Super-sized pets compete in national slimming contest

A FAT cat and rotund rabbit are to represent the region in a national pet slimming contest.Super-sized Bobby the rabbit, from Richmond, North Yorkshire, and Billie, a portly tom cat from Sunderland, have been selected by the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) to take part in their Pet Fit Club after their expanding girths caused their owners’ concern.

The six-month challenge involves regular weigh-ins, a prescribed low-fat diet and exercise.Have you got an oversized pet? Click here to send us your picturesBobby weighs in at 2.39kg double her ideal weight.Owner Becky Mason said:I’m already quite careful with her food, making sure she has plenty of hay and very rarely giving her sugary treats such as carrots, although I suspect she pinches some of her companion Huey’s food when I’m not looking.” Mrs Warren said: “Billie is a lovely old gentleman who would eat all the time if I let him. His favourite meal is white fish, but even when hes just had his meal, he looks for more and it has been hard to deny him.Losers are winners in animal weight loss program

The pets will compete with 17 other animals nationwide in a battle of the bulge.To sponsor the pets and raise funds for the charity Entrepreneur Penilopee LaRosa thinks she has a solution that will stick. She says she came up with “Skinnies Instant Lifts” when duct tape didn’t help.LaRosa said the adhesive helps hide unsightly cellulite and can secretly be worn under clothes to help fight gravity on the arms, legs and waistline.

We actually have a patented design that keeps the skin from being pinched, because when you lift that skin up that skin has to go somewhere, so it tucks into this little fold that doesn’t have any adhesive and it just nestles in there all day,” she said.

Losers are winners in animal weight loss program

One caper involved breaking into the freezer and dragging out about eight corn dogs. Flash pulled the corn dogs through his extra-wide doggie door to the backyard, where he ate all of them, leaving behind only sticks lying in the grass as proof of the crime.But for the past six weeks, Flash has been following a special diet and exercise program designed by Tara Lynn, a veterinary technician at Animal Medical Center. The Biggest Loser: Pet Edition includes special weight-loss food, an exercise regimen and bi-weekly weigh-ins.

Unfortunately for Flash, the program doesn't include any corn dogs, but it has helped him lose almost 16 pounds in six weeks.I'm so blown away by his progress," said Lynn at Flash's recent mid-program weigh-in.David Capps, whose son, Jacob, owns Flash, reported that the basset hound has more energy than ever before.

Before starting the program, Flash wouldn't even get up from his spot on the floor when people came to the door. But now, Flash is sometimes the first one out the door to greet visitors, Capps said.The weight loss is good news for Flash and his owner, who had been warned that if Flash didn't lose weight, he might not live to be 9 years old.

The weight-loss program hasn't been easy for either human or dog. Jacob must carefully measure out Flash's food each day, and he has to prevent Flash's clandestine trips to the refrigerator.

Frequent Chocolate Consumption May Have Slimming Effects

Eating chocolate may make people thinner, suggested a new study that found that people who ate chocolate more frequently were actually thinner than those who eat it less often.

The latest findings showed that despite chocolate containing more calories than many other foods, making researchers suspect that the calories from chocolate may not be like normal calories, and may in fact induce the body to work harder leading to reduced fat deposition per calorie, offsetting the added calories.Food aroma changes could lead to weight loss

While chocolate has also been linked to various health benefits such as enhancing mood and lowering blood pressure, researchers now believe that the metabolic effects of the particular ingredients in chocolate also make the sweet snack an ideal slimming food because it is calorie-neutral.

Our findings appear to add to a body of information suggesting that the composition of calories, not just the number of them, matters for determining their ultimate impact on weight, Lead investigator Dr. Beatrice Golomb, from the University of California at San Diego said in a statement released on Monday. “In the case of chocolate, this is good news both for those who have a regular chocolate habit, and those who may wish to start one.”

Food aroma changes could lead to weight loss

According to a new study, stronger aromas may lead to smaller bites - in a finding that may help control portion sizes.The study by researchers at the Top Institute of Food and Nutrition fitted 10 people aged 26 to 50 with a nose piece that was able to increase and decrease the aroma intensity of a custard.

Patients were also fitted with a feeding tube that pumped the custard into their mouths, which they could control using a button.According to the Atlantic, as the aroma increased in intensity, people took smaller bites.Bite size was associated with the aroma presented for that bite and also for subsequent bites (especially for the second to last bite)," says Rene de Wijk, the lead author, according to WebMD.

