Weight Loss Road Map

Kate Bosworth Losing Excessive Weight

2009-08-07T22:59:00.001-07:00

Kate Bosworth is getting scary skinny. Here's a recent photo (June 2006) of her promoting the world premiere of 'Superman Returns' in Los Angeles. She really is way too skinny here to be optimally attractive.

Last year in February 2005 Bosworth was quoted as saying she would like to add more weight to her frame. At that point she said she weighed 115 pounds. What's her height? She is 5'7" tall.

And what is her weight speculated to be at now? According to US Weekly Bosworth weighs about 105 pounds now. She eats lots of veggies, fruits and protein and exercises by walking with her dog. US Weekly also says she drinks a lot of herbal teas and takes wheat grass shots.

Bosworth, 23, is on her way to becoming a superstar. The Superman movie is her biggest yet, but there will undoubtedly be more huge roles in the near future. Her other movie appearances include Bee Season (2005), Beyond the Sea (2004), Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004), Advantage Hart (2003)' Wonderland (2003),The Rules of Attraction (2002), Blue Crush (2002),Remember the Titans (2000),Young Americans (2000) TV Episode, The Newcomers (2000), and The Horse Whisperer (1998).

Just in the last year or so, there has been a high-profile and dangerous trend with Hollywood celebrities looking increasingly like skinny skeletons. Hopefully one of these A-list young celebrity females will take a stand on this issue soon. Otherwise it could have very serious repercussions for the rise in eating disorders amongst young women.

Getting Rid of Sagging Skin after Weight Loss

2009-08-07T22:42:00.000-07:00

There's an interesting discussion going on over at Livin' La Vida Low-Carbabout how to get rid of the excess skin on your body after a dramatic weight loss. People who lose many dozens of pounds are often left with a great deal of sagging skin. Surgery is increasingly being touted as the solution to the excess flabby skin, but a lot of people believe this is not optimal and necessary. Here are some comments people have made there:

"I thought for sure I'd have to get plastic surgery. But the more weight I lost, the more what I thought was loose skin tightened up and the better it looked. Based on my experience, I don't think you have loose skin; instead there's more fat under there to lose."

"I myself have the excess skin after losing 100 lbs. I am 37 years old. The biggest area where I had it was around my tummy, so I purchased an Ab Lounge and over the last several months, I have noticed a major improvement in my stomach area. I'm also doing a combination of aerobic type activity (belly dancing and hula-hooping), pilates, and other weight-bearing exercises for toning. I think "toning" is the key. Lifting weights is also key. I might always have the underarm waggle and the extra skin on the bottoms of my thighs, but I look MUCH better than I did before. I look better at 37 than I did @ 27."

"I do believe that it takes time to tighten up the loose skin. I lost half of my body weight from 220 to 110 when I was in my 50's (I am now 72). It took about 7 years but I did lose most of the loose skin. I tried going down further in weight to lose it faster and to lose the little belly pouch but it didn't work, just made my arms and legs look like sticks. I still have the belly. Unfortunately the low fat crowed convinced me that low carb was ruining my health and I gained most of it back before I regained my senses and went back to low carb. I now weigh 130 which is healthy for my 5'3". In short give it time, it takes about 7 years I have heard for the body to completely replace itself cell by cell."

"Time and exercise have worked for me. Almost four years after losing the bulk of 95 pounds, I only have a few spots that would qualify as loose skin and they're barely noticeable. The worst spot was my lower stomach, but it only looked a bit wrinkly, not hanging and since I've upped my exercise intensity it's gotten even better. I'm 43 and have birthed two strapping boys, so I don't have the benefit of youthful elasticity."

See the full discussion at Livin' La Vida Low-Carb. Untitled photo by Malingering.

Trans Fat: the Key Food to Avoid Trans Fat: the Key Food to Avoid

2009-08-03T08:11:00.000-07:00

How much plastic are you eating today?

Have you recently eaten chips that said "Zero Trans Fat"? If so, you may have just eaten a lot more plastic than is good for you.

Trans fat is making headlines these days. It's been banned in restaurants in several countries. Is the FDA going to take some more action about it soon?

You've probably heard that trans fat is a very bad thing. It's linked to obesity, heart problems and high cholesterol. It's even worse than saturated fat, because though it raises the bad cholesterol levels just like saturated fat, it also lowers the amount of good cholesterol levels in your body - which even saturated fat is not guilty of doing.

Right now the Federal Dietary Guidelines recommends people eat less than two grams of trans fat per day. That would be equivalent to about one small glazed donut or one small handful of french fries cooked with trans fat.

The Institute of Medicine disagrees however, and says the only safe level of trans fat is zero.

The big food companies are allowed to put "Zero Trans Fat" in big letters on their food packages even if the food inside contains trans fat. They can do this if the food contains less than half a gramper serving. This is a bit of a joke as 'one serving' is usually defined as a tiny amount, maybe just a few chips, whereas we all know what happens to a bag of chips in one sitting once it's been opened. So quite conceivably, you could eat a bag of chips that said 'zero trans fat' and have actually consumed several grams of trans fat!

There is a very good interview on NPR this week with Kim Severson. She is the author of The Trans Fat Solution: Cooking and Shopping to Eliminate the Deadliest Fat from Your Diet .

She says trans fat is the one food we shouldn't be eating at all. It is a completely artificial substance that our bodies don't know how to process.

It's like putting plastic fat into our body.

Trans fat (also known as 'partially hydrogenated oils') really started to get into our diets in a big way in the 1970's, along with the growth of the fast food industry. Trans fat is much cheaper than the more traditional oils. It can be reheated over and over without spoiling, and this is why it's so popular in the restaurant and fast food industry. It's also become a key ingredient in many packaged foods because it doesn't spoil as quickly as natural oils.

It looks like there is a movement starting to get underway to ban trans fat use in restaurants. Chicago may be the first city to do this in the United States thanks to the efforts of Alderman Edward Burke. And last month a consumer group sued KFC to try to stop the chicken chain from cooking with trans fat. A KFC meal of three pieces of extra-crispy chicken contains 15 grams of trans fat, and a single pot pie contains 14 grams.

What are other foods that are high in trans fats? Here's an excerpt from Consumer Reports from a couple of years ago:

WHERE'S THE TRANS?

We tested mainly the top-selling foods that we knew or suspected would contain at least some partially hydrogenated oil. We found trans fat--up to 4 grams per serving--in many of those foods. But since it's the combined total of trans and saturated fat that matters most, the table in Bad fats in common foods lists the foods in decreasing order of total bad-fat content. There's little benefit in choosing a food that's low in trans fat if it's high in saturated fat, and vice versa. Banquet Chicken Pot Pie, for example, contained just a trace of trans fat. But its 7.5 grams of saturated fat made it the top artery-clogging product on our list. The surprising runner-up for top artery clogger: Mrs. Smith's Apple Pie, with 4 grams of trans and 3 grams of saturated fat per slice. Other foods that you might not suspect of harboring bad fats: Nabisco Wheat Thins, Kellogg's Cracklin'’ Oat Bran Cereal, Kellogg's Eggo Buttermilk Frozen Waffles, and Pillsbury Buttermilk Frozen Waffles. While the amount of trans and saturated fat in many of the other tested foods may seem low, keep in mind that serving sizes are often quite small. Orville Redenbacher's Popping Corn Movie Theater Butter, for example, contains about 1.5 grams of bad fat--but that's in a mere 6.5-gram serving, or 1 cup, not the big bowlful that many people eat.
Note that our table doesn't list any fast-food french fries; McDonald's is reformulating the one such product we tested. But manufacturers'’ data provide some illuminating comparisons. Burger King's medium fries apparently supply more trans fat and more bad fat overall than any product in our table: 4.5 grams of trans plus 5 grams of saturated fat. Wendy's medium fries--a significantly larger serving--supply roughly the same total amount of bad fat: 6 grams of trans and 3 grams of saturated fat. McDonald's reformulated medium fries--about the same size as Wendy's--have less trans fat and less bad fat overall than either of those competitors. We plan to test french fries and other reformulated products in the near future to assess their bad-fat content.

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The above photos of donuts and fries are by pinkpucca andklynslis.

Waist to Hip Ratio Versus BMI

2009-08-01T01:28:00.001-07:00

Studies are increasingly finding that the waist to hip ratio may be more relevant to determining if you are relatively healthy even if overweight than the BMI (body mass index) ratio.

Someone who is extremely fit will have much more muscle on their bodies than someone who is very sedentary. And muscles weigh four times as much as the equivalent space taken up by fat. So a very fit person who lifts weights may be considered obese by BMI standards though they are in fact not even overweight let alone obese. BMI is not the best indicator of knowing if your fat ratio is compromising your health.

The waist-to-hip ratio on the other hand has been shown to be a very good indicator of a person's risk of developing heart disease and getting a heart attack.

See more about this at The Fanatic Cook

Obesity Surgery has High Risks

2009-08-01T01:27:00.001-07:00

A new study has found that four out of every ten people who undergo weight loss surgery experience complications within half a year. Many of these complications are so serious they have to go to emergency rooms.

The average cost of the surgery and six months of follow-up is $29,921. But for patients with complications that require re-admission to hospital, the average cost is $65,031.

Past studies found that ten to twenty percent of people had problems after the surgery. But this study done by federal researchers found that forty percent had complications within 180 days of surgery. The most common ailments include vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal hernias, infections, pneumonia, respiratory failure and leaking of gastric juices.

Anna Nicole Smith is Pregnant

2009-07-30T08:50:00.001-07:00

Anna Nicole Smith is Pregnant

Anna Nicole Smith, 38, has announced that she's pregnant.

Smith created a lot of interest in TrimSpa a couple of years ago when she lost a great deal of weight. She will continue to be a TrimSpa spokeswoman while pregnant.

She's keeping the father's identity a secret for now.

Update February 9th:Anna Nicole Smith is dead at the young age of 39. She died yesterday, February 8th 2007. Her son died only a few months ago and it seems this was a tragedy she was not able to cope with. She leaves behind her baby daughter, Dannielynn Hope. ET reports that she had tried to commit suicide earlier in December when she was found unconscious in the bottom of her pool in Bahama. Her bodyguard was able to revive her.

An autopsy is taking place this morning in Florida.

A Slimmer Waist in the Imaginary World

2009-07-30T08:49:00.001-07:00

Those magazine covers in the check-out counter of your local grocery store are terribly misleading. It's amazing how much retouching goes on to make beautiful people look even more unrealistically beautiful.

Because young girls are the most susceptible to comparing themselves to unreal standards of slimness and beauty, the Swedish government recently hired an ad agency to create a campaign showing young girls how magazine retouching works.

Check it out for yourself. You can see the before and after pictures at this link. You'll see how they've made the models waist skinnier, her breasts bigger, lips fuller, eyes brighter and teeth whiter.

Treadmill Motivation: One Man's True Story

2009-07-30T08:47:00.000-07:00

Ralph Klein, 63, decided to do something to lose some weight and get back in shape. This was twenty years ago. At the age of 43, the 5'8" politician weighed somewhere between 230 and 240 pounds. He says he was 'grossly overweight' at the time.

That's when he started running on a treadmill. At first he found it very difficult to complete even one mile. It took him six months to get up to three miles. He soon got down to 185 pounds. And he has maintained this weight, give or take a few pounds, for the past 20 years.

His method has been to do an average of 3-4 miles on the treadmill each day. He seems to have incredible will power; he says he has probably only missed less than five days in the past twenty years. Klein says he doesn't pay much attention to his diet and that he has a weakness for hamburgers and pizza.

But the exercise has more than compensated for this. Klein is happy with his weight and doesn't see himself stopping the exercise routine when he retires next year.

Celebrity Weight Loss Stories

2009-07-30T08:39:00.000-07:00

I've been focusing on writing celebrity weight loss stories for the past few weeks.

See some recent posts here about celebrity weight loss, including Jessica Simpson, Janet Jackson, Jessica Alba, Star Jones, Britney Spears and Kirstey Alley.

There seems to be a very big interest in this topic. I can personally relate, as I share the fascination with how celebrities get slim and stay that way.

I would love to see a book that interviewed many celebrities and detailed their precise diet secrets and exercise plans. I'd like to know how they eat and workout on a daily basis. The book would allocate one chapter to each celebrity. We would hear from celebrities who have succeeded in losing a lot of weight, from others who have always been slim and how they stay that way, and maybe a few chapters on celebrities who have a hard time maintaining a normal weight and have been overweight for most of their life.

I think many other people would enjoy reading a book about this. I've never seen a book such as this? Does anyone know if something like this already exists?

I don't think it's out there yet. That's why I would like to make a proposal to Oprah about this.

She is one person who could pull this off in a great way. She could easily get other celebrities to talk frankly about their personal weight loss issues. And the timing is perfect for this. Oprah has just received the largest non-fiction book advance in the history of book advances. She will receive more than $12 million to write a book about her experiences with weight loss. She will start working on this book, together with her personal trainer, Bob Greene, very soon.

So I'd like to get the word out to ask her to consider interviewing different celebrities for several of the chapters. I think this would make the book even more fascinating and even more of a best-seller.

Success with Weight Watchers

2009-07-28T08:25:00.000-07:00

Here are the before and after photos of Naketa Ferguson, 27, who was successful inlosing 70 pounds over the past eleven months. She's one of the leading contestants in New Zealand's Weight Watchers Slimmer of the Year contest. She now weighs 140 pounds.

Her asthma has disappeared along with the excess weight. Before the weight loss she was on nebuliser treatment every two weeks and was frequently using her asthma inhaler.

The photo on the right is by Richard Robinson. See the full story atThe New Zealand Herald.

Is Ronaldo Fat?

2009-07-28T08:03:00.000-07:00

Ronaldo, the international soccer star from Brazil, and one of the best all-time soccer players ever, is being called flabby and overweight in the media these days. His performance in the current World Cup has not been impressive so far.

Ronaldo will turn 30 in September. His height is 6'0" and according to the FIFA World Cup sitehe weighs 82 kilograms or 181 pounds. This would give him a BMI of 24.5. Just on the borderline between normal weight and overweight. The Body Mass Index says you are in the normal range of weight if your BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9. Considering Ronaldo probably has a lot more heavier muscle (versus fat) than the typical guy, he could not officially be called overweight by any stretch of the imagination but the press is unkind and they are calling him flabby and are flabbergasted at his sluggish performance.

Ronaldo suffered an injury which put him out for most of April and May. He's also been suffering in his personal life as his second marriage recently fell apart. He has been complaining about dizzy spells and has gone to the hospital several times for tests, though nothing abnormal has been found. The Brazilian coach has not lost hope in Ronaldo and will have him star on the starting team again in the next World Cup game.

Update: How much does Ronaldo really weigh? According to hiswebsite, he weighs 86 kilograms, which is 190 pounds. This could be outdated info compared to the FIFA records.

Jenny Craig Gets Chocolate Parents

2009-07-28T07:50:00.000-07:00

Jenny Craig has just been acquired by Nestle for about $600 million. This is about five times as much as venture capitalists paid for the initial buyout of Jenny Craig four years ago.

Pictured here is Jennifer, their current featured weight loss success story. Jennifer says she looks better than she did fifteen years ago. She has lost 42 pounds with Jenny Craig.

Jenny Craig has about 600 weight-loss fitness centers and sells prepackaged meals as part of its offerings.

The advertising campaign featuringKirstie Alley has provided Jenny Craig with a big boost over the past year or so. Their sales were over $400 million in the past year.

Secrets for a Youthful Body and Face

2009-07-26T04:29:00.000-07:00

How old would you say this woman is? She says she keeps young by doing 20 to 40 minutes of cardio and ab work four times a week. She takes garlic tablets, flaxseed oil and salmon oil and has oatmeal and apples for breakfast. She also meditates about 10 minutes a day. Her name is Gwynne Walker and she is 57 years old.

See more personal stories about beauty secrets by women who look really great at their age at ajc.com.

Losing 87 Pounds in Seven Months

2009-07-26T04:27:00.000-07:00

This woman has lost 87 pounds in only seven months. She started out at 217 last November and now weighs 130 in June.

Carol Patton, 53, didn't join any kind of weight loss program. She did this on her own by changing her diet and exercising after getting a health scare from her doctor about her high blood pressure and cholesterol. The doctor told her her chances of getting a stroke or heart attack were high unless she started doing something about it.

Patton started a daily walking routine, and changed her diet. One of her key goals was to cut out most of the salt in her diet as this is linked to high blood pressure. If she had been eating lots of salt before, she may have lost at least five pounds very quickly due to getting rid of the water retention problem that often accompanies excessive salt intake.

People don't recognize her on the street now. Congrats Carol Patton!

Angelina Jolie's Post-Baby Weight Loss

2009-07-26T04:24:00.000-07:00

Apparently Angelina Jolie, 31, only gained twenty five pounds during her first pregnancy. She doesn't have much weight to lose to get back in shape.

