Category Archives: Lose Weight Fast

CANTON, Mich. (WXYZ) - ABC's Extreme Makeover Weight Loss edition is looking for new people in metro Detroit to feature in the reality show that follows amazing tales of weight loss. If you are looking to improve your life, you are invited to apply.

The show's producers are looking for men and women who need to lose at least 50% of their body weight.

A casting call will take place this Saturday, February 4, at the Gardner-White furniture location in Canton. The event begins at 10:00 a.m. and runs until 4:00 p.m.

CASTING CALL DETAILS
Saturday, February 4, 2012
10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Gardner-White Furniture
39453 Ford Road
Canton, MI 48187
Bring a photograph

If you are going to the casting call, producers request that you bring a photograph of yourself that they can keep.

To be on Extreme Makeover Weight Loss Edition, you must be a legal U.S. resident over the age of 18 by March 23, 2012.

For those who can't make it to the open casting call in Canton, you can apply to be on the show by posting a video at extrememakeovercasting.com . In fact, producers recommend posting a video to the site even if you do attend the casting call.

If you make it onto the show, trainer Chris Powell will come to your home and work with you to lose weight and change your life for the better over the course of a year.

Be sure to check the FAQ section of the extrememakeovercasting.com website for more details.

Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Read the rest here:
CASTING: Extreme Makeover Weight Loss

Doctor’s Weight May Be a Factor in Diagnosing Obesity, Study Finds

Jan. 31, 2012 -- Doctors who are normal weight are more likely to give patients advice on diet and exercise, according to a new study.

And normal-weight doctors were also more apt to make a diagnosis of obesity, compared to overweight or obese doctors.

“Your doctor is often not going to diagnose obesity or have weight loss discussions with you if they weigh more than you do,” says researcher Sara Bleich, PhD. She is an assistant professor with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School’s department of health policy and management in Baltimore, Md.

The new survey of 500 primary care doctors shows that doctors who have a normal body mass index (BMI) were more likely to engage their obese patients in weight loss discussions, as compared to overweight and obese physicians, 30% vs. 18%, respectively. Doctors were also much more likely to diagnose someone as being obese if they thought a person’s BMI was equal to or exceeded their own.

Thinner doctors were not only more likely to bring these topics up; they also thought their patients would be more likely to follow their advice. Doctors with a self-reported BMI of less than 25 were considered normal weight. Those with a BMI at or above 25 were considered overweight. The findings appear in the January issue of Obesity.

Exactly why heavier doctors may be less likely to discuss weight loss and obesity is not fully understood.

It’s possible that a heavyset doctor is reluctant to suggest moving more and eating less when he or she knows it didn’t work for them. “They may not want to give advice that is not effective in their own minds,” Bleich says.

Overweight or obese doctors are more likely to recommend weight loss pills, she says. The study did not look at how often the doctors discussed weight loss surgery with obese patients.

I’m OK, You’re OK

Another possibility: “They are used to seeing overweight and obese patients who look like they do and doctors may think, ‘I am OK and so are they,'" Bleich says. Next, Bleich plans to look into how much patients trust heavyset doctors' advice.

It’s a case of doctor, heal thyself, says Matthew Kroh, MD. He is a surgeon in the Digestive Disease Institute at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. “Obesity is widespread, and even health professionals are being affected by a national epidemic,” he says.

The findings also show how problems beget other problems. “A patient could say, ‘I understand obesity may cause weight-related medical problems, but it can’t be that serious if my trusted doctor doesn’t abide by the same principles,’” he says.

Maybe doctors don’t dole out advice on diet and exercise because they know it doesn’t work for everyone, says Ronald Clements, MD. He is the director of the Vanderbilt Center for Surgical Weight Loss and a professor of surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.

There is no one-size-fits-all solution. Advice on weight loss must be individualized.

“I am 10 to 15 pounds overweight, and a doctor should say, ‘Skip dessert and exercise more,’ but you can’t tell that to someone who is morbidly obese,” Clements says. “We need to be telling patients about the most effective therapy for their weight.” 

