Tag: Obesity

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What Does It Really Mean to Be Overweight?

Obesity is an ever increasing problem in the US now-a-days. Studies show that over 66 percent of Americans can be categorized as either fat or obese, and the medical community is even going so far as to call it an epidemic. However, with today’s aesthetic standards as portrayed by the media and the fashion community, it can be very tough to decipher what is actually a healthy weight. No doctor would recommend trying to be stick-thin, but we all know that obesity is dangerous to the health. So, where is that healthy midline? What, exactly, does it mean to the general public to be “overweight?” Here are the plain facts:

Overweight
Overweight (Photo credit: just.Luc)

The definition. Being overweight means weighing more than what is healthy. This amount varies from person to person, as it depends on factors that are unique to each person’s build. Therefore, what is overweight for you might not be overweight for someone else.

Overweight compared to being obese. It is important that you understand that overweight does not necessarily mean obese. Healthy (or unhealthy) body weight is graded on a scale, including the categories of “normal weight,” “overweight,” “obese,” and “morbidly obese.” Each level has its own set of qualifying factors and, of course, morbidly obese is the most dangerous. Being overweight means being one step above normal weight, one step below obese, and two steps below morbidly obese.

What factors are used to determine overweight? Your body mass index (BMI) is used to determine where you are categorized on the health/morbidly-obese scale. Your BMI is a measure of your body’s composition, accounting for how much you weigh in relation to your height. There are various different methods to calculate BMI. The simplest is to use an online BMI calculator, but for the most exact figure, it is a good idea to see a doctor or nutritionist. If your BMI falls between 25 and 30, you are generally considered overweight. However, it is important to keep in mind that BMI has no way of accounting for your muscle to fat ratio. This ratio can make a major difference in your overall health, and therefore can change your status as overweight. For example, if you are a serious athlete with a lot of muscle, you may weigh more than someone else your height who is at a “normal” weight, but that doesn’t mean you are overweight.

Overweight is a term that is used loosely, which makes it confusing when determining whether or not you fit into that category. Your best bet is to consult with your doctor to figure out if you are overweight, and if you could benefit from lowering your BMI.

About the Author: Tommye Lounder is a health and wellness specialist who specializes in educating people about their bodies. He enjoys researching common medical conditions, including candida expert opinions, heart health, addictions, and the body’s metabolism.

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Celebrity Weight Loss Isn’t The Best Guide To Your Diet And Exercise Program

There’s a lot of information floating around in the media about celebrity weight loss. I don’t know about you but it seems that everyday there is a new magazine article on the shelves about the newest diet or weight loss fad coming out of Hollywood. And the range of ideas being touted as the ‘next big thing’ by celebrity watchers can be simply astounding. This is not to say that these amazing diets can’t be beneficial for you. They obviously work, to a degree.

The biggest problem with most weight tips and diets is that they have a very high rate of short term gain and long term pain. As many as 95% of people who try a new diet will achieve only short term results before relapsing back to old habits and often ending up with more weight loss and health problems than they had before starting. While it can be frustrating to be overweight, there are very few extreme solutions that are effective over a period of months or years and not simply days.

Celebrity weight loss programs are also more often than not supervised by expensive personal trainers and catered to by professional chefs. It’s not the kind of short term diet and lifestyle choice that most people can make. It’s not sustainable unless you have the million dollar budget to back it up and, dare I say it, the kind of personality that can throw itself into an obsessive routine. The secret to long term, sustainable weight loss is real lifestyle change.

Whether you’re a little overweight or obese there are lifestyle factors unique to you that have put you in the situation you’re in. Also, your body type could be healthy with a little extra weight and might not be built to look ‘celebrity thin’. You need to work these things out yourself with the help of professional health care and fitness experts. You also have to find something you’re comfortable with and something that makes you happy now and will continue to make you happy all your life. For most people this is, unfortunately, a slow and relatively painful process.

