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How do people let themselves get to be 100 pounds overweight? I suppose for everyone the story is a little different; here’s mine. First, before delving into the years of weight gain, I realized recently I was in denial about my weight and just how heavy I was. At 270 pounds, it just wasn’t sinking in that I was a hundred pounds overweight. It was after seeing recent pictures of myself that I realized just how heavy I was. I’m fairly tall, at 5’9”. I’ve always carried my weight pretty well. I’m top heavy, so that accounts for some of...

Eating five times a day can help keep weight down, a new study has suggested, as scientists reject the idea that three daily meals is the key to staying healthy. Researchers say a daily routine of breakfast, lunch, dinner along with two further snacks a day can help shed pounds. But breaking the routine can lead to weight gain—for instance, skipping breakfast is associated with putting on weight, according to the study published in the International Journal of Obesity. …

The notion that moving more will translate to weight loss is a dangerous one. For individuals, it may effectively discourage exercise when results aren't seen on scales. For the media and entertainment industries, it often leads to the perpetuation of the "people-with-obesity-are-just-lazy" stereotype. For the food industry, it allows an embrace of exercise by means of sponsorship and marketing, which, in turn, helps companies deflect product blame and forestall industry-unfriendly legislation. And for public policy makers, it makes it challenging to make the case for interventions that increase exercise, as inevitably the outcome hoped for is weight loss, and when...

Diet sodas and other artificially sweetened products don't help with weight loss, according to a new study from Purdue University. According to Susan E. Swithers, a professor of psychological sciences and a behavioral neuro scientist, it is important to know the effects of having too much artificial sweetener in the diet. She added that consuming too much food containing "no-calorie sweeteners" have been known to be associated with increased risk of heart problems and weight gain.About 30 percent of all adults in the U.S. consume artificial sweeteners. Even though, diet sodas have been considered healthy food by many, studies show...

Enlarge Image Burning fat in the cold. White fat cells sense cold directly, and release energy to warm up. Credit: Biophoto Associates/Science Source Transforming fat cells into calorie-burning machines may sound like the ultimate form of weight control, but the idea is not as far-fetched as it sounds. Unexpectedly, some fat cells directly sense dropping temperatures and release their energy as heat, according to a new study; that ability might be harnessed to treat obesity and diabetes, researchers suggest. Fat is known to help protect animals from the cold—and not only by acting as insulation. In the early 1990s,...

Obese mice were given the drug Amlexanox lost weight. (credit: University of Michigan)ANN ARBOR (WWJ) - Could a drug used to treat canker sores be a miracle weight-loss solution? Researchers at University of Michigan are working to find out.Back in February, U-M researchers discovered that mice given the prescription drug, Amlexanox, lost weight without diet or exercise. Now, Dr. Elif Oral, an associate professor of internal medicine at U-M’s Metabolism, Endocrinology & Diabetes (MEND) division, is beginning the first human study to determine whether the drug will have the same effect in people.“The weight loss together in improved glucose metabolism...

The federal Affordable Care Act, better known as “ObamaCare,” may provide activists and government a little-known wedge to advance their obesity agendas through regulated health-care providers — specifically America’s nearly 3,000 non-profit hospitals. One organization, The STOP Obesity Alliance, recently identified this wedge as a way to have such hospitals embrace its core convictions, including one principle which questions the role of personal responsibility as a cause and a solution to obesity.Community Health Needs Assessments. Section 9007 of the Act requires non-profit hospitals, as a condition of maintaining their tax-exempt status, to conduct Community Health Needs Assessments (CHNAs). These documents, which...

The logic behind weight-loss surgery seems simple: rearrange the digestive tract so the stomach can hold less food and the food bypasses part of the small intestine, allowing fewer of a meal's calories to be absorbed. Bye-bye, obesity. A study of lab mice, published on Wednesday, begs to differ. It concludes that one of the most common and effective forms of bariatric surgery, called Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, melts away pounds not - or not only - by re-routing the digestive tract, as long thought, but by changing the bacteria in the gut. Or, in non-scientific terms, the surgery somehow replaces...

In a move that could significantly expand insurance coverage of weight-loss treatments, a federal health advisory panel on Monday recommended that all obese adults receive intensive counseling in an effort to rein in a growing health crisis in America. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force urged doctors to identify patients with a body mass index of 30 or more — currently 1 in 3 Americans — and either provide counseling themselves or refer the patient to a program designed to promote weight loss and improve health prospects. Under the current healthcare law, Medicare and most private insurers would be required...