Link:
Doctor Overweight? Slim Chance of Getting Weight Loss Advice

Australian viewers have a bigger appetite for reality cooking shows than weight-loss programs, with Channel 7's My Kitchen Rules attracting 1.484 million viewers for its season three debut on Monday, making it the number one show nationally.

Hosted by Pete Evans and Manu Feildel, viewers were introduced to six of the 12 MKR teams competing for $250,000 at the first of the three-course meal challenges, including WA friends Angela Schlegel and Justine Matchitt, New Zealand team Simon and Meg and South Australia's Leigh and "Princess" Jennifer.

Her annoying habit of ending sentences with "yeah" has quickly become a catchcry.

In Perth, MKR drew an average 178,000 viewers to be the third most-watched show on Monday behind Seven News with 216,000 and Today Tonight with 192,000.

Nine's nerdy sitcom The Big Bang Theory continues to be a hit, attracting 1.349 million viewers to be the second most-watched show nationally - even the second repeat episode attracted more than a million viewers.

The premiere of celebrity weight-loss show Excess Baggage on Nine attracted 880,000 viewers nationally to rank 12th. It beat the long-running weight-loss show The Biggest Loser, which attracted 698,000 to come in 16th with its first weigh-in.

See the original post here:
Budding TV chefs rule in ratings war

Darryn Lyons has dropped more than 10 per cent of his bodyweight on Excess Baggage. Picture: David Caird Source: Herald Sun

The Biggest Loser versus Excess Baggage. Source: Supplied

WHILE popular television weight-loss shows inspire viewers to shed excess kilos, experts are cautioning against sudden, extreme regimens.

The verdict appears to be that Excess Baggage may have the edge over The Biggest Loser in showcasing a more rounded approach.

The AMA warns engaging in extreme physical activity unsupervised may increase the risk of heart attacks and falls.

Have you switched off from weight-loss shows? Tell us below.

AMA president Dr Steve Hambleton said the shows did inspire people to lose weight, showing it was possible via changes to diet and exercise.

However, people should make slow, steady and sustainable changes, aiming to lose up to 2-3kg a month, Dr Hambleton said.

"The unusual way these programs go about weight loss is not suitable for the general public, not without risks," he said.

"The average overweight person ... may have diabetes, coronary artery disease or osteoarthritis and may not be suitable for an intense program."

Nutrition and fitness expert Donna Aston said Excess Baggage had a bigger focus on both nutrition and the psychology of weight loss.

"It's hard to sustain weight loss without changing our mindset," she said.

Excess Baggage contestants also had their body composition measured to indicate whether muscle, water or fat had been lost, rather than just total weight loss, Ms Aston said.

Those to lose weight quickly often shed muscle, which slowed the metabolism and made it more difficult to keep the kilos off long-term, she claimed.

Dietitian Jemma O'Hanlon said Excess Baggage took a more realistic approach to weight loss by not counting kilojoules or dictating diets.

"It's a much more educational process, teaching them to make lifestyle changes," Ms O'Hanlon said.

Obesity Policy Coalition senior adviser Jane Martin said shows tended to remove people from a real-life environment.

"It's like weight-loss rehab, but people are then coming out into an obesogenic environment, which is going to undermine them," Ms Martin said.

------------

THE TRUTH

DO
* Take heart that there is a potential solution to being overweight
* Make changes by exercising more
* Improve your dietary habits
DON'T
* Embark on a really intense exercise program without first having a medical check-up
* Expect rapid results - slow steady weight loss is more sustainable, aim for up to two to three kilos a month
* Adopt a fad diet, instead eat a healthy balanced one

See more here:
Experts warn against quick kilo blitz

DETROIT, Michigan -- Detroit is to be one of nine stops where people have the chance to audition for ABC's show, "Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition." 

"Although this may not be in your immediate area, we are hoping to have some candidates travel the short distance to meet with us in an attempt to change their lives," a representative wrote in an email. Candidates can either attend the casting call in person or send in a home tape. 

