Ask Daniel Johns, 36, and he'll tell you that intermittent fasting coupled with intense cardio helped him lose 60 pounds and keep off the weight since he began a get-healthy regimen in January 2018.

Daniel Johns lost 60 pounds with the help of intermittent fasting, running and a whole lot of discipline.

Credit: Daniel Johns/LIVESTRONG.com Creative

Now that he's on the path to wellness, this father of a son with special needs says he finally feels like the person he's always wanted to be. Read on as this music teacher shares his story.

Ever since I was a child, I had always been overweight. My health continued to deteriorate into my 30s because I was binge eating, smoking and drinking. I was completely inactive and I kept gaining weight each year.

In May 2016, my son was born with Fragile X syndrome, one of the leading causes of intellectual disabilities. I had a very difficult time meeting the demands of my teaching career and fatherhood, and I was always sluggish and lethargic.

In early 2018, I tipped the scales at 200 pounds. It was then that I made a decision to become the best version of myself possible, not only for my family, but for myself as well.

During the first year, I did nothing but intensive cardio. But I started slow. I started jogging two days a week and added more with time. Ultimately, I got up to about 6 to 8 miles four to five times a week.

Running started tearing up my knees, so in 2019, I started strength training four times a week. This was the turning point for me because while cardio made the scale drop, lifting weights completely changed the shape of my body. I can't stress enough how important lifting weight has been for me. Running was the jumping-off point, but lifting weights has become the cornerstone of my health and fitness.

As for my eating habits, I started practicing intermittent fasting, which for me is the 16:8 approach, which means I fast for 16 hours each day and eat my meals during the other eight hours. This means I skip breakfast, eat lunch at noon (I usually eat a grilled chicken breast, rice and broccoli), snack on fruit and a protein bar and make dinner the biggest meal of the day.

For dinner, I'll eat a wide variety of foods anything from pork loin with sweet potatoes and green beans to pizza to steak and potatoes.

I am human, by the way, so every now and then I'll have some chocolate. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are my Achilles heel, but my go-to dessert is peanut butter spread on a whole-wheat tortilla, lightly drizzled with honey and raisins. It's delicious!

I chose intermittent fasting because I'm an all-or-nothing person. Moderation is very difficult for me. This also fits my schedule because I rarely have time for breakfast. The first two weeks were very difficult but my body adjusted over that time.

I also practice mindful eating and I track what I eat. The MyPlate app played a huge role and I still use this app to help me track. I focus on overall calories and protein. I don't get too caught up in carbs and fat.

Daniel's family inspired him to get healthy after decades of being overweight and inactive.

Credit: Daniel Johns/LIVESTRONG.com Creative

Making time to work out has been the greatest challenge. I work two jobs I'm a public school music teacher during the day and a private guitar teacher in the evening. I work a lot of 12-hour days and sometimes even weekends.

Now, I wake up at 3 a.m. to workout. All of my workouts are fasted, meaning I don't eat beforehand. No matter what, I don't have my first meal until noon. That's how I've made it work.

Discipline is crucial, but this diet and exercise regimen fits my home life perfectly. I only have to worry about two meals and a snack, and I do meal prep on Sunday nights. This is a seven-day-a-week regimen I don't take breaks!

My family is the one thing that has really helped me overall. My wife, Emma, cooks delicious and healthy meals for dinner. She allows me to be obsessive about my health and fitness and never judges me.

Be patient. Making these changes will not always be fun. I always say: Don't get too high on yourself and don't get too low, either. It's a marathon.

For me, lifting weights was the total game-changer. I've come to realize that running was only the spark that lit the fire. What I enjoy most about lifting weights is trying to be better than you were the workout before, focusing on progressive overload and adding weight to the bar. So my best advice is to fall in love with the process and find a workout you really love.

Join the LIVESTRONG.com Challenge Group on Facebook to learn about the latest 30-day challenges and get support and encouragement from other members along the way!

Read more:
'I Lost 60 Pounds With Intermittent Fasting and Running' - LIVESTRONG.COM

The Navy SEAL workout is tough, because being a Navy SEAL is a tough business. The workout we are going to discuss here uses your body only as resistance and therefore classifies it as a calisthenics workout. It also relies on endurance more than counting sets and reps. In fact, you won't even need to count reps; the only thing you might want to check is the time.

Here, we will talk about the Navy SEAL fitness test and how you can benefit from getting ready for it, even if you aren't planning on joining the US military. The test requires you to do as many reps as you can in the set time interval and therefore is perfect to build muscles and endurance,as well as torching fat.

See how it compares with this SAS workout

If you prefer something a little less gung ho, there are plenty of ways to lose weight fast and build muscle at the same time. For example, you can do a push-pull workout or even a five-move full body workout. In general, the more muscles you move, the more calories you burn, so if weight loss is your aim, try doing more compound exercises, like deadlifts and squats.

As part of the test, you will need to perform five different exercises within a set amount of time. The requirements are as follows:

What is great about this test that it measures the fitness levels of your whole body. You'll need a strong back and shoulders for the swim, monster pecs and triceps for the pushups, rock hard abs and core for situps, godly lats and biceps for the pullups and swift quads, calves and glutes for the run.

Another good aspect of the test is that it's time limited and bodyweight only: you won't have to count weights and volume here, just do as many reps as you can within the set time. Doesn't get less complicated than that.

Due to the high rep count, working out using this method is not all that dissimilar to doing CrossFit, for example, and builds endurance as well.