What is her height and how much did she weigh prior to pregnancy? According to info I found online she is 5'7" tall or (170 cm). And her weight has been publicized as being about 129 pounds pre-pregnancy. The picture of her shown here was taken quite a few years ago to promote the movie 'Tomb Raider'.

According to The Sun, Angelina Jolie is not dieting to get back in shape. At least not this early after the baby's birth. Rather she is stepping up her yoga practice and is said to be drinking African ginger root and garlic tea as a natural weight loss aide. She's also breastfeeding and this usually helps the baby weight come off faster.

If she only gained twenty five pounds, once the baby was born she would have immediately lost at least ten pounds (a seven pound baby, a placenta, and related birth weight loss usually adds up to at least twelve pounds). So she really only needs to lose ten to fifteen pounds to get back to pre-pregnancy shape.

Angelina Jolie has always had a very slim build and it's likely she will be one of the lucky body types who has no problem regaining her pre-pregnancy shape. At least not till the second pregnancy.

Update: August 2006. Here's a photo of Jolie on Maddox's 5th birthday. She looks like she's lost all the post baby weight already.

What Does Gwyneth Paltrow Eat?

2009-07-26T04:22:00.001-07:00

Gwyneth Paltrowlikes to eat lots of vegetables, brown rice and fish. All organic if possible. She has given an easy fish recipe to Oprah which I'd like to try cooking soon.

It involves only three ingredients; white fish (like flounder), miso paste and mirin sauce.

Cooking it only takes 20 minutes. If you're looking for a healthy and easy way to cook fish, check out Gwyneth Paltrow's fish recipe 'Flounder with Miso Sauce' on Oprah's site.

Body Shapers: The Seamless Body Slimmer

2009-07-26T04:00:00.000-07:00

On Oprah's show last week there was a program on how to make your butt look smaller in clothes.

This is an example of the new generation of body shapers. They are made from microfiber and really help to make your butt and thighs look slimmer. They're called the 'seamless body slimmer' and the one shown here is part of the Donna Karan Body Perfect Collection.This was the 'new age girdle' recommended on the Oprah show for an overall shaping and slimming effect.

I have a friend who has a perfect barbie doll shape but she says that wearing these new body shapers is her secret and the only way she can fit into the same skirts she wore ten years ago.

Digestion and Overeating

2009-07-26T03:59:00.000-07:00

It's interesting (and sometimes comical) to look back and see what people were saying about diets and weight loss in previous generations. As one example, R.L Alsaker was the popular authority on food and health about a hundred years ago. Here's an excerpt from his book;

In all my reading it has not been my good fortune to find a diet table
for healthy people, giving moderate quantities of food. Diet lists seem
scientific, so they appeal to the mind that has not learned to think of
the subject from the correct point of view. Quantitative diet tables are
worthless, for one person may need more than another. Some are short and
some are tall. Some are naturally slender and others of stocky build.
There is as much difference in people's food needs as there is in their
appearance. To try to fit the same quantity and even kind of food to all
is as senseless as it would be to dress all in garments of identical
size and cut.

If we eat in moderation it does not make much difference what we eat,
provided our diet contains either raw fruits or raw vegetables enough to
furnish the various mineral salts and the food is fairly well prepared.
There are combinations that are not ideal, but they do very little harm
if there is no overeating. People who are moderate in their eating
generally relish simple foods. Unfortunately, there is but little
moderation in eating. From childhood on the suggestion that it is
necessary to eat liberally is ever before us. Medical men, grandparents,
parents and neighbors think and talk alike. If the parents believe in
moderation, the neighbors kindly give lunches to the children. It is
really difficult to raise children right, especially in towns and
cities.

After such training we learn to believe in overeating and we pass the
belief on to the next generation, as it has in the past been handed down
from generation to generation. Finally we die, many of us martyrs to
overconsumption of food. Ask any healer of intelligence who has thrown
off the blinders put on at college and who has allowed himself to think
without fear, and he will tell you that at least nine-tenths of our ills
come from improper eating habits. It is not difficult to make up menus
of compatible foods. No one knows how much another should eat, and he
who prepares quantitative diet tables for the multitude must fail.

However, every individual of ordinary intelligence can quickly learn his
own food requirements and the key thereto is given by nature. It is not
well to think of one's self much or often. It is not well to be
introspective, but everyone should get acquainted with himself, learning
to know himself well enough to treat himself with due consideration. We
are taught kindness to others. We need to be taught kindness to
ourselves. The average person ought to be able to learn his normal food
requirements within three or four months, and a shorter time will often
suffice.

The following observations will prove helpful to the careful reader:

Food should have a pleasant taste while it is being eaten, but should
not taste afterwards. If it does it is a sign of indigestion following
overeating, or else it indicates improper combinations or very poor
cooking. Perhaps food was taken when there was no desire for it, which
is always a mistake. Perhaps too many foods were combined in the meal.
Or it may be that there was not enough mouth preparation. It is
generally due to overeating. Cabbage, onions, cucumbers and various
other foods which often repeat, will not do so when properly prepared
and eaten in moderation, if other conditions are right.

Eructation of gas and gas in the bowels are indications of overeating.
More food is taken than can be digested. A part of it ferments and gas
is a product of fermentation. A very small amount of gas in the
alimentary tract is natural, but when there is belching or rumbling of
gas in the intestines it is a sign of indigestion, which may be so mild
that the individual is not aware of it, or it may be so bad that he can
think of little else. When there is formation of much gas it is always
necessary to reduce the food intake, and to give special attention to
the mastication of all starch-containing aliments. Also, if starches and
sour fruits have been combined habitually, this combination should be
given up. Starch digests in an alkaline medium, and if it is taken with
much acid by those whose digestive powers are weak, the result is
fermentation instead of digestion.

People should never eat enough to experience a feeling of languor. They
should quit eating before they feel full. If there is a desire to sleep
after meals, too much food has been ingested. When drowsiness possesses
us after meals we have eaten so much that the digestive organs require
so much blood that there is not enough left for the brain. This is a
hint that if we have work or study that requires exceptional clearness
of mind, we should eat very moderately or not at all immediately before.
The digestive organs appropriate the needed amount of blood and the
brain refuses to do its best when deprived of its normal supply of
oxygen and nourishment.

Serpents, some beasts of prey and savages devour such large quantities
of food at times that they go into a stupor. There is no excuse for our
patterning after them now that a supply of food is easily obtained at
all times.

A bad taste in the mouth is usually a sign of overeating. It comes from
the decomposition following a too liberal food intake. If water has a
bad taste in the morning or at any other time, it indicates overeating.
It may be due to a filthy mouth or the use of alcohol.

Heartburn is also due to overeating, and so is hiccough; both come from
fermentation of food in the alimentary tract.

A heavily coated tongue in the morning indicates excessive food intake.
If the tongue is what is known as a dirty gray color it shows that the
owner has been overeating for years. The normal mucous membrane is clean
and pink. The mucous membrane of the mouth, stomach and the first part
of the bowels should not be compelled to act as an organ of excretion,
for the normal function is secretory and absorptive. However, when so
much food is eaten that the skin, lungs, kidneys and lower bowel can not
throw off all the waste and excess, the mucous membrane in the upper
part of the alimentary tract must assist. The result is a coated tongue,
but the tongue is in no worse condition than the mucous membrane of the
stomach. A coated tongue indicates overcrowded nutrition and is nature's
request to reduce the food intake. How much? Enough to clean the tongue.
If the coating is chronic it may take several months before the tongue
becomes clean.

A muddy skin, perhaps pimply, is another sign of overeating. It shows
that the food intake is so great that the body tries to eliminate too
many of the solids through the skin, which becomes irritated from this
cause and the too acid state of the system and then there is
inflammation. Many forms of eczema and a great many other skin diseases
are caused by stomach disorders and an overcrowded nutrition. There is a
limit to the skin's excretory ability, and when this is exceeded skin
diseases ensue. Some of the so-called incurable skin diseases get well
in a short time on a proper diet without any local treatment.

Dull eyes and a greenish tinge of the whites of the eyes point toward
digestive disturbances due to an oversupply of food. The green color
comes from bile thrown into the blood when the liver is overworked. The
liver is never overtaxed unless the consumption of food is excessive.

Another very common sign of too generous feeding is catarrh, and it does
not matter where the catarrh is located. It is true that there are other
causes of catarrh, in fact, anything that irritates the mucous membrane
any length of time will cause it, but an overcrowded nutrition causes
the ordinary cases. It is the same old story: The mucous membrane is
forced to take on the function of eliminating superfluous matter, which
has been taken into the system in the form of food. Many people dedicate
their lives to the act of turning a superabundance of food into waste,
and as a result they overwork their bodies so that they are never well
physically and seldom efficient mentally.

Many people, especially women, say that if they miss a meal or get it
later than usual, they suffer from headache. This indicates that the
feeding is wrong, generally too generous and often too stimulating. A
normal person can miss a dozen meals without a sign of a headache.

To repeat: No one can tell how much another should eat, but everyone can
learn for himself what the proper amount of food is. Enough is given
above to help solve the problem. The interpretations presented are not
the popular ones, but they are true for they give good results when
acted upon.

If bad results follow a meal there has been overeating, either at the
last meal or previously. Undermasticating usually accompanies overeating
and causes further trouble. Those who masticate thoroughly are generally
quite moderate in their food intake.

Many say that they eat so much because they enjoy their food so. He who
eats too rapidly or in excess does not know what true enjoyment of food
is. Excessive eating causes food poisoning, and food poisoning blunts
all the special senses. To have normal smell, taste, hearing and vision
one must be clean through and through, and those who are surfeited with
food are not clean internally.

The average individual does not know the natural taste of most foods. He
seasons them so highly that the normal taste is hidden or destroyed.
Those who wish to know the exquisite flavor of such common foods as
onions, carrots, cabbage, apples and oranges must eat them without
seasoning or dressing for a while. To get real enjoyment from food it is
necessary to eat slowly and in moderation.

I know both from personal experience and from the experience of others
that seasoning is not necessary. Instead of giving the foods better
flavor, they taste inferior. A little salt will harm no one, but the
constant use of much seasoning leads to irritation of the digestive
organs and to overeating. Salt taken in excess also helps to bring on
premature aging. It is splendid for pickling and preserving, but health
and life in abundance are the only preservatives needed for the body.
Refined sugar should be classed among the condiments. People who live
normally lose the desire for it. Grapefruit, for instance, tastes better
when eaten plain than when sugar is added.

People who sleep seven or eight hours and wake up feeling unrefreshed
are suffering from the ingestion of too much food. A food poisoned
individual can not be properly rested. To get sweet sleep and feel
restored it is necessary to have clean blood and a sweet alimentary
tract.

Much has been said about overeating. Once in a while a person will
habitually undereat, but such cases are exceedingly rare. To undereat is
foolish. At all times we must use good sense. It is a subject upon which
no fixed rules can be promulgated. Be guided by the feelings, for
perfect health is impossible to those who lack balance.

Those who think they need scientific direction may take one of the
orthodox diet tables. If it contains alcoholics, remove them from the
list. Then partake of about one-third of the starch recommended, and
about one-third of the protein. Use more fresh fruit and fresh
vegetables than listed. Instead of eating bread made from white flour,
use whole wheat bread. Do not try to eat everything given on the
scientific diet list each day. For instance, rice, potatoes and bread
are given in many of these tables. Select one of these starches one day,
another the next day, etc. If one-third of the amount recommended is too
much, and it sometimes is, reduce still further.

Please bear in mind that the orthodox way, the so-called scientific way,
has been tried over a long period of time and it has given very poor
results. Moderation has always given good results and always will.

Exerpts from The Project Gutenberg EBook of Maintaining Health, by R. L. Alsaker

Weight Loss at Any Cost

2009-07-26T02:30:00.000-07:00

Weight loss surgery has become one of the fastest growing elective surgeries in America. And liposuction (the suctioning of fat from specific areas on the body) is gaining popularity at an even faster rate. Some companies are now even advertising 'liposuction vacations', where you can go to the tropics and get operated on for half of what it would cost here while staying at a five star beachfront hotel.

The photos shown here are from a controversial 80-page spread in the Italian Vogue last year. The feature was called "Makeover Madness" and portrayed supermodels Linda Evangelista, Inguna Butane, Elise Crombez, Missy Rayder, Hana Soukupova, Jessica Stam, Julia Stegner and Eugenia Volodina as plastic surgery patients. The famous photographer, Steven Meisel said the images were "a “reaction to where entertainment is right now - everything is makeovers and plastic surgery, altering oneself at any cost.” See thesesupermodel plastic surgery pictures here.

These photos are somehow extremely disturbing but fascinating at the same time.

Getting Thin - One Man's Story

2009-07-25T01:22:00.000-07:00

Here's an excerpt from "The Fun of Getting Thin", a book written by Samuel G. Blythe about a hundred years ago (and now a Project Gutenberg eBook). It's interesting to read one man's personal weight loss story and how he went on to lose fifty pounds way back then.

Fat, the doctors say, is fatal. I move to amend by striking out the
last two letters of the indictment. Fat is fat. It isn't any more
fatal to be reasonably fat than to be reasonably thin, but it's a
darned sight more uncomfortable. So far as being unreasonably thin or
unreasonably fat is concerned, I suppose the thin person has the long
end of it. I never was thin, so I don't know. However, I have been
fat--notice that "have been"? And if there is any phase of human
enjoyment, any part of life, any occupation, avocation, divertisement,
pleasure or pain where the fat man has the better of it in any regard,
I failed to discover it in the twenty years during which I looked like
the rear end of a hack and had all the bodily characteristics of a bale
of hay.

When you come to examine into the actuating motives for any line of
human endeavor you will find that vanity figures about ninety per cent,
directly or indirectly, in the assay. The personal equation is the
ruling equation. Women want to be thinner because they will look
better--and so do men. Likewise, women want to be plumper because they
will look better--and so do men. This holds up to forty years. After
that it doesn't make much difference whether either men or women look
any better than they have been looking, so far as the great end and aim
of all life is concerned. Consequently fat men and fat women after
forty want to be thinner for reasons of health and comfort, or quit and
resign themselves to their further years of obesity.

Now I am over forty. Hence my experiments in reduction may be taken at
this time as grounded on a desire for comfort--not that I did not make
many campaigns against my fat before I was forty. I fought it now and
then, but always retreated before I won a victory. This time, instead
of skirmishing valiantly for a space and then being ignominiously and
fatly routed by the powerful forces of food and drink, I hung stolidly
to the line of my original attack, harassed the enemy by a constant and
deadly fire--and one morning discovered I had the foe on the run.

It always makes me laugh to hear people talk about losing
flesh--unless, of course, the decrease in weight is due to illness. No
healthy person, predisposed to fat, ever lost any flesh. If that
person gets rid of any weight, or girth, or fat, it isn't lost--it is
fought off, beaten off. The victim struggles with it, goes to the mat
with it, and does not debonairly drop it. He eliminates it with stern
effort and much travail of the spirit. It is a job of work, a grueling
combat to the finish, a task that appalls and usually repels.

The theory of taking off fat is the simplest theory in the world. It
is announced, in four words: Stop eating and drinking. The practice of
fat reduction is the most difficult thing in the world. Its
difficulties are comprehended in two words: You cannot. The flesh is
willing, but the spirit is weak. The success of the undertaking lies
in the triumph of the will over the appetite. There's a lovely line of
cant for you! Triumph of the will over the appetite. It sounds like
the preaching of a professional food faddist, who tells the people they
eat too much and then slips away and wolfs down four pounds of
beefsteak at a sitting. However, I suppose it is necessary to say this
once in a dissertation like this--and it is said.

In writing about this successful experiment of mine in reducing weight
I have no theories to advance except one, and no instructions to give.
I don't know whether my method would take an ounce off any other person
in the world, and I don't care. I only know it took more than fifty
pounds off me. I am not advancing any argument, medicinal or
otherwise, for my plan. I never talked to a doctor about it, and never
shall. If there are fat men and fat women who are fat for the same
reasons I was fat I suppose they can get thin the way I got thin. If
they are fat for other reasons I suppose they cannot. I don't know
about either proposition.

I have great respect for doctors--so much respect, in fact, that I keep
diligently away from them. I know the preliminaries of their game and
can take a dose of medicine myself as skillfully as they can administer
it. Also, I know when I have a fever, and have a working knowledge of
how my heart should beat and my other bodily functions be performed. I
have frequently found that a prescription, unintelligibly written but
looking very wise, is highly efficacious when folded carefully and put
in the pocketbook instead of being deposited with a druggist. I
suppose that comes from a sort of hereditary faith in amulets. No
doubt the method would be even more efficacious if the prescription
were tied on a string and hung around the neck. I shall try that some
time when my wife lugs in a doctor on me.