Celebrities can be inspirational. Some of the things they can achieve in their lives are simply amazing and copying some of the things they do, or at least adapting their behavior to fit our own lives can give us a new lease on life. The best weight loss tips, however, always come back to taking a low and sustainable approach to lifestyle change and changing your body one step at a time.

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HCG Weight Loss: Proven Safe and Effective

The majority of Americans are dealing with weight and obesity problems with many of them losing the battle. This is because over 58 million Americans are overweight and 40 million are obese while 3 million are morbidly obese. The situation is so serious that for every 10 Americans aged 25 years old and above 8 of them are overweight. The situation becomes even more complicated when you realize that diseases which are associated with being overweight are on the rise. These diseases which include type ll diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, breast and colon cancer and high blood pressure are showing up more and more among younger people and are responsible for the many deaths that are taking place among young people.

Many people have found that losing weight or shedding those pounds is not just a matter of looking good but it is now a matter of life or death. Many diets have been invented and touted out there to have miracle powers yet they turn out to be nothing but a gimmick. It is important to find out as much as you can before attempting to follow any diet as some of these diets have serious health consequences.

The HCG Diet is a very popular diet in America and many millions of people have used it and have lost a lot of weight through it. Developed many years ago many Americans have been using the diet since 1950 and have found it to be highly effective when it came to losing weight. It has become one of the best known diets which are also effective and since the year 2000 when HCG drops formula was invented its popularity has only grown in leaps and bounds.

The HCG drops come with written instructions which are simple to follow with materials, shopping lists and recipes which when followed can help anyone to lose weight very safely and quickly. The HCG diet does not come with a lot of instructions about having to eat expensive foods or by making you eat only one type of food which is dangerous for your health. Instead you will not only get to eat the food you eat but save some money as you will be eating less.

The HCG weight loss program is safe for anyone to follow and has been approved by health practitioners. Before going on it you should have a doctor give you an examination to ensure that you can safely follow the diet. You can buy HCG drops online or from your local health food store.

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Role of Fiber Rich Food In Health and Weight Loss

Fiber food is very important for our body as it helps to save us from many problems and diseases. In this article we will focus on the role of fiber rich food in reducing the weight.

What is Fiber Food and What Are Its Sources?

Fiber is the food that cannot be digested by human body and it is the plant based food. The fiber doesn’t contain any calories or nutrition and is passed through our digestive tract till it is excreted out. The examples of food rich in fiber are peas, sweet corn, carrots, apples, bananas, red cabbage, spinach, sweet corn, all bran cereal, beans and oranges.

What is the Function of Fiber Food in Our Body?
As stated earlier, the fiber cannot be digested by our digestive system and is passed through our whole digestive tract without providing any nutrients to our body. While moving through our gut, the fiber binds many materials with itself that are not good for our body. For example many carcinogens are attached with fiber and are excreted out of our body, reducing the chances of colon cancer. The cholesterol is also attached with fiber and is transported out of our body reducing the cholesterol level in body that ultimately helps in reducing the chances of heart diseases.

How Fiber Food Helps in Reducing Weight?
Obesity is a very common problem and it can lead to many other issues like development of symptoms of depression etc. Fiber food can help you in reducing extra weight, in many ways.

  1. The most important point is that fiber contains no calories. Many people skip their meals to reduce the intake of extra calories. You can get the same effect by taking your meal with major portion of fiber food. In this way you will not be skipping any of your meals and still getting lesser calories.
  2. You will feel full sooner, when you will take good quantity of fiber in your meal. As fiber stays longer in our stomach, as compared to other food items, you will feel full for a longer time and will not feel the need to take more food earlier. This will help you to take lesser food that will ultimately help you in losing extra weight.
  3. If your food does not contain the sufficient quantity of fiber the absorption of fat from your gut into blood is increased that plays an important role in gaining weight. When good amount of fiber is taken in the meals it binds the fat with itself and reduces its absorption in the blood. In this way fiber food really helps in reducing extra fat from your body.
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Guided Weight Loss Solutions with Medications

The 29th Annual Scientific Meeting will be held in Orlando Florid during the first week of October 2011, and will be attended by members of The Obesity Society, the American leader in finding weight loss solutions, researching obesity causes, educating physicians and providing weight loss solutions for their patients.