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Protein brownies are a great source of protein and carbs, as well as being low on sugar and fats

(Image credit: The Protein Works)

If you want to build muscles and lose fat, you will need to eat right, no question about it.Even if your aim is to lose weight doing this exercise, you will need to get a better understanding of what you eat and most importantly, how much carbs, fats and protein do you consume a day.

If it sounds daunting and a lot of hassle to count macros, it really isn't. There are free apps that literally tells you what's in the food you eat by scanning the barcode of the product, such as MyFitnessPal. Once you know what's in it, you can decide whether you need that last slice of large Dominos pepperoni pizza (you don't).

Either you are trying to lose fat or want to build muscle, eating more protein is beneficial for you. If you fall in the former category, try swapping some bad fats and carbs most of the processed food falls into this category to protein snacks, let them be protein bars or just a small portion of high-carb nuts.

If you are trying to gain muscle mass and are naturally skinny, try adding some high protein mass gainers, like Bulk Powders' Informed Mass or The Protein Works' Total Mass Matrix.

Drinking more water also helps, so fill up your gym water bottle and drink that water!

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Make stretching an integral part of your workouts

(Image credit: Future)

Although this workout uses plenty of cardio elements, you want to get ready even for those. Light jogging and stretching helps priming the muscles and your body for the upcoming exercises.

Stretching and relaxing tense muscles after the workout is also very beneficial. Use a foam roller and/or resistance bands, both of which can relieve muscle tension and

IMPORTANT: if you have any medical condition or experiencing pain of any sort especially back pain please consult a medical professional before you start working out. Some of the below exercises put a lot of stress on your lower back and if you are ever unsure how to perform them, get a PT or a trained athlete to show you the correct form.

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Swimming is good for your whole body. Period.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Muscles worked: delts, lats, traps, triceps, biceps, abs, hams, glutes (all of them, really)

Time: swim continuously for half an hour

This exercise will most likely be performed separately from the rest of the exercises for practical reasons, but it's all for the better since adding a swim day to your workout calendar will introduce variety to your strength training.

Not only that, but swimming is good for your overall cardivascular health, is a joint-friendly sport and will make your body strong overall as well as more robust. Doing freestyle swimming will work your shoulders and lats and will give you that V-back you always wanted.

Make sure you warm up for your swims with some shoulder exercises, like rolling shoulder circles and arm circles. especially if you haven't swam for a while, you will feel your shoulders quite prominently in the upcoming days after the exercise if you don't warm up. Probably even if you do, but at least with warmup you can avoid injuries.

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Keep your body straight as you bend your elbows and get as close to the ground as you can in the lowest position

(Image credit: Future)

In depth: how to do a push-up

Muscles worked: pecs, triceps, core

Time: do as many as you can in two minutes/do 50 pushups in the least amount of sets possible

Starting position is arms extended and shoulder-width apart whilst you are facing the floor. Make sure your palms are directly under your shoulders on the floor. Core and glutes engaged, back straight.

At the lowest position, your nose should almost touch the floor and again, your body should be straight.

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Keep your back straight and pull with your abs

(Image credit: Future)

In depth: how to do ab crunches

Muscles worked: abs, obliques, core, lats

Time: do as many as you can in two minutes/ do 75 in the least amount of sets possible.

Don't try to do sit ups without leg support, that'll put way too much pressure on your back. You can get anunder door crunch barif you are working out at home or asit up bench(or a multi-functionalweights bench).

Also and I can't tress this enough don't have your hands behind your neck or head. Most people try to cheat doing sit ups by pulling their head with their arms. The only thing you'll achieve with that is spine injury and neck pain.

Keep you hands either on the side of your head or crossed in front of your chest. The former is better if your abs are not that strong just yet and you want a bit of momentum before your engage your core.

Either way, engage your core all the way through the movement and keep your back straight. By engaging your core and not using your hands/arms to help, you can avoid potential back injuries.

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Shoulders should be in-line with wrist at the highest position

(Image credit: Future)

In depth: best back exercises

Muscles worked: lats, traps, biceps

Sets/Reps: do as many as you can in one go

If you are exercising at home and unfamiliar with pullups, get one a door pull up bar and start doing pullups your legs resting on a chair. Please,please, make sure the bar is fitted properly and that it can support your bodyweight before you start hanging off it.

If you are frequenting the gym, you can use a pull up assist machine first. Same thing as doing a regular pull up, but you do it kneeling on a weighted pad.

Bodyweight pull ups are the next step up from supported leg pullups. If you really want concentrate on your lats, use a wide overhand grip. Chin ups use your arms muscles more (they are excellent nevertheless).

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Not many exercises will work your lower body as well as running

(Image credit: Saucony)

In depth: why you should try running

Muscles worked: quads, hams, glutes, calves

Time: run for half an hour

Put one feet in front of the other in a quick succession.

Jokes aside, to pass the test, you will need to achieve a 5 min/km pace, which is not a break neck speed but still sort-of brisk, so concentrate on landing softly and if you are indeed going for a half an hour run, do the first couple of kilometres in a less demanding .

Also, keep your chest open and shoulders wide as you run. Keeping your upper body straight means you won't compress your lungs (by slumping), which then can turn around more oxygen, which in turn can keep your muscles from tiring

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This Navy SEAL workout puts your strength and endurance to the test - T3

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The ketogenic, or keto, diet is a very low carb, high fat diet thats associated with several health benefits, including weight loss (1).

For those following this diet, protein bars can be a convenient, grab-and-go option when you need a quick meal or filling snack. However, finding a keto-friendly bar can be difficult because most protein bars are either too high in carbs or too low in fat.