Still, doctors are interesting as a class. After you get beyond the
let-me-feel-your-pulse-and-see-your-tongue preliminaries they are
versatile and ingenious. Almost always, after you tell them what is
the matter with you, they will know--not every time, but frequently.
Also, they will take any sort of a chance with you in the interest of
science. However, they generally send out for a specialist when they
are ill themselves. When you come to think of it that is but natural.
Almost any man, whether professional or not, will take a chance with
somebody else that he wouldn't quite go through with on himself.
Besides, doctors treat comparative strangers for the most part, and the
interests of science are to be conserved.

Almost any doctor can tell you how to get thin. To be sure, no doctor
will tell you to do the same things any other doctor prescribes, but it
all simmers down to the same thing: Cut out the starchy foods and
sweets, and take exercise. Also: Don't drink alcohol. The variations
that can be played on this simple theme by a skillful doctor are
endless. When a real specialist in fat reduction gets hold of you--a
real, earnest reducer--he can contrive a diet that would make a living
skeleton thin--and likewise put him in his little grave. I have had
diets handed to me that would starve a humming-bird, and diets that
would put flesh on a bronze statue; and all to the same end--reduction.
Science has been monkeying with nourishment for the past ten or fifteen
years to the exclusion of many other branches of research; and about
all that has happened to the nourishment is the large elimination of
nutriment from it.

Boy Shorts in Plus Sizes

2009-07-25T00:59:00.000-07:00

UNEASYsilence had a titillating post about a year ago stating that thongs were on their way out and boy shorts were in. We're talking about underwear for women here. (It seemed their survey was from personal experience and not necessarily scientifically statistically significant). But their certainty in their conviction seemed to make it so.

I decided to check this out with the brand new tool provided by Google. It's called Google Trends and it lets you search as to the relative popularity of two search terms.

As you can see by this graph, according to Google Trends, the thongs (in red) are still way ahead and were never threatened in their leadership position as compared to boy shorts (in blue).

But boy shortsare much more comfortable and really help to hide pantie lines on your skirts or pants. Personally, I'm not a thong girl myself (well, to tell the truth it's been a while since i was a girl) and actually think that women who wear thongs may have some deeply personal issues that I wouldn't want to console them with.

So here are some boy shorts and swimsuit options in plus sizes as pictured on Amazon.

Obesity and Genetics

2009-07-25T00:45:00.000-07:00

Most people don't believe that genetics has much to do with a person being overweight or obese; that it is much more based on the environment and conditioning you grow up with and how this effects the diet and exercise lifestyle you lead.

But scientists have recently found a gene 'CPTic' which makes a protein that protects against weight gain caused by a high-fat diet. They've only tested this on mice so far but the implications seem to be that people who lack this gene will gain much more weight than people who carry a normal level of this gene.

_________
The above photo is by Piddy77

Extreme Weight Loss Measures

2009-07-25T00:41:00.000-07:00

There's been a real surge in weight loss related surgeries in the last couple of years. There were over 170,000 gastric bypass operations performed last year and the number of liposuctions to suction localized fat from different parts of the body is skyrocketing each year.

Some people are even taking 'vacations' to go and get their fat suctioned out somewhere in the tropics. It seems very extreme, and there are serious health complications associated with many of these procedures, but it looks like it is a weight loss method that is here to stay. See Plastic Surgery: Show and Tell for the latest stories around this trend.

Healthy Diet Meals Delivered to your Door

2009-07-25T00:27:00.000-07:00

At least one company is betting there is a big business in people ordering regular healthy meals to be delivered to their home. eDiets.com plan to start airing infomercials about their meal delivery service - eDiets Express Fresh Cuisine - around Memorial Day.

They'll be offering two meal delivery packages. One will cost $20 per day, the other will be about $35. They believe the average dieter may be prepared to pay $200 a week for this kind of convenient and healthy meal option plan.

SPANX Slimming Shapewear

2009-07-25T00:19:00.000-07:00

SPANX is a relatively new company that's seen huge success in making all sorts of shapewear or body shaper underwear that can help you look slimmer in your clothes.

I was at a clothing store trying to find something nice to wear for the hot weather and aghast at seeing the rolls of fat under my arms in the big mirror. Here I also noticed a big, catchy ad for SPANX products. I've been seeing them around a lot lately, so later I looked them up on the net and it's quite a story about one women's good idea coupled with extraordinary marketing skills.

Sara Blakely got the idea to make slimming underwear that wouldn't show panty-lines just a few years ago. By 2005 SPANX was grossing over $45 million in annual sales and had 25 employees. The products have been featured on the Oprah Winfrey show, The View, The Other Half, The Ananda Lewis Show, CNN, CNBC, Every Woman, and countless news channels, as well as in the pages of Forbes, Fortune, People, InStyle, The New York Times, Vogue, Glamour, Self, and USA Today.

Are you Obese or Cuddly?

2009-07-24T23:21:00.000-07:00

When people join online dating sites, they often exaggerate their mental and physical characteristics. You don't find too many people stating they are mobidly obese on these sites.

Here's what people really mean when they say certain things about themselves on the online dating sites. I found this very funny list of common embellishments at the Radar Blog.

Athletic Stupid.

Attractive Appealing personality, physically repulsive.

Bubbly Bipolar.

Cuddly/curvaceous/extra padding Morbidly obese.

Down-to-earth Slob.

Educated Condescending.

Enjoy long romantic walks No car.

Free spirit Raring to ravish your friends.

Honest Brutally insensitive.

Independent Social leper.

Like a good wine Old and full-bodied

Live life to the max Your credit card max.

Looks not important Just money.

Masters degree Bunnings shop floor role.

Millionaire In defunct Italian Lira.

Must know how to treat a lady Platinum cardholders only.

No baggage Wife and kids terminated via lethal injection.

Not concerned about looks Pitt or Jolie lookalikes only.

Personality a must Because I have none.

Prince Charming Charismatic psychopath.

Quirky Attracted to children.

Recently single Enmeshed in cut-throat child custody battle.

Shy at first Embarrassingly boisterous after one drink.

Spiritual Flaky. Doesn't pay bills.

Traditional Live with my parents.

True romantic You take the tab.

Try anything once Crack habit.

Unique Self-obsessed.

Zany multiple unstable personalities.

How does Elizabeth Hurley Stay in Shape?

2009-07-23T07:36:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth Hurley was born with the best of the beauty gene. She always looks fabulous and has never been overweight in her life. That's easier for some to achieve than others, but it's usually much harder for women who have had a baby and who are over forty.

Hurley is now a mother over forty. How does she maintain such a gorgeous and slim figure?

According to People Magazine, she doesn't even exercise much. I don't really believe this. I don't think it's possible to have toned arms and body like she does without some kind of regular exercise regiment.

But it does sound as though she is quite obsessive about her calorie intake. There's a famous quote going around about how she explains that 'a snack' for her might be six raisins. I would think that when you're counting your raisins, you must know there's a bit of an obsessive compulsive component in your dieting behavior.

Janet Jackson is Dining Fresh

2009-07-23T07:31:00.000-07:00

Janet Jacksonhas just provided a huge boost to an Los Angeles based company calledFresh Dining. A few months ago Janet Jackson weighed 180 pounds. Now she has lost 60 pounds in just four months. This weeks Us magazine has Janet on their cover, looking fantastic. And in the magazine, Jackson reveals that her diet consists of getting all her prepared diet meals delivered to her door each day.

Fresh Dining is only available to residents of Los Angeles and Orange Counties. If you live there, you too can get meals delivered to your door everyday. The service is not cheap. It costs about $55 per day for three organic meals and two snacks. The meals are planned around how quickly you want to lose weight. You can choose the 1,000 calorie package or the 1,400 calorie package.

It would be hard for Fresh Dining to pay enough money for the kind of massive advertising coup they just got with this media blitz. The gossip and weight loss blogs are all covering the story. The net is lit up with Fresh Dining buzz. I hope they are at least providing her meals for free.

Angelina Jolie's C-Section Baby

2009-07-23T07:29:00.000-07:00

Angelina Jolie's C-Section Baby

(Update: Angelina Jolie's baby was born May 27th, details below.)

Angelina Jolie is scheduled to have a C-section tomorrow to deliver her first baby - as reported by In Touch Weekly magazine today.

This topic is completely unrelated to weight loss, but as this baby is said to be the most anticipated birth since Jesus Christ, I thought I would break the rule here. The media are in a complete frenzy over this. Expect it to dominate your television and newspaper news for the next few days.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have been voted as the most beautiful couple in the world by People Magazine. Angelina Jolie won the prize for the most beautiful woman in the world in 2006.

Beauty does pay apparently. The rights to the first photo of the baby have already been sold for $5 million. Proceeds will go to a UNICEF child charity.

In Touch says the pregnancy due date was not till the first week of June. But Angelina Jolie decided to go ahead with a c-section tomorrow because of a 'minor complication.'.

I'll post an update here tomorrow as more news comes in about the birth.

Update: May 27th. Angelina and Brad's baby girl was born at night in Namibia today on May 27th. They named her Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt. But no other details are available. No pictures are available. Here is the brief press release from their publicist.

"The night of May 27, 2006 in Namibia, Africa, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt welcomed their daughter Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt. No further information is being given," publicist Cindy Guagenti said in a statement.

Update June 12th: Here's a photo of Shiloh and her dad from this week's issue of People Magazine.

See also howwomen can tell just by looking at a man if he is fond of children.

Update: See the recent news on Angelina Jolie's post-baby weight loss plans.

Karolina Kurkova Likes Her Cake

2009-07-23T07:28:00.002-07:00

Supermodel Karolina Kurkova will debut in her first movie "My Sexiest Year" in 2007. I gather her role is a small one as the lead actress in the movie is another supermodel, Amber Valetta.

One of the extras on the set had some comments about Karolina Kurkova's fondness for cake. I guess this confirms that supermodels are not always dieting 24 hours a day and it also suggests that they may be more insecure than we might guess;

As we took a break for lunch, I almost fell over with delight when I spotted my idol - Karolina Kurkova, who was loitering by the dessert buffet and stuffing her face with cake. Let me tell you, that girl deserves to be paid millions for being born with a body like that - she is superbly stunning. She also lurrvvvvvves to be the center of attention - breaking out R-rated poses for pictures with Director Howard Himelstein and his parents who came to visit him on set (he even put them in one of the restaurant scenes - awwwww...), and frolicking about in a Versace-type minidress that hardly covered her hoohaa (granted, the movie is set in the 70s so we were all dressed scantily in bold prints and disco attire). At one point she skipped through the room where all the extras were waiting, yelling out that we should be quiet, and telling us in a rather loud baby voice how cute we were... A tad strange - I thought she might have been drunk, but it might just be her need for constant attention.

A Doctor's Concern about Zetacap

2009-07-23T07:28:00.001-07:00

ABC has a good article about Zetacap. Zetacap is being promoted as a 'gastric bypass pill'; as a far cheaper way to 'shrink' your stomach.

The company selling Zetacap says it contains a secret ingredient that will form a filling gel in your stomach and make you feel very full. But Zetacap has not been tested by the FDA because it has only natural ingredients.

The article suggests it would be better to just eat high-fiber foods to get the same feeling of fullness and alleviate hunger when you are on a diet.

See a list of ten high-fiber foods here.

Jessica Simpson Loses 15 lbs

2009-07-23T07:01:00.000-07:00

Jessica Simpson has lost 15 pounds in four months according toLife & Style Weekly Magazine.

She weighed 125 in January and earlier this month she was down to 110 pounds. How tall is she and is this too skinny for her height?

She is 5'4" tall and is now teetering between the border of the underweight and normal weight range according to Body Mass Index calculations.

Doctors normally recommend that your BMI is at least 20. Jessica Simpson's is now 18.9. A healthy weight range would put you somewhere between 111 and 146 pounds based on a BMI of between 19 and 25 for this height.

Her 'diet secrets' are quite basic and involve working out three or four times a week, eating healthy food and watching her portions.

Why are the most beautiful people also insecure about their looks? There are rumors circulating that Jessica Simpson paid a visit to plastic surgeon Julian Omidi earlier this month.

Update: August 2006, here is Jessica Simpson posing with a purple ball for the current issue of OK! Magazine where she discusses her workout plan in more detail.

Celcius Drink as a Fat Burner?

2009-07-23T06:42:00.000-07:00

THERE'S A NEW COLA VYING FOR THE ATTENTION OF PEOPLE WHO WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT. IT'S CALLED CELCIUS AND IT COMES IN THREE DIFFERENT FLAVORS; COLA, GINGER-ALE AND LEMON-LIME. A BOTTLE OF CELCIUS IS LESS THAN 10 CALORIES.

THE DRINK WAS DEVELOPED BY ELITE FX AND THEY CLAIM THAT CELSIUS HELPS PEOPLE BURN FAT BECAUSE IT CONTAINS A 'THERMOGENIC BLEND' WHICH WILL INCREASE YOUR METABOLISM.

THE PACKAGING ON THE BOTTLE HAS A CATCHY SLOGAN "ENJOY THE GREAT TASTE OF BURNING CALORIES". THE INGREDIENTS INCLUDE TAURINE, GUARANA EXTRACT, GREEN TEA LEAF EXTRACT, CAFFEINE AND GINGER EXTRACT.

THE PROMOTIONAL STUFF FROM THE COMPANY SAYS THAT IF YOU REPLACED A HABIT OF ONE REGULAR SOFT DRINK PER DAY WITH A CELSIUS DRINK YOU COULD LOSE UP TO 17 POUNDS IN ONE YEAR WITH NO CHANGE IN EXERCISE HABITS.

THERE IS A GOOD REVIEW ABOUT THIS NEW PRODUCT ATFOODPROCESSING.COM BUT THEY DO NOT COMMENT ON THE WEIGHT LOSS CLAIMS.

CELCIUS IS NOT YET WIDELY AVAILABLE. YOU CAN BUY IT IN MANY PLACES IN THE SOUTHERN EASTERN STATES OR ONLINE AT ELITEFXBEV.

FOR ME PERSONALLY, I'LL STICK TO MY WATER (WITH A SPLASH OF JUICE) AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR ANY TYPE OF SODA OR POP. BUT I THINK PEOPLE WHO ARE VERY ACCUSTOMED TO AT LEAST ONE POP DRINK PER DAY WOULD FIND THIS A REFRESHING AND POSSIBLY RELATIVELY HEALTHY ALTERNATIVE.

UPDATE OCTOBER: CELSIUS NOW HAS SOME VERY SERIOUS COMPETITION AS COCA COLA IS ABOUT TO LAUNCH THEIR OWN NEGATIVE CALORIE DRINK; ENVIGA.

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2009-07-22T09:36:00.001-07:00

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Plus Size Bras are a Big Seller

2009-07-22T08:17:00.000-07:00

Plus Size Bras are a Big Seller

Women who wear plus sizes buy twice as many bras as their smaller sisters. The plus-size component of the bra market is the fastest growing segment.
It grew over 10 percent last year for total plus size bra sales of $1.9 billion. See more about this at Advertising Age.

Anyone who wears a larger size bra will be glad to know the bra makers are making a special effort these days to create bras that provide real comfort, moisture resistance, great fit and even fashion for bra sizes up to DDD.

Here's some interesting info from a comment at the Fashion-Incubator:

In 1966, the average bra size was 34B. In 1996, just 30 years later, that average has increased to 36C. This corresponds to a woman with an underbust measurement of 32" (give or take an inch either side), a high bust of 36" and a full bust of 39"....The average "mature" woman's bra size is now 38D! It is not at all unusual at all to see junior high and high school students with D, DD and F cups. And yes, they are natural, not augmented. Some of them feel cursed with their breasts, and no wonder. The "teen" bra boutiques are still under the illsuion that fashion bras stop at C cup. I see young women all the time that are wearing bras at least two sizes too small (i.e. a 38C when they should be wearing a 40D) and enduring major discomfort because they are not seeing anything youthful, pretty and supportive, in the places they like to shop.

The photo above is part of the new advertising campaign for the Olga "Christina" plus sized bra. This here is the 'Hollywood extreme cleavage bra' for plus sizes.

Jessica Alba: Her Diet and Exercise Program

2009-07-22T07:26:00.000-07:00

Jessica Alba is one of the most interesting celebrities of 2006. What's her method of keeping fit?

She says she doesn't have a particular diet or food plan but she eats relatively lightly. Dinner is usually vegetables and chicken or fish. Lunch is a salad. Snacks are dried fruits. Breakfast can be cottage cheese and a peach or an omelet and fruit. She tries not to eat breads or sweets (other than chocolate). She tries to exercise every day for 45 minutes to one hour.She works out on either a treadmill or an elliptical machine and she also does lunges and crunches and works on her shoulders, biceps and triceps.

How much does Jessica Alba weigh? Apparently she is 5'7" and her weight is 127 pounds. She will be 25 years old this week. She was born on April 28th 1981.

She started her acting career when she was only 13 years old. Her parents didn't have much money and she says everyone in her family was severely overweight so she started cooking her own meals when she was only twelve. Jessica Alba suffered from eating disorders, obsessive compulsive disorders and panic attacks when she was a teenager. At one point she was so seriously malnourished she weighed just over 100 pounds.

