After undergoing gall bladder surgery at age twenty-three, Jennette Fulda decided it was time to lose some weight. Actually, more like half her weight. At the time, Jennette weighed 372 pounds.

Jennette was not born fat. But, by fifth grade, her response to a school questionnaire asking “what would you change about your appearance” was “I would be thinner.” Sound familiar?

Half-Assed is the captivating and incredibly honest story of Jennette’… More >>

Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir

In man’s eternal quest for a better body and more attention many of us believe that we can lose weight and get thinner. The reality is that weight loss and the perception of thin or fat is not the same as gaining fat or becoming thin. Let’s start by defining a few of these terms.

In the first place, fat and muscle are two completely different tissues in the body. Individuals who are losing way should have a goal of losing fat tissue and not muscle tissue. Unfortunately, some of the diets on the market today do not make this distinction and are only interested in assisting an individual to bring the numerical value on their bathroom scale spiraling downward.

So, if fat and muscle are different and is losing weight should mean losing fat, what happens to the muscle?  Read more...

Weight loss is a simple equation. Amount of lost weight or gained weight is equal to the number of calories eaten minus the number of calories burned. In other words, if an individual eats more calories than they burned they will gain weight. The reverse is also true. If an individual eats less calories than they burned they will lose weight. The former is called a positive calorie balance and the latter is called a negative calorie balance.

By creating a calorie deficit the body must begin to burn fat stores in order to provide enough energy to take care of body systems. Did you know that everyone has a specific amount of calories they burned each and every day, even if they never get out of bed? This number of calories is called the basal metabolic rate. This rate is able to be calculated using basic math equations that given individual the amount of calories it requires to keep their body running and functioning optimally.  Read more...

In today’s media infested thin model world it is easy to become obsessed with the numbers that show up on your bathroom scale, were to become so entirely frustrated that you ignore the topic all together. Based on Census Bureau information, body mass index and physicians it appears as if most of the population who lives in the Western world are overweight.

But the term over weight appears to be highly debated. In April of 2009 the Center for disease control actually announced that carrying approximately 10 to 15 extra pounds may help you live longer. Unfortunately, a month later retracted their findings. It is no wonder that many of us who compare ourselves to stick thin models on television feel that we are consistently overweight without having a good feel for what a normal weight might be.  Read more...

We all have memories of how we looked and felt when we were younger. It’s sometimes hard to get those memories out of our minds or be satisfied with our current level of fitness, age, beauty or size. We make legitimate efforts to lose weight or to improve our health and eating habits.

And with all of the information that is available today it is sometimes difficult to figure out what supplements to integrate, how many multi-vitamins you should be taking, the number of hours of sleep or how much exercise you really need.

Another one of those factors that plays a part in a healthy diet is fasting. In most cases people don’t think of fasting as part of a healthy eating plan but instead as part of a radical diet designed to lose 20 pounds in 2 days. However, because of the way in which our bodies were designed, an occasional fast is actually good for the body and works with the way in which the body functions.  Read more...

Anyone who has reached the age of 30 has had to come to grips with the ever slowing metabolism that faces all of us as we age. If you are younger than 40 and do a significant amount of weight training you may not have seen a difference yet but take a good look at a basal metabolic rate calculator and you’ll see that in order to maintain your present weights at the age of 55 you’ll have to eat significantly less calories each day than you do now.

Weight management while aging goes beyond how you look. Recent studies have indicated that individuals who carry extra pounds will actually speed up the aging process. In a study published in The Lancet researchers from London included that obesity and cigarette smoking would both accelerate human aging. This study involves approximately 1100 Caucasian women and focused on the length of the end caps of DNA strands in their white blood cells. These end caps, called telomeres, are believed to shorten over a persons life time as a function of the aging process.  Read more...

As we traveled through life most of us come to a point when we decide that it would be in our best interest, whether to look better in a bathing suit or for health reasons, to lose a couple pounds. Sometimes we attempt this on our own and sometimes we turn to specifically designed and structured weight-loss programs that promise us instant weight-loss or the support we desire and need in order to become successful.

The weight loss industry is a multi-billion-dollar industry that has been successful because of the standard Western diet which engages people with high processed foods, high amounts of fat and protein hands low numbers of fruits and vegetables. This lifestyle has led to an enormous amount of people who are obese or overweight.

In response to individuals who are overweight and desire a healthier lifestyle multiple companies and manufacturers have come out with weight-loss programs, weight loss pills, weight loss drinks and weight-loss lifestyles. Individuals who seek out weight loss programs also desire of the support systems that come along with them. Research has shown that individuals who receive support during their weight-loss efforts are more successful than those who attempt to do it on their own.  Read more...

Using apple cider to treat certain ailments is an old folk remedy that people are still using today. The basis of the remedy has been fashioned into a diet that centers on the use of apple cider vinegar. This diet makes use of many of the proven health benefits of this vinegar.

