Study Shows Regular Exercise Might Prevent Onset Of Diabetes In Black Women

Taking a brisk walk several times a week for exercise appears to reduce black women's risk of developing type 2 diabetes, according to a study published this month in the American Journal of Epidemiology, Reuters Health reports. Few studies have been conducted on the benefits of exercise among black women, according to Reuters. For the study, Julie Palmer of Boston University and colleagues used data from the ongoing Black Women's Health Study that followed 45,000 black women from 1995 to 2005.

Researchers found that those who said they walked for a minimum of five hours weekly for exercise were one-third less likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who did not walk. The risk of being diagnosed with the disease was significantly lower among women who said they regularly took a brisk walk even when taking into account possible contributing factors such as age, income and diet. The study included a large number of obese women and they too appeared to have a lower risk for developing diabetes if they exercised regularly.

Palmer said, "This is important, because it suggests a way to reduce diabetes risk even among the women who are at highest risk of the disease," adding, "The finding that brisk walking for a few hours a week or longer reduces diabetes risk may be the most important finding of all. This is something almost all women can do in the course of their daily lives."

Researchers also found that women who watched television for five or more hours a day were 86% more likely to develop diabetes than those who watched less than one hour per day (Norton, Reuters Health, 12/18).


An abstract of the study is available online.

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

Personal Trainer in Charlotte, NC

Salt Lake City Is Best City For Women, Madison Is Best City For Men - USA

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The editors of Men's Health and Women's Health magazines reveal the first-ever ranking of America's Best & Worst Cities for Women and the eighth annual ranking of America's Best & Worst Cities for Men. The lists appear in the January/February editions of both magazines, hitting newsstands on Tuesday, December 23.

Topping the healthiest cities list for women is Salt Lake City, Utah while Madison, Wisconsin took the top spot for the men's list. The worst cities for women and men are Bakersfield, California and Charleston, West Virginia, respectively.

The magazines' editors tallied 38 different factors to determine the rankings, including cancer rates, air quality and number of gym memberships. The analysis took into consideration 100 of America's largest cities (from all 50 states) and focused on the overall health, fitness and quality of life for their residents. The comprehensive report focuses specifically on major cities, not their suburbs, and utilizes data from sources such as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the Census Bureau, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Labor.

Seven cities overlap with high rankings on healthy living for both men and women (in the top ten spots): Aurora, Colorado; Madison, Wisconsin; Minneapolis, Minnesota; San Francisco and San Jose, California; Salt Lake City, Utah and Seattle, Washington. The bottom ten spots on both lists include Bakersfield, California; Birmingham, Alabama; Charleston, West Virginia; Detroit, Michigan; Memphis, Tennessee; St. Louis, Missouri and St. Petersburg, Florida.

The top ten best and worst cities for each gender are featured in the print editions of Men's Health and Women's Health magazines. A complete ranking of all 100 cities can be found on WomensHealthmag.com and MensHealth.com.

Featured in the January/February edition of Men's Health Magazine:

Ten Best Cities For Men

1. Madison, WI
2. St. Paul, MN
3. Salt Lake City, UT
4. Seattle, WA
5. Aurora, CO
6. San Jose, CA
7. Lincoln, NE
8. San Francisco, CA
9. Boston, MA
10. Minneapolis, MN

The 10 Worst Cities For Men

91. Detroit, MI
92. Jacksonville, FL
93. Riverside, CA
94. Bakersfield, CA
95. Memphis, TN
96. Birmingham, AL
97. St. Petersburg, FL
98. Las Vegas, NV
99. St. Louis, MO
100. Charleston, WV

Featured in the January/February edition of Women's Health Magazine:

The 10 Best Cities For Women

1. Salt Lake City, UT
2. San Francisco, CA
3. Seattle, WA
4. San Jose, CA
5. Denver, CO
6. Minneapolis, MN
7. Fargo, ND
8. Madison, WI
9. Manchester, NH
10. Aurora, CO

The 10 Worst Cities For Women

91. St. Petersburg, FL
92. Birmingham, AL
93. Modesto, CA
94. Cleveland, OH
95. Detroit, MI
96. Charleston, WV
97. Toledo, OH
98. Memphis, TN
99. St. Louis, MO
100. Bakersfield, CA

Women's Health Magazine
Men's Health Magazine
Personal Trainer in Charlotte, NC

Spot Reduction

When I sit with a potential female client, I ask them what their goals are. The responses majority of the time are always the same, they want to either lose their stomach, get rid of the fat that is surrounding their back, or they want to make their butt tighter. I have to remind them of the phenomena of spot reduction and how it effects the body.

