Buying a Treadmill for Your Exercise Program

Treadmills have improved a lot in quality over the years and are now the most popular workout machine in the U.S. According toConsumer Reports, they are also the most likely exercise machine to actually be used instead of abandoned.

See one man's treadmill weight loss success story here.

There are three basic types of treadmills based on price categories. The cheap treadmills sell for between $300 to $700. They are good for walking workouts but not usually sturdy enough for running. They usually include a 10-mph top speed and a ten percent maximum inline, a display for speed, distance, time and calories.

The midrange treadmills sell for between $800 and $1,800 and are much sturdier than the cheaper basic models. They are good for walking as well as occasional running. They have all the features of basic treadmills, plus a heart-rate monitor and exercise programs.

The high-end treadmills are good for regular running and usually have a more powerful motor as well as a sturdier construction than the mid-range models. They retail for about $2,000 to $3,500.

Consumer Reports recommends you actually try out the treadmill before buying one. If you plan on running on the treadmill, make sure the belt is at least 18 inches wide by 50 inches long. Buy one with a safety key if you have small children around.

Treadmills prices are dropping. There will probably be lots of sales and discounts offered around the New Year. The treadmill shown aboveis a Horizon brand and just went on sale for $800 (regular price is $1,300).

Link Between Arthritis and Being Overweight

There is a clear link between being overweight and being more likely to experience joint pain in the hands, knees, hips, back and neck.

Medical researchers don't know why exactly the excess weight leads to a higher incidence of osteoarthritis. The extra weight would increase the load placed on joints such as knees and hips and could speed up the breakdown of cartiledge. But overweight people are also more likely to suffer from hand arthritis so there must be more to the connection - perhaps something which involves the circulating systemic factor as well.

Obese women have four times the risk of knee osteoarthritis as non-obese women. Obese men are five times as likely to suffer from knee osteoarthritis. Studies have found that even small amounts of weight loss can reduce the risk of developing knee OA and that weight loss decreases knee pain substantially.

For more information about the relationship between osteoarthritis and body weight, see the John Hopkins page on Arthritis.

Cathi Lee's Story - Losing Three Hundred and Thirty Pounds

Cathi Lee has lost 330 pounds over the past three years.

Her weight loss program consists of giving up on junk food and exercising. She had no help from a doctor or dietician but she did a lot of research on healthy weight-loss before starting her program.

She is 5'4 tall and used to weigh 500 pounds. Now she weighs 170 and fits into a size 12 petite.She was so obese that she couldn't exercise at all in the first year.

She lost 90 pounds in that first year by changing her diet only. Last year she started exercising by walking just a quarter of a mile a day. After greatly increasing her walking routine over that year she joined a gym in October 2004. By October of 2005 she completed a 26 mile marathon in six hours. (Update: to be more precise, I believe her marathon finishing time was six hours and six minutes.)

The focus of her successful diet is lots of vegetables and fruits, with fish and chicken being the main proteins.

People Magazine interviewed Cathy Lee in October and just took some photos of her to feature in their December 30th upcoming edition. I guess this edition may have a New Year's Resolution weight loss focus. It should be available at your local supermarket by December 29th.

Update December 28th: Cathi Lee was interviewed on NBC's Today show today. If anyone knows if this info is available online somewhere, please comment below.

Update December 29th: Thanks much to Stacy Meyer Jochem. She is Cathi's marathon training partner and she left a note here telling us where we can see the interview with Cathi Lee on MSN.COM. (See her comment below).

As well today I notice People Magazine has just announced their "Half Their Size" issue. It's a special-double issue that will be on newstands for two weeks beginning tomorrow. The focus is on how famous celebrities and regular people have lost their weight. The stories discuss healthy weight-loss and don't include examples of surgery, fad diets or diet pills.

What I find really interesting about Cathi Lee's story is that she did her own research and is following her own unique diet. It would be great to know more about her daily eating plan.

Update January 15th: Cathi Lee will be interviewed on ABC's Good Morning America tomorrow morning.

Knee Pain Caused by Being Overweight

If you suffer from knee pain and are also significantly overweight, consider trying to lose the weight before taking more drastic steps such as knee surgery.