Plus, even protein bars that meet the right criteria arent always healthy options, as they often contain large amounts of artificial ingredients, additives, and preservatives.

Still, if you look carefully, you can find protein bars that are both keto-friendly and nutritious. Alternatively, you can make them on your own.

Here are 10 healthy keto-friendly protein bars.

Specifically formulated for the keto diet, these protein bars come in five flavors, including cinnamon roll, salted caramel, and chocolate chip cookie dough.

Perfect Keto designs its bars to provide just 23 net carbs per bar, along with around 17 grams of fat and 11 grams of protein.

Keto-friendly bars like these regularly contain fiber and sugar alcohols, which your body cant fully digest and absorb. Therefore, subtracting the grams of fiber and sugar alcohols from the total carbs gives you the number of net (digestible) carbs.

Youll often see the number of net carbs highlighted on the packaging though this value is likely lower than the number of total carbs listed among the nutritional information.

Perfect Keto bars have a relatively short ingredient list, which includes almond butter, tapioca fiber, cocoa butter, cashews, medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil, grass-fed collagen, and stevia.

While more research is needed, the fatty acids found in MCT oil may improve exercise performance and promote weight loss by reducing body fat (2, 3).

If you cant find Perfect Keto bars in your local health food or supplement store, try looking online.

MariGold protein bars come in seven flavors and are renowned for their homemade taste and texture.

Each bar offers 23 grams of net carbs, 58 grams of fiber, 1618 grams of fat, and an impressive 2021 grams of protein. Theyre made with just a few ingredients, including grass-fed whey protein powder.

Whey powder is a popular supplement because its protein can be quickly absorbed by your body. As a result, it may promote significant increases in strength, muscle mass, and even fat loss (4, 5, 6, 7).

The bars are also free of sugar alcohols, which are natural or manufactured carbs that taste sweet yet have half the number of calories as sugar. Some people may wish to avoid sugar alcohols because they can sometimes cause digestive distress (8).

Instead, these bars are sweetened with stevia, monk fruit extract, or a combination of the two. Both are zero-calorie, natural sugar alternatives.

Additionally, some MariGold bars are low in short-chain, undigestible carbs called FODMAPs, which may cause digestive side effects like bloating, gas, and constipation in some individuals (9).

Your supermarket may offer Marigold bars, but it may be easier to shop for them online.

If you love jerky, DNX bars may be right up your alley.

Made from free-range chicken or grass-fed bison or beef, DNX bars are free of added sugars. Additional ingredients include egg whites, dates, dehydrated vegetables, nuts, seeds, and spices.

For an extra boost of nutrition, the bars boast sacha inchi oil. Also called sacha peanut, sacha inchi (Plukenetia volubilis) is a plant that produces seeds rich in calcium, vitamin A, and essential omega-3 fatty acids, which may reduce inflammation (10).

DNX bars offer comparable amounts of nutrients. For example, their bar made from grass-fed beef, uncured bacon, and jalapeos provides 140 calories, 9 grams of fat, 1 gram of net carbs, 1 gram of sugar, and 14 grams of protein.

Consider buying these bars online if you cant find them locally.

Founded in 2012, Keto Bars was one of the first companies to create protein bars specifically for the keto diet. In addition to being high in fat and low in net carbs, their bars are vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free, and soy-free.

All four of their flavors have short ingredient lists and are made with a base of unsweetened chocolate, coconut, and nut butter. To keep them sugar-free, Keto Bars use two alternative sweeteners stevia and erythritol.

Erythritol is a sugar alcohol that occurs naturally in some fruits like watermelon and grapes, as well as fermented foods like cheese and wine. However, it can also be manufactured (11).

Although erythritol appears to be very safe, one study found that consuming 50 grams of it resulted in digestive side effects, including nausea and stomach discomfort (11, 12).

As one Keto Bar contains just 5 grams of this sweetener, its highly unlikely to result in these side effects.

While the bars vary slightly in calorie count and macronutrient content, they generally provide around 230 calories, 20 grams of fat, 3 grams of net carbs, 7 grams of fiber, and 6 grams of protein.

You can find Keto Bars in some supermarkets, as well as online.

With 6 dessert-inspired flavors and a cookie dough consistency, Atlas protein bars offer approximately 200 calories, 11 grams of fat, 15 grams of protein, and 5 grams of net carbs each.

Unlike many competitors, Atlas doesnt use any artificial sweeteners or sugar alcohols. Instead, each bar is lightly sweetened with monk fruit extract a natural, zero-calorie sweetener.

Furthermore, the bars include two herbs considered to be adaptogens ashwagandha extract and maca root powder. Research suggests that adaptogens may help manage stress, boost energy levels, and ease anxiety (13, 14, 15).

Keep an eye out for Atlas protein bars online or at your local grocery store or health food market.

BHUs keto-friendly protein bars have a fudgy texture and are made without any artificial sweeteners or preservatives. As a result, they need to be kept refrigerated.

While all 5 flavors vary in nutrient content, each bar packs 200270 calories, 1518 grams of fat, 23 grams of net carbs, 811 grams of protein, and an impressive 912 grams of fiber.

One unique ingredient in these bars is organic tapioca flour, which contains prebiotic fiber. This nondigestable fiber helps feed beneficial bacteria in your gut, supporting proper digestion, a strong immune system, and heart health (16, 17, 18).

You can find BHU keto bars in some stores and online.

Many of the ingredients in Dang bars are instantly recognizable as nutritious and keto-friendly, such as nuts, pea protein, and chia and sunflower seeds.