Besides launching millions of sit-ups, leg lifts and torso twists, the desire for a toned and taut physique has sold a long line of exercise devices of dubious worth. Countless inventions, such as vibrating belts and ”gut-busting” contraptions, have claimed to miraculously tighten and tone our trouble spots.

But the miracles we were expecting never materialized, and our ‘’spots” remained ”unreduced.”

What’s wrong with spot reduction?

Where did we go wrong? In our efforts to tone our bodies we neglected the most important factor: fat. Exercises such as crunches or leg lifts improve the tone and endurance of the muscles, but they don’t burn fat. When we do exercises that elevate the heart rate, such as bicycling, walking or aerobic dance, the body will draw upon its fat stores for energy.

Alternative solutions

Eating a low-fat diet and following an exercise program that combines aerobic activity and strength training is the key to changing the shape of your body.

In addition to burning calories through aerobic activity, strength training will increase the amount of muscle, which burns even more calories. But many people shun the idea of intensive exercise, scared off by the idea of five-mile runs, barbells or aerobic classes.

Thankfully, any aerobic activity that elevates your heart rate can help you burn fat and take off unwanted pounds. Many experts recommend doing at least three sessions of 20 minutes of aerobic activity per week. Ideally, for long-term weight control, you should engage in at least four sessions per week, for 45 minutes each time.

For instance, these enjoyable alternatives to traditional aerobic exercise are effective fat burners:

Mountain Biking

In-line Skating

Walking

Country Line Dancing

Hiking

Martial Arts

Boxing

Cross-country Skiing

Downhill Skiing

Water Sports

In addition to these activities, which can be done solo or with friends and family, take advantage of the wide variety of fitness tapes currently on the market, or hire an fitness professional expert to instruct you without having to come up with the routine yourself. You can learn everything from martial arts to swing dancing. Choose an activity because it interests you, not because it is touted as a great workout.

A few things to keep in mind when starting any new activity:

1. Don’t start out too hard or too fast or you may injure yourself or quit before enjoying any benefit.

2. Always concentrate on enjoying yourself, rather than on what a particular exercise might do for you.

3. Keep your exercise comfortable and only increase intensity after your body becomes accustomed to new activity levels.

And always check with your doctor before beginning any exercise program, especially if you’re over 40, or have cardiovascular risk factors, such as smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes or a family history of heart disease.

A final word about toning exercises

Just because exercises like leg lifts and crunches won’t budge the fat does not mean they are not beneficial. Unlike some aerobic activities, these exercises can strengthen and tone specific muscles of the body.

The best way to shape up is to incorporate strength and toning exercises with aerobic exercises. Before you know it, you’ll be on your way to looking and feeling better.

Personal Trainer in Charlotte, NC

Love Your Body

1. Find something you like about yourself. Look in the mirror and pick a body part (shoulders, hands, skin, eyes, etc.) that you admire and accentuate it.
2. Practice positive visualization. Every morning after you turn off the alarm, make it a habit to imagine yourself at your very best: healthy and happy. Visualize as much detail as possible.
3. Splurge on an item of clothing that makes you feel fantastic, whether it's gorgeous (men a great suit or women some sexy lingerie or a pair of killer high heels).
4. Surround yourself with a circle of friends who not only adore you but who also love themselves. Fat talk and body bashing- "hate my (insert body part)" are contagious. No negative self talk allowed.
5. Write down something nice a friend or family member/ someone close to you have said about you and stick it on your mirror so you see it very day.



Personal Trainer in Charlotte, NC

The Power of Momentum

As an exercise/sport psychologist consultant that also works as a strength coach/personal trainer, I have come to realize that everything in life is depended upon momentum. The purpose of this article is to identify what is momentum; identify when momentum has shifted from positive to negative; and what one must do to get back on track and towards positive momentum.

What is Momentum and how does momentum apply to exercise and sport?

