Entries Tagged 'General Weight Issues' ↓

Many might have probably noticed that there are far more obese Black girls than Caucasian girls. There is a wide variety of alleged reasons behind this observation.

Listen to a podcast by Debra Dickerson (a columnist) and a blogger on Black women’s inclination to obesity because of the motivation of African-American men. - NPR

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When you want to know if marrying Mr. or Ms. Right, you ask your mom because mothers know best. And if you want to know what the ideal weight loss program is for you, you go to your physician or dietician because they know best as well.

Here are some questions you can ask the experts to help you make the ultimate decision:

How can the program make you lose weight? Is it safe for someone in your age and health condition? How much pounds do you want to lose? How much pounds will you lose with the weight loss program? Some people merely need a weight loss program to serve as a quick fix while others want it to become their long-term solution.

Does it require you to comply with any rules when it comes to how much of which kind of food you can eat? Some people simply can’t subsist on a purely organic meal while others have trouble eliminating sweets from their diet.

What about exercise? Does the weight loss program specify any need for any kind of exercise? If so, how much are you willing to put up with?

Lastly, will the required changes cost you a lot of money? Some weight loss programs have unquestionably effective and impressively quick results, but all these come at a very stiff price. Are you ready to pay it?

[image from Leo Reynolds]

Tags: weight loss expert, weight loss questions

Ever wondered why women seem to build more fat in the lower body, specifically the belly? It’s not just the genes, so don’t look to your ancestors for someone to blame. It’s your gender and what years of evolution have granted upon the female sex of our species that have a lot to do with why women build belly fat.

Fat and the female body
Every person, regardless of whether you’re a man or a woman, has a body that was designed to carry and store fat. Fat is used for insulation, not just to provide a layer of protection for the inner organs and tissues but also to protect it against outside elements. Fat also serves as the body’s food, to be used in case a person starves.

Women tend to store more fat in the belly because they are naturally predisposed to do so. Women are naturally built to have a smaller percentage of lean muscle and a higher percentage of body fat compared to men. Not only that, female fat cells are 5 times bigger than the male’s.

Not only are female fat cells capable of holding more fat, they are also genetically programmed to do so. It all comes down to compounds called lipogenic and lipolytic enzymes. Although these enzymes are present in both sexes, women’s bodies have two times the number of lipogenic or fat-carrying enzymes and only half the number of lipolytic or fat-releasing enzymes.

Women also tend to collect fat around the belly because of their baby-carrying function. A woman needs the extra fat cells to nurture a growing fetus and help bring it to full term. This trait of storing fat in the belly was also passed down from early women ancestors who needed to hold extra body fat in that area to survive drought or famine. This trait has since passed down from generation to generation and is still apparent today.

Tags: belly fat, women weight loss

[image from wandernut

Dr. Judith Reichman contributed an eye-opening article on weight loss medications to MSNBC. She discussed about three weight loss drugs, where two of them are FDA-approved.

1. Meridia aka sibutramine

It is an appetite-suppressant that inhibits neurotransmitter levels. When this weight loss pill is used with proper diet, behavioral modification and exercise, it can be very effective in helping people lose weight. Its side effects include constipation, dry mouth, head ache, insomnia, and blood pressure and heart rate increase. It should not be taken if you have hypertension or under SSRI antidpressant meds.

2. Xenical or orlistat

It helps in preventing fat absorption in the stomach and small intestine. The fat you eat gets excreted in the stool. The side effects of Xenical include oily spotting, stool urgency and fatty oily stool. It’s reported to go OTC come July 2007.

3. Acomplia or rimonabant

The medical jargon for the effect of this weight loss drug is cannabinoid receptor antagonist, which can make you feel full and can decrease your appetite through blocking the brain’s pleasure centers stimulated by eating and smoking. Side effects from Acomplia are mostly mild gastrointestinal problems.

Are you using any of these weight loss meds? Were they at any rate helpful to you? Or any unusual or unmentioned side effects?

Tags: weight loss pill, Xenical, Acomplia, Meridia

ZenHabits has a great post on how to get started with exercising with 7 Ways to Build the Exercise Habit. Don’t be like me, I only get motivated to exercise when I’m boyfriendless again.

Lifehacker pointed to one simple workout equipment for the busy bees - Pedal Exerciser. I thought it’s a food processor. Oh, there it goes, yeah, in some way, right?

Jason Calacanis Fatblogging concern on being stuck at 188/189. I suggest him to do an “after 6 diet”, which is a very popular weight loss technique locally. Will discuss the specifics of this weight loss strategy in another post. Stay tuned.

The 7 Most Sugar-Filled Drinks from Diet-Blog.com

It’s a sweet thing (pun intended) I never drink sodas and I’m no fan of cranberry-flavored drinks either.

Cost of Weight Loss Surgery

Just a piece of my mind, if you’d like to be safe, either do your homework really well on finding the best and yet cheap surgeon or don’t mind the fee.

10 Reasons to Lift Weights

If your girlfriend or that healthbuff hottie in your office is not reason enough to get started with weight lifting, take a look at the other reasons to lift weights.

Contrary to popular belief, your ideal weight is dominated by a host of other factors aside from weight and height. It is very important to know very well all the other factors before having an  accurate estimate of your ideal body weight. A complete physical checkup with a doctor may also be in order.

Before more recent studies, the more generalized body mass index or BMI, which correlates the height and weight of the body, is used to determine one’s ideal weight. This very simplistic formula is still useful, but with the incorporation of other equally vital factors for one’s ideal body weight. 

Contemporary studies show that your ideal body weight is influenced by not just the height and weight which most traditional ideal body weight calculators use. One of the other parameters which help you determine your ideal weight is also in your body frame. Most people recommend the use of the “wrist test” to be able to check if you belong to the small, medium or large body frame categories. Using the index finger and thumb, the wrist is encircled by the hand. If the wrist and index finger overlap, one is considered of small frame. If the wrist and index finger do not meet and did not complete the entire circumference of the wrist, one is considered to be of large frame. Those in the middle or medium body frame range are those whose index finger and thumb do not overlap but adequately covers the wrist’s circumference.

Genetics and gender also play a major role in your ideal body weight. Men generally have higher weight requirements as opposed to their female counterparts. Allowances are also given to bone density, fat percentage in the body and level or intensity of daily activity. While calculating the ideal weight remotely may seem harmless, it must also be verified by a trusted health expert before being accepted as factual and accurate.