When roasted at 475 degrees, coffee beans are sometimes described as rich and full-bodied. But for the full-bodied person who is not so rich, unroasted coffee beans — green as the day they were picked — may hold the key to cheap and effective weight loss, new research suggests. In a study presented Tuesday at the American Chemical Society's spring national meeting in San Diego, 16 overweight young adults took, by turns, a low dose of green coffee bean extract, a high dose of the supplement, and a placebo. Though the study was small, the results were striking: Subjects lost...

The study found that people who frequently ate chocolate had a lower body mass index (BMI) than people who didn't. The researchers found that the participants - who were an average age of 57 - ate chocolate for an average of twice of week and exercised roughly 3.5 times per week. But the more frequent chocolate-eaters had smaller BMIs, a ratio of height and weight that's used to measure obesity. What explains the effect? Even though chocolate can be loaded with calories, it's full of antioxidants and other ingredients that may promote weight loss, the researchers said.

Eating chocolate cake as part of a full breakfast can help you lose weight, say scientists. It sounds too good to be true, but new research says having dessert—along with the traditional fry-up—burns off the pounds. Morning is the best time to consume sweets, because that's when the body's metabolism is most active—and we have the rest of the day to work off the calories, a new study shows. Eating cookies or chocolate as part of a breakfast that includes proteins and carbs also helps stem the craving for sweets later. Researchers split 193 clinically obese, non-diabetic adults into two...

Fat people have less than thin people. Older people have less than younger people. Men have less than younger women. It is brown fat, actually brown in color, and its great appeal is that it burns calories like a furnace... --snip-- The brown fat also kept its subjects warm. The more brown fat a man had, the colder he could get before he started to shiver. Brown fat, Dr. Carpentier and Jan Nedergaard, Dr. Cannon’s husband, wrote in an accompanying editorial, “is on fire.” On average, Dr. Carpentier said, the brown fat burned about 250 calories over three hours. But...

Not just the eating but also the actual position of “couch potatoes” is harmful, new research shows. It has been known for some time that people who watch hours of TV a day tend to be at higher risk of becoming overweight or obese. The connection was thought to be because of munching junk food while watching. But Tel Aviv University researchers have found that not just the eating but also the actual position of “couch potatoes” is harmful. Being stretched out in front of the TV is considered to be “active inactivity” and causes viewers to gain weight. Such...

Craving an afternoon snack? Take a drag on a cigarette, and your hunger will likely disappear. Smoking is the number one cause of preventable deaths in the Unites States and other developed countries, causing lung cancer, heart disease, and chronic bronchitis. But smokers are, on average, skinnier than nonsmokers. New research reveals how nicotine, the active ingredient in cigarettes, works in the brain to suppress smokers' appetites. The finding also pinpoints a new drug target for nicotine withdrawal—and weight loss. The nicotine receptor in the brain has 15 subunits; they can combine in a multitude of ways to form different...

Australian researchers have tested a new generation of asthma medication on a small sample of men, the effects show a high potential for improving fat and protein metabolism. The study involved seeing how various hormones affect the metabolism, specifically a class of hormones called catecholamines, which regulate heart rate, metabolism and breathing. The new generation asthma drug used called Formoterol, is a synthetic catecholamine. Although, the metabolic effects haven’t previously been studied, therapy doses given to animals have shown it stimulates the metabolism without affecting the heart.

America's most powerful couple just met England's most popular. The British papers are already worried Princess Kate is looking too thin and Michelle Obama's floral dress was a bit too similar to the Queen's.

Victoria’s Secret model, Miranda Kerr who gave birth to Flynn, her first child with husband Orlando Bloom, in January – explained in addition to sticking to an eating plan specially devised for blood type A, she also supplements her diet to ensure her body receives maximum nutrition. The 27-year-old beauty said: “I am a blood type A and more often than not I eat specifically for my blood type. I also eat low GI, high alkaline foods, drink filtered water and eat mostly fresh produce and very little meat. “I believe it is important to supplement our food to ensure...

America’s Globe magazine claims the President is hooked on prescription pills. The tabloid says Obama’s addiction nightmare is the real reason for the Commander-in-Chief’s shocking weight loss. The drugs — apparently used to help Barack battle depression — are a “cocaine-like” stimulant, according to Globe.

Is Christina Hendricks too fat? I don’t know. Does Baskin Robbins have too many flavors? Is Rudolph’s nose too shiny? Was Mother Theresa selfless? Are the fellas from the National Organization of Women too shrill and judgmental? Well okay, the answer to that last one is “yes”, but any guy with a functional “Y” chromosome and an IQ higher than of the average Sponge Bob character would answer a resounding “NO” regarding the lovely Ms. Hendricks and the state of her figure. Ever since she appeared on the hit AMC show “Mad Men”, Christina has done for the male population...