The show will follow the lives of people who are "super-obese," (meaning those who exceed their estimated ideal weight by 225 percent and are about 200 pounds overweight) as they seek to lose half their body weight in the course of one year. 

Personal trainer and "transformation specialist" Chris Powell guides the participants by moving into their homes and helping them throughout their daily lives. 

The casting in Detroit is February 4 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Gardner White Furniture, 39453 Ford Road, Canton MI. For more information go to extrememakeovercasting.com. 

View original post here:
"Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition" to hold casting in Detroit

Would you take weight-loss advice from a doctor who hasn't got control of his own size?

Monica Rodriguez / Getty Images

It inspires confidence when a dentist has good teeth, or a hairstylist has a chic ‘do, or when the salesperson at a boutique has an immaculate sense of personal style. The same may be true of doctors who maintain a healthy weight — which may help explain why those who are overweight are less likely to broach the topic of weight loss with their patients.

In a study of 500 primary care physicians around the country, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine found that a doctor’s own size influenced how he or she cared for patients with weight problems. Overweight or obese physicians were less likely to discuss weight loss with heavy patients: only 18% of these doctors discussed losing weight with their patients while 30% of normal weight physicians did.

What’s more, the researchers found that 93% of doctors diagnosed obesity in their patients only if they believed their own weight was equal to or less than that of their patients; only 7% of doctors who believed their weight exceeded that of their patients diagnosed obesity.

“I was totally surprised by the findings,” says lead author Sara Bleich, an assistant professor of health policy at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

PHOTOS: Obesity Rehab

The study builds on earlier work that analyzed how doctors’ own smoking habits affected their advice to patients; there, too, researchers found that physicians who lit up were less likely to recommend smoking cessation for their smoking patients, most likely because of the hypocritical nature of their telling patients to quit while they continued to puff away themselves.

But the results also shed light on the complexities of the doctor-patient relationship, especially concerning obesity, and suggest that anti-obesity efforts that focus nearly exclusively on patients may be too one-sided. Indeed, doctors are just as heavy as the rest of Americans: the Johns Hopkins study found that 53% of the physicians were overweight or obese, which tracks with the 64% of U.S. adults who fall in the same categories.

That means that doctors’ weight may be playing an indirect role in perpetuating the obesity epidemic on several levels. First, by not addressing healthy weight with their patients, these physicians are passing up an opportunity to help people improve their health and avoid chronic weight-related conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and joint disorders. Second, overweight doctors are putting their own health at risk. And third, they may be sending the wrong message about weight to their patients, who might rationalize their own prodigious size if their doctors look the same as they do.

“For me, the results raise a lot of questions,” says Bleich. “I’d be surprised if this behavior is intentional. I think a lot of it is subconscious. What this study suggests is that physical attributes of physicians have a much bigger contribution to their care of patients than I realized before.”

MORE: America’s Obesity Crisis: Eating Behavior: Why We Eat

In the study, when overweight or obese doctors did address obesity, they were more likely than their normal weight counterparts to prescribe anti-obesity medications (26% vs. 18%), rather than lifestyle changes such as diet and exercise. That may reflect a lack of confidence in these approaches to weight loss, either because of the physicians’ own personal experiences or because of their subconscious concern that such advice wouldn’t appear reliable to patients coming from someone who wasn’t slim.

Most experts say that changes in diet and exercise habits are a crucial part of any long-term weight-loss strategy, even if patients use medications initially to kick-start weight loss.

Compared with overweight doctors, slim physicians were more confident in their ability to dispense advice about diet and exercise to heavier patients, and 72% believed that they should be models of healthy weight for their patients. Only 56% of heavy doctors said the same.

The results represent yet another challenge in the war against obesity — doctors are notoriously bad at taking care of themselves and at being good patients — but the study also signals an opportunity. “If we improve physician well-being, and improve their lifestyles toward weight loss or weight maintenance, that can go a long way toward influencing the care they provide their patients,” says Bleich.