Losing weight can help people who suffer from knee arthritis. The extra weight is putting stress on your weight bearing joints. If you know your knee pain is due to arthritis, than losing weight may cure the condition. Several studies have shown this to be the case.

For an example of one man who was considering knee surgery but lost fifty pounds in twelve weeks instead (via a change in diet and exercise) and cured his knee pain, see a previous post here on Michael Becker.

Your doctor would be the best person to consult about this, but I would think that before opting for knee joint surgery, most people should probably consider weight loss (if overweight), increased appropriate exercise, glucosamine and/or the wearing of an unloading knee brace.

Unloading braces ('valgus knee braces') were developed about ten years ago and are often recommended to people who have knee pain due to osteoarthritis. To the extent that they can help reduce pain they can also be used by people who want to exercise in order to lose weight but find it too painful to do so because of knee pain.

Addicted to Food - A Quiz

Do you feel you have a food addiction?

Do you think about your weight or about food constantly? Do you find yourself trying different diets regularly with no long-term success? Have you ever wanted to stop eating and couldn't?

These are three questions on a list of twenty devised by the people at Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous. If you answer yes to any of these questions you may be a food addict. You can take their food addiction quiz here.

FA is based on similar principles as Alcoholics Anonymous. They hold regular meetings in dozens of cities. Many people find the program very effective. It is helpful to be in the company of others who are struggling with addictive eating and to share experiences and mutual support. FA is free and does not involve weigh-ins at meetings. Membership is open to anyone who wants help with their food addiction. For more info, check out the nearest FA meeting venue in your city.

Michael Becker: Before and After Pictures

Is it really possible to change ones appearance so much in only twelve weeks? Here is Michael Beckers 'before' photo and an 'after losing 56 pounds' photo. He initially weighed 280 pounds and now weighs 227 pounds

His body fat ratio went from 27.4 percent to 8.8 percent. He lost 56 pounds of fat and gained three pounds of muscle. He is one of the six finalists in the running for a one million dollar prize in theBody-for-Life Challenge. The winning candidate will be chosen in the second week of January 2006. See the six finalists here.

Update January 13th: The million dollar winner will be announced tomorrow. My bet is on Michael Becker.

Update: I guessed wrong. The winner was Aaron Ferguson.

Losing Weight: Before and After Pictures

If you've started losing weight and you need a little more inspiration to keep going, this is a fun diversion you may find interesting. These are some examples of virtual models at 'before' and 'after' weight loss.

The example model above is 5'7". Here we see her picture at 220 pounds, 190 pounds, 155 pounds and 135 pounds.

You can try this out for yourself to see what you might look like if you weighed less. You can design your own model at the Land's End website and specify a hairstyle, general body shape, nose, mouth, face shape, skin color and hair color. Enter your weight and height and see what you might look like for each ten pounds that you will lose.

The examples above are a 6' tall man at 260 pounds and at 190 pounds. The woman in the middle is 5'4 and 200 pounds versus an after picture of 120 pounds. The last female is 5'7 and 221 pounds versus 130 pounds.

Losing Sixty Pounds in Nine Months - A personal story

Kim Ayres has lost 66 pounds over nine months. And he has written a very interesting blog about his experience. His weight loss story is not finished yet. It sounds as though he would like to lose at least another 45 pounds.

He has a very engaging, modest and whimsical writing style. Here's an example;

When I was a teenager I used to fantasize about having my own pair of breasts to play with. Now, as an overweight, middle-aged man, I seem to have them - and it’s not as much fun as I thought it would be.

He doesn't say how tall he is but he does tell us he weighed 19 stone and 9 pounds when he started his weight loss routine. I've no idea what that is in pounds.

Kim is not on a diet. He doesn't believe dieting is the way to long term weight loss. His secret has been to switch to wholesome foods and cut out all processed foods.See his story here.

Welcome to Isadora's Weight Loss Stories

Thanks so much for visiting my site. I've written about my personal experience with weight loss (post pregnancy) here.