Update May 2006: Itlooks like Jessica's eating disorder may be coming back to haunt her. Since she's appeared on the Playboy cover a couple of months ago and received the huge extra publicity for suing the magazine, she has lost a great deal of weight. Probably at least ten or fifteen pounds from her already slim 127 pound frame. She looks emancipated now; frighteningly so.

Plus Size Sports Bras

2009-07-22T07:15:00.000-07:00

Plus Size Sports Bras

While we're on the subject of plus sized bras, I should add that there is probably no better investment or accessory to a comfortable weight loss workout program than a good-fitting and comfortable sports bra.

The popular plus sized sports bras shown above are from theENELL line of sports bras. They are made from NATUREXX, which consists of 90% nylon and 10% Lycra fabric.

If you are more than a few pounds overweight, these bras will make your exercise routine so much more enjoyable. For me personally, my exercise usually consists only of regular brisk walking, but a sports bra still makes a big comfort difference even if this type of exercise is not the highly bouncy kind.

Personally I prefer sports bras made of at least 90% cotton. The one shown here is a full support cotton sports bra made by Grenier. But maybe that's because I haven't tried the high-tech new material bras yet. These materials promise to wick away moisture and keep you dry during workouts. They also supply significantly more support than cotton bras can.

Flattering Clothes for Overweight People

2009-07-22T07:02:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow's Ophrah show will feature tips on how to select flattering clothes to hide excess pounds. One question a lot of people have is how to hide a big butt.

According to a recent article in Marie Claire, here are the three things you should look for in jeans to give you a slimmer look.

1. Don't pick jeans that have horizontal seams on the rear.

2. Flared leg bottoms will balance bigger bottoms.

3. Trouser styles give extra room for your bottom without looking baggy.

If anyone here is watching Oprah's show tomorrow can you pass on the top tips for us?

Extreme Makeovers Without Weight Loss

2009-07-22T07:00:00.001-07:00

For people who are looking to appear more physically attractive there are some good alternatives to losing excess weight. One increasingly popular method is to invest in cosmetic dentistry. This can sometimes bring about a dramatic improvement in physical attractiveness.

The before and after cosmetic dentistry smiles shown here are from The Fine Art of Dentistry and Dr. Siles websites. Cosmetic dentistry is a booming business these days. New technologies that weren't available even a few years ago, aging baby boomers and the gorgeous white smiles we see on the tube all the time are all contributing to the rapid growth in cosmetic dental procedures.

Almost every dentist will do some sort of cosmetic dentistry these days. But there are many dentists who actively specialize in this area of dental work. These practioneers are kept very busy with the increasing demand for tooth whitening, veneers, oral laser surgery and implants. Tooth whitening has been the fastest growing segment of the cosmetic dentistry market.

Cosmetic dentistry could set you back financially as it's not covered by most dental insurance plans. But a lot of people are choosing this type of 'extreme makeover' over an expensive vacation, a new car purchase or even a high-end weight loss retreat program.

Tofu Noodles in your Diet?

2009-07-21T05:58:00.001-07:00

A package of tofu noodles has shot up to the top of Amazon (gourmet food) rankings after the Hungry Girl wrote a review about this product.

This eight ounce bag of Tofu Shirataki Fettuciniis a great weight loss helper. It has only 40 calories and is high in protein. The noodles are highly nutritious, have no sugar added and are easy to cook. They make an excellent pasta substitute for anyone who is diabetic.

They can be used in stir-fries, salads, soups and sauces. The food is made from the Konnyaku root and mixed together with tofu. Konnyaku is part of the very healthy yam family.

This package of noodles costs $1.99 on Amazon.

What is the Healthiest Vegetable?

2009-07-21T05:53:00.002-07:00

The healthiest prize for all vegetables goes to swiss chard. Chard is the 'king' of all vegetables. It is also widely available, cheap and very easy to cook.

One cup of cooked chard is only 35 calories. But the wealth of nutrition you can get from this one cup is quite incredible.

Vitamin A
Typically we think of carrots when we think of foods high in Vitamin A. But one cup of cooked chard will give you 109 percent of the daily recommended intake of Vitamin A.

Vitamin C
Normally we think of citrus fruits to get our vitamin C quota. But one cup of chard will supply us with 52% of our daily needs for Vitamin C.

Dietary Fiber
Bran comes to mind when we think of meeting our daily dietary needs for fiber. But one cup of chard provides us with 15 percent of our daily needs for dietary fiber. That's about the same amount as in one heavy-duty bran muffin.

Potassium
Potassium is very important for the nerves. You'd have to eat two bananas (the highest concentrated fruit for potassium) to equal one cup of cooked chard and get 27 percent of your daily requirement for potassium.

Vitamin E
Vitamin E is very important for a healthy sex drive and anti-aging benefits. Chard is one of the few vegetables with significant Vitamin E. It provides 16 percent of our daily requirement.

Calcium
We usually think of milk when we're concerned about getting adequate calcium. But swiss chard makes a good substitute. One cup of chard has about 35% of the calcium (and only one quarter of the calories) as one cup of 2% milk.

To see more about the outstanding health benefits of chard, check out the best source of non-profit nutritional information online; the WHFoods site. They provide an impressive wealth of information about the world's healthiest foods.

The photos shown here are by rappy and Mom the Barbarian at Flickr.

Chard is part of a group of vegetables known as 'greens'. Greens include chard, kale and collard greens and these three vegetables are almost equal in their tremendous health benefits.

Forget about counting calories and see more about how eating vegetables is a great way to lose weight by actually eating more food instead of less.

Chard is also really easy to cook. See a quick recipe here.

How Does Adriana Lima Stay in Shape?

2009-07-21T05:53:00.001-07:00

Adriana Lima is possibly the world's hottest model at the moment. What is her secret to staying slim and fit?

Her favorite form of exercise is Capoeira. This is a Brazilian martial art combining dance, music acrobatics and choreographed play-fighting. Her favorite food is Brazilian food. She also says the secret to her beautiful complexion is to drink a lot of water and get lots of rest.

Adriana Lima was born June 12, 1982. She was discovered at the age of 13 by a model scout in a shopping mall in her hometown in Brazil. She moved to New York at 15. She grew up without any siblings as an only child and she's helped a lot of orphaned children in Brazil since becoming a super model.

Adriana Lima is featured in the April 2006 issue of GQ.

In the other picture here, she is second from the left, together with four other supermodels (including Heidi Klum, Tyra Banks andGisele Bundchen).

If you are overweight there is a good chance you may also be constipated. The best natural remedies for constipation also happen to be the most natur

2009-07-21T05:50:00.000-07:00

Magazines about Weight Loss Surgery

I was surprised to find out there is a magazine market devoted just to weight loss surgery. I didn't think there would be enough readers interested in this drastic option for weight loss.

There are at least two magazines that I've seen on Amazon. One is WLS Lifestyles(short for Weight Loss Surgery Lifestyles) and the other is calledObesityHelp. They claim to give unbiased facts about surgery for losing weight. For example, the publisher blurb about WLS says;

Dedicated to the pre- & post-operative bariatric surgery community. Our goal is to provide unbiased, medial-fact based information to those who are considering and/or have decided to change their lives with gastric bypass, lap band, duedonal switch or any other form of weight loss surgery.

I personally can't see how these magazines could portray an objective view of the risks associated with this surgery. They make their money from advertisements in the magazine, and I would assume it is mostly surgeons and weight loss surgery clinics that advertise there. How could they write detailed articles about the dangers involved and still maintain their advertising client base? Would you ever see a bad-news story about surgery gone wrong in one of these issues?

I haven't read either of these magazines but would appreciate any feedback people have about this.

Constipation and Weight Loss

2009-07-21T05:41:00.000-07:00

If you are overweight there is a good chance you may also be constipated.

The best natural remedies for constipation also happen to be the most natural ways to lose weight. They involve drinking more water, substituting more high-fiber foods into your diet and getting some exercise (walking is great!).

Constipation can make you feel depressed, lethargic and irritable. If you think you may be constipated, see more on the natural cures for constipation.

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The above fine art print is 'Dog Tired (Yellow Lab)' by Barbara Shipman.

Drinking Water to Lose Weight

2009-07-20T07:17:00.000-07:00

What if someone told you you could lose weight with no effort on your part? What if there was a secret to losing weight that didn't involve increased exercise or decreased calorie consumption? And what if this method was free and easily available to you? Would you jump at the chance to do it?

The secret to some fast weight loss without exercise or diet changes is to drink more water!

Here's where I know there must be some kind of self-sabotage involved in my battle to lose the last ten pounds. I know I should be drinking more water, and it is the easiest thing in the world to do. It doesn't involve willpower, it doesn't involve dragging myself out to exercise, and it doesn't involve cutting back on calories. So why aren't I doing it?

It's not just me. Most North Americans are dehydrated. In fact, chronic dehydration is probably the most common cause of a lot of our health ailments. There are two main reasons so many people are dehydrated these days. We eat less vegetables and fruits (which are water-dense) and more processed foods than we should. And we drink lots of caffeinated beverages instead of water. Caffeinated beverages and alcohol are diuretics. They force more water out of our bodies.
If a person is dehydrated their body compensates by retaining excess water as a protective measure. This alone is responsible for some excess weight. As well, a dehydrated person's metabolism is significantly lower than a normally hydrated person.

Dehydration is responsible for many people's feelings of fatigue. Many people have lost their sense of thirst and mistake it for hunger. Drinking a glass of water will usually greatly reduce any false hunger pangs.

So the solution to losing at least a few extra pounds sounds easy. Start with two glasses of room temperature water first thing in the morning. That's before you drink coffee or eat your breakfast. Try to drink some water regularly during the day. And eat more water dense foods such as vegetables, fruits and even legumes.

I'll get right on it. And I'd be keen to hear any feedback from people who've recently tried this for losing weight.

(See more about breaking the soft drink habit here).

Hypnosis and Weight Loss

2009-07-20T07:16:00.001-07:00

Is hypnosis effective for weight loss? I'm hoping to get some feedback from any people who have tried hypnosis for losing weight.

As one example of the various hypnosis products being sold today for weight loss, there is a guy out there named Alfonso De Rose who is selling a hypnosis CD and claims that this is a revolutionary new way to lose weight by eradicating overweight issues in the subconscious mind. De Rose calls himself a 'master of human behavior'. He says "obesity has its roots inside your mind. It's not what you eat but what you think."
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The above art print is The Queen Was In The Parlour Eating Bread and Honey by Valentine Cameron Pinsep

Do 'Fat Burners' Help You Lose Weight?

2009-07-20T07:15:00.000-07:00

Do Fat Burners work? I found this helpful response at Ask Alice:

As you probably know, if you walk into any pharmacy or supplement shop, you will see dozens of products promising to make excess body fat melt away. Although manufacturers are not permitted to make these claims on the bottle, they run alluring ads in magazines and on TV. So, how are you to know whether or not the ingredients are safe and effective?

Weight loss supplements may work in three ways: one is by helping the body to break down body fat. This involves releasing it from fat cells, where it enters the bloodstream as free fatty acids that are then transported to muscle cells where they may be burned. The second action of weight loss supplements is to suppress appetite, which is a complex process. Many hormones and neurotransmitters are involved. We don't have all the answers in this area, but research continues. The human body's instinct is to survive, and once appetite suppressants are stopped, people become hungry. The third way weight loss supplements may work is by inhibiting the body from absorbing fat during digestion. Fat blockers don't work if a person isn't eating fat in his or her diet. They also won't prevent weight gain if a person is overeating protein or carbohydrates. The negative side effects of these supplements include stomach discomfort, diarrhea, and inability to absorb many important fat-soluble vitamins and other nutrients. In addition, they may interfere with the effectiveness of certain medications, especially birth control pills and estrogen.

Often, weight loss supplements contain more than one substance to generate weight loss from more than one angle. The ingredients are available alone, or with other substances. The following is a partial listing of some of the weight loss supplements you may see:

Carnitine
Promoted as a fat burner, carnitine naturally occurs in the body, and people can obtain it through eating meat, fish, poultry, and some dairy foods. Carnitine helps transport fatty acids to the muscle. In theory, it makes sense that more of it would help people get more fatty acids into the muscles, burning additional fat. Unfortunately, it doesn't live up to expectations, because taking its supplemental form doesn't result in increased fat burning.

Chromium Picolinate
Although this mineral helps metabolize carbohydrates and fats, it has not lived up to claims of increasing lean body mass and decreasing fat. As a matter of fact, the majority of the research done on this supplement shows it is not effective as a weight loss supplement. Some research showed damage to DNA with excess chromium picolinate that is exacerbated with Vitamin C. Taking in more than the body requires can actually reduce the binding capacity of iron in the blood, potentially resulting in iron deficiency and decreased ability to carry oxygen in the blood. This could negatively impact one's ability to exercise and expend calories.

Ephedrine
This is probably the most popular substance in fat-burners on the market today. It acts like a hormone the body makes — norepinephrine. The action of this substance is associated with increased fat release from adipose (or fat) tissue, increasing free fatty acids in the bloodstream. Also increased are heart rate, heart contractility, body heat production, and metabolic rate. Ephedrine may also be able to suppress hunger. Studies have demonstrated that dieters were able to lose slightly more weight when taking ephedrine vs. placebos — but not nearly the amounts referenced in TV and magazine ads. It has been shown that ephedrine is even more effective when combined with caffeine — but so are the side effects, including tremors, dizziness, insomnia, heart arrhythmias, headaches, and increased blood pressure. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reported numerous adverse incidents and a number of deaths from taking supplements containing ephedrine or its precursors, ephedra or ma huang. Anyone with high blood pressure, heart disease, or diabetes, and pregnant women need to avoid this supplement. The National Football League (NFL) has listed it as a banned substance, and Canada prohibits its sale. Although ephedrine may help some people lose an extra few pounds, it doesn't seem worth the risk.

When a supplement touts "proven in clinical trials," you need to dig deeper. If the manufacturers are citing animal studies, it may have no merit in terms of human outcomes. For one reason, fat metabolism in rats is different than in people. Often, preliminary research is done on these animals, but the same results often don't pan out in humans. We are learning that fat burning and some hormonal responses are not the same between the two species. Some supplement manufacturers jump the gun before substances can be proven in humans, often in the name of big bucks. Another caveat is that when research is done, sometimes amounts of the ingredients or the ingredients themselves that the scientists use are not available to the public. Scientists may use substances in large amounts when studying them — not what is generally available at your local health food store. The supplement you find may contain additional components that alter the effect of the main ingredient. In addition, there is no guarantee that the supplement you buy has exactly what the label indicates.

Once again, there is really no safe short cut or quick fix to losing weight, no matter how slick the ads! And fat burners, despite the hype, do not work as advertised.

How Much Does Michael Moore Weigh?

2009-07-20T07:14:00.000-07:00

How much does Michael Mooreweigh? And how tall is he?

I'm a real fan of Michael Moore. And I've spent two hours digging around the web trying to find out about his weight and height and his latest weight loss plans. I've come up with zero information. But I now know there are a lot of Michael Moore haters out there. And even more so, there are a lot of people spamming his name.

I do know that he wants to lose weight and signed himself into a weight loss clinic last summer. It's an expensive program, 'Pritikin' costing $3,800 per week.

I've seen speculations that he weighs over 300 pounds these days.

If anyone knows any info about Michael Moore's weight loss efforts and data, please contact me.

eDiets: The future of online dieting?

2009-07-20T07:10:00.000-07:00

eDiets.com offers 22 different diet plans to their members. Their most recent additions are the G.I. Diet (glycemic diet), the Mediterranean Diet and the Mayo Clinic Diet.

Their other popular diet plans include Atkins, Slim-Fast, The Blood Type Diet, Perricone and Trim Kids.

They just released their latest financials and revenues were $12 million for the quarter ending December 31st 2005. They averaged 220,000 paying members throughout the year. Revenue growth over the previous year was 18 percent. Their average weekly fees per subscriber are about $3.95.

They are planning a direct-to-consumer food product to match people's current diet choices. The "Fresh Cuisine" high-end meals will on average cost about $25 per day not including shipping. You'll be seeing an infomercial ad campaign about it soon.

How to Cut Down on Junk Food

2009-07-20T06:49:00.000-07:00

What's one way to cut down on your junk food habit?

A lot of people would vouch for the effectiveness of watching theSuper Size Me video. Consider it a cheap two hour weight-loss therapy and motivational session. It could turn anyone off junk food. It's a scary portrayal of what can happen to your body and your mood if you subsist solely on junk food for thirty days.

Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock put himself through this test on film and ate three McDonald's meals a day. In less than a week he was already experiencing some serious negative effects including a lot of weight gain.

The documentary has won many prestigious awards and was nominated for an Oscar.

The DVD was released a year and a half ago and has great reviews at Amazon. It costs $18 but there are several used copies available there as well for $8.49.

Plus Size Dresses

2009-07-18T07:02:00.000-07:00

If you are looking to buy an awesome plus-size dress online check out the Monif C. website. This company specializes in high fashion style for plus-size women.

