In response to rising obesity rates in the United States, researchers conducted research on alcohol consumption, a practice believed to contribute to weight gain and obesity development. Women aged 38+ with no major health complications and normal body mass index were seperated into drinker and non-drinker groups and followed up on 12 years later. The results indicate that the drinkers showed gained less weight. They also had a decreased chance of being obese.

The most important thing to note is that alcohol consumption was light to moderate. Don’t go out and get yourself drunk in an effort to lose a few pounds! Also of note is that the drinking was associated with increased calorie burning.

This study, however, does not indicate that losing weight is as simple as consuming alcohol. It just shows that alcohol can help in weight loss. It is still more important to eat well and exercise regularly. No magic drink can replace those two practices.

Health experts cite 1-2 pounds lost per week as a realistic target. Research shows that weight loss is easier when you start that diet or exercise regimen before it plateaus and weight loss becomes that much harder. This is the period when only your will and dedication can lead to good results. Remember that the formula for losing weight is simple: you need to expend more calories than you consume. Every successful diet or exercise plan either helps you expends more calories or makes you cut down on calories consumed. The key is staying focused and motivated enough to continue with the program.

The good news is that it gets easier the more you get used to your diet and exercise programs. A decrease in overall body weight also decreases the body’s energy requirements. This means that you need to consume less food that when you initially started losing weight. Exercise is also something that you will grow accustomed to. Exercising for a sufficient amount of time releases pleasure-inducing chemicals that make you feel better as you are exercising. That should be enough motivation to start exercising!

All else fails, just remember the basic formula that every dieter should start from: expend calories, consume less calories. Eat well, exercise enough, and the results should be there.

The book details five good and bad habits that contribute to weight loss and weight gain. They are as follows:

Good Habits
1. Eat a healthy breakfast
2. Eat fruit and vegetables
3. Eat whole grain
4. Eat healthy fats
5. Exercise!

Bad Habits
1. Too much sugar
2. Snacking (except on fruit and vegetables)
3. Eating too much meat and dairy
4. Eating out frequently
5. Watching TV while eating

Abiding by the good habits and eliminating the bad habits can contribute to natural weight loss steadily. Additional habits they recommend are: keeping a food and exercise journal and setting goals. How appropriate then that they also have a Mayo Clinic Journal to go along with the book. Very nice!

The next part deals with living the good life. They include up to date information on the food pyramid and how best to abide by it. It also contains additional resources that can actively aid in your weight loss goals. Remember, the information contained in the book is clinically tested by a team of weight loss professionals.

Over time, you will get used to exercising and dieting. Exercising creates a natural high by releasing endorphins – a feel-good chemical – into your system. This improves your mood quite a bit and can even serve as motivation to exercise the next time. Exercise also reduces cortisol levels in the body. This serves to reduce stress, and when done over a long period of time, you become less susceptible to future stress. Scientists recommend exercising for more than 30 minutes if you are highly stressed to get the maximum benefit.

Adding to the difficulty of sustaining long-term weight loss is the fact that routine can lead your body to no longer react the way it did a few months ago. Researchers believe that endorphin tolerance increases over time so the effect is lessened the longer you’ve been exercising. The body will adapt to changes so it is important to vary your routine to keep up with it. Simple changes like intensity and duration can help a great deal towards preventing stagnation from setting in. Some celebrities instruct their personal trainers to keep them guessing; they don’t know what exercises they will be doing until they start working out.

Music is also a good way to keep yourself upbeat while exercising. Be sure to mix up your exercise music to keep things fresh. Best of all, researchers have uncovered that loud music releases more feel good hormones that help keep you happy. Just another reason to bring that MP3 player or iPod to the gym!

Researchers selected obese, middle-aged males who had a high risk of diabetes and heart disease. The subjects first stayed in Munich before heading off to Zugspitze, Germany’s highest mountain. The men were free to eat as they pleased and their exercise consisted of slow walks inside their stations.

The results show that the men lost on average 3.5 pounds during their stay in the mountains. Also notable is the fact that they maintained the loss a month after the study. Researchers have speculated that the high altitude might have improved their test subject’s metabolism along with making exercise easier for them.

The researchers will continue their studies, this time focusing on a higher altitude mountain in Italy. University of Southern California professor Richard Bergman also notes that the state of Colorado in the United States has the highest average elavation and lowest obesity rate in the country. Comparing this with states with lower elavations and their higher rate of obesity indicates a potential correlation between high altitudes and improved weight loss.

People tend to stick with other people who are very similar to them. There is a natural feeling of safety and belonging with like-minded individuals. The thinking here is the same as for old couples. Stick with a group for a long enough time and you will feel and act like part of that group.

For people looking to lose weight, it can be very beneficial to surround yourself with slim people. Studies conducted by the New England Journal of Medicine show spouses are likelier to be obese if their other half is obese as well. Similarly, it is likelier they will be slim if their partners are slim.

