My Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week is about the popular television show The Biggest Loser. In the column I address the question, could a viewer at home duplicate the weight loss results of the contestants on the show?
In my column I include data on average weight loss of the winners of the past 14 season, which I found here.
I also cited the results of a study examining the contributions to weight loss experienced by Biggest Loser contestants. It is interesting reading.
Posted in Health & Fitness
Tagged calories, diet, exercise, fitness column, health, healthy-living, motivation, nutrition, obesity, physical activity, the biggest loser, training, weight loss
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged gaining weight, obesity, pants, vanity sizing, weight loss, women
Many people follow a diet to lose weight, treat health conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes, or to feel “healthier.” Some of these diets are based on research (the DASH diet, Mediterranean diet, etc.) and others are simply trendy at the moment (the Paleo diet).
There is great debate about which diet is the best. Unfortunately, there are no good answers to that question. The good news is that almost all diets are good, meaning that they are at least partially effective for improving some health measure. People do lose weight following even the most ridiculous diets, right?
It turns out that the diet is only one part of an effective strategy for weight loss or lowering blood pressure, cholesterol, or glucose. The other essential factor is physical activity!
Regular exercise, or pretty much any activity, is important for several reasons. For a person trying to lose weight, exercise adds to weight loss and helps keep the weight off later. Nutritional interventions for diabetes, osteoporosis, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol are all more effective with exercise.
The idea that a diet is more effective when combined with exercise is the topic of my Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week.
It’s summer and it’s hot, so it seems like a good time to write about the health and fitness benefits of swimming. Which is exactly what I did in my Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week.
Swimming is a great way to get in shape, build muscle, and to help you lose (and maintain) weight. Lap swimming is is about as aerobically demanding and burns as many calories as land-based exercise such as walking or jogging. (Obviously, it depends on the stroke you use and how fast you swim).
Since water is more dense than air, aquatic exercise is lower impact that exercise on land. This means that water aerobics, aqua walking or jogging, and resistance training using foam “weights” or webbed gloves can be done by people with conditions such as arthritis or for injury rehabilitation.
Even swimming leisurely or playing in a pool or lake can burn a substantial number of calories, so it is a healthy way to beat the sumer heat.
If you are interested in using your pool for exercise, you can find information about aquatic exercise in general here and links to suggested exercises here. You can learn more about aquatic exercise specifically for arthritis and fibromyalgia, too.
Posted in Health & Fitness
Tagged aiken standard, aquatic exercise, exercise, fitness, fitness column, physical activity, swimming, weight loss
My Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week is about my friend Shannon and her remodeling project. I have been writing about Shannon on this blog for some time, but I thought her story was worth sharing elsewhere.
Shannon has been trying to do what I call remodeling–losing a little weight and adding some muscle. To do this she started an exercise program and is now exercising nearly every day. She has also changed her diet, focusing mostly on eating out less, reducing portion sizes, and eating more fruits and vegetables.
It has been working!
What is interesting about Shannon is that the specifics of her diet and exercise program aren’t the reason for her success. Yes, that is how she lost fat and added muscle, but she could have done that following almost any diet and exercise program.
What helped Shannon the most is that she changed her habits. For years she didn’t exercise much and ate a diet that consisted largely of unhealthy foods. This was mostly due to convenience–it was easier to eat out and not exercise.
Changing these behaviors was the real challenge. Shannon’s lifestyle and interactions with others supported her former habits. And changing these habits isn’t easy. It means saying “no, thank you” a lot and making difficult choices about what to eat and when to exercise.
But she has done it and learned along the way that she really can make those tough decisions. And so can everyone else. The key is to focus on WHY we eat what we eat and WHY we don’t exercise rather than obsess about exactly WHAT to eat and WHAT to do for exercise.
Posted in Health & Fitness
Tagged aiken standard, diet, exercise, food, nutrition, obesity, physical activity, starting an exercise program, weight loss
Last week I presented a study at the American College of Sports Medicine Annual Meeting in Indianapolis showing that weight loss can improve physical function and reduce physical limitations. This study was also the topic of my Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week.