On her website Monif Clarke says "Who says plus size can't be sexy, luxurious and feminine?"

Her own frustration with the plus size clothing market led her to design her own line of clothing in 2004. Her designs are inspired by her love of the Caribbean, the glamour of New York City nightlife and European style.

The clothes on this website are rather high-end and relatively expensive. But if you can afford to buy one special item, the price may be worth it. The dress shown here costs $235.00. It has kimono-style sleeves and is made of rayon lycra jersey and stretch silk charmeuse. It's available in three sizes 14/16, 18/20 and 22/24.

American Idol's Mandisa Comments on Weight Loss

2009-07-18T06:57:00.000-07:00

Mandisa Hundley is the only overweight American Idolcontestant remaining in the final twenty selected. Mandisa is likely obese by BMI standards but I don't know how much she weighs. Does anyone have this info?

She says she wants to represent the "Fabulous And Thick" (FAT) sisters. The plus-size singer says the battle with weight loss has been the biggest struggle in her life but she is determined to be victorious.

Mandisa is very religious and the first person she'll thank if she wins will be Jesus because "he saved my life". She is a regular worship leader at Beth Moore's Living Proof Live conferences throughout the U.S.

Here's a brief video of Mandisa on the American Idol TV show.

Mandisa recently showed her compassionate nature during the program. One of the judges, Simon Cowell, had earlier cracked a juvenile comment "Do we have a bigger stage this year?" just after she had walked off the stage, during an earlier portion of the show and before she became one of the 24 finalists.

Mandisa responded when she first had a chance to speak in front of the judges recently;

"What I want to say to you is that, yes, you hurt me and I cried and it was painful, it really was. But I want you to know that I've forgiven you and that you don't need someone to apologize in order to forgive somebody". and "I figure that if Jesus could die so that all of my wrongs could be forgiven, I can certainly extend that same grace to you."

Update March 21st: Mandisa sang a powerful version of "I don't hurt anymore" tonight. Does anyone know where I can get a video clip?

Biggest Loser Fiona Falkiner

2009-07-18T06:45:00.000-07:00

Fiona is one of the people participating on the Biggest Loser TV show in Australia. She weighed 101 kilograms (223 pounds) at the beginning of the contest and her goal is to lose 35 kilos (77 pounds) and fit into a size 12 dress. (Her height is 175cm - five feet nine inches.)

Just before starting on Biggest Loser, Fiona was a size 16-18 top and an 18-20 bottom.

Fiona gained most of her excess weight when she was sixteen. She is now 23 and the youngest contestant on this show. She's getting more than her fair share of attention compared to the other 11 contestants and has lost an amazing six kilos (13 pounds) during the first week of the program.

She seems to have natural star appeal and if she can hang in there she could be Australia's next big celebrity.

I'll update this post as more news comes in.

Update: March 28th: After a few weeks of relative stalling, Fiona had a great week. She weighs 86 kilograms in week six of the program. (That's 190 pounds.)

Update: April 19th: Fiona is now one of the last four finalists. At the end of week eight she weighed 87 kilograms.

April 27th Update: The final results are in.Ardo (Adriano Sarnelli), won this year's biggest loser in Australia. He lost 51 kilograms (37% of his body weight) in just four months. He has been obese all his life and still can't believe this rapid transformation when he sees himself in the mirror. This kind of incredibly fast weight loss required working out four hours a day.

What an incredibly beautiful dress. This photo was taken by Fiona Hamilton for theHerald Sun.

Fiona Falkiner lost an amazing 29.5 kilo (65 pounds) in four months. That's 29% of her initial body weight! A huge congrats to Fiona!

Update: October 3rd: Fiona has just been the first contestant eliminated from the Dancing with Starscompetition in Australia. She was battling blisters but will be back for the finale. No doubt we'll see her in lots of other TV events in the near future.

Losing 50 Pounds in One Year

2009-07-17T06:15:00.000-07:00

One of the more entertaining personal stories of weight loss online is the Hopeful Loser site. She had hoped to lose 90 pounds in one year when she first started her online diary a year ago, and has gone on to actually lose fifty pounds over the first year.

HL has achieved this with regular workouts on her elliptical trainer and by reducing her daily calories consumed.

The before picture shown here was taken in late February 2005. At that point she weighed 209 pounds and had a body mass index (BMI) of 37. (Her height is 5'3".) The after picture was taken about a week ago in February 2006. She now weighs 160 pounds and her goal is to lose 30 more pounds.

HL has a really entertaining writing style. Here's an example; an entry from when she first started her online weight-loss records;

"I was in the maternity store buying clothes (this might be my fault) with my daughter (almost 14 months) and I was chatting it up (as per usual) with the sales clerk when she asked me "When are you due?" I pointed to my daughter and said, "Oh, you're looking at her. Yup, I have no excuse." She apologized profusely as she tried to convince me that she (maybe a size 4) shops there too.

It was a maternity store after all, so maybe that led to the misunderstanding? Unless she just started working there, though, how could that not have happened to her before? Had no other non-pregnant, simply, just heavy person ever shopped there before? How could she not have asked them too and learned her lesson?"

Check out her very funny and inspiring site at Hopeful Loser.

Boot Camp

2009-07-17T06:11:00.000-07:00

Billy Blanks has sold over three million boot camp fitness videos. He's got a TV infomercial now promoting his latest DVD; Billy's Boot Camp Elite. This video is quite popular on Amazon's best-selling lists and will likely help motivate a lot of people in their weight-loss fitness goals.

The picture shown here is one of the many before and after photos he uses to promote the DVD.

Billy Blanks is the creator of Tae Bo, a total body fitness system. He has had a lot of famous clients over the years including Paula Abdul, Charlotte Ross, Melissa Reeves, Stephanie La Grossa, Trista and Ryan Sutter, Pamela Anderson, Justine Bateman, Goldie Hawn, Queen Latifah, Magic Johnson and Shaquille O'Neal.

He was born in 1955 as the fourth of fifteen children and took his first martial arts class when he was eleven. He went on to get a seventh-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and was admitted to the Karate Hall of Fame in 1982.

Walking for Weight Loss

2009-07-17T05:57:00.000-07:00

Beginning a routine of regular walking is a fabulous way to quickly lose weight, boost your mood and tone your body. Here's Don Cowan's story. He lost 58 pounds in three months due to his intense walking schedule. He didn't even need to bother with a diet. The pounds just slipped off.

His is my personal favorite walking story at Walker's Warehouse.Check out their site for more inspirational stories about walking and weight loss. Cowen's comments were published a couple of years ago;

I lost my job last year and was not having any luck in finding another one. I became depressed I and starting eating a lot around October last year. By Jan. 27th of this year I had gained 68 lbs, I weighed a whopping 288lbs !!!!! I was so disgusted with myself. I started the very next day to walk. I barely was able to get in a mile the first day. I slowly increased my distance everyday challenging myself to go a little further. Now it is 3 months later and I have lost 58 lbs !!!! I am up to 8 miles per day in about 2 hours time. The weight just seemed to be falling off. I am within 10 lbs of my goal, but I never plan to stop walking. Not only are there physical benefits, but the emotional, mental benefits are absolutely amazing. You can bet that I will be a lot more confident at that next job interview. I am 51 years old, so it is never too late to start walking. My neighbors who have seen me out on the roads tell me what an inspiration I have been to them. I urge anyone who wants to lose weight and improve their mental capacity to start walking. They will never regret it. Also, the exercise curbed my appetite so I lost weight without having to think about dieting.

Size Fourteen can be Ideal

2009-07-16T05:25:00.000-07:00

Kate Dillon looks beautiful at size 14. She's been quoted as saying "I weigh myself every week to make sure I'm not losing any weight. I love my body."

She was the first full-figured model in a mainstream fashion ad (Gucci's Spring 2000 campaign). That same year, People Magazine voted her as one of the fifty most beautiful people in the world.

She's gotten a lot of recognition as a speaker on issues of body image and self-esteem. She herself is a recovered anorexic. If you are interested in seeing some of her thoughtful answers to people who have asked her questions about eating disorders and weight loss, check out her thoughts at PBS here. But if you're curious as I was to find out how much she weighs, you won't find out. She believes these comparison stats only help to perpetuate eating disorder problems and she will never discuss what her weight is at any time.

Chocolate, Depression and Love

2009-07-16T05:24:00.001-07:00

Eating chocolate is generally not a good idea when you are trying to lose weight. But I say, hey. It's Valentine's Day today.

Chocolate can play havoc with your blood sugar levels if you overindulge. As with any other foods that contain sugar, eating too much chocolate can create fragile nerves and cause a low, sunken feeling.

But unlike a lot of other foods that contain sugar, chocolate has a couple of positive attributes. It contains the chemicaltheobromine. Theobromine helps to release endorphins in your brain and thus lifts your spirits if you are feeling down. These endorphins are the same chemicals that get activated when you are falling in love. The darker and purer the chocolate, the better it is for you.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was one of my favorite books. One of the points that stuck out for me was how Charlie had to savor just one small piece of chocolate each day. Somehow I could see how it tasted so much better and was such a bigger treat when rationed this way. But for me personally, I usually only buy chocolate about once a month. I get these chunks of dark chocolate with almonds, and I usually end up eating them over a period of a few days. I'm sure it's all cyclical and moon-phase related. It always seems to be good natural medicine at the time.

Food Addiction: Breaking the Habit

2009-07-16T05:10:00.000-07:00

If you think about food compulsively or are often overeating you may have a food addiction. One natural way to break these habitual patterns is to get to the underlying issue that is causing this behaviour. Meditation can be very helpful in this regard and has been shown to be an effective treatment for all kinds of addictions.

Pema Chodron is an author of an audio CD about this topic. Her CD is the one pictured here: Getting Unstuck

She is a Zen Buddhist abbott who's written many excellent books about meditation and how it can help transform your world for the better. On this CD she discusses how we reinforce our addictions and habits by giving in to them repeatedly and she suggest ways for learning to just be with our feelings of uneasiness.

This CD has got some very good reviews from people at Amazon. As one example, here's Jeffrey Gimble's opinion:

"Pema Chodron offers some sound, beautiful ideas on how to cope with not only addictive behavior, but basically anything in life that you just plain don't like. Her lovely, grounded voice is a pleasure to listen to, she's damned funny, and I've found myself listening to the ideas on this CD over and over as I make my way through the often hostile streets of Manhattan. It's like a primer in how to stay clear and calm and grounded in life, no matter how lousy (or terrific) your circumstances may be."

New Cellulite Treatment : VelaSmooth

2009-07-16T05:06:00.000-07:00

Apparently over eighty five percent of adult women have cellulite somewhere on their body. You don't need to be fat to have cellulite. It is largely hereditary.

VelaSmooth is being touted as a revolutionary new way to get rid of your cellulite. It was developed by an Israeli-based company called Syneron and became available about half a year ago. Velasmooth is a non-surgical procedure. It uses radio frequency and infrared light to reduce cellulite. Some clinics even claim it will help you re-contour your body and that you can lose up to four inches in your hips, thighs, stomach, buttocks or love handles.

Although losing weight will not likely help you with reducing your cellulite, some medical people have suggested that a diet high in lecithin (eggs, soy, cauliflower, peanut butter), omega 3 fatty acids (flaxseed, salmon and walnuts) and antioxidants (berries, pomegranates, citrus fruits) can help significantly reduce cellulite.

Update: Here's an article that throws some doubt on the effectiveness of VelaSmooth and Thermage.

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The above fine art print is 'Blonde in Red Bathing Suit', author unknown.

Heidi Klum And Extreme Dieting

2009-07-16T04:54:00.000-07:00

Heidi Klum is one of the worlds leading supermodels. She's got quite an entrepreneurial streak as well and is currently hosting a very popular fashion reality TV show; "Germany's Next Top Model". This show has come under attack for promoting extreme thinness in young women. Apparently one of the candidates on the program was told she was too fat even though she only weighed 52 kilograms. But the network running the program believes the criticism is overblown and stated that "Heidi Klum says several times during the show that models must eat sensibly."

So how much does Heidi Klum herself weigh? According to Wikipedia, she weighs 119 pounds (54 kg) and her height is 5 feet and nine and a half inches (177 cm). I think these stats are from her teenage modeling years. I saw another interview dated 1999 where she said she weighed 127 pounds. Who knows what she weighs now in 2006? She still looks super thin, and I would guess she now weighs somewhere in the 130's range.

How much models weigh 'stats' are provided to the modeling agencies by models, and the agencies in turn provide the stats to their clients, but I'm sure models typically advertise themselves as weighing a few pounds less than they actually do. And the modeling agencies wouldn't object to this and aren't about to do public weigh-ins. As long as the models look really great, they don't check to see if they are underestimating their true weight.

Update June 20th 2006: Heidi Klum is pregnant again. US Weekly reports she is expecting her third child. She has a baby boy only 9 months old and a two year-old daughter.

Janet Jackson Weight Loss Watch

2009-07-15T08:24:00.000-07:00

Janet Jackson Weight Loss Watch

Janet Jackson is in the process of losing weight and getting fit again. She weighed only 118 pounds at the start of her brother's trial last year. But according to Michelle Caruso of the New York Daily News she weighed 160 pounds recently. Since then, she's already dropped some weight and currently weighs about 145 pounds. Her height is five feet four inches.

Janet Jackson will be releasing a new record this spring. And she will probably be thin again in time for the release. She is working again with her longtime personal trainer Tony Martinez and has been spotted jogging and power-walking on Los Angeles beaches.

Update March 17th: There are reports out this week that Janet Jackson is back in fabulous shape. And that Eminem has hired her personal fitness trainer at a rate of $17,000 per month.

Update Late May 2006: Janet Jackson has lost 60 pounds and now weighs 120 pounds. See abouthow she had prepared mealsthree times a day during her whole weight loss period.

Update September 23rd: Janet Jackson will be on the Oprah Show this Monday. Here she'll talk about the details of how she lost sixty pounds in four months.

Sweet Eye Candy

2009-07-15T08:13:00.000-07:00

Sweet Eye Candy

Flowers make for the most beautiful eye candy. Just putting one simple flower in a small vase on my computer desk seems to help me snack less and feel better.

Valentine's Day is coming up. If your sweetie is trying to lose weight, forego the Godiva chocolates and choose a simple flower bouquet instead. Better yet, if you are trying to lose weight, consider making your next impulse purchase a floral eye candy rather than a chocolate bar or bag of chips at the checkout counter.

Kilogram to Pound Conversion

2009-07-15T08:08:00.000-07:00

Kilogram to Pound Conversion

I have a fancy bathroom scale that my husband got from his brother in Germany. Problem is it shows my weight in kilograms. Kilo's mean nothing to me, when I'm tracking my weight loss, I always think in pounds.

See the handy kilogram to pound calculator in the sidebar at the bottom of this page. You can enter in what you weigh in kilo's and it will convert it to pounds. Or vice versa, enter your pounds and it will instantly show your weight in kilos.

One kilogram is equal to 2.2045 pounds. To keep it simple when converting, I just remember it's a 1.0 to 2.2 ratio.

Update: There's another really quick way to convert what you weigh in pounds or kilograms with Google Search. If you weigh 200 pounds and want to know what this is in kilograms, just type in "200 pounds in kilograms" in Google search and the answer will pop up at the top of the page. Conversely, if you weigh 90 kilograms and want to know what that is in pounds, just type in "90 kilos to pounds". I found this neat trick at Pasta Queen's wonderful site.

So today I weigh 73.2 kilograms and that's 161 pounds. I don't know about others, but it seems my weight can fluctuate almost two punds on any given day depending on what time of the day I weigh myself. Not sure if this is a good sign. But it's why I always weigh myself first thing in the morning only, and usually only once a week.

If you are looking for a good quality digital bathroom scale, a very highly ranked and popular one right now is the Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor .

Here is one reader's review at Amazon:

For many years I used a digital scale that gave me a different readout each time I used it. I like to weigh daily but found that stepping up and down on the scale several times to get an average weight was frustrating. I thought that was the norm with scales until I started reading scale reviews and discovered that many people found the Tanita line to be accurate.

If they weighed several times in a row they got a consistent readout. They did not have to take an average as I did with my Health-O-Meter. As a treat to myself, for losing 10 pounds, I decided to purchase a Tanita and after doing some research opted for the Tanita BC533.

The Tanita BC533 is a state of the art scale that measures your weight (to two-tenths of a pound), body fat, visceral fat, bone mass, metabolic age and muscle mass. It is very simple to operate. You input your height, weight, average physical activity level and age. The Tanita will remember this information for up to four people so you only have to do it once, unless your information changes. (There is also a guest mode if a visitor wants to try it.) Once you have programmed the scale you toe tap your number, step on the platform and you will see your weight and body fat measurement. (Note - If you wear socks the body fat measurement will not work.) Then you can toe tap other buttons of your choice. A little figure gives you a visual cue as to what the buttons are. For example for muscle mass the figure is holding weights. For bone mass there is a tiny skeleton inside the figure. You decide which body composition features you wish to check.