Doctors who have successfully lost weight and who eat well and exercise regularly may be more likely to share their own experiences with patients, making it more likely that their patients will in turn follow their advice, Bleich says. “By making physicians healthier, we are making patients healthier, and helping two groups at one time,” she says.

MORE from TIME: The Upside of Being an Introvert (And Why Extroverts Are Underrated)

Alice Park is a writer at TIME. Find her on Twitter at @aliceparkny. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.

Here is the original post:
Fat Doctors Are Less Likely to Help Patients Lose Weight

Before Peter Frumenti lost 200 pounds, he lost his business, his house, his wife and any direction of how to live a happy life. 

The more he gained weight, the more he retreated. And Frumenti gained a lot of weight: at 440 pounds and

5-foot-11, the doctors said he was morbidly obese.

Feeling defeated, Frumenti, 34, came to Butte knowing something had to change. Quite a few things did, as he gradually replaced television with mountain hikes and fast food with marathons.

But, in order to get his body back in shape, Frumenti had to get his mind back in shape. What he found in the Mining City - the outdoors, and the community support - helped him believe he could lose the weight.

With that mentality, Frumenti slimmed down to 245 pounds. He plans to start an online business this year, and travel to South America.

"It's about making life an adventure," Frumenti said. "I can truly say I'm happy now, because if I want to do something, I won't let anything stand in my way."

WHAT'S EXPECTED

Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, Frumenti focused more on the things he felt were expected of him.

He graduated from high school in

1996, and later married his high school sweetheart. He attended San Jose State University, but didn't quite finish his degree in business finance.

Frumenti and his wife earned their real estate licenses, and spent three years working in the field. Together, they made good money.

But something was wrong. As Frumenti felt more and more unhappy with himself, he watched the pounds add up. As the pounds added up, he lost confidence.

Losing confidence in the real estate game means losing clients. And losing clients means losing money. Frumenti went months without a sale.

"I didn't want to go out and meet new people," he said. "It was getting into this cycle."

Frumenti filed for bankruptcy in 2009. The bank foreclosed on his house, and repossessed one of his cars.

Later that year, Frumenti's wife admitted she did not love him anymore and asked for a divorce.

"I was stunned ... just completely blown away," Frumenti said.

COMING TO BUTTE

Frumenti knew he had to drop the weight.

In school, the kids called him "big guy." They didn't tease him, but he always knew he was bigger. It bothered him.

Only after his divorce did Frumenti finally hit the wall. He came to Butte just before Labor Day in 2009, where he knew Max Detjens of Silver Bow Property Management.

Detjens, an old friend, encouraged Frumenti to come north and start anew.

"He was living of a life of expectation, instead of what he really wanted," Detjens said. "When you're young, you don't necessarily know how to prioritize things correctly."

With all new scenery and support, Frumenti started hiking local trails. Over time, he would push himself a little harder and did some jogging.

"The biggest thing that really got me in the right mindset was being out on those hikes," he said. "It's a lot easier to quiet some of those things you have going on in your life by getting out on a trail."

Frumenti also works out at the Butte Family Y, and floats nearby rivers including the Big Hole and Madison.

Recently, he ran his first marathon in Honolulu and hiked 11 miles in and out of the Kalalau Trail in Hawaii.

"I just started doing the things I loved," Frumenti said.

PATH TO AWESOME

The pounds melted away, and Frumenti felt his story could inspire others.

He posts his activities on a blog titled "Path to Awesome" that has attracted about 30 members. Frumenti hopes to inspire one million people, he said.

"It's become my life's work. I want this to be how I give back," Frumenti said.

Frumenti knows he is still overweight. He would like to get down to 190 pounds, but is more concerned with dropping his body fat below 10 percent.

His goal is to do a triathlon this year, and he spends five or six days per week training.

"If you want something, and believe enough that you can do it, and dedicate yourself to doing it, you can do anything you put your mind to," Frumenti said.

Detjens has also noticed the change in his friend, and believes the turnaround can serve as a model in the community.

"He didn't have access to any special resources. He made a decision to make some real changes in his life," Detjens said. "He's become a much more balanced and happy person."