Each bar has 45 grams of net carbs, 1416 grams of fat, and 910 grams of protein.

Notably, Dangs products are also vegan.

Plus, these bars contain chicory root fiber, which is an excellent source of gut-healthy prebiotic fiber. Yet, its also high in FODMAPs, so some individuals may not tolerate these bars particularly well (19, 20).

If FODMAPs arent a concern for you, you can shop for Dang bars locally or online.

While you may know Primal Kitchen from their avocado oil or minimal ingredient salad dressings, the company also offers a line of keto-friendly protein bars.

All of the current five flavors are made from a base of nuts, egg whites, coconut oil, and various spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. Theyre then sweetened with monk fruit extract and a touch of honey.

Many of the bars also contain flax seeds, which are an excellent source of plant-based omega-3 fatty acids. In addition to reducing inflammation, omega-3s are important for your heart, brain, and immune system (21, 22, 23, 24).

Each bar provides approximately 200 calories, 16 grams of fat, 89 grams of protein, 6 grams of fiber, 2 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of net carbs.

If these bars arent available at your local supermarket, you can find them online.

Homemade keto bars are ideal if you want to carefully control the ingredients used or simply enjoy the craft of concocting your own foods.

This recipe makes bars with 319 calories and 7 grams of protein each. Furthermore, each bar provides a whopping 28 grams of fat and only 4 grams of net carbs.

In addition to a handful of other whole ingredients, these bars are rich in almonds, pecans, and almond butter. Research has shown that regular nut intake may aid weight loss and help reduce chronic inflammation (25, 26, 27).

Anyone who loves peanut butter cups will enjoy these no-bake peanut butter protein bars that take under 10 minutes to make.

All you need are five low carb ingredients coconut flour, a protein powder of your choice, peanut butter, a sticky sweetener of your choice, and chocolate chips.

To keep these bars keto-compliant, the recipe recommends using monk fruit syrup because its carb-free. You may want to double-check that both your protein powder and chocolate chips are keto-friendly as well.

There are several versions of the keto diet, though the most popular one encourages you to get at least 70% of your daily calories from fat, 20% from protein, and no more than 10% from carbs (1).

Thus, youll want to stick to this macronutrient breakdown as closely as possible when choosing a keto protein bar (1, 28).

For a 200-calorie bar, this ratio would equal 16 grams of fat, 10 grams of protein, and no more than 5 grams of carbs.

Try to avoid bars with a long list of ingredients you dont recognize, such as artificial sweeteners or preservatives, as these indicate that the bar is heavily processed.

Diets high in processed foods are linked to an increased risk of chronic illnesses, such as cancer, heart disease, and obesity (29, 30, 31).

Instead, choose bars made mostly from real foods, such as oils, spices, natural sweeteners, nuts, and seeds. As the keto diet is high in fat, you should also look for healthy fats like nuts and nut butters, MCT oil, avocado oil, and flax, chia, or hemp seeds.

Numerous low carb, high fat protein bars align with the keto diet to keep you full between meals or provide a quick and easy breakfast.

Its important to look for ones that pack a decent amount of protein, fiber, healthy fats, and other nutritious ingredients.

Of course, whipping up a batch of homemade bars is a great option as well.

More:
10 of the Best Keto-Friendly Protein Bars - Healthline

I was talking to my Mom today and she mentioned that its already February, Its crazy how quickly time passes by.

As I thought about January, I was reflecting on the things I did or said I would do. With the energy and buzz of the New Year having passed, some of us may also be thinking about the resolutions weve set (or maybe were trying to forget we set any at all).

Ive definitely set resolutions in the past and found myself not following through with them, soI looked into it. It turns out that 35% of those that set resolutions break them by the end of January.And only 23% of them actually see their goals to completion.So, dont beat yourself up if youre disappointed in yourself, its normal behaviour. It also doesnt mean you should quit, its only February, so this can be an opportunity to re-align, set new goals, and keep going.

But motivation is a tricky topic. How do you keep yourself going when the honeymoon phase of goal setting fades away? On a coaching call recently, an interesting question was raised by a coachee aboutdrive, Where does it come from? Is it a byproduct of working towards a purpose? Or is it something you have?

Lets start with this: if you work towards a goal that isnt important to you, motivation wont work. It will start to feel heavy and difficult over time. You need to clearly understand and define your purpose before you start on the journey of achieving it. While your goal has to matter to you, having a purpose may not be enough to make you work towards it every day (otherwise 77% of people wouldnt quit their resolutions).

So how do we stay committed?

This is where the process of goal setting becomes important. While the goal has to matter, its the process of getting to the goal that determines your success. It can lead to incremental changes in your behaviour which makes your goals a reality. Since many of us have weight loss goals, lets use the goal of losing 20 pounds by June, as an example. What do you have to do to get there?

Here are some tools Ive used that may be helpful to you:

1. Track your habits

First, ask yourself, what changes do I need to make in my daily routine in order to actually lose weight? Think about the groceries you need to buy, or how far away the gym is from your home. If the weather is cold, think about what you can do daily to make sure this is not an obstacle. You can throw your gym bag in the car so you can go there after work, or pack a snack to give you energy so you dont have to buy fast food. You can also tell your coworkers you need to leave at 5 so they can also be mindful of your time. Schedule gym in your calendar once its set, youre less likely to avoid it.

Its helpful to look at how you can optimize your life in order to achieve your goal. When we set goals, we often dont complete a holistic look at our lives to assess feasibility. How can you lose weight, if you eat the same thing, go to bed late, and work late? It doesnt work.