The reason for the smaller bites could be that people are instinctively repulsed by strong odors and try to limit the exposure to the senses.Researchers hope that the new study could help people to control portion sizes and, ultimately, contribute to weight loss.

"This study suggests that manipulating the odor of food could result in a 5-10% decrease in intake per bite," reads the study, according to Yahoo News. "Combining aroma control with portion control could fool the body into thinking it was full with a smaller amount of food and aid weight loss.The study will be published in the journal Flavour.

Health Research News Reveals Lipozene Weight Loss Program

Health Research News unveiled the Lipozene Weight Loss that has chapters on rapid weight loss and fast weight loss. People can check out the new program from the site. The company created the program to help its readers who are struggling with their weight loss. Lester Carter, one of the directors of the site, said that they made the downloadable report for their readers.

Visitors of Health Research News web site have left comments to testify that the Lipozene weight loss program works for them. This is the reason why the site made a program around the supplement. The downloadable guide has sections on weight loss supplements, safe weight loss methods, and rapid weight loss techniques. It also shows how the techniques work with Lipozene.Weight Loss Workout Program Myths Sabotage Fat Loss Seekers

A forum is also from in the Health Research News web site where people can discuss anything regarding Lipozene. This is where members found out about the release of the new supplement. Some users left comments stating that they are pleased with the new weight loss program.

Aside from the new weight loss program, Health Research News is also giving out free guide on how to lose 45 pounds in just 45 days. The report could be downloaded from the Health Research News web site.

Weight Loss Workout Program Myths Sabotage Fat Loss Seekers

Swirling weight loss workout program myths are secretly squashing the dreams of most hard working fat loss goal setters without them even knowing so. It is unfortunate, but both the fitness, and fat loss industries are riddled with lies, confusion, and non-evidence based solutions people are desperately relying on, and quickly becoming heartbroken from, says Wellness Word’s exercise physiologist Jim O’Connor. "It is time to fight back, and protect individuals from all of the fitness for fat loss lies, and confusion"

Every January millions of good intentioned people strive to shed their unwanted body fat only to give up after a few weeks from too much work, and too little results. Who is to blame? O’Connor feels both the weight loss workout program, and diet industry are the main culprits in letting people down who desperately need to make a healthy lifestyle change. "Fitness for fat loss infomercials that stretch claims, non-evidence based workout solutions that mutate from person to person, and extreme diets that don’t work quickly cripple results" says O’Connor.

When beginning a fat loss workout it is important for individuals to arm themselves with proven exercise, and nutrition principles that actually work. The goal should be maximum fat burning results in the shortest possible time, as well as preserving lifelong health. O’Connor feels only a researched, evidence based approach is a valid solution.

In order to increase the success of reaching any weight loss workout program goal it is important that fat loss participants not trust any old system they come in contact with, but to do their due diligence by researching, or consulting with a qualified professional who can guide them in the proper direction. If not, there is a good chance these good intentioned individuals will become heart broken, and disappointingly never realize the fat loss results they desire.

The women in the MOS group showed less of a change

The women in the MOS group showed less of a change

The women in the MOS group showed less of a change, showing only a 4 percent reduction in total body volume and 4 percent reduction total body fat. These results were not that different than the women in the placebo group, who had a 1 percent decrease in volume and 3 percent decrease in fat.

St. Onge and her team speculated that the difference in the results for different genders comes from inherent metabolic differences between men and women. Men tend to burn fat faster, and women tend to store fat in their bodies more efficiently.Mannooligosaccharide is a specific kind of indigestible carbohydrate called a prebiotic. Prebiotics are chemicals that are indigestible to humans, but not to the microorganisms that live in our GI tract.On Nutrition: Beware of the hCG diet

Some by-products of the microorganisms eating the prebiotics are a form of fatty acid called short-chain fatty acids, which are thought to directly nourish cells in the intestinal walls.

MOS can be extracted from spent coffee ground and then isolated and purified. There are currently no commercially available MOS supplements on the market, but regular coffee does contain small amounts of this compound.

This study was completed in the winter of 2010 and is published in the February 2012 issue of Obesity. Kraft Foods provided both the funding and the coffee for this study. Two of the four researchers were Kraft Foods employees.

On Nutrition: Beware of the hCG diet

One of my favorite spoofs on unproven nutrition products is an ad that states,I lost $200 on bogus weight loss pills. Ask me how!”How do we know what to believe when it comes to weight loss methods? Listen to trusted experts those who don’t always jump at the chance to sell you something.