My main goal here is to search the web and come up with inspiring stories of weight loss success. I hope to highlight at least one great success story per week, hopefully more. Some of the stories will focus on celebrity weight loss but most will be about regular people who have discussed their weight loss online.

If you know of any inspiring examples of successful weight loss, please let me know.

Oprah Winfrey's Weight Loss Experiments

(Update Dec. 2008: Oprah has gained 40 pounds again. She says she now weighs 200 pounds.)

A couple of days ago Oprah was on ABC News discussing some key moments of her twenty years of the Oprah show.

She mentioned that losing weight very quickly in 1988 was one of her worst moments, as she gained much of it back almost as quickly. During 1988 she went on a four month liquid diet and put her social life on hold. She lost an incredible 67 pounds over this time, and was able to fit into size 10 jeans. Thus she reached her lowest adult weight ever, at 145 pounds. But within a couple of days of going off the diet she was no longer able to fit into the prized jeans. Within a week, she had gained back ten pounds and was embarrassed to attend a party that weekend where everyone would see she had gained weight.

Oprah reached her highest weight in 1992. At that point she weighed 237 pounds.

Oprah looks fantastic lately. The photo on the left is this months issue of the Oprah magazine. The picture on the right is Oprah 18 years ago in 1988. She is not at her slimmest point now, but her normal range weight level helps to make her look very attractive. (Update: January 2006: How much does Oprah weigh now? Her current weight is 163 pounds, according to a comment by her personal trainer, Bob Greene, in the January 3, 2006 issue of Woman's World.)

Her 52nd birthday is coming up in January and she is feeling better than ever and feels she has moved into a new groove with the show.

Update: May 14th:Oprah has gained another ten pounds again. She must weigh about 173 now.

Update May 22nd: Oprah has just signed the biggest non-fiction book deal advance in history. She is being paid more than $12 million by Simon & Schuster to write about her weight loss saga together with her trainer Bob Greene. She says her adult weight has fluctuated between 138 pounds and 198 pounds.

Update: July 2006: There's a strong rumor going around that Oprah and her boyfriend of twenty years, Stedman Graham are splitting up for good. They've split up for short periods of time in the past, but this time it looks like it may be final. And the gossip rags are saying that he has written a book that he is threatening to publish unless he receives more money ('a sizable allowance') from her. The book is said to go into details about her yo-yo dieting and binging as well as other hurtful private information.

Steadman Graham has already written nine books, two of which were New York Times bestsellers; You Can Make It Happen: A Nine-Step Plan for Success and Teens Can Make It Happen: Nine Steps to Success. I personally find it hard to believe that he would ever do such a thing as publish dirt on Oprah after being with her for twenty years.

Update July 10th: Oprah is on the cover of 'New Idea' magazine this month. Here she says Jennifer Aniston has helped her gain control of her weight. They say Aniston has transformed her boyfriend Vince Vaughan from 'a chunk to a hunk' via the Zone Diet and Oprah has been following the diet too. This magazine says her weight went from 88kg down to 82kg. I think they've got their numbers wrong. That would put her at 180 pounds (82kg) right now which doesn't jibe with her appearance.

Weight Loss Success Stories

Here's a link to four inspiring weight loss stories by regular people living in Virginia. They include a 29 year old male who lost 42 pounds using the Easterling-Zacharias Institute method, a 31 year-old woman who lost 50 pounds with a raw food diet, a 24 year old woman who used Weight Watchers and Meridia to lose 60 pounds and a 61 year old woman who lost 85 pounds on the South Beach Diet. None of these are fad dieting methods, it's great to hear that they worked for these people.

See their stories at Richmond.com (an online portal for the Greater Richmond, Virginia area.)______The fine art print above is 'Energy Apples' by Audrey Flack.

Kristie Alley's Dieting Success

Kirstie Alley started a highly publicized weight loss program with Jenny Craig in December 2004. Less than one year later, she says she has lost over fifty pounds.

There is a lot of talk online by people questioning if she was honest in stating that her heaviest weight was 219 pounds. She does look much heavier in some of the earlier photos given her 5'7" frame.

