. Sausage rolled in crusty Italian bread, eggplant snuggled into a perfect bed of tomato sauce and cheese, fish, chicken, cake. It was a great eating day, but not a great diet day.

A cooking lesson with former Brevard caterer Bill Farina. What human who enjoys food could resist buttery, spicy shrimp and grits?

Brevard restaurant owner started 2016 as widower; ended it as newlywed

An early Valentines dinner at The Tides in Vero Beach. I ordered the pompano special. Fish is healthy, right? OK, so no excuse for the potatoes and sticky pudding dessert.

An interview at Epcot that ended with lunch at Les Chefs de France. When Eric Weistroffer, the restaurants director of operations, arrived with treats, it would have been rude to turn them down: Gateau Opera (Opera Cake), a coffee cake with white chocolate coffee, whipped cream and chocolate ganache; and a heart-shaped crimson creation of white chocolate mousse and raspberry jam. Resistance was futile.

And I wont even go into various lunches with girlfriends, the amazing spread at this weeks book club meeting or the upcoming vacation thats sure to hold its share of tasty treats.

Emma Kirkpatrick, manager of Ossorio Cafe & Bakery in Cocoa Village, wasnt sympathetic.

Imagine trying to lose weight when you run a restaurant, she said.

Shes managed to slim down considerably in the past year, and she spends her days surrounded by croissants and cinnamon rolls. I guess shes proof it can be done.

At least Well-Known Celebrity has one thing right. This program is working when I have the willpower to follow it.

Once February is behind me, heres hoping youll be seeing a lot less of me.

Email Leonard at sleonard@floridatoday.com. Follow her on Facebook at /SuzyFlemingLeonard and on Instagram @SuzyLeonard.

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What is it? A high-fat, low-protein and low-carb way of eating. In the 1920s, it was used to treat epilepsy and other seizure disorders. In the late 1990s, it gained prominence once again, in part because of the Meryl Streep movie First Do No Harm. Interest has been on the rise since then, not only to control seizures but also to help with weight-loss resistance, cognitive function, fatigue, energy, mood, blood sugar balance and management of chronic conditions, such as Type 2 diabetes. NBA star LeBron James claims to have lost 25 pounds and improved his athletic endurance by going keto.

How do I do it? A true ketogenic diet is a medical treatment and should always be prescribed and monitored by a licensed health care provider. It also requires very precise carbohydrate counting and macronutrient tracking. You can get many of the same benefits by adopting a modified ketogenic diet.

What does it involve? The key is intermittent fasting, or going from 12 to 16 hours in a 24-hour period without eating, four to five days a week. (Dont panic. This can include time spent sleeping.) When you do eat, you stick to whole foods lots of healthy fats, protein and as many non-starchy vegetables as you can manage.

My experience: Because I hate the idea of fasting, I dreaded my keto experiment. To make the fasting doable, I had to turn it into a game. Every day, I would see if I could go without food for longer than the day before. (I made it 12 hours and 15 minutes yesterday. Can I go 12 hours today?) Soon my competitive desire to best my fasting time outweighed my usual laser focus on food.

What happened? I started a modified keto diet to help with my blood sugar, a chronic problem for me despite the fact that I gave up refined sugar long ago. After two months of the diet, my blood sugar dropped significantly. But there was a more noticeable and unexpected benefit: I had increased mental clarity and concentration. Its like someone cranked my brainpower dial to 11. I wasnt concerned with weight loss, but even so, Ive thinned out around my waistline. In general, I feel lighter and as if somehow all my bodys systems are running more efficiently.

Any cautions? Extending the time between meals is generally considered safe, but anyone with a chronic condition or blood sugar or thyroid issues should consult a trusted health care provider before adopting this kind of diet.

Laine Bergeson is a functional medicine health coach and health journalist.

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Sarah Tew/CNET

If you're shopping for a piece of wearable tech in 2017, you're facing compromises. Smartwatches and fitness trackers aren't really the must-have devices many companies hoped they would be. And no, you don't really need one. But if you're looking for a piece of tech for your wrist, here are the best choices right now, followed by a list of what you need to consider.

For most people, The Apple Watch Series 1 is all you'd need. But if you want to swim or use GPS away from your phone, the Series 2 is the one to get. (And note: If you have an original Apple Watch, there's not a huge need to upgrade to the Series 2 unless you really need that swim-proofing or GPS tracking.) But the Apple Watch wins mainly because it's well hooked-in to iOS, and functions as a great wrist-remote. The Apple Watch isn't perfect by any means, but its feature set is ahead of the competition.