Dr. Mark Vierra is a respected bariatric physician (a doctor with a special interest in weight loss) in our community. He was recently asked to comment on one weight loss regimen making the rounds...the hGC diet.Twenty years ago, Vierra begins, patients used to report a diet history to me that included injections of the urine from pregnant mares. What a bizarre diet, I remember thinking. What I didn’t know at the time was that they were describing the hCG diet.”

In humans, hGC is a hormone produced by the placenta when a woman becomes pregnant, Dr. Vierra explains. hGC stimulates the production of progesterone another hormone that maintains the lining of the uterus during pregnancy. In fact, it is hCG that is measured in most pregnancy tests. hCG has been used in some fertility treatments to induce ovulation. It is also produced by some rare and dangerous forms of cancer.The hCG diet was first proposed by Dr. ATW Simeons in the 1950s,” says Vierra. “He claimed that hCG could cause redistribution of fat and allow weight loss without hunger. He recommended a series of injections of the hormone in conjunction with a 500-calorie-a-day diet which was high in protein and low in carbohydrates.

The problem,” says Vierra, is that it has clearly been shown that hCG has no effect on weight or fat distribution. Indeed, the US Food and Drug Administration has concluded that over-the-counter HCG products marketed as weight loss aids are not only unproven

Why are some physicians bashing a weight loss

But what if there were a medication that was well tolerated and actually helped the average person taking it lose a medically significant amount of weight? While I'm quite certain I wouldn't use it with each and every patient, certainly if I had a patient who wanted to try it, or a patient where their best efforts weren't affording them further weight loss and the risk or impact of their weight was still significantly greater than the risk or negative impact of the medication, damn right I'd suggest it. Why wouldn't I? That's what doctors do - if there's a therapy where the risks of inaction outweigh the risks of treatment, we discuss treatment.

Now, there's something to be said about not trying brand spanking new drugs. Many doctors, myself included, often like to wait for a while once a drug's been released so that if there was a risk or a side effect that the limited sample sizes of Phase 3 clinical trials weren't powerful enough to reveal, we'd learn about it. That caution isn't what I want to chat with you about today. But first, some brief background.

Qnexa is a new weight loss drug that an FDA advisory committee has recently overwhelming recommended be approved for use. It's a combination drug that combines a known weight loss medication (phentermine), with a known anti-seizure medication (topiramate). The doses of the drugs used in Qnexa are relatively low compared to their regular usage separately, and perhaps that's why only 16% of the folks prescribed the top dose of Qnexa withdrew from the more than year long study due to adverse effects. As far as weight loss goes, the drug's impressive with an average weight loss of 14.4% of presenting body weight lost by week 56 in one study and 16% in another.

Yes, weight can and does respond to lifestyle changes, but statistically speaking, usually only temporarily. And really, so what? Pretty much everything responds to lifestyle changes including hypertension, diabetes, depression, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, hyperlipidemia, esophageal reflux, etc., and yet I've never heard a physician suggest it'd be unfortunate if the FDA would approve a new blood pressure medication because upping exercise, losing weight and reducing sodium might do the trick, or because we don't yet know what the impact might be of taking it for a lifetime. And yet that's exactly what Harvard's Dr. Pieter Cohen said about Qnexa,

Not only was weight-loss found to be contagious in the study

Not only was weight-loss found to be contagious in the study, but it was also found to be boosted by competition.There was inter-team competition in Shape Up, and there are data from previous studies suggesting that such an approach may enhance weight-loss teams working together to reach a common goal and 'beat' other teams to be the 'biggest loser' can bolster weight outcomes," Leahey says.Other interesting results? Team leaders were the most successful at losing weight, and team demographics, such as gender and age, didn't really matter, Leahey says.

"Individuals who were trying to lose weight but were on teams with teammates that were more focused on increasing physical activity and not weight-loss didn't do as well — so it helps to have a common goal," she says.While more research is needed and Leahey is currently working on a follow-up study — you can start putting this new information into use today by getting together everyone you know who wants to lose weight or get healthy.

"Contact friends, family and colleagues who are all motivated and serious about weight loss," she says. "Set weight-loss goals with one another, encourage each other and hold each other accountable by making exercise 'appointments' with each other and periodically sharing weight-loss progress."

In other words, catch the healthy living bug by surrounding yourself with others who have it, too! Do you think weight-loss and healthy behaviors are contagious? Share your thoughts!