You may for example want to check your bone mass once a month, or then again you may want to check it weekly. It's up to you. It's as simple as pressing the corresponding button, and takes only seconds.

Tanita includes a guide with the scale that explains exactly how the scale works. The scale is a bioimpedence device. A low level current (which you don't feel) passes through your body and the impedance or resistance level is used to calculate body composition. The booklet explains healthy ranges of body fat and also explains what body water percentage, visceral fat, etc. mean.

Some Crazy Fad Diets: The Great Masticator

2009-07-15T08:06:00.000-07:00

There's been quite a few fad diets proposed over the years. One of the stranger ones was devised by Horace Fletcher. Fletcher was denied health insurance because he was overweight back in 1898. He weighed 205 pounds and went on to lose 45 pounds with his method of chewing each bite 32 times and then spitting out what remained.

He claimed the nutrients would be absorbed by the body and you would still get to enjoy the flavor of the food and lose weight.

There is actually some truth to this assertion. Many people don't chew their food properly and this can lead to digestion problems as well as overeating.

Fletcher was a well known art dealer in San Francisco at the time, but he also became a famous author as a result of this fad diet he had devised. He had quite a few notable followers for a time including Henry James and John D. Rockerfeller.

Even John Harvey Kellogg (the founder of the cornflake) was a devout follower of Fletcher's diet. He wrote a 'chew chew' song to inspire people to keep chewing.

(It's interesting that Kellogg sales did not start growing exponentially until John Harvey's brother added sugar to the ingredients.)

Well, that's one crazy diet fad story for your enjoyment on this beautiful Sunday.

See more examples of fad diets in previous generations at an article written by Buck Wolf for ABC News.

Buying Fat-Blocking Diet Pills Gets Easier

2009-07-15T08:05:00.000-07:00

It looks like the FDA is about to approve a new over-the-counter diet pill. "Alli" is likely to appear on your drugstore shelves within a few months. This pill contains orlistat, and blocks about a quarter of the fat that you eat on any given day.

This diet pill will probably cost about $12 to $15 a week. It contains half the orlistat of Xenical.

According to Dr. John Abramson of Harvard Medical School this drug decreases fat absorption meaning that if you eat too much fat, it will end up in your stool and will likely make your stools oily and possibly give you diarrhea. The drug has been shown to help with an average weight loss of six pounds over six months. But once people stop taking it, unless they've changed their diet or exercise patterns, they will likely put the weight back on.

Right now people need a doctor's prescription to buy Xenical; the leading fat-blocking diet pill. If Alli can be bought without a prescription over the counter, the drug company GlaxoKlineSmith is expected to make huge profits. We can probably expect to see some massive new advertising for this pill over the next few months.

Weight Loss according to the Stars

2009-07-15T08:02:00.000-07:00

Weight Loss according to the Stars

Is there an ideal time to start a diet for quick weight loss? What does astrology have to say about weight-loss timing?

Here's a partial summary of what astrologers have to say:

Jupiter is associated with weight gain or 'enlargement' and abundance. Whatever it touches in your chart, expect that to be 'fattened up' in some respect. This is why people who have Jupiter on their Ascendant, or people who have Sagittarius rising are expected to have more problems with weight-loss than the average person.

Saturn on the other hand, is the planet that can bring 'reduction' or 'lack' in some aspect of your life. If it is conjunct someone's Ascendant, they are more likely to be naturally thin and wiry rather than portly. These people will rarely need to lose weight.

So when would be the best time to try to lose weight? When Jupiter is in your first house this would be the least successful time in general to try to diet. When Saturn is there on the other hand, you may find yourself losing weight without even trying.

Starting a weight-loss program in the last three days before the New Moon is also a recipe for failure. In fact most projects that are started in the last two or three days of the moon cycle will be facing an uphill battle.

Some planets seem to speed up people's metabolisms (not to mention their life events). Uranus in particular, can really rev up your body chemistry. If it begins a transit to your key planets you can expect to be vibrating around more than usual. This can be conducive to weight loss :-)

What Body Type are You?

2009-07-14T07:07:00.000-07:00

According to one theory there are three basic body types and to some extent personality can be determined by your body type:

The Endomorph is a body type that naturally tends to be overweight. These body types are assumed to have a greater love of comfort and luxury and they are more tolerant than the other two body types.

The Mesomorph is the muscular body type. These people are naturally endowed with more muscle and their respective personality is thought to be more dynamic, energetic, competitive and inclined to take risks.

The Ectomorph is the naturally slender person. They are thought to be more artistic, introverted and sensitive than the other two types.

When I took a university kinesiology course many years ago, at one point the professor had us all stand on a stool against a backdrop of engineer type squared paper to measure what body type category we fell into. I thought it was a bit creepy at the time and from what I gather it's unlikely people study William Sheldon's theory of 'somatotypes' in kinesiology courses these days. But it is a fact that different people are born with different predispositions toward one of these physical body types. Whether personality can be correlated with body type is another matter altogether.

A weight loss strategy may possibly be more effective if it takes into account your natural body type. I'll look into this in a future post.

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The above fine art print is 'Fat Cat' by Kevin Snyder

Plus Sized Prom Dresses

2009-07-14T07:05:00.000-07:00

If you are an overweight teenager and need to find an attractive dress for your highschool prom this year, take heart that there is an incredible selection of beautiful prom dresses in plus size available for your perusal online. Check out Sydney's Closet to view dozens of different plus size styles. Also check out some of the leading wedding dress websites, they usually have large prom dress selections for all sizes.

Black seems to be back in a big way this year. Black is very flattering especially for women with a 'winter' season complexion. The other colors that seem to be in this year for prom gowns are punch colors. No more pastels, rather consider citrus yellow or sunset orange. If you think this might be too bold for your look, a good solution would be to find a black dress with beautiful punch color accents. Also consider some kind of glitter accent for your overall look on this very special night.

Congrats to all 2006 grads!

Fitness Goal: Muscles

2009-07-14T07:03:00.000-07:00

Fitness Goal: Muscles

Sometimes the main goal of a fitness program is not weight loss, but rather a healthy and muscular body frame.

In these pictures, Aaron Ferguson weighs only five pounds less in the 'after' photo. In the before photo, he weighs 166 pounds and has a body fat ratio of seventeen percent. In the after photo he weighs 161 pounds but his body fat ratio has been reduced to an unusually low six percent.

Aaron was able to transform his body into a supremely muscular frame within only twelve weeks. This wasn't done primarily for appearances sake. In the process he cured the pain in his lower back (due to sacral joint problems). He had thought he would need a spinal fusion but his intense fitness program fully cured his back pain.

In the process he has become a muscle man extraordinaire. See here.

Acupuncture for Weight Loss

2009-07-14T07:02:00.001-07:00

Acupuncture can help you lose weight. It is recognized by the World Health Organization as an effective treatment for weight loss together with a range of other common health problems including headaches, neck pain, stress and fatigue.

Acupuncture is a central component of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and has been practiced for over 2500 years in parts of Asia. There's a growing interest in traditional Chinese medicine in the Western World. It's an alternative to the Western path which often seems to rely excessively on prescriptions or surgical solutions.

If you've tried losing weight without success, it may be really worth your while to investigate accupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine solutions.

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The above photographic print is 'a close view of acupuncture needles treating a stomach ailment' by O. Louis Mazzatenta

The Raw Food Diet

2009-07-14T06:41:00.000-07:00

The Raw Food Diet is becoming increasingly popular in some circles. The diet is relatively simple. Basically you are limited to foods that haven't been processed or cooked.

The diet consists mostly of raw vegetables, nuts, seeds and fruits.

A friend of mine went on the diet a few months ago. She's lost a ton of weight and looks really good. Her complexion is radiant and her eyes are bright. She looks a lot younger. The other day she super-enthusiastically said to me; "Did you know that you can eat oatmeal raw?!"

Actually that's one thing I have been doing the last five years. I often eat an oatmeal granola mix for breakfast. I mix a big batch of mostly oatmeal (I buy it at a fabulous store that packages raw oatmeal in one kilo bags) and a granola mix, some long-grain unsweetened coconut, some raisins, peanuts and almond bits, and whatever else I have around that would go into this) and then I mix it all up and store it in a huge glass jar). In the mornings, I put some in a bowl, pour boiled water over it, slice up a banana or other fruit and this is my typical breakfast. My husband eats it too, but instead of boiled water, he prefers to pour cold cold cranberry juice over it. Oatmeal is one of the foods that can keep you going for a long time in the morning without getting hungry.

But personally to me the raw foods diet seems extreme. I think anyone who follows the Raw Food Diet for a long time period must have extreme dedication to their weight loss goals.

But I would completely agree with the underlying principle which is that if your diet is composed largely of raw foods, your overall health is bound to improve. I'm not a professional nutritionist but I can believe that the relative absense of raw foods in our diets is largely responsible for the increasing incidence of asthma, learning disabilities, chronic fatigue, depression, diabetes and obesity.

If you are interested in more details about a raw food diet,Wikipedia.org has a good overview. They also provide links to the leading sources of online raw food diet information. The most popular Raw Food Diet related book these days is Raw Foods For Busy People: Simple And Machine Free Recipes For Every DayIt's gotten great reader reviews. Here's a couple of examples of what people are saying at Amazon;

"In our modern, grab-and-go society, most people don't have the time for radical changes in their diets. But, fast food is literally killing us! It's no secret that at least half of the western world is suffering from one ailment or another; and it's not gettin' any better! So, how do we improve our health, while maintaining our go-go-go lifestyles? Jordan Maerin has the answer in her new book "Raw Foods for Busy People." Whether you're looking to just add more raw food into your diet, or you're going for the extraordinary results of a 90-100% raw food diet, Maerin's book can make that path a lot easier.

She starts off with the basic ideas behind the raw food diet, including her own personal journey, then moves onto pages full of delicious, easy-to-make recipes (most of which you can make without having to spend hundreds of dollars on new appliances!). And if you thought raw food was boring or tasteless, think again. My personal favorites here are the Pesto-stuffed Vegetables, the Curried Coconut Soup and the Cottage Pie! So, if you're looking for a healthy alternative to fast food, and you can't afford highly priced gourmet raw food meals, "Raw Foods for Busy People" has everything you need to get started on the path to awesome health."

*****

"Its very apparent that a lot of love went into making this book. The layout, additional info and resources are excellent and presented very clearly.

As a single guy with not a lot of free time I searched all over for a Raw Foods cookbook that I could use. This is the ONLY book I found that has things I'd eat, enjoy and are easy to make without exorbitant costs or prep times or weird ingredients. Honestly after researching a lot of the Raw Foods books I figured the only people who could eat this way are housewives with a lot of money, I couldnt imagine anyone spending the time or wanting to eat a lot of the recipes in these other books.

After making many things from the book I can say that they fall into two categories-great or bland/too watery. Things like the cinnamon stewed apples, cashew cream, schezwan marinade, halvah shake, puddings and the dehydrator recipes are outstanding. Others like the gravy, curry apple marinade, tahini marinade, mashed potatoes and others are way too watery or lack flavor.

I'd still rate this book 5 stars since theres no other raw cookbook like this but I think she needs to fine tune some of these recipes. Would still highly reccomend it though. It was a big relief to get a practical book like this after my 1st purchase- Raw in Ten which was truly an awful raw book."

Losing Fifty Pounds in Four Months

2009-07-14T06:37:00.000-07:00

Ultraclyde has lost more than fifty pounds in just over four months. His body fat ratio is down to 13.6 percent. His secret?Training for a marathon.

In September of 2005 he weighed 222 pounds. Today he weighs 170 pounds at six feet tall. Because of his heavy fitness workout schedule, Ultraclyde has to eat a great deal of food just to maintain his current weight. He estimates he needs to consume 3700 calories a day just to stay at his current weight and not lose more weight.

Back in 1997 when he was 22 and just out of university, he weighed 262 pounds. At that point he joined Weight Watchers where he became the star of his class and was down to 209 pounds within a few months. However, he gradually regained all this weight plus more. By 2001, he was up to 290 pounds.

Since then he began exercising on a regular basis and in September of 2005, when he started his marathon training web site, he weighed 222 pounds.

UltraClyde's story is really inspirational for people considering a serious exercise program as part of their new lifestyle. He is seeking stories from other people who have lost over a 100 pounds as a result of marathon training. Check out his site at UltraClyde.

The picture on the left is Ultraclyde in 2001 at 290 pounds. The photo on the right is his current weight of 170 pounds, taken in January 2006.

Health Benefits of Spirulina

2009-07-13T06:10:00.000-07:00

Spirulina is purported to have incredible health benefits. It's often recommended for people who are obese as it has huge nutritional value and can replace a meal and help you lose weight. And it can help you stabilize your blood sugar levels.

Spirulina is like seaweed, expect that it grows in fresh water, not sea water.

Spirulina is remarkable in the sense that it is composed of about 65% protein. This protein is perfectly composed, with all the essential amino acids present. This is very unusual for a vegetarian source of food; for example, soybeans are only three percent protein.

Spirulina is also an excellent source of B12, another nutrient usually only found in significant quantities in meat. One teaspoon of Spirulina will provide you with 250% of the recommended daily value of B12.

Spirulina also contains gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), lots of iron , chlorophyll and phycocyanin.

I'm personally not a believer in vitamins or supplements. I think it's much better to change your overall diet toward the healthiest foods rather than focus on various pills and supplements. But spirulina is one item I could personally tout as a real aide to weight loss.

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The picture above is "Mirror Lake", an art print by Marcia Burtt

Britney Spears Weight Loss Timing

2009-07-13T05:50:00.000-07:00

Britney Spears has gained a lot of weight since her pregnancy. Her baby boy was born just four months ago (on September 14th) but already she is getting a lot of rude press about not yet having regained her pre-pregnancy figure.

I don't know anyone personally who was able to lose their pregnancy weight in less than six months. Do you? Most women take a minimum of a year before they are back to pre-pregnancy weight, if ever. There's always reports in the tabloids about celebrities who lose their baby fat within three months but I'd question the validity of these reports in most cases.

Britney Spears is not letting this baby be cared for by full-time nannies. She is still breast-feeding and spending her days with the baby. That's something we don't see a lot of celebrities doing. It's not a good idea to start a rigorous diet or exercise program when you are still nursing and the baby is only four months old. Hopefully she is not too troubled by negative press and can devote at least a year to herself and the baby without worrying about getting back into supremely good shape in such a hurry. The above pic is a PR photo taken some time before her pregnancy.

Britney Spears Update February 16th:

Spears is featured on the cover of People's Magazine February 25th Edition. She's lost a lot of weight over the past few weeks. In the magazine she says she has been working out by doing cardio, pilates, yoga and weights in addition to going for long walks with her baby. She has to keep it relatively light on the cardio workouts because of a knee injury from 2004.

Update February 22: This photo by Hollywood Rag was apparently taken after her photo shoot with People Magazine earlier this month. It looks like she's back to gaining some weight again. Some gossip magazines are speculating that Spears is pregnant with her second baby now.

Update March 10th: The rumors that Britney Spears is pregnant again are getting stronger and stronger.

Update May 26th: Here's a picture of Britney Spears from yesterday. Britney confirmed her second pregancy a couple of weeks ago on the David Letterman show.

Update August 18th: Spears has told People Magazine that she can't wait to get back in shape after this second pregancy. She feels she's been pregnant forever and she's excited about being able to sweat like she used to and getting her body back in shape with a routine. She plans to start working out in a huge way after this second baby is born.

I wish her great luck with this. It's harder than it sounds, especially if she plans to breast feed for an extended time as she's doing with the first baby.

Update November 7th: Britney Spears made a brief visit to theDavid Letterman show while she was in New York yesterday. She's really gone all out to get in shape quickly after this second pregnancy. Personally I prefer her hair without bangs because she has such an amazing face and the bangs hide it but she looks fantastic and very fit just weeks after the birth of her second baby. See the video clip here;

Overweight and Depressed - Natural Cures

2009-07-13T05:49:00.000-07:00

If you suffer from depression as well as being overweight or obese, you may be interested to know that natural

cures for both ailments are very similar. There are certain nutrients that are especially recommended for people who are experiencing clinical depression. These same foods can help people lose weight.

Exercise has also shown to be very effective for combating depression as well as obesity.

See an article about beating depression and obesity here.

Upscale Weight Loss Retreats

2009-07-13T05:48:00.001-07:00

If you are overweight and also happen to have lots of time and money available to you, a very pleasant way to lose weight would be to vacation at a weight loss retreat.

Some of these resorts are exorbitantly pricey. You can pay more than $6,000 a week at the really posh ones. That would translate to a mere $2,000 for the average pound lost. But the offerings are an incredible treat. Often the resorts are set in a gorgeous natural setting. The food is light on calories but absolutely gourmet. And you can spend your day getting Tai massages, personal weight loss and fitness assessments, nutritional guidance, cooking classes and unlimited pampering.