Psychological Momentum refers to the perception that a player is moving toward their objective, thereby resulting in greater levels of energy, perception of control, enthusiasm, and motivation (Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology). Another model within the sports psychology literature defines psychological momentum as a “positive or negative change in cognition, affect, physiology, and behavior caused by an event or series of events that will result in a shift in performance outcome.”

Most of us have experienced it in one way, shape, or form, that intangible feeling that makes us seem unstoppable in the moment rather in sport or when exercising; as if fate was on our side. In this highly aroused state we feel an almost supreme confidence in our ability to perform. During this psychological shift we feel in total control and enjoy every second. But how to obtain momentum and take advantage of its awesome power,… that is what individuals are seeking to obtain. Since momentum is a shift in our perception of a given situation, it follows that we do have some control over the experience.

The reason momentum is so powerful is because of the heightened sense of confidence it gives us — the most important aspect of peak performance. There is a term in sport psychology known as self-efficacy, which is simply a player’s belief in his/her ability to perform a specific task. Typically, a person’s success depends on this efficacy. During a momentum shift, self-efficacy is very high and people have immediate proof their ability matches the challenge. As stated earlier, they then experience subsequent increases in energy and motivation, and gain a feeling of control. In addition, during a positive momentum shift, a person’s self-image also changes. He/she feels invincible and this takes the “performer self” to a higher level.

What happens when one feels that they have falling into a slump (negative momentum)?

Self talk is key when one is dealing with momentum shifts and feels as if they have fallen into a slump of some sort. Sports psychology terms self talk as dialogue one has with one self. Patterns of negative or positive self-talk often start in childhood. Usually, the self-talk habit is one that’s colored our thinking for years, and can affect us in many ways, influencing the experience of stress to our lives. However, any time can be a good time to change it!

Notice Your Patterns:
The first step toward change is to become more aware of the problem. You probably don’t realize how often you say negative things in your head, or how much it affects your experience. The following strategies can help you become more conscious of your internal dialogue and its content.

Journal Writing: Whether you carry a journal around with you and jot down negative comments when you think them, write a general summary of your thoughts at the end of the day, or just start writing about your feelings on a certain topic and later go back to analyze it for content, journaling can be an effective tool for examining your inner process.

Thought-Stopping: As you notice yourself saying something negative in your mind, you can stop your thought mid-stream by saying to yourself “Stop”. Saying this aloud will be more powerful, and having to say it aloud will make you more aware of how many times you are stopping negative thoughts, and where.

Rubber-Band Snap: Another therapeutic trick is to walk around with a rubber band around your wrist; as you notice negative self-talk, pull the band away from your skin and let it snap back. It’ll hurt a little, and serve as a slightly negative consequence that will both make you more aware of your thoughts, and help to stop them! (Or, if you don’t want to subject yourself to walking around with a rubber band on your wrist, you’ll be even more careful to limit the negative thoughts!)

Replace Negative Statements:
A good way to stop a bad habit is to replace it with something better. Once you’re aware of your internal dialogue, here are some ways to change it:

Milder Wording: Have you ever been to a hospital and noticed how the nurses talk about ‘discomfort’ instead of ‘pain’? This is generally done because ‘pain’ is a much more powerful word, and discussing your ‘pain’ level can actually make your experience of it more intense than if you’re discussing your ‘discomfort’ level. You can try this strategy in your daily life. In your self-talk, turning more powerful negative words to more neutral ones can actually help neutralize your experience. Instead of using words like ‘hate’ and ‘angry’ (as in, “I hate traffic! It makes me so angry!”), you can use words like ‘don’t like’ and ‘annoyed’ (“I don’t like traffic; it makes me annoyed,” sounds much milder, doesn’t it?)

Change Negative to Neutral or Positive: As you find yourself mentally complaining about something, rethink your assumptions. Are you assuming something is a negative event when it isn’t, necessarily? (For example, having your plans canceled at the last minute can be seen as a negative, but what you do with your newly-freed schedule can be what you make of it.) The next time you find yourself stressing about something or deciding you’re not up to a challenge, stop and rethink, and see if you can come up with a neutral or positive replacement.