Kirstie Alley was recently a guest on Oprah's show. She looked fabulous even though she said she would like to lose another thirty pounds. To me she looked incredibly gorgeous for someone who is 54 years old.

The Jenny Craig program says they recommend a weight loss of one to two pounds a week. This sounds like a very reasonable goal to me, much more realistic than all the ads you see for losing nine pounds per week.

The above are two photos of the slimmer Kirstie at last week's Oprah show. The paper models in the background are an approximation of how she looked about a year ago._________

The first picture above is Kirstie Alley on the set of Fat Actress. The photo was taken by Randy Tepper of Showtime about a year ago. The other two photos are from Oprah's show in November 2005.Update: December 31st: Kristie Alley is rumored to be dating Al Pacino. Pacino is 65 years old (and still very dashing). I wish them great joy in their relationship together. She has not dated anyone for the past five years. Update: March 2006: this turns out to be an unsubstantiated rumor.

Update: Happy Birthday to Kirstie Alley as she turns 55 this year. She was born on January 12 1951.Update June 17th 2006: In Touch Magazine is reporting Kristie has reached her goal weight ahead of time and has lost more than 69 pounds.

Update June 29th: Kirstie Alley is on the cover of People Magazine, July 3rd edition. Here she says she has lost 71 pounds and would like to lose a further fifteen and wear a bikini on TV.

Update July 10th: Kristie Alley is on the cover of New Zealand's Woman's Weekly. Here she says she now weighs 67kg (148 pounds) and says her heaviest point was 100kg (220 lbs).

Update November 6th: Here she is! This is today's shot of Kirstey Alley in a bikini on Oprah's show. She looks fabulous but it looks like she's put on a bit of weight since the last time she was on Oprah? I'll post the video clips here as soon as they are availalbe.

Losing weight without calorie counting

Losing weight without calorie counting is the best long-term approach to a healthy and ideal body weight.

No one is disputing that the less calories you eat, the more weight you will lose (given a constant physical activity level). However, losing weight for good is much easier with a fundamental change in foods consumed, foods which actually require that you consume much more food weight on your diet plan than you do now.

Can you imagine being told to eat more food in order to lose weight? We are talking about food that weighs a lot, food that is dense, fiber rich and nutritious. Nothing else will satiate quite as well. Think of a whole pound of broccoli, for example, the central part of your dinner entree, steamed and sprinkled with butter and sunflower seeds.

Tiny portions and calorie counters are the opposite of this logic, and will never satisfy or satiate.

Very few studies have actually been done on this (because no corporate or pharmaceutical pill-popping dieting product stands to gain anything from such studies and hence will not sponsor them), but the secret to permanent weight loss is to eat the healthiest foods. And to eat lots of them!

A recent study at Pennsylvania State University asked dieters to eat lots of foods that were heavy in water and fiber (fruits and vegetables) and to not count calories or fat grams. The people that followed this regiment lost more weight than the control group who were asked to count calories and take small portions.

Filling up on vegetables, and not restricting yourself as to how much you eat of these, has got to be the most healthy and painless way to lose weight. Vegetables are so delicious if you give them a good try!

Most people are not aware of the existence of three top vegetables in terms of nutrition and health benefits. These would be kale, swiss chard and collard greens.These three vegetables are actually much more nutritious than even spinach and broccoli, which are both super foods. Find out where you can buy these nearby. (The organics store is sure to have them, but maybe your local superstore carries them as well).

Once you've bought your kale or spinach chard, wash it, cut it up, throw it in the pot with a little water and let it steam for a few minutes. Add some butter or olive oil and a bit of salt once it's steamed enough for your liking. You'll be amazed how good it tastes and how satisfyingly filling it is.

Try cooking a big serving of oatmeal with fruit for breakfast and making heaps of vegetables the central part of your lunch and dinner (with some brown rice, lentils or chili and nuts or seeds and a small bit of meat or fish) and you will lose mega weight in no time.

I'd be really keen on tracking people's daily progress with this. I'm not qualified to counsel dieters in any medical way, but I do know a lot about healthy eating and would like to provide emotional and informational support. If you are inclined to try this, please comment on your experience below. I will answer your questions in very short order.