In this study 48 subjects followed a low-calorie diet (~1200 calories/day) and participated in daily exercise (progressing to 60 minutes per day of walking). The diet and exercise programs resulted in significant weight loss, about 13 pounds on average, or over 1.5 pounds per week.
We assessed physical function using a simple physical test called the timed get-up and go test (TGUG), in which the time required to rise from a chair, walk 10 feet, and return to the chair was measured. The subjects also completed the physical functioning domain of the Short-Form 36 Health Status Survey (SF-36), a subjective reporting of health-related quality of life.
Following weight loss the TGUG time was lower, meaning the subjects were able to complete the test more quickly. The SF-36 Physical Function score was higher. Together, these tests indicate that the subjects were experiencing improved physical function and fewer limitations to normal activities
This is important because physical limitations can have a big impact of quality of life. Being overweight makes simple physical tasks, such as bending over and tying your shoes, challenging. Losing weight can make these things easier, improving quality of life.
This is consistent with what many people who have lost weight report: “I feel so much better now than I did when I was heavy,” or “I didn’t realize how difficult things were for me.”
Sometimes, it’s the little things that count the most!
Posted in Health & Fitness
Tagged ACSM annual meeting, diet, exercise, health, obesity, physical activity, physical function, quality of life, weight loss
I read this interesting article in USA Today about a family who is working together to lose weight by eating healthy and exercising more. The family is participating the USA Today’s Family Fitness Challenge, which provides them with expert advice.
Predictably, their fitness is improving and they are losing weight (over 100 pounds total so far). One family member even quit smoking!
What may be surprising is that they are saving money following their new healthier diet. By preparing most meals at home they are saving about $300 per week on food!
Another happy consequence is that they are spending more time together as a family by eating meals and exercising together. No doubt this is good support for them as they try to improve their health.
They are doing this as part of a TV show (The Doctors) and they have an exercise physiologist and a nutritionist working with them, so it would be easy to think that a typical family without this support wouldn’t be successful. I disagree.
I think that if most families started preparing dinners at home, eating as a family, and going for a walk (or doing some other activity) together after dinner they would get in better shape, lose weight, and benefit from more time together.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged diet, exercise, family, fitness, nutrition, obesity, physical activity, USA Today, weight loss
Proof: “I’m starting to get catty remarks from some women about getting skinnier. Ha!!!”
Truth: This kind of “compliment” seems to be unique to women. I don’t think men do this.
Diets don’t work!
Exercise will make you gain weight!
This supplement will melt fat away while you sleep!
Unfortunately, claims like these are not an April Fools joke. They are repeated so frequently that diets and exercise are avoided by many in favor of supplements to promote weight loss. Also unfortunately, they aren’t true. My Health & Fitness column in the Aiken Standard this week busts these common weight loss myths. Here is a bit more about each.
1. Diets don’t work! This is a common claim, usually to explain why most people who lose weight end up gaining it back. But diets do work. Almost every diet leads to weight loss in the short-term and some lead to long-term weight loss. I have written about selecting the “best” diet and why the diet you pick isn’t the most important predictor of weight loss previously. And it is possible to lose weight and keep it off. But it is difficult, as this article explains so elegantly. Difficult, not impossible.
2. Exercise will make you gain weight! This is another popular myth about weight loss. The good news is that exercise does work to promote weight loss. In fact, weight loss by exercise alone results in greater fat loss and preserves muscle compared to weight loss by diet. It’s true. But you probably shouldn’t try to lose weight by exercise alone. The best results will come from combining diet and exercise.
3. Melt fat away while you sleep by taking supplement X! This sounds great, which explains why Americans spend billions of dollars on dietary supplements each year. Unfortunately, most of these supplements have not been researched either adequately or at all to determine their effectiveness or safety, or they have been shown to be ineffective, as shown here. A conservative conclusion is that there are no supplements that have been shown to safely promote long-term weight loss.
Posted in Health & Fitness
Tagged aiken standard, april fools joke, diet, exercise, fitness column, health, supplements, weight loss
Dr Parr Says... 