JOLIET Joliet didnt lose a ton, but it lost a lot.

The Joliet Weight Loss Challenge ended last week with participants shedding a collective 1,463 pounds.

Thats a lot of pounds. But its not a ton, or 2,000 pounds.

The Joliet Park District, which has organized the program at the start of the year for four years, targets a ton of weight loss, which has led to the effort being dubbed Lose a Ton.

Over the last four years we lost over 8,000 pounds, which amounts to a ton a year, said Gina Rodriguez, fitness superintendent for the park district.

In 2016, the collective weight loss reached 2,416 pounds, the most for the program so far.

Maybe people just have less to give.

If they gave us 12 pounds last year, they cant give us 12 pounds every year, Rodriguez said.

There still were some big losers, which means they were winners.

The Joliet Park District awards prizes each year to the male and female participants who lose the highest percentages of their body weight.

Biggest losers this year were Maureen Pulaski of Shorewood at 15.32 percent and Bart Zimmer of Joliet at 14.3 percent.

The goal of the program is to increase fitness awareness.

Participants weigh in at the start of the program, which was Jan. 16, and with the advice of park district nutritionists and trainers if they want it, seek to lose pounds by the end of the program, which was Thursday night.

This year, 620 people weighed in. Only 277 weighed out. But the numbers weighing out are always much lower than those who start the program.

If we got over 600 people to step on a scale, thats great, Rodriguez said. Thats what were trying to do create awareness.

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Joliet Weight Loss Challenge participants don't lose a ton, but they do lose a lot - The Herald-News

Dr. Blackburn spent nearly his entire career at what is now Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.

As a surgeon, researcher, and educator, Dr. George L. Blackburn led the way in studying how poor nutrition contributed to the nations growing obesity epidemic, and pioneered gastric bypass surgery for weight loss in New England.

It has taken 61 years from the start of weight loss surgery until today to acknowledge obesity as a disease, he wrote in an essay in the medical journal Bariatric Times published in 2015.

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Dramatic increases in population-wide obesity have led to a global public health crisis that demands the best that those of us in the fields of science and medicine can offer to treat the disease, and alleviate the pain and suffering of those afflicted by it, he added.

Dr. Blackburn, who spent nearly his entire career at what is now Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, died of cancer Feb. 20 in his Boston home. He was 81.

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He just kept working. He was fixated on solving major health problems, his daughter Amy of Natick said. What was quite clear to us these last few weeks was just how much my dad loved life. He just could not get enough time.

Dr. Blackburn, who was the S. Daniel Abraham professor of nutrition at Harvard Medical School, directed the Center for the Study of Nutrition Medicine at Beth Israel, where he also directed the Feihe Nutrition Laboratory.

At his memorial service last month, his friend and colleague Dr. Elliot Chaikof said in a eulogy that it is simply impossible to do justice to the enormous contributions that Dr. Blackburn made over his long career to medicine, to the fields of surgical metabolism and clinical nutrition, and to our department of surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

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Chaikof, who chairs the surgery department, added that if George Blackburn taught us anything it was the Power of One: a single teacher who can touch a generation of students at home and abroad; a single surgeon who can advance a field and not himself; a single clinician who can improve the health and well-being of a nation.

Dr. Blackburn, however, also taught us that life was not a solo act, Chaikof said. He taught us the power of teamwork, and partnership, and collaboration. He taught us the power of building bridges across departments, across disciplines, across cultures, and to leaders outside the walls of the university.

At the outset of the 1970s, working with Dr. Bruce Bistrian at what was then New England Deaconess Hospital, Dr. Blackburn codirected the groundbreaking Nutrition Support Service, a dedicated multidisciplinary team of surgeons, physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and dietitians, he wrote in the Bariatric Times essay.

As a surgeon, researcher, and educator, Dr. Blackburn led the way in studying how poor nutrition contributed to the nations growing obesity epidemic.

At the time, protein-calorie malnutrition was widespread, Dr. Blackburn wrote. Our research showed that it affected 50 percent of medical and surgical patients in municipal hospitals, an outcome that drew attention to the issue and changed the practice of nutritional support around the world.

Dr. Blackburn pioneered intravenous ways to deliver nutrients to patients.

His science and research were foundational for professional organizations for which he was a founding member or leader, including The Obesity Society and the American Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition.

He also was among the first investigators for the Look AHEAD for Action for Health in Diabetes clinical trials that were part of his research until his death.

In 1973, he performed the first gastric bypass for weight loss surgery in New England, he recalled in a 2008 interview with Bariatric Times.

When he had trained as a physician and surgeon, Obesity was not part of medical education at that time, Dr. Blackburn said.

What was known about both medical and surgical treatment was misdirected; the focus was on the elimination of all excess body weight, he added. The physiology and metabolism of obesity were essentially unknown.

The youngest of three siblings, Dr. Blackburn was born in McPherson, Kan., and grew up in Joplin, Mo., a son of George Blackburn and the former Betty Warick.