Change Self-Limiting Statements to Questions: Self-limiting statements like “I can’t handle this!” or “This is impossible!” are particularly damaging because they increase your stress in a given situation, and they stop you from searching for solutions. The next time you find yourself thinking something that limits the possibilities of a given situation, turn it into a question. Doesn’t “How can I handle this?” or “How is this possible?” sound more hopeful and open up your imagination to new possibilities?

How does one get back on track?

It is one thing to be able to identify when one has shifted from positive momentum to negative momentum. The next step is to try to get back on track when the shift has turn towards a negative experience. Again as mentioned earlier in the article success breeds success. If a person has a plan of action to respond to the obstacles that awaits them then they will be equipped to deal with life’s difficulties that may arise such as sickness, lack of time, travel, and holidays. Life is never perfect, but full of limitations and constraints within which we must maneuver. Life is like a canoe trip down a river. We cannot change the river, but we can navigate its course with greater or lesser skill.

In addition, a person should protect themselves from being negative by doing the following:

1. Commit yourself to stop dwelling on the negatives. Shift your focus from negative thoughts to more positive.
2. Commit to stop revisiting things that went wrong in the past, whether performance or relationship. Shift focus to what went right.
3.If you find yourself shifting back to the negative thoughts, experiences, or performance again and again, tell yourself to stop! Then change the channels to something more uplifting.
4. If you look for the negatives in positives experiences, performances, or thoughts; start looking for positives in negatives.
5. If a negative thought or image pops into your mind, let it go, release it, erase it, and let it float away. Don’t let it consume you.
6. If you can’t let the negative thought go, then shift your focus to something positive-positive memory or uplifting experience that reflects a more positive reality (i.e. concentrating on a skill that you are really good at performing or have mastered in the past)
7. If the negative thought returns, shift back to a positive memory, a positive vision of the future, or a positive action in the present. Keep going back to positives every time that negative thought creeps into your mind.

Exercising and peak performance in sport is a difficult behavior to maintain because it takes a great deal of time and energy. The goal for anyone is to produce and maintain positive momentum.
Sports/ Exercise Psychologist Consultant in Charlotte, NC

An Alpha To Omega Experience: The Process of Weight Loss

I was talking with someone the other day about where they were in life. This person really was down on themselves because they were at a crossroad with making some challenging decisions about where they wanted to be in life as it pertain to their career, personal, and spiritual life. We got on the subject of the word and definition of process. The dictionary defines process as:

1. A series of actions, changes, or functions bringing about a result: the process of digestion; the process of obtaining a driver's license.
2. A series of operations performed in the making or treatment of a product: a manufacturing process; leather dyed during the tanning process.
3. Progress; passage: the process of time; events now in process.


In the Greek alphabet the first letter is alpha and the last letter is omega. Which in essence is what a process is. A beginning and a end.

What is a process?

Isn't it just a series of things that have a start, a middle, and an end (in its simplistic form)? A process. Everything in life is a process. There's a beginning, a middle, and an end to everything. Let's look at a few examples to see if this is true!

For example movies and books have the plot, the climax, and then the end of the storyline. Likewise, songs follow the same format as a story unfolds through melody and rhythm. Even life is a process, we are born into this world. We grow and develop, and then return to the earth through death. Everything is based off of the alpha to omega principle.

With that said, in the process there are usually ups and downs, pitfalls and advantages, triumphs and disappointments, wins and loses, and even sometimes plateau moments as well. We go through a bunch of tests that are graded upon rather we grasp a concept. The downside of it is if we fail, we have to repeat it until with grasp it. Most of the times the mistakes that are made are looked upon in a negative manner; however, its the mistakes that helps us learn what or how we should be doing to move through to the next level in order to obtain whatever desire or goal that we have set forth. Life is set up so that we have to accomplish one level before we move on to the next. Even if a person cheats or tries to cut corners in the process, somehow they are forced to either have to start from the beginning and do whatever it was correctly, or they may get lucky and have to just repeat the missing step that was overlooked or taken out. Regardless, there are no shortcuts to this principle.

If one is trying to make a cake. There are certain steps that must be adhered to in order for the cake to come out successfully. However, there are some steps that could be replaced or substituted which would not be detrimental to the outcome, i.e. adding less sugar. Yet if a person was to overlook or omit the main ingredients flour, milk, eggs, and (the most important) the oven- the whole process won't work.