When you realize what it is you have to do everyday in order to achieve your goal, write it down. Use an app (there are many of them) to track your habits. As my coach tells me, if you miss a day, its okay, if you miss 2, its a habit. As you track your progress, it will make sense very quickly why you didnt achieve your goal.

2. Be consistent: show up when you dont want to

There are days when youre not going to want to go to the gym. Obviously. These are the hard days.

As a friend of mine told me: Your ability to go from good to great depends on your ability to overcome inertia.

Being consistent is more important than being intense at the gym because you start to cultivate the mindset of showing up. This is why the first step of habit tracking is so important. It will help you see results as you continue to show up. Then a week or two later, you notice youre a pound lighter. CELEBRATE THAT! When youre not motivated to go to the gym anymore, dont focus on the 20 pounds you want to lose since thats far away, but focus on how far youve come. Losing a pound is better than eating chips at home, so use that reward as motivation to keep you going. Be proud of yourself that emotion alone will remind you its important to keep showing up.

And when youre really stuck, focus on the emotion you want to feel when you actually accomplish your goal (losing 20 pounds). Youll be proud, accomplished, healthier, faster, etc; focus on those emotions to drive your habits.

3. Believe in yourself

There are endless stories of people that have undergone transformation. They werent born with a unique willpower that you dont have: Superman isnt real. Even The Rock was scrawny when he was younger. Oprah wasnt taken seriously when she first started out. It was also thought that no one could run a 4 minute mile, until Roger Bannister did it. These people just tried everyday and believed they could. It doesnt matter whether or not you actually hit your goal, if you dont believe you can, your thoughts wont allow you to get there.

So how can we control our thoughts?

There are many tools, like journaling, gratitude and meditation that you can use. One of the biggest methods that Ive noticed many of us struggle with, is positive self-talk.

Believing in yourself often equates to being kind to yourself. It means forgiving yourself so you could do better next time.

Tell yourself: Its okay if you mess up or if you skipped a day at the gym. Its okay if you have a donut or two today. Its okay that I just watched Netflix. Positive reinforcementis a proven wayto keep yourself motivated. It helps you be a little less tough on yourself.

Remember that it takes, on average, 18 days to 254 days to create a new habit. And its not an all or nothing process. If you mess up once, it doesnt mean you failed; get back up because thats part of the process of creating habits. Check outJames Clears articleon the topic.

Motivation is the product of working hard every day. When you show up to work, you become good at what you do after a while. When a basketball player practices everyday, they can have a shot at being in the NBA. When you cook everyday, you start tweaking recipes and creating healthier meals. But if you dont put in the work, not only do you not get to the results, but you start believing that you cant achieve your goal and so you lose motivation.

To answer my coachees question: having drive is not something you wake up and have; its something you do everyday.

See the original post:
How to Make Motivation Stick - Thrive Global

SILVER SPRING, Md., Feb. 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The following quote is attributed to Janet Woodcock, M.D., director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research:

"Public health and safety of drugs that Americans rely on is a top priority at the FDA both before and after approval. We're taking steps to notify the public about a particular weight-loss medication and have requested that the company voluntarily withdraw the product from the market because our review of the full clinical trial results shows that the potential risk of cancer associated with the drug outweighs the benefit of treatment. The company has submitted a request to voluntarily withdraw the drug.

"As noted in a new Drug Safety Communication issued today, patients should stop using the medication Belviq and Belviq XR (lorcaserin) and talk to their health care professionals about other treatment options for weight loss.Health care professionals should stop prescribing and dispensing Belviq and Belviq XR.

"The FDA is not recommending special screening for patients who have taken Belviq. Standard screening recommendationsfor cancer should be implemented for any patient, regardless of prior Belviq treatment.

"The agency's actions follow our alert to the public earlier this year about the possible risk of cancer associated this medication based on preliminary analysis of the clinical trial data.

"We will continue to track safety issues with medications on the market and use science and data as our guide to act quickly when we have determined that the risks associated with drugs are greater than the benefits of treatment."

Additional Resources:

Media Contact:Monique Richards, 240-402-3014Consumer Inquiries: Email, 888-INFO-FDA

The FDA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, protects the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products for human use, and medical devices. The agency also is responsible for the safety and security of our nation's food supply, cosmetics, dietary supplements, products that give off electronic radiation, and for regulating tobacco products.

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SOURCE U.S. Food and Drug Administration

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FDA In Brief: FDA Requests Voluntary Withdrawal of Weight-Loss Medication After Clinical Trial Shows an Increased Occurrence of Cancer - Yahoo Finance

Key point:There is still a lot to learn about how quickly Antarctica will respond to climate change.

A record start to summer ice melt in Greenland this year has drawn attention to the northern ice sheet. We will have to wait to see if 2019 continues to break ice-melt records, but in the rapidly warming Arctic the long-term trends of ice loss are clear.

But what about at the other icy end of the planet?

Antarctica is an icy giant compared to its northern counterpart. The water frozen in the Greenland ice sheet is equivalent to around 7 metres of potential sea level rise. In the Antarctic ice sheet there are around 58 metres of sea-level rise currently locked away.

Like Greenland, the Antarctic ice sheet is losing ice and contributing to unabated global sea level rise. But there are worrying signs Antarctica is changing faster than expected and in places previously thought to be protected from rapid change.