Origins of Apple Cider Vinegar

Apple cider vinegar is made from fermented apple juice. Once you have created apple cider, you could stop there and enjoy this refreshing fall drink. But yeast and sugars are added to the apple cider to create a more acidic environment leading to the production of apple cider vinegar. The vinegar is used as an ingredient in many recipes and as a condiment for foods like cabbage or fish. It can also be a reducing agent when creating sauces.

Health Benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar

For many, many years, people have used apple cider vinegar to treat conditions of the body. These benefits are still viable today. Apple cider vinegar contains many minerals and vitamins that the body needs on a daily basis, including vitamin A, C and the B vitamins. Important minerals like calcium, magnesium and phosphorus are also present.  Read more...

It is sometimes very difficult to fit in exercise to our busy schedules. Those who work in offices, at home, with children or at school find that fitting in an extra 30 minutes of exercise also entails a shower or time for changing clothes. Only fitness experts or
personal trainers have the luxury of incorporating exercise into their WORK routine!

However, exercise helps to improve energy, health and reduce the risk of many of the health issues that affect people today. It may take some creativity and thought but it is definitely a possibility to burn more calories throughout the day or to work in a 30 minute workout even for the busiest of people.

When the objective is weight loss, burning calories can be incorporated into your daily living tasks without joining a gym. Let’s look at some of the natural tricks used by lean people.  Read more...

Every 10 years or so a new nutrient becomes the hot topic in the weight loss industry. Fueled by the running craze started by Jim Fixx the early 1980’s identified carbohydrates as the nutrient that required fixing and we began running. In the 1990s nutritionist identified fats – there were good fats, bad fats and now there are even fake fats. Today the hot nutrient is protein.

Interestingly all of these things are important for good overall health for any individual. We all need carbohydrates. We all need good fats. And we all must have protein in our diets in order to fuel our bodies. However, there are some authors who advocate the use of high protein diets and even higher protein diets in order to lose weight. The question really becomes how much protein do we really need and how does protein fit into the overall metabolism of an individual?  Read more...

Diet is defined as a prescribed selection of foods or the act of restricting food intake. However this definition has only become common in the past couple of decades. Prior to that diet was commonly considered to be the nutritional intake were the sum of food consumed by a person or an organism. To this day the term “diet” in veterinarian medicine refers to the type of food a particular animal eats and not the act of restricting food for that animal.

However, over the past several decades the term “diets” or “dieting” has come to mean the act of restricting caloric intake with the ultimate goal of losing weight. Initially, this terminology and thought process was believed to be a positive movement toward a successful goal. As time progressed and more and more research was done on the psychology of weight loss as well and as the physiology researchers have come to understand that it is not beneficial for us to significantly change our dietary intake for a short period of time with the express purpose of weight loss.  Read more...

Water and hydration plays an integral part in how an individual will lose weight. In fact, it is one of the biggest secrets of weight loss that is not well publicized or well known. Can you guess why? Water is free!

Our bodies are made out of 60% water. Any fluctuation in our hydration can change the numbers on the bathroom scale. In fact, many of today’s bodybuilders who participate in competitions become purposefully dehydrated in the hours before the competition in order to make their muscles appear more defined.

But water also plays other roles. For instance, by maintaining adequate hydration you actually decrease the amount of fluid retention that your body experiences. This means that with just a slight amount of dehydration your body starts to hang onto more water and you begin to feel bloated. By drinking at least 96 ounces of water per day your body will not hang onto extra fluid and you will excrete the proper amount of fluid.  Read more...

One area of the body that most people, both men and women, find entirely unattractive on their own bodies is their belly. Having a flat stomach or a “six pack abs” is the dream of most adults. It is something that adults who are heading for a beach vacation strive to achieve in the months prior to leaving. Those of us who are not satisfied with our stomachs love the winter months where sweat shirts and sweaters can hide our spare tire.

But losing that spare tire is possible. The best part about it is that there is no secret formula, no magic bullet, and no special diet plan and no specific food that especially targets belly fat. And the better news is that belly fat is usually the first fat that is lost when you start to lose weight.

Recent research has linked fat around the abdomen with cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. More specifically, it is not the fat that you can grab that poses the highest health risk but rather the deepest layer of fat which produces hormones and other substances that negatively affects your health. This fat is located next to and in between other organs in the abdominal cavity.  Read more...

Believe that are not many of today’s researchers and scientists have found that our bodies are actually working against us when we attempt to lose weight. In all starts when we decide that we have gained too many pounds or that we want to change the way we look.

But what does your weight really say about you? The number on the scale does not really say a whole lot. Is that weight fat or muscle? How much is water, bones or organs? If a body builder’s weight is off the charts does that mean he’s fat?