If we agree that life is a journey- a process, that requires us to follow steps to our endpoint, then why is it that when we approach weight loss or our health we view it in a different manner? We try to cheat our way through by thinking that weight loss or even muscle gain is a smorgasbord full of ideas and concepts that we can pick and choose leaving some by the wayside. Yet that is not the case. What we do find is that we leave those by the wayside only to find out that we have to make a U turn to come back and get them after being frustrated time and time again with the same results. Now there are some leeway when it comes to the choice of modalities such as running on the treadmill vs taking a aerobic class, or using body weight exercise/ calisthenics vs machines and free weights, or picking up a sport vs just going for a walk or eating an apple vs eating a banana. All these examples follow under a specific category:

Treadmill and aerobic classes represent cardio exercises
Body weight and free weights represent strength exercises
The apple and the banana represent nutrition

Just like the cake analogy there are things that you have a choice on rather you want to do them or not; however, there are others that are imperative that must take place in order to have a successful outcome. With weight loss and weight management everyone knows that the three concepts listed above (cardio, strength training, and nutrition) must be in place in order for you to get the desired outcome that a person is looking for. Yet, majority of the times, individuals try to cheat the system by picking some of the equation without the other parts (in order to achieve addition you have to have all the parts added up to make the sum correct). Society, especially America, has sold its people a false sense of security when it comes to the concept of weight loss and management. That's why the fitness industry will be a multi-billion dollar industry in the next couple of years due to this concept. They have told us that we can take pills that will make us lose the weight without having to workout, or use some type of equipment for a couple of weeks to make our stomach look a certain way without having to go through the painstaking process. And again, that could be true for a while, but remember in a process if one important step or steps are overlooked usually you have to go back and repeat that step or you have to start from scratch and repeat the whole process. This leads to frustration and the possibility of burn out which results in the individual quitting.

If we were to, in the beginning, accept the fact that the journey to weight loss will be a long journey then I think that more people would succeed with obtaining their goals because they have the right mind frame going in! Here is the foundation for success in obtaining your desired weight loss:

1. You have to have a passion for what you want to accomplish
2. Must be willing to work your butt off
3. Learn from all failures no matter how painstaking they may be

If a person takes these steps and apply them to their weight loss journey, there is no way why they shouldn't be able to succeed and accomplish their goals. Also there are 3 more steps that I forgot to mention:

4. Stop putting strict time lines on obtaining the weight goal
5. Make the goals realistic and obtainable
6. Quit keeping up with the Joneses

The last 3 are very important. As a personal trainer, what I have found is that the majority of people I train or give advice fail to adhere or omit these principles because they feel the need to rush through the process. You should never try to rush through anything. When you rush through you miss out on so many levels. The process only when finished and done right is cherished because you are able to look back and enjoy the accomplishment of it all in its totality (with both the setbacks and lessons learned). Some cases the process itself and the things learned are taken and used in other areas of a person life.

My final thought is this. Look at the metamorphose of the caterpillar. Scientist say that caterpillars have to go through a lot in order to become a butterfly. They say that caterpillars have a long struggle within the cocoon and breaking from it in order to become that beautiful creature that we appreciate and are in awe over. If we take that story and remember it when we are going through the process of weight loss or management then we would approach the whole process differently. We must understand that weight loss is Alpha To Omega-beginning to end. It is a process. We must embrace the fact that during this process there will be a lot of mistakes made, but there also will be a lot of lessons learned. And when its over, when its over you will be just as beautiful as that butterfly.


Personal Trainer and Sports Psychologist Consultant in Charlotte, NC

A Fitness Dream Deferred: Making Your Fitness Dream A Reality

Langston Hughes, the African-American poet, wrote a poem in the early 20th century entitled A Dream Deferred. The poem is as follows:
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like as raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore-
And then rot?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over–
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

The word deferred is define as to exempt temporarily from induction; to put off action or delay; keeping something from occurring until a future time; decide to do something later on; procrastinate; postpone; yield respectfully in judgment/ opinion; to refer.

I propose What Happens to a Fitness Dream Deferred? You may ask how this relates to fitness or wellness. The theme of this poem has to deal with postponing one’s deepest desires can lead to destruction. This can be seen in the clients that I work with on a daily basis. They come in with a goal i.e. weight loss, performance enhancement, or muscle mass gains; however, during the course of the journey, the goal becomes postponed never to be reached.