The threat from beneath

On the Antarctic Peninsula the most northerly part of the Antarctic continent air temperatures over the past century have risen faster than any other place in the Southern Hemisphere. Summer melting already happens on the Antarctic Peninsula between 25 and 80 days each year. The number of melt days will rise by at least 50% when global warming hits the soon-to-be-reached 1.5 limit set out in the Paris Agreement, with some predictions pointing to as much as a 150% increase in melt days.

But the main threat to the Antarctic ice sheet doesnt come from above. What threatens to truly transform this vast icy continent lies beneath, where warming ocean waters (and the vast heat carrying capacity of seawater) have the potential to melt ice at an unprecedented rate.

Read more: New findings on ocean warming: 5 questions answered

Almost all (around 93%) of the extra heat human activities have caused to accumulate on Earth since the Industrial Revolution lies within the ocean. And a large majority of this has been taken into the depths of the Southern Ocean. It is thought that this effect could delay the start of significant warming over much of Antarctica for a century or more.

However, the Antarctic ice sheet has a weak underbelly. In some places the ice sheet sits on ground that is below sea level. This puts the ice sheet in direct contact with warm ocean waters that are very effective at melting ice and destabilising the ice sheet.

Scientists have long been worried about the potential weakness of ice in West Antarctica because of its deep interface with the ocean. This concern was flagged in the first report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) way back in 1990, although it was also thought that substantial ice loss from Antarctica wouldnt be seen this century. Since 1992 satellites have been monitoring the status of the Antarctic ice sheet and we now know that not only is ice loss already underway, it is also vanishing at an accelerating rate.

The latest estimates indicate that 25% of the West Antarctic ice sheet is now unstable, and that Antarctic ice loss has increased five-fold over the past 25 years. These are remarkable numbers, bearing in mind that more than 4 metres of global sea-level rise are locked up in the West Antarctic alone.

Read more: Antarctica has lost nearly 3 trillion tonnes of ice since 1992

Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica is currently the focus of a major US-UK research program as there is still a lot we dont understand about how quickly ice will be lost here in the future. For example, gradual lifting of the bedrock as it responds to the lighter weight of ice (known as rebounding) could reduce contact between the ice sheet and warm ocean water and help to stabilise runaway ice loss.

On the other hand, melt water from the ice sheets is changing the structure and circulation of the Southern Ocean in a way that could bring even warmer water into contact with the base of the ice sheet, further amplifying ice loss.

There are other parts of the Antarctic ice sheet that havent had this same intensive research, but which appear to now be stirring. The Totten Glacier, close to Australias Casey station, is one area unexpectedly losing ice. There is a very pressing need to understand the vulnerabilities here and in other remote parts of the East Antarctic coast.

The other type of ice

Sea ice forms and floats on the surface of the polar oceans. The decline of Arctic sea ice over the past 40 years is one of the most visible climate change impacts on Earth. But recent years have shown us that the behaviour of Antarctic sea ice is stranger and potentially more volatile.

The extent of sea ice around Antarctica has been gradually increasing for decades. This is contrary to expectations from climate simulations, and has been attributed to changes in the ocean structure and changing winds circling the Antarctic continent.

But in 2015, the amount of sea ice around Antarctica began to drop precipitously. In just 3 years Antarctica lost the same amount of sea ice the Arctic lost in 30.

Read more: Why Antarctica's sea ice cover is so low (and no, it's not just about climate change)

So far in 2019, sea ice around Antarctica is tracking near or below the lowest levels on record from 40 years of satellite monitoring. In the long-term this trend is expected to continue, but such a dramatic drop over only a few years was not anticipated.

There is still a lot to learn about how quickly Antarctica will respond to climate change. But there are very clear signs that the icy giant is awakening and via global sea level rise coming to pay us all a visit.

Nerilie Abram, ARC Future Fellow, Research School of Earth Sciences; Chief Investigator for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes, Australian National University; Matthew England, Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow; Deputy Director of the Climate Change Research Centre (CCRC); Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence in Climate System Science, UNSW, and Matt King, Professor, Surveying & Spatial Sciences, School of Technology, Environments and Design, University of Tasmania

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Image: Reuters

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Antarctica Is An Environmental Disaster Just Waiting To Happen - The National Interest Online

LUCY CLAIRE: REDEMPTION #3, out this Wednesday from Image Comics continues the dramatic tale of a disgraced werewolf hunter, laying out all of her pain and guilt while building the tension for what is to come.

Iconic and relevant imagery for the cover of Lucy Claire: Redemption #3.

***SPOILER WARNING***

Lucy Claire: Redemption has been a chilling and thrilling read so far. This werewolf hunting series is one that stands out among the pack (pun intended) and with good reason. Lucy Claire is a disgraced werewolf hunter, one who carries her loss and guilt on her slim shoulders.

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One of the things that make this series so impressive is that it is written, illustrated, and lettered by only one person: John Upchurch. This is without a doubt a labor of love, albeit a labor of love full of violence and tense backstory.

The alternate cover for Lucy Claire: Redemption #3 gives a glimpse at the new antagonist shes about to face.

Lucy Claire: Redemption #3 picks up exactly where the last issue left off. The battle in the dump has just ended, and Lucy is not certain about what she just witnessed. Given everything shes been through lately; we dont blame her for not trusting her own senses.

One thing is certain, thats one heck of a way to start off an issue. It wasted no time throwing readers into the thick of things. It also truly set the pace for the rest of the issue. Everything quickly rolled from one moment to the next.

This is another one of those carefully balanced issues. On the one hand, theres plenty of action and gore to go around. On the other hand, theres the fragile creature that is Lucys mental and emotional state. The two bounce off each other to shockingly great effect, resulting in a tale that is full of drama and impact.