In addition to his part-time jobs, the online gig will get Frumenti back into business networking and coaching, with much more flexibility.

After all, happiness to Frumenti means living in the moment.

"I just want to inspire people to go after what they want, and not live by someone else's rules," he said.

- Reporter George Plaven may be reached at 496-5597, or via email at george.plaven@lee.net. Follow him at Twitter.com/@George_Plaven.

SOME THOUGHTS FROM PETER ON HOW HE CHANGED HIS EATING HABITS:

My eating habits were bad before with high sugar, high calorie dessert being an every night thing along with fast food very regularly.  The biggest thing I did was cut out dessert and almost all fast food except Subway.  A big thing was learning to listen to my body.  I learned to eat slowly...Mindset was  a large part of this in that I was present during meals and enjoyed each bite and stopped when my body was satisfied.  I tried lots of different diet plans and read lots of books and implemented pieces from each of the things I learned but being present, listening to my body and eating foods that made me feel good was a big part of a total lifestyle change. 

Overall the most successful thing I did was reduce the "bad carbs" (typically white) and increase the amount of protein and vegetables.  I also found that taking breaks occasionally was good to not feel I was depriving myself.  One of the many books I read was The Four Hour Body by Tim Ferris.  He recommends a cheat day where you literally binge all day.  I found this was good because when I did it I felt bad physically and then stayed on track for a while.  When starting up after a break I might do this for a week or two but then I found myself taking more of a cheat meal rather than a whole day and I wanted to binge much less. 

The key thing I want to point out for people is that trying to find a fad diet is not going to work.  If you want to master anything in your life, in this case health, you have to make it a focus.  I had to become a student of my own body.  I studied the different diets, learned about the body and overall health and by trial and error found the foods that worked for my body as well as kept me satisfied.  The key thing is not what you eat or how you diet but making being healthy a conscious effort.  One final thought is tracking something.  What you eat, your weight, your body fat percentage but by just tracking SOMETHING you increase the likelihood of success.

Originally posted here:
Mining City inspires 200-pound weight loss

No quick fixes to healthy
weight loss
30.01.2012 Siphosethu Stuurman

Media Links:

Audio File 1
Stream MP3 |
Download MP3

Looking your best and
losing weight always seems to be a priority for the new year
for many South Africans. But with so many weight loss plans
around, choosing the correct and healthy weight loss programme
is crucial.

Mother and daughter, Jabulile and
Dikeledi Mawaune, probably ate one or two many dishes of
deliciously fatty food this past festive season. As a
result, they both struggle to fit into their regular jeans
and this can only mean they?ve gained weight! The duo were not
about to take this issue lightly. They decided to
get onto a diet plan called the Jump-start juice
seven-day diet plan. For the entirety of the seven-day
programme the dieters consume only fresh juices.

?I lost in my first week? I lost in a
matter of three ? four days. I?ve now stopped because I?ve
reached my goal of fitting into my jeans and it has also helped
me decrease the amount of food that I take in?, says 22 year
old Dikeledi Mawaune who struggled to fit into her size 30
jeans.
  

This was the first time Dikeledi got
into a weight-loss programme. Her 47 year-old mother,
Jabulile Mawaune, however, has had previous
experiences with dieting.

?I did Bio-slim early on, but it
only worked temporarily. I had some
side-effects, which were mainly constipation. And I
think it reduced my glucose levels because I was shivering and
forever hungry on it. I had to abandon Bio-slim?, says
Jabulile.
 
However, even with her previous unpleasant experience with
dieting pills, she jumped at the opportunity to start on this
juice diet, also referred to as a detox diet plan.

?The diet has really worked
because I can fit into my clothes, although I didn?t
measure my weight before I started. But I could gauge with
the clothes that I?m fitting in that I was not fitting in
before?, says Jabulile.
 
Though the mother-daughter pair have nothing but
praise for their seven-day juice diet, Lila Bruk, a
dietician at the Wanderers Wellness Centre, says it?s unlikely
that such a diet will provide long-term results.