The questions in the poem are all rhetorical questions, because they intend to answer themselves. The question “What happens to a dream deferred?” appears to be answered with nothing but more questions. But if we analyze each question we get an idea of what the speaker really believes about dreams/goals being postponed. At the same rate, clients who have a goal may experience a dream deferred. The “dream” that the speaker is describing can be translated to a fitness goal, not just dreams experienced during sleep. The dream is important to the client’s life. But what dream is it exactly? The poem does not choose the dream but leaves it up to the reader. Nevertheless, the speaker’s position is clear that any important goal that must be delayed can have serious negative affects. As we look at each question we find out what those affects are. With each question the speaker offers a possibility of each negative affect.

The first stanza “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun”: a raisin is already dry, and as a raisin, it is a good thing, useful and nutritious, but if a raisin is left in the sun to dry up, it becomes hard and impossible to eat; its value sucked out, it no longer serves its useful, nutritional purpose.

The goal is central to what makes the client a valuable member of society, their self-worth. But suppose that person with the goal is told they cannot fulfill it just yet; they must wait until the trainer decides when they can lose the weight, or the nutritionist decides when it is time for them to change their diet.

What if the client has to take some other fitness goal that he/she lacks interest in i.e. the client comes in wanting to loss weight but the trainer decides for the client that they will work on functional training? What if they have no idea how long it will take to lose the weight (which usually is the case when most clients come in)? And what if they feel that perhaps they can never lose the weight or reach the goal? What happens then?

Surely, their aspiration to attain their goal will dry up, if they are not allowed to develop it. If the goal does not dry up, maybe it will “fester like a sore-/ And then run.” If you have a sore, you want it to dry up so it will heal, but if it festers and runs, that means it is infected and will take longer to heal. The goal that festers becomes infected with the disease of restlessness and dissatisfaction that may lead to gaining more weight, dropout, burnout, doubt, self- worthlessness, resentment, or even striking back at those who are deferring their goal.

Perhaps a goal put off too long is like meat that had rotted. Dead animal flesh that some people use for food will turn rancid and give off horrible odors if not used within a certain period of time. If the goal is not realized in a timely fashion, it may seem to decay because it dies.

The goal may “crust and sugar over-/Like a syrupy sweet?” If you leave pancake syrup or honey unused for several months, and you go back to fetch the bottle, you might find that there is crusty accumulation on the top of the bottle and the contents are no longer unable. Lack of use had formed that crust, that hard material that is no longer useful because no longer pliable. The goal forced to sit idle hardens into an unusable substance of thoughts that have separated themselves from the goals, and formed idle destructive thoughts that are crusted over to despair, doubt, anger, and hatred.

The second stanza is not a question bet merely a “maybe” suggestion: maybe the goal just sags like trying to carry something heavy. A heavy load makes one walk slowly, makes one clumsy as they try to move under the load. The goal not realized may become heavy to bear, because it still weighs on one’s mind with musing like “what might have been”, “if only”, “I guess I’ll never know”, “the one that got away.” All these useless thoughts that dip back into the past, weigh heavy on the mind that has had to defer a goal. This sagging under a heavy load might lead to depression and mental lethargy.

The last stanza returns to the question again, but this time instead of a simile, the speaker employs a metaphor of an explosion. What explodes? Bombs explode and cause great destruction. If all the other possibilities of a deferred goal are bad with some worse than others, then the last possibility is the worst. If the person whose goal is deferred loses all hope, they might “explode” with their despair. Never to revisit or accept whatever the current outcome of fitness has left them or more importantly festering over to other areas of life in which they want to achieve but associate the failure from this goal into those areas of their life.

If you liked this article or any that are posted here please leave us a comment for we enjoy to read your comments.

Simple Mathematics: The Myth Behind Weight Loss

Question? Should parents expect their newborn to be able to fully cloth, feed, and care for themselves after three months of parental care? Should a teacher expect a kindergarten student to be able to master kindergarten concepts after being in class for three weeks? Should the same school system expect the same kindergarten student to comprehend concepts that are taught to 1st graders? What about comprehend concepts of higher learner? Should an athlete learning to play a new sport expect drastic results after being introduced to the skill within two to three practices? What if a beginner investor starts a portfolio, should they expect to yield big returns after three or four months? And if so, would not outside traders start to wonder about it said investor and start inquiring what he/she was doing to gain big returns within a short time frame? Should anyone expect to see results or major gains without set backs to any of the above concepts?