Knowing your body composition is crucial if you want to get the results you’re after, except that the scale does not give you that information. Many of us also experience weight changes throughout the day depending upon what we eat and drink and close we’re wearing.  Read more...

Weight loss is really a simple formula. Calories eaten minus calories burned equals weight gain or weight loss. In other words, if you eat more than you burn then you’ll gain weight. And the opposite is also true – if you eat less than you burn then you lose weight.

When individuals are looking for true weight loss – that which stays off the body for weeks, months and years – they are also making permanent changes in the way in which they eat and exercise. Because, let’s face it, the more we exercise the more calories we burn and the greater weight we lose. OR the more food we can eat without gaining weight.

Exercise plays a vital role in the entire process of both losing weight and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

For instance, did you know that exercise is one of the single easiest thing that you can do daily that will help to improve your health? By doing some simple exercises, such as walking for 30 minutes, you can reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke.  Read more...

Did you know that everything you put in your mouth isn’t going to make you fat?

In today’s society so many of the media messages we receive are about weight loss and staying thin. It seems as if all of society has focused on the ability of individuals to maintain a thin physique without truly focusing on overall health and well-being. And, because this has become the focus of the media and much of the general public, many also now believe that everything that is put into the mouth is going to make them fat.

This belief system or knowledge does not always change the way in which an individual chooses their food but it does impact their overall emotional health. However, not everything we put into our mouths will make us fat. In fact, eating isn’t fattening but instead is the way in which our bodies obtain nutrients, vitamins and minerals it needs in order to survive.  Read more...

Dieting is a term that became popular around the time that women decided that thin was “in”. For the most part it was heralded by the Twiggy craze but more likely had been a significant concern since dresses began to rise above the ankles.

But dieting isn’t always equated with weight loss, nor should it be. Dieting is a term that conjures up images of men and women (but mostly women) who are denying themselves the pleasures of chocolate, bread, butter, dessert, soda, alcohol and any food that remotely carries more than 10 calories.

Dieting is really a lifestyle choice. It is a time when people feel they should be denied something of pleasure in exchange for fitting into the next dress size down. But it is NOT a long term option for either weight loss or overall health.

It may seem like splitting hairs but as humans we all respond best to what we interpret as “best”. Because of the connotation that ‘dieting‘ has developed over the past several decades it is much better for those who wish to lose several pounds to consider a nutritional change that results in healthier eating habits.  Read more...

Weight Watchers has been hanging tough in the diet world since the 1960s. The program is backed by body science and thousands of satisfied dieters. If we have your attention, here is how the Weight Watchers program works.

With this eating plan, people use a patented Points system to track their eating habits. Based on your answers to a short survey, you are assigned a points value for your eating program. As you lose weight, the amount of points that you can eat will be cut. A points value is assigned to each and every food and drink including meals that you eat in restaurants.

By tracking your points and how much of what foods you are eating, Weight Watchers helps you to chart eating habits and where you need to make changes in order to lose weight and become healthier. The program includes weekly meetings so dieters can discuss their strengths and weaknesses with others and find support.  Read more...

As women age and reach menopause many are faced with slowing metabolism, spreading waistlines and a slow weight gain. There are many factors which affect a woman’s weight as she enters menopause. Not the least of these is a potential for thyroid dysfunction which affects approximately 8% of women at age 50 and jumps to 17% of women by age 60.

Other factors include a decreased amount of exercise that often accompanies this stage in life. Couple this with a metabolism or basal metabolic rate which is already slowing between 2% and 4% every decade since the woman turns 30 and hormonal changes which are normal during menopause and a woman is a perfect set up for weight gain and “middle-aged spread”.

There are a few things that women can do in order to speed up their metabolism and slow the weight gain to a stop or even reverse some of the changes. These are lifestyle choices that both men and women benefit from so women who can convince their spouses to go with them on this journey will find that both of them benefit from improved overall sense of well-being and improved health.  Read more...

Weight gain during perimenopause is a universal complaint among women. It is not uncommon for a woman to gain between 10 and 15 pounds, especially around her abdomen and hips. In some instances women see this as a rite of passage to becoming and older wiser you. But most often, this almost instantaneous weight gain is a signal of hormonal imbalance and is heralded by emotional upheaval and distress over this sudden increase in the late. In medical circles, some described as weight gain as an unavoidable “middle-aged spread”.

And, while women in the past had to accept these changes to their body, current technology and medical knowledge has enabled physicians and holistic practitioners to more clearly establish the imbalances in the body and help the woman to determine specific methodologies she can use in order to reverse the process.

Prior to perimenopause and menopause levels of estrogen in the body can often mask symptoms of other systems having difficulty. A woman has been exposed to many years of toxins, environmental changes and hormonal imbalances, the results of which are now being felt by the rest of the body.  Read more...