?I think that one needs to realise that there is no such a
thing such as a ?quick fix?. Whether it?s the case that someone
is trying pills, shakes or crash diets, at the end of the
day it?s not going to work?, she says.

Bruk says the Mawuanes will probably
regain the weight and may very well have negative side-effects
like constipation.

?There is no point to the juice diet
because what ends up happening is that you stick to your juice
every day, but after that if you go back to your old
habits. The weight which you would lose, you put back on??, she
says.
 
Bruk says there are dangers attached to ?quick fix? diet
plans.
 
?The dangers are that it puts your body under a lot of
strain.  Look at the weight loss that the plan
promises. A healthy weight loss is half to one kilo a
week. So, if it says three kilos per
week, then, that?s going to be too much of a weight
loss. It?s potentially dangerous and, probably, an
unhealthy way of losing weight?, says Bruk.

She also warned people to research and
find out about the side-effects of a weight loss plan before
they get into it.

?If you are taking pills or shakes or
other potions that cause you to lose weight, then those
products themselves may have dangerous side-effects such as
increasing the risk of stroke, heart attack, and it can also
have other negative side-effects like insomnia and
palpitations?, says Bruk.
 
So, what healthy eating plan can people use then?
 
?Firstly, one needs to make sure that one is choosing the
lowest fat products. So, an easy thing to do is to
change from full cream dairy to low fat
or, preferably, fat-free, then, to do things
like removing skin from a chicken, cutting fat off meat
and, obviously, avoid all the junk
foods... Making sure that each meal is balanced... For
example, at lunch and dinner you should make sure that
half your plate is vegetables, a quarter of your plate is
protein and another quarter is starch?, she says.

She adds that regular exercise and
drinking between six to eight glasses of water everyday also
helps.
 

?Don?t just do something as a quick
fix. Make sure whatever you?re doing you can sustain for the
next week, month, year! It needs to be something that will last?,
concludes Bruk.

Please enter your comment into the text box below.
Note: all comments are moderated
(see our moderation
policy) and may take some time to display,
or may not appear at all.

Read the rest here:
No quick fixes to healthy weight loss

30-08-2011 01:21 xrl.us Lose wight fast! If you want to know how to lose wieght fast and not gain it agin, apply this method. You will see how to lose weight by the days.

See the original post:
How to Lose Weight Fast - Learn how to lose weight in 10 days - Video

By Joy Bauer, TODAY nutrition expert

There are only two days to go in the 25,000
Pound Weight-Loss Challenge! And we need everybody's help to
make sure that we hit our goal. Have you recorded your progress
today?
Click here and tell us how it's going. We can do it!

Protein is a weight loss hero, but you want to choose the
leanest options to control calories and minimize unhealthy
fats. Best bets include skinless poultry, fish and shellfish,
egg whites, beans, lentils, low-fat dairy, and whole soy foods
(tofu, tempeh, edamame). For overall health, I recommend eating
red meat (lean cuts, of course) no more than two times per
week. When it comes to beef, cuts with the terms “loin” or
“round” in the name, such as sirloin and top and bottom round,
are the trimmest options.  For pork, go for the ultra-lean
tenderloin.

To enhance your weight-loss efforts, check out Joy’s
delicious, easy-to-follow meal plan that’s perfectly
formulated to maximize results.

If you've joined the Challenge and not logged your total pounds
lost, go here to
record your progress now. If you haven't
joined yet,
click here to sign up -- it's never too late. All
through January TODAY viewers are being
challenged to lose weight -- 25,000 pounds!--
together. After you join, you
can log your weight
loss anytime.  

For slimming recipes, menus and health tips, visit joybauer.com and follow Joy on
Facebook
and Twitter.

What do you think of today's Challenge tip? Share with
us on TODAY Health's Facebook
page. And record your progress on our Twitter hashtag
#TODAYHealth!

Read yesterday's tip from Joy:

Do-it-yourself smoothie for a convenient meal
replacement

See the original post here:
For weight-loss champs, choose lean proteins