Question? Why do individuals get those concepts and understand that they take investing time and patience; however, when it comes to fitness and weight loss everyone wants a quick fix and fast results? If a person gains 40 pounds in 4 years, why do they expect to lose the same 40 pounds in 4 weeks? Weight loss can be a difficult concept, more so than the above concepts that were mention. It takes time and effort on the part of the individual in order for the weight to drop and for them to return to that high school image. Especially if they haven't been that size since Michael Jackson debuted his Off the Wall album. There are many issues that come into play when one is trying to loss weight.

In order for weight loss to occur, you need to burn more calories through physical activity than you are taking in. I like to compare it to the our bank accounts. What I mean by that is you spend more than you take in! A good starting point would be to determine what your resting metabolic rate (RMR) is. Your RMR is an indication of the number of kilocalories your body needs when you are resting. This is a simple test that will help you to determine what your individual needs are, so that physical activity and calorie levels can be adjusted accordingly. Remember, metabolism slows when we age, so your calorie needs are probably not as high as they once were. Remember how you could eat whatever you wanted and not gain a pound, but it seems like if you walk past the bakery you gain weight automatically. Check with your health care provider to find a location close if you are interested in having this test done.

Another area to examine is emotional eating. Many people respond to stress or depression by eating excessively. Sources of stress may not always be apparent, but may still affect eating habits and cause weight gain.

Likewise, blood sugar imbalance can cause a person to have difficulty losing or maintaining weight loss. Eating simple, refined carbohydrates can cause rapid fluctuations in blood sugar levels. For example, eating chocolate increases the amount of sugar in the blood. The hormone insulin is released which causes sugar to be stored away and blood sugar levels to be lowered, which trigger cravings for more sweets in order to stabilize blood sugar.

While losing weight is difficult for many people, it is even more challenging to keep weight off. 80 to 85 percent of those who lose a large amount of weight regain it. One theory about regaining lost weight is that people who decrease their caloric intake to lose weight experience a drop in their metabolic rate, making it increasingly difficult to lose weight over a period of months. A lower metabolic rate may also make it easier to regain weight after a more normal diet is resumed. For these reasons, extremely low calorie diets and rapid weight loss are discouraged.

Losing no more than one to two pounds per week is recommended. Incorporating long-term lifestyle changes will increase the chance of successful long-term weight loss. Weight loss to a healthy weight for a person’s height can promote health benefits such as lower cholesterol and blood sugar levels, lower blood pressure, less stress on bones and joints, and less work for the heart. Thus, it is vital to maintain weight loss to obtain health benefits over a lifetime. Keeping extra weight off requires effort and commitment, just as losing weight does. Weight loss goals are reached by changes in diet, eating habits, exercise, and, in extreme circumstances, surgery.

Finally, the strategies that encourage weight loss also play an important role in maintenance:
• Support systems used effectively during weight loss can contribute to weight maintenance.

• Physical activity plays a vital role in maintaining weight loss. Studies show that even exercise that is not rigorous, such as walking and using stairs, has a positive effect. Activity that uses 1,500 to 2,000 calories per week is recommended for maintaining weight loss.

• Diet and exercise are vital strategies for losing and maintaining weight.

• Once the desired weight has been reached, the gradual addition of about 200 calories of healthy, low-fat food to daily intake may be attempted for one week to see if weight loss continues. If weight loss does continue, additional calories of healthy foods may be added to the daily diet until the right balance of calories to maintain the desired weight has been determined. It may take some time and record keeping determining how adjusting food intake and exercise levels affect weight.

Continuing to use behavioral strategies can help maintain weight. Be aware of eating as a response to stress and use exercise, activity, or meditation to cope instead of eating.

A return to old habits does not mean failure. Paying renewed attention to dietary choices and exercise can help sustain behaviors that maintain weight loss. Identifying situations such as negative moods and interpersonal difficulties and incorporating alternative methods of coping with such situations rather than eating can prevent relapses to old habits.

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