The decision gets harder for Android users. Android Wear is the most hooked-in platform that connects to Google's apps and services (including Google Assistant), and Android Wear 2.0 is a big improvement. But there aren't any truly great watches for Android Wear yet. LG's Watch Sport and Watch Style, the first to have the updated software, are full of limitations.

The best watch hardware isn't Android Wear at all: it's the Samsung Gear S3. Samsung's large smartwatch has deep features and decent fitness tracking modes, plus use-anywhere Samsung Pay (which requires Android). But it requires a separate set of Samsung Gear apps and syncs to Samsung S-Health for fitness. This requires more conduits and app plug-ins than you might have patience for. It's not as seamless an experience, and sometimes feels too removed from core Android functions.

If you have an Android phone and you're absolutely sold on getting a smartwatch, the Samsung Gear S3 is the best option right now, but that could change once older Android Wear watches are updated to Android Wear 2.0. We're also waiting for Fitbit, Misfit and other companies to release their smartwatches in 2017.

10

The smartwatches and fitness trackers we can't wait to see in 2017

A Fitbit is the right choice for most people. The whole range can track the basics like steps, distance, calories burned and sleep, and some can even measure heart rate and include guided breathing sessions.

One of the reasons we recommend Fitbit is for the app. If one of your friends owns a fitness tracker, there's a good chance it's a Fitbit -- the company has the largest user base. The benefit of this is being able to compete with friends and family members in a variety of competitions, which helps keep you motivated and more likely to reach your goal. The app also integrates a number of third-party devices and services.

A reason to skip the Fitbit would be if you're already invested in an ecosystem like Withings or Garmin. In that case, it's best to get one of their trackers.

Athletes and outdoor enthusiasts are better off with a GPS watch to accurately measure pace, distance, speed and other metrics.

All of these watches are waterproof down to at least 50 meters, include multiple sport profiles, can track daily fitness metrics like steps, sleep and heart rate, and can display notifications from an iPhone and Android phone.

Cyclists should consider a GPS bike computer for measuring distance and speed. These devices can also connect with other sensors on your bike to measure additional metrics like cadence and power.

The wearable market is getting smaller. Fitbit bought Pebble, Jawbone has pivoted away from consumer trackers, and other companies (such as Motorola) have put their smartwatch plans on hold. But there's still a wide variety of smartwatches and trackers to choose from. Here's how to find the right one.

That still matters, to a degree. The Apple Watch works with iPhones -- and only iPhones. Android phones work with Android Wear. Samsung's Gear S2 and S3 watches work with Android phones, too. Both Android Wear and Samsung watches pair with iPhones, but in a more limited way that is nowhere as good as what the Apple Watch offers. Fitness bands tend to work cross-platform, but not always.

Many premium smartwatches still have battery life of two days or less between charges. The Apple Watch, Google's Android Wear watches, and Samsung's Gear S2 and S3 are high-maintenance, and need daily or every-other-day charging. Are you ready to live with that?

If so, the Apple Watch, Samsung Gear S3 or an updated Android Wear 2.0 watch might be worth a try. Pebble's long-battery smartwatches still exist, but Pebble's sale to Fitbit and Pebble's uncertain watch future as a platform means we don't recommend current models anymore.

Most wearable bands and watches aim for fitness tracking, but some are better than others. The best pure overall fitness tracker is still the Fitbit Charge 2. Garmin also makes several good alternatives, and good running watches.

Full-featured smartwatches like the Apple Watch and Android Wear 2.0 watches can track activities and work with many third-party fitness apps, but connect mainly to Apple Health and Google Fit for synced data.

Many wearables are water resistant to at least wash-your-hands or quick-dunk-in-a-sink level, but the list of real swim-proof trackers and watches is short. You want to look for 3ATM or 5ATM, or anything that suggests meters of water resistance.

The Apple Watch Series 2, Fitbit Flex 2, Withings Steel HR, Misfit Ray, Garmin Vivoactive HR and Garmin Forerunner 235 are some of our favorite swim-friendly wearables. The Pebble 2, Pebble Time and Time Steel are swim-friendly, too. But they don't all do swim tracking.

For swim tracking, look into the Garmin Vivoactive HR, Garmin Fenix 3 HR, Garmin Forerunner 735XT, Apple Watch Series 2, Misfit Ray, Withings Steel HR and Fitbit Flex 2.