Between 2008 and 2010, the Obesity Society began a program for MDs and ODs called COMP, in other words, the Certified Obesity Medical Physician program. However the examinations for certification are scheduled for sometime in 2011, now that the knowledge has been compiled in a set of 25 subjects including pharmaceutical medicine (such as determining the best diet pills), psychology, and nutrition and exercise as a weight loss solution. The COMP program derives it’s information and provides credentials to qualified physicians based on what thirteen different societies have developed as a team. In order to offer important breakthroughs in areas that affect obesity in the American population, the Obesity Society is joined by American Boards, Academies, Colleges, Associations and Societies of pediatricians, endocrinologists, nutrition specialists, obstetricians / gynecologists, doctors of sports medicine, diabetes experts, gastroenterological specialist, heart professionals as well as metabolic and bariatric surgeons.

Individuals who seek professional weight loss solutions with guided management, counseling, and suggestions for natural / pharmaceutical products that may include the best diet pills that have been scientifically tested and proven to help, must look for Certified Obesity Medical Physicians. Why? With over half the American population suffering from weight related conditions, people can no longer leave their fate in the hands of marketing gurus and quacks who make empty promises or promote products with unsubstantiated evidence, alleging that the best diet pills are some proprietary exotic formula, or that their weight loss supplements are effective weight loss solutions without a shred of clinical proof. It’s time for Americans to seek the advice of COMP certified professionals who can offer genuine guided weight loss solutions that work based on the best science and technology available.

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Choosing Healthy Foods to Lose Weight

To succeed in losing weight we must be willing to learn a new lifestyle and change our old ones.  Habits are formed throughout our lives that are difficult to overcome. Many believe that choosing healthy foods to eat to lose weight is all they have to do. Often when we are young we do not have a weight problem, but many times as the years go by – the pounds go on. To be successful in losing weight it is important to make a decision to substitute the unhealthy for the healthy and it is just as important to know the difference between the two.

We have a tendency to eat the same foods regularly. Over and over we will often choose the same foods because these are the foods we prefer. First, it is wise to determine discover how many calories are in the foods we eat regularly. Then it is important to find ways of getting the same taste with less calories. Salads are one of the best weight loss foods available. However, if the salad is loaded with mayonnaise laced dressing or other dressing containing huge amounts of fat, the benefit of eating a salad to help maintain or lose weight is lost. There are many salad toppings available the do not contain nearly as much fat and yet taste wonderful. Search for new things that taste good and are low fat and then concentrate on changing a lifetime of eating habits.

As important as protein is to our daily diet there is no reason to stop eating it just because we have never taken the time to choose meats with less fat. Skinless chicken and turkey, leaner red meat, and one percent milk in place of whole milk will reduce caloric intake tremendously. Also, we do not necessarily have to eat meat to get the daily requirement of protein in our diet. Healthy substitutions include eggs and various legumes. After you acquire a taste for them, not only will you lose weight, you will not want to go back to the unhealthier way of eating.

Most fruits and vegetables are loaded with fiber, high in volume, packed with nutrients and are practically fat free. If you have certain fruits or vegetables you prefer to eat, fill up on them. You can stop hunger signals and curb appetite with these healthy foods you will eat less of the fat containing foods. Choose all the fruits and vegetables you can eat when you are dieting.

There are many factors which contribute to success in losing weight. Choosing healthy foods to lose weight is very important but it is only part of the process. Learning how to eat and establishing an exercise program will intensify your diet plan. Many believe that choosing healthy foods to lose weight is all it will take but remaining determined to change old traditions will be as important as anything you can do.

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