Dr. Blackburns father for a time ran a company that sold equipment such as tractors and was known as the only person in Joplin who read the Wall Street Journal daily, Amy said.

Dr. Blackburn graduated from the University of Kansas with a bachelors degree in chemistry and served in the Navy before attending the universitys School of Medicine so that he could use the GI Bill to help pay for his graduate studies. He was very adamant that he pay his own way, Amy said.

After receiving a medical degree from the University of Kansas and training in surgery at Boston City Hospital, Dr. Blackburn used a National Institutes of Health fellowship to pursue additional graduate work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He graduated with a doctorate in nutritional biochemistry.

As the field of weight loss surgery began to grow rapidly, Dr. Blackburn was a leader in setting best practice standards to curb the risk of medical errors.

He cochaired the states first expert panel on weight loss surgery through the Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety and Medical Error Reduction.

At Harvard Medical School, he directed a continuing medical education program in practical approaches to the treatment of obesity. That program evolved into an international conference that bears his name.

His many honors included receiving the Grace Goldsmith Award from the American College of Nutrition in 1988 and the Goldberger Award in Clinical Nutrition from the American Medical Association in 1998.

In 2013, he received the Master of the American Board of Obesity Medicine award, and the following year, Beth Israel named its bariatric surgical service after him.

A prolific author of scholarly articles who also wrote the mass-market book Break Through Your Set Point: How to Finally Lose the Weight You Want and Keep It Off, Dr. Blackburn had a legendary work ethic. Wed get e-mails from him at 4 in the morning, Amy said. You just knew this guy never rests.

Dr. Blackburns first marriage, to Dona L. Seacat, ended in divorce. Along with their daughter, Amy, they have two sons, David of Needham and Matthew of Denver.

In 1986, Dr. Blackburn married Susan Kelly, with whom he had a daughter, Vali Blackburn Udin of Maryland.

A service has been held for Dr. Blackburn, who in addition to his wife, four children, and former wife, leaves 10 grandchildren and a great-grandchild.

George always had a plan, Chaikof recalled in his eulogy. Actually, he had black binders full of plans. I received one the day I arrived at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and received many since. His plans were always spot on.

In a note to Dr. Blackburns family, Chaikof added that his friend passed along enough binders and assignments not only to keep me busy for the next few years but likely the next two or three chairs of surgery and probably a dean or two at Harvard Medical School. ... His loss will be felt by all of us for a very long time. It will be a hole we will not fill.

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Dr. George L. Blackburn, 81, pioneering weight-loss surgeon - The Boston Globe

When you're trying to lose weight, get into shape or manage a condition like type 2 diabetes, it can be confusing to choose from the 20 different diets that all promise superb health and massive weight loss.

One diet that has gained popularity of late is the ketogenic diet, also known as the 'keto diet', a strict low carb, high fat way of eating.

To find out more about the keto diet, The Huffington Post Australia spoke to two health experts.

"The keto diet is basically a very low-carb diet to encourage the body to use fat as fuel instead of glucose," nutritionist Fiona Tuck told HuffPost Australia. "The lower the carbohydrate intake, the quicker the body enters a fat burning state."

The diet promotes eating fewer than 50 grams of carbohydrates a day to encourage the body into a state of ketosis, where the body is almost completely fuelled by fat (rather than glucose in the form of carbohydrates).

"When we dramatically limit carbohydrate intake, the body needs to look for an alternate fuel source, calling on the body to convert its supply of fat to glucose, a process called ketosis," Tuck said.

"Ketosis produces ketone bodies which are produced from the breakdown of fats in the liver. When the body calls on fat stores to supply energy, we lose weight.

"Some keto diets promote as little as 15-20 grams of carbohydrates a day. Carbohydrates are contained in a variety of foods such as bread, rice, pasta, whole grains, fruits and starchy vegetables."

According to nutritionist Anthony Power, by drastically reducing cabrohydrates in the diet, increasing fat and pushing the body into ketosis, the body uses a more stable source of fuel.

"The ketogenic diet is producing an alternative fuel for the body, not fuelling primarily on glucose from carbohydrates. It's fuelling on the breakdown of fat. We don't need outside glucose," Power said.

"A few thousand years ago, the body needed to be able to breakdown our own fat, or fat in animal products, to fuel our brain and body. And it did that by ketones."

Fat also has a much smaller impact on blood sugar levels, Power added, especially compared to carbohydrates and protein.

While giving up carbs sounds like an impossible feat, there are two significant pros for the ketogenic diet.

"The positives -- it's a quick and reliable way to lose weight quickly," Tuck said. "So it's better suited to someone that needs to lose weight quickly in a short period of time. For example, a morbidly obese person in need of medical intervention."

Because fat does not impact insulin the way carbohydrates too, Power said the ketogenic diet is ideal for people who are diabetic or insulin resistant. Research is proving this to be effective, too.