The final battle portrayed in this issue is an intense one, but it goes deeper than that as well. It was a well-written series of events. And it left readers eager for the next issue, where the truth of what is really going on will finally (hopefully) be revealed.

The artwork in Lucy Claire: Redemption #3 is outstanding. The colors are vibrant and lush, the characters full of personality and a range of emotions, and much more. Theres a lot to love about this issue, from the individual panels to the full page spreads.

One highlight of this issue has got to be the fight scenes. There are two fights in this issue, though both are dramatically different from one another. Both have interesting setups, but neither would have carried the same weight without the artwork to support it. Theres this real sense of danger, thanks to the creatures being portrayed. You can get a sense of movement and impact as well something that will make you wince with sympathy a time or two.

The variety of wolves portrayed in this issue (and series as a whole) is another element worth talking about. Theres not one stagnant type of wolf that Lucy is battling here. The variety in itself adds a certain amount of visual appeal, and thats before taking into account the more ephemeral way the larger beasts are drawn. That just takes the series (and its antagonists) to a whole new level.

A peek at the cover for Lucy Claire: Redemption #4.

Lucy Claire: Redemption #3 is another intense read in this series. Honestly, its hard to believe that were only three issues in, given how much has occurred. This is a thrilling tale that sets the werewolves and werewolf hunters on a completely different path than the norm. All by adding shocking twists and turns at every opportunity.

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Loss and Determination in LUCY CLAIRE: REDEMPTION #3 - Monkeys Fighting Robots

The myriad benefits of exercise are well-documented. From physical strength and emotional control, to warding off cognitive disease, weight management, and overall life satisfaction, staying fit is demanded by our biology. There's another benefit of exercise that older populations need to consider: remaining independent well into old age.

That's the consensus of Amanda Loudin's recent Washington Post article. She begins by discussing an 82-year-old female powerlifter pummeling a home intruder with a table and bottle of baby shampoo. Thankfully, her incredible story was captured on video. Willie Murphy beat him so bad he begged her to call an ambulance. Fortunately (for him) the police arrived just in time to help him out.

Not everyone is Willie Murphy. But how many octogenarians would be able to fend for themselves when a younger and larger man breaks into their home? At that age, a mere slip can easily cause a hip fracture, which could quickly result in death. The fall causes the victim's immune system to be compromised, making them more susceptible to common illnesses like pneumonia. That process is exactly what killed my grandmother.

Only in the post-Industrial world did we even need to think of exercise as separate from everyday life. For most of time, every member of a tribe had to carry their own weight. Survival required physical activity; everyone had to chip in. Sure, there was huntingthe average nomadic tribe member walked an average of 19 miles per daybut there was also squatting and bending to pick vegetables, roots, and plants, carrying water from the river, and that essential component of social coherence: play.

Movement is a biological inheritance. We do harm when not honoring that fact.

Regardless of fitness level, sarcopenia plagues everyone. The loss of muscle tissue begins in our thirties. While any exercise aids in overall health, only by lifting heavy objects (or lighter objects repetitively"time under tension" matters) do we fend off the ravages of muscular atrophy. As sports medicine physician Matt Sedgley tells Loudin,

"When we talk about bone health and falls, we talk about three factors: fall, fragility and force. Participating in weight-bearing and resistance-training exercises helps develop muscle mass. This may help treat fragility conditions like osteoporosis. So if you fall you have stronger bone density. It may also lead to more cushioning when you do fall."

Falling is one danger. There are other less serious (though equally frustrating) realities we face as we age. Walking up and down stairs without losing our breath. The ability to carry our groceries from the car. Speaking of cars, there's also driving. The more we lose motor control and strength, the less we'll be able to remain independent.

It doesn't have to be that way. Consider Tao Porchon-Lynch, a 101-year-old yoga instructor who continues to teach workshops and dance in ballroom competitions. Her secret? She never stopped being active. When I interviewed her in 2010, shortly after taking her master class, she had just broken her wrist. Within two months, at age 91, she was doing arm balances with ease. That injury would sideline people half her age far longer. As she told me that afternoon,

"I've had a hip replacement. I was getting dog food at A&P. I got twisted and ended up with a pin in my hip. Health-wise, I'm seldom sick. Mentally, I don't allow myself to think about tomorrow and what will happen. I don't like people to tell me what I can't do. I never thought about age."

At that time, Porchon-Lynch lived alone, shopped for herself, and drove herself around her upstate New York community to teach five yoga classes a week. When I've discussed her fierce independence and incredible fitness to people over the years, some claim genes and others luck. Sure, those factor in, but that sounds more like an excuse. It reduces a lifetime of hard work to a quip that makes someone feel better about their lack of desire for putting in the work to stay healthy.

The author practicing with Tao Porchon-Lynch, Strala Yoga, New York City, 2010.

To paraphrase biomechanist and popular blogger, Katy Bowman, you are never out of shape; you are exactly in the shape you train for. If you don't train in any capacity, your shape is going to reduce the possibility that you'll remain independent later in life.

There are numerous arguments about exactly how to remain fit. What runs underneath all of them is that you have to move in some capacity. A 2012 review of sarcopenia in older adults details its causes and consequences, as well as offering ways of fending off inevitable decline. Aging is the obvious culprit, though the authors better define the issues:

"Its cause is widely regarded as multifactorial, with neurological decline, hormonal changes, inflammatory pathway activation, declines in activity, chronic illness, fatty infiltration, and poor nutrition, all shown to be contributing factors."