This is only natural. It is human nature to conform to our surroundings. If you are an overweight person surrounded by slim people, you will feel motivated (or perhaps ashamed) to lose weight to fit in with the group.

This is not always the case, though. There are times when an overweight spouse loses a big amount of weight. Suddenly, the partner feels jealous at all the positive attention the spouse is getting. Don’t fall for that trap.

The difference lies in harnessing motivation and putting it to good use. In some cases, the other person might feel alienated or jealous. This can trigger bouts of depression, or sometimes, turning to comfort food for support. Take a page out of the reformed spouse’s handbook and lose some of that weight yourself. Then both of you can garner that positive attention!

Strength in numbers. Joining a weight watchers club can have numerous benefits. When you share a common goal with other people, it is easier for you to support each other. That alone can push you to work harder at losing that weight. Having a personal trainer can also work wonders. Hearing someone else egg you on to do one more pushup makes you work that much harder.

There is a saying, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” This idea, like the theory mentioned above, is grounded in genetics. Genetics deals with inheritance, more specifically, the traits that people inherit from their mothers and fathers through DNA encoding.

Scientists have discovered a gene in lab mice that they have referred to as the “fatso gene”. They noticed that the heavier mice had this particular gene while others did not.

More recently, scientists have found in the human genome a similar phenomenon. Certain people have these “fatso genes”. A person with two of these genes is likelier to be obese and have diabetes. A person with one of these genes is, on average, heavier, as well.

Scientists estimate that about 16% of the world’s population has 2 copies of the “fatso gene”, while roughly 50% have one.

Another factor that can influence weight is the number of fat cells in the body. Studies have shown that some people have twice as much fat cells compared to other test subjects.

Fat cells are usually generated during childhood and end during adolescence. However, some people start generating these fat cells as early as age 2.

While this means that some people are genetically predisposed to being a bit on the heavier side, it doesn’t mean that they are helpless to combat it. Regular exercise becomes that much more important for people that have a history of obesity in the family.

Having more fat cells is also not as disadvantageous as you might think. It is better to have a lot of them rather than letting a few fat cells become overstuffed, and consequently enlarged. This makes it likelier for that person to develop weight complications.

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One reason why personal trainers and fitness experts can help us lose weight is because they can teach the right exercises for us and how to do it properly. Exercise can be classified into two categories: aerobic exercise and anaerobic exercise.

The difference between these two lies in the length and the intensity of the activity. For example, a physical activity that requires a burst of strength falls under anaerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise, on the other hand, requires prolonged physical activity, often at lesser intensity.

Aerobic Exercises: Running long distances (marathon), riding a bicycle, playing tennis
Anaerobic Exercises: Running short distances (sprint), lifting weights, doing pushups and pullups

It is important to have a good mix of aerobic and anaerobic exercise. When we exercise, glycogen is converted to produce glucose (an energy source for the body). When there are no more carbohydrates to convert into glucose, the body taps into the fat reserves, which triggers something called fat metabolism. Basically, this means that the body burns fat. It takes our bodies a long time before fat metabolism is triggered, and as such, can only be done through aerobic exercise.

Anaerobic exercise has its own advantages. A steady exercise regimen of lifting weight increases the body’s muscle mass, which also increases the body’s metabolic rate. The metabolic rate refers to the speed in which fat is burned. The higher the metabolic rate, the faster fat is burned.

The next time you think of exercising, try to vary your exercises between aerobic and anaerobic. Combining these two types of exercises can make the difference in your battle against the bulge!

Our body derives energy from the food that we eat. Whenever we eat something, the body’s chemical reactions converts the food into energy that we can use. That reaction is something we call metabolism.

The metabolic rate refers to the speed in which metabolism occurs. People with higher metabolisms are able to burn fat faster. Which probably explains why some people can get away with eating heavily – they have a very fast metabolism.

Not everyone has the same kind of metabolism. The metabolic rate can be influenced by a variety of factors such as physical makeup and behavior. This rate also decreases with the passage of time – as we get older, our metabolism decreases.

Another factor is the amount of lean body mass. Metabolism decreases as you lose lean body mass. Conversely, increasing muscle mass will speed up the metabolic rate. You can increase muscle mass by doing anaerobic exercises. An example of anaerobic exercise, as opposed to aerobic exercise, is lifting weights. It will increase your muscle mass, and consequently, increase your metabolic rate.

A Scandinavian research team at Helsinki University Central Hospital experimented on a set of twins. One of the twins was thin, and the other one was fat. A study done at the cellular level reveals that the fat cells in the heavier twin caused a change in his metabolic rate – it made it more difficult for his body to burn fat!

What this research shows is that gaining weight can lead to a downward spiral, wherein additional weight gained influences your body to make it likelier that you will gain weight. This means that it is imperative to stay on top of things by doing a lot of physical activites in order to avoid this pitfall.

The important thing to remember is that you can change our metabolism. It will take constant exercise, but the results in the form of improved weight management are very rewarding.