"The World Health Organisation currently estimates that 400 million people worldwide have diabetes -- nearly half a billion people," Power said. "Why? Because eating carbohydrates (which converts to glucose) then increases our blood sugar, increases our insulin, leads to weight gain and eventually heart disease and diabetes.

"The majority of patients I use the ketogenic diet for are diabetics, those with heart disease and gastrointestinal tract issues (reflux, constipation, bloating), and they've had great results when they reduce their carbohydrates."

According to Tuck, following a ketogenic diet can be potentially damaging to health, particularly in terms of nutritional deficiencies.

"If followed under medical supervision for a short period of time, it can be very successful. However, long term is not recommended due to potential side effects," Tuck said.

"Side effects of a long term ketogenic diet can include muscle loss, dizziness, loss of mental clarity and focus, kidney damage and acidosis.

"Cutting out food groups for a long period of time may also put the body at risk of nutritional deficiencies. Limiting carbohydrate intake means a higher fat and protein intake, leading to possible over-consumption of saturated fats and proteins."

Due to the strict nature of the diet, following a ketogenic diet can also be isolating and unsustainable.

"Cutting out carbohydrates to the degree that is required for the body to go into ketosis makes the diet very limited and potentially antisocial to follow," Tuck said.

Before starting any diet, it's important to see a GP, particularly those with health conditions, who are elderly, pregnant, on medication and who have a high intensity job and rely on mental alertness or physical exertion.

"Whatever diet you start, do it for a reason and have an endpoint," Power explained.

And if you don't need to diet, don't.

"If you're getting along fine in terms of the food you're eating, your body is not inflamed, you're not diabetic, you're not overweight, then terrific. But for those 400 million patients in the world today, putting them on a carbohydrate restricted diet works."

The main principles of the keto diet is a reduction of carbs to 50 grams or fewer, and an increase in fats.

"The ideal fat is grass-fed meat and butter, olive oil, avocado, oily fish, nuts and seeds -- not having mountains of highly processed vegetable oils or margarine that have been highly treated," Power said.

A person can check whether they're actually in a state of ketosis through urine testing strips as well as through blood and breath tests.

Power does warn people against starting the ketogenic diet without supervision or properly researching (researching online for 10 minutes doesn't count).

"That's the problem. Patients can feel pretty bad -- achy, irritable, poor sleep, cramping," Power told HuffPost Australia. "But they haven't increased their sodium, potassium or magnesium.

"When you go on a ketogenic diet, your body does change, including levels of electrolytes, potassium, sodium and magnesium. You're changing in a positive way but for many patients, for the first few weeks (especially those who are diabetic or have blood sugar issues) you have to really monitor it."

Even still, the ketogenic diet may not work for you.

"Everyone responds differently. You may lose 30 kilos, your best friend may lose three kilos and feel horrible. It's such an individual thing," Power said.

"It's not 'no carbohydrates' forever. It's just finding what amount is good for you and finding that sweet spot."

ALSO ON HUFFPOST AUSTRALIA

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Here's A Simple Explainer On The Ketogenic Diet - Huffington Post South Africa (blog)

IF YOU want to shed pounds without dieting, grab a piece of fruit and try this super speedy slimming hack.

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We can all be guilty of mindlessly munching our way through huge portions or junk food snacks.

But a five-minute trick, using nothing else but a sultana, could help you re-establish a healthy relationship with food.

The practice of mindful eating teaches people to eat better and binge less, so you can revamp habits without having to diet.

Charlotte Thaarup, Australian clinical mindfulness consultant and director of The Mindfulness Clinic, has revealed that a sultana exercise can do wonders for your waistline.

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APRICOTS - Calorie content: 12 kcals per apricotEating apricots is said to help reduce the risk of strokes, and heart attacks. They're also full of vitamin C, potassium and dietary fibre, which all promote good heart health

Heres what you have to do:

1. Firstly pick up a sultana and spend five minutes using your five senses with it

2. Look at it, noticing the texture and colour

3. Feel it in your hand

4. Smell it

5. Taste it, rolling it around your tongue and noticing how it feels between your teeth

Mindful eating is based on Buddhist principles of meditation and control to help you notice your thoughts, feelings and sensations during mealtimes while appreciating your food instead of unconsciously shovelling it in your mouth.

Writing on her website, Charlotte said: Whether you want to lose weight, call a truce in the war with your dear body, change your relationship with food, or reduce your daily stress by making healthier choices.

We cant pay full attention to the experience of the food in our mouth if at the same time we are stacking our fork or spoon.

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Here are some of Charlottes other top tips for mindful eating:

Put your cutlery down in between mouthfuls

Notice your thought processes as you eat

Make meals memorable by laying the table nicely

Eat slowly

Sit at a table rather than in front of the TV

Keep a food diary

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This five-minute trick can help you lose weight without dieting - Daily Star