Some smartwatches come with phone service inside. The Samsung Gear S3 Frontier, LG Watch Sport and Verizon's upcoming Wear24 work with SIM cards and can function as independent phones. Samsung and LG's watches work with T-Mobile and AT&T, while Verizon's Wear24 is, well, Verizon. Phone service can be useful in case of emergency, but it drains battery life on the watch and requires an extra monthly payment (currently $5 a month on T-Mobile, $10 a month on AT&T) to use. AT&T allows phone-number syncing across devices.

Lots of smartwatches support mobile payments now. They mostly work the same way. Apple Watches have Apple Pay. Samsung's Gear S2 and S3 watches can use Samsung Pay. It adds an extra wrinkle on the S3 model with MST, a technology that works at regular credit card terminals as well as tap-to-pay ones. Android Wear 2.0-updated watches will work with Android Pay as long as the watch has NFC. Not all Android Wear watches do. Right now, in fact, the only Android Pay-enabled watch is the LG Watch Sport.

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When travelers walk by BWI airport's newest business, many of them do a double take.

It's not often you see treadmills, weights or showers in an airport.

"We get those looks a lot," said Debra Regan, general manager of ROAM Fitness. "But when they find out about us they always say, 'This is a great idea.'"

ROAM Fitness opened its first location at BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport this month and is one of the few gyms located in an U.S. airport. The company hopes to convince travelers that working out at an airport and still being on time is possible.

Located in the connector between the D and E concourses after security, the gym has cardio equipment, free weights, a stretching space and private showers. Through April, prices cost $25 for a day, $150 for a month and $500 for a year.

About 20 people can workout at the gym at any given time, Regan said.

If travelers didn't pack workout gear, the gym pass includes the ability to rent Lululemon apparel and Brooks running shoes. There's also lockers to store carry-on luggage and include outlets for people to charge their electronics.

And yes, people can just use the gym's shower. An Amazon Echo, known as "Alexa," will inform users when they've reached their 15-minute shower limit.

Most of the gym's customers have come in the morning before their early flights, Regan said.

In many cities, if people want to work out during a layover, they have to take a taxi to a nearby gym, said Regan, who has worked in the fitness industry for several decades.

"I haven't seen anything as elaborate and premium as this," Regan said.

The company's biggest hurdle is not convincing people to join the gym, but finding airports that have the space, said CEO and co-founder Cynthia Sandall. Airports tend to have long leases for their businesses and finding airports that have an opening has been a challenge.

She said the company chose BWI as its first location because of the airport's recent renovations and its interest in healthy living.

BWI has designated walking trails and bike rentals for people to take a ride around the perimeter of the airport. The restaurants also started offering healthier options to travelers.

The Physicians Committee Responsible for Medicine rated BWI the best airport in the U.S. in 2014 for healthy meal options.

ROAM Fitness' goal is to open two more locations this year and about 20 locations in the next five years, Sandall said. She declined to name specific airports, but said there will be locations on both coasts.

The membership will also be valid at all of ROAM Fitness' gyms, Sandall said.

ROAM Fitness isn't targeted for a specific type of traveler, like a frequent flyer, she added. The goal is to have a gym that suits the needs of people at different workout levels.

"It's not a gym for training for the Olympics," she said. "But if you want to get rid of some kinetic energy, you can do that."

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BWI fitness center hopes travelers sweat before they fly - CapitalGazette.com

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JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ohio

The Steubenville Police Department needs your help after a several car break-ins Thursday night outside of Planet Fitness.

Investigators are unsure how many people are involved in this crime or if they are male or female.

Police were called to the parking lot at around 9 p.m. after four cars were broken into and four purses were stolen. The purses had everything from credit and debit cards, a social security card, and a birth certificate. One woman had almost $200 worth of cash taken.

While this crime involved four women, Steubenville City Manager Jim Mavromatis urges both men and women to be selective in what you take to the gym.

This is anyone that's going in the stores or going in the fitness place, he said. Minimize what you take there. You're going to work out, all you need is your drivers license, your car keys, and I can guarantee you they all have their cell phones, so again don't give them an open invitation to break in your vehicle."

Investigators are in the process of talking to management of the different stores in the plaza to see if they anyone loitering around the time the break-ins took place, or if they can get a possible description of the person or vehicle involved.

If you have any information surrounding this crime, call the Steubenville Police Department or our anonymous Crimebusters Tipline at 1-800-862-BUST.

The investigation is ongoing.

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Break-ins reported at Planet Fitness parking lot - WTOV Steubenville

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