Archive for the ‘exercise’ Category

How Much Weight Can You Really Lose?….And what can you do?

Friday, January 13th, 2012

Here is a recent post from my Psychology Today blog (http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/thin-within)  These recent studies confirm the wisdom of a sane eating approach….

Just as we all start resolving to lose, we’re hit with the news that it may never work.  If you’ve been overweight for a while, if you’ve dieted only to keep regaining, the problem may well exceed willpower.

In this season of “20 Lbs in 20 Days!”  other headlines ask “Do You Have to be Superhuman to Lose Weight?”  Or, “Are We Programmed to Pack on Pounds?”  Unpopular questions, for sure, but ones to which science increasingly answers “probably”.

Research from around the world concurs.   Once we’ve carried the weight, our bodies seem to adjust to that new “normal”.  Our chemistry then seems to fiercely defend the larger body size.  We’ll experience this as relentless hunger as well as painfully slow losses and discouragingly quick regain.    The ramped-up hunger, the sluggish metabolism, the rapid accumulation of fat:  all of these are hormonally driven, arising from the extra weight itself.  Losing weight, then, becomes at the very least a mighty struggle against biology. (more…)

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NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS THAT STICK….AND TEN SMALL CHANGES THAT COUNT

Friday, January 7th, 2011

It’s a fresh start….it feels great….but I’m afraid I won’t keep it up…. I’ve heard these words, or something like them, a lot this week. So, I start this new year with thoughts on our resolutions to eat well, lose weight, or otherwise improve our diet habits.

New Year’s diet resolutions usually fizzle quickly. The goals we set may be too broad and sweeping, too out of touch with reality to last. They don’t factor in the inevitable complications and challenges. They don’t consider whether or not we’re really prepared or ready. Grand resolutions—say, to eat every day in a way that keeps weight down, for good, forever, period—require understanding and preparation. I’ll return to those in my next blog. Here, I offer some ideas for smaller resolutions.

Those who follow my blogs will know that I believe in the power of small changes (related blogs listed below). Changing one or two specific habits may or may not lead immediately to lost pounds. They open the door to other and bigger changes, though. And they usually have value in themselves, however they affect the scale in the short run. Perhaps most important now, they’re likely to stick. They’re less likely to fizzle out in two weeks. So they’ll leave you feeling confident about your ability to make future changes.

Previous blogs, like those listed here and others, offer plenty of ideas for small changes to integrate into your life right now. Here are ten additional ones, most gleaned from recent studies on weight management. The idea is to start doing this one thing. Assess (more…)

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EATING SANELY MEANS MOVING, TOO

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

Eating sanely is by definition about eating, right?  Well, yes, though it is also about moving.  We eat well, at least in part, to maintain good health and a satisfactory weight.  And you’re not likely to achieve either without moving your body.

People exercise much less often now than in earlier eras—in fact, many of us now lead lives in which it would be completely possible to not exercise at all.  Our bodies pay a steep price for not moving, though.   In terms of weight, exercise doesn’t necessarily prevent weight gain or cause automatic losses.  We have to eat right, too.  But exercise builds muscle and supports healthy metabolism in ways that scientists continue to analyze.
We hear and read about exercise in the news pretty regularly these days.  On June 4th I wrote “Stand Up to Keep Weight Down”, in response to findings about sitting vs. standing.  For it turns out that even just standing beats staying seated on cardiac and other measures.   Dr. Amos Oz puts his own spin on these studies in his latest O, the Oprah Magazine column (August 2010).  And a recent Sunday New York Times Magazine item notes that even men who work out regularly show cardiac worsening if they sit a lot when during the rest of the week.  (more…)

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