But you don't have to be rich in order to consider a weight loss resort for your next vacation. Some can cost less than $100 per day. As well, a lot of fasting retreats have sprung up in the last few years and some of them are reasonably priced and very good value for your money. Spending a week at a place with professional personalized weight loss guidance can be a very good springboard toward further successful weight loss when you return home refreshed and motivated.

Losing the Last 10 pounds

2009-07-13T05:37:00.000-07:00

I think the last ten pounds are the hardest to lose. Maybe this is because sometimes we set unrealistic goals and our body is already at a natural weight that is a few pounds more than we would like but is actually closer to the realistic ideal for our age and height.

In my case, I've managed to get down from my heaviest weight of 215 to a current weight of 162. Given I'm sixty nine inches tall I'm no longer considered overweight by any official standards. But before I was pregnant I weighed about 150 and I felt much better at that weight. So I would like to lose the last ten pounds.

Above are two virtual models. The one on the right weighs 205, which is what I weighed just after my baby was born. The left one weighs 162 pounds, my current weight. These virtual models are 5 feet nine inches. If I really looked like the one at 162, and didn't just weigh the same as her, I probably wouldn't be so keen on trying to lose more weight. But sadly this is not the case. My excess weight seems to have settled on my face, back of my arms, and around my stomach.

My baby is two years old now. It's taken me a long time to lose fifty pounds. I discussed this in the post-pregnancy post. I basically lost the weight by reverting back to pre-pregnancy eating habits. My eating overindulgences during pregnancy consisted of lots of vanilla icecream and apple pie, some chocolate, lots of healthy bread slathered with butter. But my main diet was quite healthy, with a big focus on legumes, greens, fish and nuts.

So in the last two years, I've mainly avoided the sweets and tried to limit my bread and butter indulgence. I've never felt hungry and continue to eat what seems like a huge amount. I guess this has been possible because I've been breast feeding all this time and that uses up a lot of daily calories.

But I know I've stabilized at my current weight and need to take special action if I want to lose ten more pounds.

My goal is to lose this over the next eight weeks by ramping up my weekly walking routine and by avoiding bread and any food products with sugar in them. I would like to walk a minimum of three miles at least four times per week. I'll try to really focus my diet on brown rice, greens, oatmeal, lots of legumes, nuts and fish. (I will try to keep my meat consumption to a minimum, though I still have to cook it regularly for my husband.)

I won't be counting any calories and I won't be limiting myself in any way. I don't think it'll be necessary to experience hunger pains in order to reach this goal if I stick to the walking mileage goal.

So wish me luck. I've already delayed starting on my goal, but the new start date is January 23rd (after my baby's second birthday party). By sometime in mid to late March I would like to report that I've succeeded.

Progress Update March 11th: I completely failed. I've lacked motivation and haven't stuck to my goal of regular walking or watching my excess food consumption. I've lost a pound and am now at 162. That's after several weeks since I last wrote. The urgency just didn't seem to be there. Other priorities took hold.

But now I'm getting the first taste of spring. I'd love to be very fit and slim again. So I am going to try this again. Give me eight weeks to lose 10 pounds as per method above. I think my motivation is really on side this time. That's a central key to weight loss for me. I want to look great when the short sleeve season comes. Check back here on May 10th. I'll be successful this time! Anyone want to join me for this deadline?

Get Rid of Your Diet Pills

2009-07-11T08:21:00.000-07:00

The FDA issued a warning a couple of days ago about two brands of diet pills. These are popular pills commonly known as "Brazilian diet pills" and imported from Brazil. Their brand names are Emagrece Sim and Herbathin. The FDA says the use of these pills could lead to serious side effects or injury. They contain amphetamines, tranquilizers and antidepressants. Amphetamines are addictive.

Sales of these two brands of diet pills has been booming. People have been buying them online at a cost of about $230 for a months supply. They claim to have 'all-natural' ingredients but this is clearly not the case.

Amphetamines can be dangerous for people with heart problems or high blood pressure. And the tranquilizers in the pills can become habit forming and can cause people to be dizzy and drowsy. The FDA says it is now blocking the import of these drugs into the United States.

Best Pedometers for Walking

2009-07-11T08:09:00.000-07:00

Pedometers can be a useful tool for weight loss. If you've set yourself a fitness goal via walking so many miles per week, a pedometer can be very helpful in keeping you motivated and on track.

They've really come down in price over the past couple of years. You can now buy an excellent pedometer for about $20. The one shown here is the most popular and highest ranked pedometer on Amazon : Omron HJ112 PedometerIt's on sale now for $22 (from a regular price of $39).

Over 100 people have written reviews about this pedometer at Amazon. And the verdict is quite unanimous that it's the best one on the market right now. Here's a couple of people's comments:

If you are wondering whether you want a pedometer, let me add my vigorous "yes". Wearing a pedometer has a way of making you parse every step you take as exercise....even walking down the hall to ask an officemate a question raises your step count just a bit, and soon enough you will be raising your ambitions to 10,000 steps a day or even more without needing to make a production over going to the gym. If you are wondering "which pedometer," I'll add my pitch for this nifty little Omron. My last pedometer: inaccurate, physically uncomfortable, impossible to wear with a dress, broke after 2 months.My Omron: accurate, comfortable clip, even works if I just stick it in a pocket or purse, have dropped it frequently to no ill effects. Best of all, it has quite sophisticated features: it tracks not only steps, miles, and calories, but "aerobic steps" - if you keep walking for 10 minutes or more it counts as aerobic - it is even smart enough to let you pause for up to a minute and still count subsequent steps as aerobic. Finally, it has a 7-day memory that allows you to track all these features back a whole week so you can see your improvements. I can't say enough about this product. I know they call it "premium" but for less than the cost of a couple of weeks at a gym, you'll have a permanent and genuinely practical exercise system. It is the best fitness value of any kind on the market.

****
After using, being dissatisfied with, and discarding a half dozen or so other pedometers, I can honestly say that the Omron is the best of the bunch. The setup is simple, it's incredibly rugged (I've dropped it on the pavement more times than I can remember), and its sensitivity is unmatched by any pedometer I've used before. A major advantage is that it records steps taken, calories, etc., even when tucked inside a pocket of your clothing or inside your purse (assuming you carry a purse)...It has a lot of useful features (including the seven day memory for number of steps taken, calorie count, distance). I am totally pleased with this product and would recommend it to anyone.

Teen Age Weight Loss - Personal Story

2009-07-10T08:48:00.000-07:00

I was an overweight teenager. Not by much mind you. At my fattest, I weighed about 165 pounds. Given I'm now sixty nine inches in height, this would not have been considered obese by any means. But as a teenage girl growing up in the late 1970's, it was a big problem for me.

In those days, there were not as many overweight teens as today. I was quite self-conscious about being somewhat overweight. But I did it to myself with emotional over-eating. The problem persisted, off on and on for about two or three years.

My parents were recent immigrants. They didn't have much money to spare. In one sense this was fortunate for me. We hardly ever had any kind of packaged or processed foods in the house. Although my parents didn't have much money, we probably ate better than most households. We didn't go out to eat at fast food restaurants. My mother didn't buy any food that came in a box. There was hardly any processed food ever. It was basically meat and potatoes, some vegetables, quite frequent home-made baked goods, and (also for snacks) lots of bread and butter. Typical central European food fare.

I remember that there was always milk in the fridge. But I don't recall having juice except on special occasions. And Coke or any other pop drink was completely unheard of in our home. Knowing what I do now, in my personal research about nutrition, I know we ate far too few beans and legumes, greens, fish, raw nuts and good breakfast items such as oatmeal. We usually had a vegetable at dinner, but the variety and choice of vegetables could have been much better. And I now know that we overdid it on the milk, butter, cheese and bread.

But it would be difficult to become obese based on the food available in our home back then. So I never did. But due to emotional hang-ups (in hindsight, due mostly to the tensions in the home due to my father's mental illness) I did manage to eat myself into weighing at least twenty pounds more than ideal.

I remember putting myself on a self-devised diet when I was in grade 10. I lost all the excess weight quite quickly eating dried cottage cheese and some other stuff that I don't remember. Everyone noticed, even my handsome P.E. teacher wanted to know the secret of my weight loss at that time ;-). But I gradually put most of the weight back on.

Once I left home at 18 to go to university, my life changed and I didn't have time to think about food. Throughout my twenties and up to my mid thirties I was very active physically. I played lots of tennis and walked and jogged frequently. Given that I had grown up on unprocessed foods, I continued to eat relatively healthy foods and never needed to diet. My weight problems were over until just recently (see the post about my post-pregnancy weight loss battle).

If you are a teenager reading this, I would love to give you advice but I am not a qualified nutritionist. One thing I can say with certainty is that it is really helpful to learn about truly nutritious foods. There is so much misinformation out there about what really healthy foods are.

You really don't need to go hungry to lose weight. If you can focus on eating lots of the healthiest foods and beginning some kind of walking (or other regular exercise) program, you will be truly set on the path to weight loss and to reaching your ideal weight. I'd recommend reading all about the healthiest foods atWHFoods.com. This is a non-profit website and the best source of nutritional information I've come across.

2009-07-10T08:35:00.000-07:00

If you are trying to lose weight, it will go a lot faster if you begin a regular exercise program in addition to changing your daily eating habits.

And if you are one of the people who now own an iPod video playback you might be interested to know there are several companies out there who have recently developed customized fitness programs you can download to your iPod.

PumpPod is one of these new upstarts. They've developed forty different fitness and exercise programs that you can download for about twenty dollars each. They say it's like having a personal trainer in your home. The programs provide step-by-step workout instructions and color images to show you how to do the various exercises properly while you listen to music.

If you don't already own an iPod, you've probably heard they can be of great help to people who are starting regular walking or jogging programs. It's fun to listen to music or your favorite podcast program while out exercising. It's just one more little motivational helper if you are in need of one.

Natural Cures for Diabetes Forbes Magazine

2009-07-10T08:32:00.000-07:00

Forbs Magazine reviewed a very encouraging report today about how the average person can quickly cure their type 2 diabetes and reverse high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Researchers put thirty overweight and obese men on a high-fiber diet and asked them to exercise for 45 to 60 minutes a day. Within just three weeks half the men had reversed their type 2 diabetes and other risk factors including high cholesterol, high blood pressure and insulin resistance.

This is an amazingly short time period! Most people think it would take much longer to improve your health so significantly.

The men were not restricted in how much they ate. They were allowed to eat as many vegetables, fruits and whole grains as they wanted so they weren't left feeling hungry. The diet was developed by the Pritkin Longevity Center and consists of eating 65 to 70 percent complex carbohydrates (vegetables, fruits and whole grains), 15 to 20 percent protein (legumes, nuts, soy and some fish and poultry) and 12 to 15 percent fat - restricted to less than half from saturated fat.

The exercise consisted of walking on a treadmill for 45 to 60 minutes a day.

Participants lost an average of two to three pounds per week over the course of three weeks. All were still overweight or obese at the end of this period, however their heart health improved dramatically.

This is very encouraging news for anyone who's been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol and who is willing to make serious life style changes to quickly reverse these illnesses.

Swiss Chard Recipe in Oprah Magazine

2009-07-09T07:02:00.000-07:00

The January 2006 issue of Oprah Magazine has a recipe for cooking swiss chard. This is the first time I've seen a swiss chard recipe in a mainstream magazine. Their recipe includes bacon bits, which I'm sure tastes nice, but is not necessary to enjoy the great flavor of chard.

Swiss chard is one of the threehealthiest vegetables you can eat. It's only 35 calories per cup. It's got way more vitamins and minerals than even spinach, and spinach is usually considered one of the most nutritious of vegetables. If you are trying to lose weight then eating lots of vegetables is ideal. It will fill you up and satiate you for very few calories and lots of nutrition.

The combination of photonutrients and fiber in swiss chard seems to be very effective at preventing digestive tract cancers according to several studies.

One cup of swiss chard has over three hundred percent of the daily recommended value of vitamin K. Vitamin K is very important for bone health. A cup also provides you with 109 percent of the daily recommended value of Vitamin A. Vitamin A is thought to play a role in cancer prevention and prevention of oxygen-based damage to cells. It's also very beneficial for vision and eye health. If you are a smoker it's particularly important to get more Vitamin A and C.

One cup of swiss chard also provides 52 percent of the recommended daily amount of Vitamin C, 27 percent DV of potassium, 38 percent of magnesium 22% of iron, 16% of Vitamin E and 14% of fiber. It's an amazingly nutritious vegetable!

Here's the very simple way I cook chard;

Simple Swiss Chard Recipe

Wash the chard and cut it into bigger than bite size pieces. I use the stalk as well. Throw the chard into a pot (with a lid) with a tiny bit of water. Cook on high heat (boil, steam) for one to three minutes, depending on how tender you want the texture to be. Add a little bit of salt and butter or olive oil at the end.

That's it! It's a simple and fast recipe. You can vary this in countless ways. I usually throw in any left-over vegetables from the previous day. Onions, garlic, mushrooms, sesame oil or sesame seeds would also all add good flavor.

WHFoods has a similar recipe they call Mediterranean Swiss Chard(as pictured above). They also provide much more detailed nutritional information.

Getting Rid of those Love Handles - Mesotherapy

2009-07-06T04:20:00.000-07:00

Do you have a double chin, love handles or other localized areas of fat on your body?

Mesotherapy is a new medical procedure that doesn't involve surgery and doesn't even require an anesthetic. It's supposed to enable you to target areas of 'stubborn fat pockets' and dissolve this fat via micro injections. It's also said to be effective in reducing cellulite. Mesotherapy (also known as lipodissolve) has been around for about ten years in South America and Europe. The treatment consists of injections of soy bean and enzymes to dissolve localized fat deposits.

The cost of the treatment is not cheap but not outrageously expensive either. It usually costs over $200 per visit. Some clinics claim you can lose up to three inches from around your waistline in only three visits. I'm seeking comments below from anyone who's tried mesotherapy treatments

Mariah Carey Weight Loss Watch

2009-07-06T04:15:00.000-07:00

One prediction we can probably make for 2006 is that Mariah Carey will try to lose weight this year. It looks like she has gained quite a few pounds in just a few months. This most recent photo makes her look quite fat in December 2005. I'm not sure how many years ago the other publicity photo was taken.

Mariah Carey will turn 36 this year. She was born March 27th 1970. Her current album 'The Emancipation of Mimi' has been incredibly successful, and has sold almost eight million copies already. This could be a wonderful year for her.

Fat and Pregnant

2009-07-06T04:06:00.000-07:00

To continue from the last post, I let myself get fat as soon as I found out I was pregnant.

I had been trying to conceive for over three years. When I found out I was pregnant I thought it was an absolute miracle.

Doctors recommend a 25 to 35 pound weight gain during pregnancy. In a previous generation, they were recommending

twenty pounds or less. At that time a lot

of women who listened to their doctors didn't gain enough weight for an optimally healthy pregnancy. Who knows if the current recommendation is correct?

The pregnancy books say that you can expect to gain less than five pounds in the first trimester. This certainly wasn't the case for me. As soon as I knew I was pregnant I started to eat for two.

I was so afraid of a possible miscarriage in the first trimester that I put on lots of comfort padding. By the 23rd week of pregnancy, I had gained 35 pounds. By the time I gave birth, I had gained sixty five pounds.

My baby boy was eight pounds and six ounces at birth. (That's the little goo above at about three or four months.)

Some of my friends who had their babies early in life and who are naturally slim and fit also gained mega weight during pregnancy. One of them gained almost 100 pounds in each of her two pregnancies and was able to regain her slim shape relatively easily. I wonder about the current recommendations for weight gain during pregnancy. Personally, I think different people's bodies have different needs and it may not be detrimental to gain more than the recommended amount especially if you are at a slim weight before getting pregnant. But I am in no way qualified to speculate about this.

I've read that being overweight or obese will decrease your fertility. My hunch is that being fat can sometimes be a symptom of your hormones (thyroid gland or pituitary gland) not working properly and that getting the hormones regulated (in a natural way) may actually be more important to fertility than the excess fat involved.

I had been trying to get pregnant for so long that I really thought it wouldn't be possible anymore. But about eight months before I got pregnant I made some very significant lifestyle changes. I was probably only ten pounds over my ideal weight when I started with these changes, but I believe my hormones were significantly out of whack. By the time I got pregnant, I was in great shape. I've written earlier about the diet and fitness program I undertook over those months.

In the next post I hope to cover:

more on how I lost most of this weight over the first year post-partum

my plan for losing that last ten pounds (or ideally, fifteen...)

Weight Loss after Pregnancy

2009-07-06T03:40:00.000-07:00

Two years ago I weighed 215 at the end of my pregnancy. I had gained about sixty five pounds while pregnant. Once the baby was born, I dropped fifteen pounds (including the cute eight pounder with the big head) very quickly and got down to about 170 without dieting within a few months. I currently weigh 163 pounds at five foot nine inches.