By the eighth decade of life as much as 50 percent of muscle mass has been lost. Obesity, an increasing problem in our time, negatively contributes to this process: increased fat mass accelerates the loss of muscle tone and lean body mass. While mass tends to be the focus when defining sarcopenia, strength is another factor. We get weaker as we age. But we can slow the decline through exercise and better nutrition.

Loading your body with heavy weights (or lower weights at higher repetitions) fits into the movement recipe, along with the basics: squatting, jumping, pushing, and pulling. Being able to pick up and put down weight, to pull weight to you and push it away from you, and to move through your entire range of motion on a regular basis are all basic movement patterns that help to fend off the demise of muscle mass and strength.

It is inevitable that you will become weaker and slower. Losing your independence does not have to be the end result. You can live well until the day they die. You can remain quite independent. But you have to put in the work to earn that result.

--

Stay in touch with Derek on Twitter and Facebook. His next book is Hero's Dose: The Case For Psychedelics in Ritual and Therapy.

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Another important reason to stay fit: your independence - Big Think

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If you're one of the many readers who set their 2020 vision for health and have been following along in this eight-week series, you should be at about the halfway mark and starting to see and feel some positive changes in your body.

Makes you want to keep going, doesn't it?

So far I've covered how detoxing is a great way to clean out your body's filtering systems colon, liver, kidneys and start fresh and clean, working towards achieving your health and weight loss goals. I also explained the importance of choosing clean, single-ingredient foods and eating them in a way that stabilizes blood sugar and why this is so important, not only for weight loss, but for overall health.

If you missed these earlier articles, you can get up to speed by joining my 8 Weeks is All it Takes group on Facebook and watching the weekly videos posted in the announcements section.

Moving on through week three and into four, we're going to dive into unpacking the three different body types and identifying which one best describes you. Also, we're going to explore how stress and sleep directly affect your weight and overall health.

When it comes to body type, you'll fall into one of these three categories: ectomorph, endomorph or mesomorph. An ectomorph is someone who can lose weight easily and never seems to gain an ounce. An endomorph is just the opposite, someone who has to work harder to lose weight and can gain it back quite easily. A mesomorph is someone who falls somewhere in the middle and can lose or gain weight just about equally well. And as you may have guessed, everyone's metabolism is different.

Think about a bicycle. Ectomorphs are lean and fast, much like a road bike. Mesomorphs are similar to a mountain bike. A bit more resistance than a road bike, but will get to the destination relatively quickly when you ride just a little harder. Endomorphs are like the cruiser bikes. No gears or anything extra to make pedalling easier, but when you put in the effort and stay the course you will get there.

That last bit is important to note. You will get there. Regardless how fast (or not) your metabolism is, or how quickly (or not) you lose weight, if you just keep riding your bike and moving forward, you will arrive at your destination and see results.

Body type is only one determining factor in reaching your health and weight-loss goals. Stress and sleep carry a lot of weight here too. No pun intended.

Let's do a little survey. On a scale of one to 10, if one is nothing and 10 is maxed out, what number would you give your current level of stress? On the same scale, how would you rate the way you've been sleeping? Ideally, you want to be low on the stress and high on the sleep. Unfortunately, the opposite is true for most folks.

Stress triggers a chain of reactions that, if not broken, is extremely detrimental to your health. Cortisol is released into the blood stream, which causes the body to store belly fat. Blood sugar levels spike resulting in insulin spikes as the pancreas works overtime to try and bring the levels back in line and restore balance. Adrenaline is also released into the body, digestive function is slowed, sleep is compromised and blood flow is diverted away from vital organs to our extremities. Stress, whether real or perceived, equates to danger and these things are set in motion to prepare us to be able to stand and fight or turn and run away. Problem is, stress is not so much situational like when our ancestors had to run from a tiger or fight off attackers. They escape, stress is gone, body goes back to its original state. Today, most people who describe themselves as being stressed say it's just there and they don't see any way to change it. With no escape, the body remains in this heightened state, constantly working overtime.

Lack of sleep also comes with some side effects. Without enough hours of good quality sleep on a regular basis, the body cannot properly metabolize the food you give it. So even when you're eating good quality food, you're missing out on some of the nutrients. In addition, the hormones that tell us when we're hungry or full (ghrelin and leptin) become imbalanced with lack of sleep, causing us to make poor food choices. Lack of sleep also lowers immune function, affects moods, concentration, focus, co-ordination, decreases your productivity, and increases internal inflammation.

So what can a stressed-out, sleep-deprived endomorph do to lose weight and increase overall health? First, although you can't change your body type per se, any body type can increase metabolism with good quality food and eating to stabilize blood sugar. Truly, you'd be amazed what this can do. Next, set yourself up for a good night's sleep by turning off all screen time 30-60 minutes before bed. Dim the lights and opt for reading, taking a warm bath, listening to music, etc., to wind down and prepare your body for sleep. And if you have a lot going on in your head, quickly jot down on paper everything running around in there, effectively emptying your mind and allowing you to fall asleep more quickly and have better quality sleep.

Finally, identify where your stress is coming from and put it into perspective. We mistakenly think that everything needs to be done yesterday or the world will come to an end. Know your limits, prioritize, and ask yourself, Will anyone die if I don't ________? If the answer is no, let it go. And to break up stress and allow your body to come back down, get out and run like a tiger really is chasing you. You'll be amazed at how great you feel.

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Body type, stress and sleep - FIT Talk With Tania - Castanet.net