(That's the little goo on the right, at about six months old.)

The plan was to breast-feed for one year, but here we are two years later and I'm still nursing. For this reason, I haven't fretted too much about my weight and have not been dieting in any sense of the word. For this reason too, I think most of the weight came off quite easily. I think the nursing requires me to eat a minimum of an extra 600 calories per day in order to not lose weight. Sometimes it really feels like it must be closer to 1,200 calories as I can get extremely famished just after nursing.

But now that the baby is two I want to wean him as soon as possible. Breast-feeding is an exhausting endeavor. At least it has been for me personally. My overgrown 'baby' is still in the habit of waking up several times a night for a little nursing. Overall though, I'm a great believer in the advantages of breast feeding infants if possible, so I have no regrets.

During this two years I haven't worried about my weight too much. I've been completely preoccupied with the demands of being a mother. My personal appearance (same sweatpant uniform daily) and (complete lack of) grooming have slid completely off the reasonable scale. Other than my husband, there are no grandparents or relatives who live close by and can look after the baby and I haven't left him for more than a couple of hours on any occasion. So it has been a grueling journey at times for someone who's previously lived an independant and spontaneous life and didn't have her first child until the age of 42.

But now here I am, ready to get back into really good shape. I'm no longer overweight as far as BMI goes, but I'd like to weigh 150 again and be really fit. My goal is to do that over the next eight to twelve weeks.

Update December 2007 : Ha ha ho ho ho!

It's not really funny and it's a couple of years later and i'm no closer to my goal. I'm just hovering at the very top end of the normal BMI scale so I'm not complaining too much, but jeez, where is the old me and the perfect physical form I was once in?
Here's a photo of the little goo fascinated with an insect on his finger at about 3 and 1/2 years old.

Yoga for Weight Loss

2009-07-04T19:27:00.000-07:00

Yoga is not the first thing that comes to mind when people are considering weight loss fitness strategies. It's not an aerobic exercise and aerobic exercise (even brisk walking) is considered best, as it burns the most calories and revs up the metabolism.

However successful weight loss is not all about the logical and physical aspect of diet and exercise. There is a mental (and even spiritual) element required to actually achieve the goal and to be able to change deeply entrenched daily habits.

If willpower or emotional issues are key aspects of your struggle with weight loss than a regular practice of yoga could be very helpful in providing you with a breakthrough in this regard. It can help you become much more aware of your subconscious mind and to instill a calmer and more joyful attitude to life.

Aside from this very important mental aspect of yoga, there is also the physiological benefit. Some of the yoga positions ('asanas') are particularly helpful in stimulating the thyroid gland. The thyroid is the key organ responsible for maintaining a healthy weight level.

The shoulderstand is the most effective yoga position for correcting thyroid imbalances. To see step-by-step instructions on how to do the shoulder-stand go to this page. I've read over twenty yoga books over the years and my personal favorite is "Yoga Self-Taught" by Andre Van Lysebeth. This book proposes a twenty minute routine of the best yoga positions. Their discussions of the health benefits of each of these asanas is outstanding.

Losing 120 pounds in One Year (South Beach Diet)

2009-07-04T19:22:00.000-07:00

Jennette (the 'Pasta Queen') has lost more than 120 pounds in just over a year. She has 90 more pounds to lose to get to her goal weight. She started out at 372 pounds in November 2004 and now weighs 249 pounds. Her height is 5'9".

She follows the South Beach Diet and works out on a treadmill five times a week. She doesn't recommend the South Beach Diet for everyone, but it has worked very well for her.

Hers is one of the most authentic and aesthetic sites I've come across in the personal weight loss story online world. She is a web designer by training, and this really shows in the beautiful and interesting presentation of her web site. But she is also an honest and excellent writer.

I really enjoy her 3D progress update photos. You can drag on them, and see her progress in terms of side, front and back photos. She writes about her weight loss experience on a regular basis, and each Saturday she tells us her new weight, regardless whether it is up or down. It's a very inspirational story.

She just noted on her site that she ate way too many chocolates over Christmas but managed to lose weight that week anyway. In her last post, she is selling a pair of size 28 black dress pants on eBay.

Check out her wonderful site atHalf of Me.

Enjoying Huge Success with a Low-Carb Diet

2009-07-04T19:13:00.000-07:00

Jimmy Moore had an amazing year in 2004. Over the course of that one year he lost 180 pounds. He did this with an Atkins Low-Carb diet. He started right on New Year's Day as a New Year's Resolution and didn't look back. At the beginning of 2004 he weighed just over 400 pounds. By the end of the year he was down to his goal weight of 220 pounds.

But the success didn't stop there. He also started a blog called "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" about his dieting experience and this experiment has seen a huge uptake in reader numbers. He started the blog in April and the growth of his audience has been incredible. By the month of November, he was getting more than 20,000 monthly page views.

He's also written a 188 page book which was published less than two months ago. Check out LIVIN' LA VIDA LOW-CARB: My Journey From Flabby Fat to Sensationally Skinny in One Yearat Amazon.

Angela Hefel Lost 163 Pounds

2009-07-04T19:11:00.000-07:00

Angela Hefel lost 163 pounds with the help of Weight Watchers. At her heaviest she weighed 297 pounds and suffered from knee and back pain. Her height is five feet and three and a half inches.

She's the one on the left side (and left insert) of the People Magazine cover pictured here.

She initially joined Weight Watchers in late 1998 and it took her a year and a half to lose 115 pounds. At this point she reached a plateau and tried to maintain the weight loss but gained some of it back. In the summer of 2004 she returned to Weight Watchers and lost another 70 pounds by March 2005. Her total weight loss from her heaviest weight is 163 pounds.

Hefel is 38. She's a school teacher and has been getting lots of public attention for the past few months. In October she was interviewed on ABC's "The View" where she talked about her weight loss. And in early December People Magazine came by for a photo shoot. Hefel will be featured in People's Magazine January 9th special double issue "Half Their Size" about celebrities and regular people who succeeded in their weight loss goals using healthy diet and fitness regimes.

If anyone reading this knows Angela Hefel and could persuade her to do an interview here, I would be so thrilled! I guess the diet part of her weight loss was following a strict Weight Watchers plan. But I think a lot of people would be keen to know what her exercise regime was for that last seventy pounds.

Update January 1st: Angela's husband has just left a comment below. She is on her way to New York today to be on Tuesday's Good Morning America. He thinks she won't mind answering some questions for us. If you've got any q's about her weight loss, please leave them below. I have three questions:

1) In 2004 when you decided to try to lose the last seventy pounds, what was the spark that ignited this decision and made it stick?

2) People Magazine says you initially joined the Weight Watchers 'Flex' plan and started walking three miles about four times per week. What did your exercise regimen consist of when you rejoined a few years later to lose the last seventy pounds?

3) The photos of you in People Magazine are extremely attractive! Is there a chance we could post some of your real-life photos (that haven't had the benefit of professional photographers) on this site?

Thanks so much! I think a lot of people will be looking forward to hearing more about your inspiring story.

Star Jones Reveals her Weight Loss Secret

2009-07-03T23:37:00.000-07:00

(Update June 27th: Star Jones has been fired from The View. See details below.)

Star Jones will reveal her weight loss secret next week. She has lost about 150 pounds and lost it very quickly. A lot of people are speculating she did this with the help of weight loss surgery; a gastric bypass.

She doesn't say anything about how she lost the weight on her website, except to say that this has been the question of the year and that it will be answered in her book. She does say a little about her exercise routine however. She exercises at a private facility with a private instructor. She also practices Pilates.

Her book Shine : A Physical, Emotional, and Spiritual Journey to Finding Love is supposed to tell everyone the secret of her weight loss. It is due to be released on January 6, 2006:

Update January 5th: People Magazine came out today with a great article and an excerpt from her book. She says she was over 300 pounds on her 41st birthday, and it was at this point, on a holiday with her girlfriends, that she decided to tackle her weight issue.

Just after she lost the first fifty pounds, she met her future husband Al. Starr Jones does say that she had a 'medical intervention' to help her start her weight loss but she refuses to specify what it was. She says she doesn't want to be a poster child for a procedure that could have tragic consequences for someone else. This is actually a very responsible stance for her. Don't you think?

Weight loss surgery is very risky health wise and Star Jones knows that other people will take heart from her method and will be more likely to consider a gastric bypass surgery if she tells the world that was the route to her success with weight loss. But just because it worked well for her doesn't diminish the serious risks of this kind of drastic medical procedure. So her preference is not to personally advertise this as a way to lose weight.

January 11th: Her book has been available for a few days at Amazon now. It's listed as the 103rd best selling book right now.

January 14th: The Times in New Jersey reported that Star Jones was in the Hamilton Wal-Mart last night autographing her book for hundreds of fans. This is her hometown. She grew up without a father and lived in a Trenton housing project. She went on to get a law degree from the University of Houston.

February 2nd: The View celebrated its 2,000th show today with co-hosts Barbara Walters, Meredith Vieira, Star Jones Reynolds, Joy Behar and Elisabeth Hasselbeck celebrating the occasion along with Tom Selleck who was the first celebrity guest at the premiere in 1997.

February 20th: In a recent interview, Star noted her weight loss was not a quick process; "The media focuses on the last 50 lbs I've lost, suggesting it was fast. What they don't realize is it took more than 2 ½ years. Prior to meeting Al, I had lost 40 lbs. After marriage, I went on to lose another 120 lbs‚” .

Star says she has gone from a size 26 to a size 10 over these years.

May 10th: The strong rumor now is that Star Jones is leaving "The View" and that she will be replaced by Gayle King. Also a very strong rumor that Rosie O'Donnell's participation was always contingent on Star Jones Reynolds being asked to leave.

Update June 27th: Star Jones Reynolds told viewers of The View today that she is leaving the show. She has been fired after nine years as a cohost. Not fired exactly, but her contract was simply not renewed. See more updates here as more news comes in.

Here are Barbara Walters' cold as ice comments (June 28th) about Star Jones leaving the show. You can tell she is quite upset about being taken off guard the day before. She hasn't chosen a generous way to say goodbye to her co-host of nine years.

Update June 29th: Here's the Star Jones interview on Larry King.

Update August 7th: The divorce rumors are false. They've been circulating for at least a month now. Keep in mind that there is so much interest out there about Star Jones that any rumor is better than no news. Star Jones is justifiably upset about the media digging into her personal life in this kind of mean-spirited way.

Ten high fiber foods

2009-07-03T23:34:00.000-07:00

Eating foods that are high in dietary fiber is helpful for anyone wanting to pursue an optimal, healthy diet. But a high fiber diet is especially recommended for people who are obese.

Aside from helping to fight obesity, a high fiber diet can help anyone who suffers from constipation, hemorrhoids, high blood sugar or high cholesterol levels.

Recommended fiber intake is 25-35 grams a day. The majority of us eat less than half of the recommended fiber daily. A cup of fresh raspberries is 8.3 grams of fiber and a bran muffin is between three and five grams of fiber.

Here are ten foods that are unusually high in fiber as well as being amongst the world's healthiest of foods, given their high nutrition value. 'DV' stands for the daily recommended amount based on an average young female.

Lentils, Boiled (1 cup) = 78.2% DV

Split Peas, Boiled (1 cup) = 81.3% DV

Raspberries, Fresh (1 cup) = 41.7% DV

Squash, All Winter Varieties (1 cup) = 28.7% DV

Avacado, All Varieties (1 cup) = 36.5% DV

Rice, Long Grain Brown, Cooked (1 cup) = 17.6% DV

Oats, Whole Grain (1 cup) = 19.9% DV

Almonds (1/4 cup) = 21.0% DV

Sweet Potato, Peeled after Baking (1 cup) = 30.0% DV

Flax Seed (1/4 cup) = 54.0% DV

See the World's Healthiest Foods - Fiber Page for detailed info about the health benefits of fiber as well as the best list of fiber rich foods.

See how to make delicious lentil walnut burgers here.

LA Weight Loss Ordered to Reimburse Customers

2009-07-03T23:28:00.000-07:00

Several LA Weight Loss Centers have been ordered to pay back Washington State customers up to a total of $800,000.

Apparently these LA Weight Loss Centers misrepresented total program costs to people who were signing up. Customers paid what they thought was the full fee, but were then told they should purchase several hundred dollars more worth of protein bars and supplements.

These LA Weight Loss Centers have also been ordered to stop claiming that their supplements have any weight loss benefits unless they gather some scientific evidence to back their claims.

People in Washington State who think they were misled when they enrolled in an LA Weight Loss program sometime in the past two years have 90 days to request a refund.

If you believe you are one of these people, you need to provide reasonable support for your claim and to file a request with the LA Weight Loss Centre you were a member of as well as with the Attorney General’s Office in Olympia and the Better Business Bureau in DuPont, WA.

For more information about this settlement, see an article atSeattle Post-Intelligencer.

Earlier this year the Diet-Blog did a critical write-up about the LA Weight Loss program and 62 people have left comments on this blog about their experience with this program. Check out these comments for a more complete view of different people's experience with LA Weight Loss.

Tempestt Bledsoe's Weight Loss Progress Watch

2009-07-03T23:23:00.000-07:00

Tempestt Bledsoe has signed up for this year's version of theCelebrity Fit Club. The reality show begins airing on VH1 on January 1st at 9:00pm.

Tempestt is the former child star of the Cosby Show. Tempesst is now 32. She was born on August 1st 1973. She is 5'8" and currently weighs 181 pounds. Her goal is to lose thirty pounds and get to 151 pounds. The picture here was taken in October of 2005.

I'm keen to track her weight loss progress here and see if she can come through with her goal of losing 30 pounds. I'll be updating this post on a regular basis.

Other cast members of the Celebrity Fit Club's third season include Chastity Bono (daughter of Sonny and Cher), Jeff Conaway ("Taxi," "Grease"), Countess Vaughn ("The Parkers"), Bruce Vilanch (writer/comedian, "Hollywood Squares"), Kelly LeBrock ("The Woman In Red"), Young MC (rapper, "Bust A Move") and Bizarre (actor/rapper), of D12, ("The Longest Yard"- '05).

Electronic Tools for Weight Loss

2009-07-02T06:41:00.000-07:00

2005 was the year for the introduction of lots of electronic gadgets to help with your weight loss program.

Many people don't want to carry around journals to keep track of their calories. In 2005, Weight Watchers introduced a service where people could track their calories on Palm hand-held computers. This is a free service for people who are already paying the $12.95 monthly membership for the Weight Watchers online site.

Skyscape introduced a service called the South Beach Diet OnHand which people can download onto their cellphone or hand-held computer. It enables people to look up appropriate recipes for the South Beach Diet while shopping for groceries or to choose what to order in a restaurant. It's also updated with a daily e-mail newsletter (The Daily Dish) which offers new South Beach Diet recipes, the latest research, success stories and diet news. The service costs $20 per year.

Nokia introduced a phone in early 2005 (5140 model) which can be used as a 'virtual fitness coach'. It lets you plan your workout schedule depending on your goals. For example if you want to be able to run a marathon in ten months, it will give you a personalized weekly workout routine to help you meet that goal. Several other cell phone makers are also scrambling to offer similar options.

Samsung Electronics in Korea has even made a cellphone which lets you measure your body fat ratio by touching your finger to a sensor on the phone!

2006 will probably see a huge burst of innovations in the weight loss electronic tools market.

Source: The Wall Street Journal Online

The pic above is the Omron HBF-306C Fat Loss Monitor at Amazon.com

The Mayo Clinic Diet - Healthy Weight Loss

2009-07-02T06:38:00.000-07:00

The Mayo Clinic Diet program is based on healthy eating and sustainable weight loss. It's not a rapid way to lose weight. Rather it's a very healthy way to lose weight and keep it off for the long term.

The main aspects of their weight loss program is encouraging people to eat lots of fruits and vegetables. They call it 'low energy density' and it means you are eating a lot of bulky foods that have few calories. This will help make you feel full and these foods are very nutritious, so it will help you in all aspects of your health, not just with weight loss.

Last week, the Mayo Clinic teamed up with eDiets.com to make their weight loss program available on the eDiets website. If you subscribe to this plan on eDiets you will get weekly personalized menus, charting and results reports, do's and don'ts for losing weight and other personalized online advice.

But you don't need to subscribe to the plan to benefit from their basic recommendations - just try making vegetables and fruits a large part of your total diet. See more about Eating More to Lose Weight in a previous post here.

The Best Diet is One that Suits You

2009-07-02T05:57:00.000-07:00

Researchers have found that the most successful diet programs are ones that appeal to the people trying them out.

The director of Obesity Research at Tufts-New Medical Center recommends that people consider a broad spectrum of choices when they consider a weight loss program.

He notes that of the 8,000 successful dieters in their survey, the majority listed "my own diet and exercise regimen" as the most effective strategy they used. Only nineteen percent of the successful dieters had attended a commercial weight loss program and only about thirty percent had looked at one or more diet books.

Source: ConsumerReports.org