Exercising More but Not Losing Weight?

I've been keeping to my New Year's Resolution of raising my walking schedule to twenty miles a week. I wasn't keeping track of my walking mileage before this, but it was probably averaging only about seven miles per week.

I didn't make any plans on changing my diet for a couple of months, but was just going to focus on the increased exercise. I'm already feeling much better with the increased exercise. I've got more energy and am in a better mental and emotional spirit. But I haven't lost any weight and it's been over a month now!

But I do feel more toned, and though I didn't measure myself at the beginning, it's quite likely I'm losing a bit in inches around most parts of my body. My sister is trained as a dietician. She says they were told muscle is three times as dense as fat. Meaning a pound of fat takes up three times as much space as a pound of muscle. So she thinks I've added a little bit of muscle and have lost some fat. The scale doesn't show this difference at all, but if it's true, it would be a big improvement.

I've done over two hours of research on the web, trying to find the definitive answer for the muscle versus fat density question. (This is as good procrastination as any for delaying my walk today ;-)) There are a lot of conflicting answers out there. If anyone has a good online reference, and more encouragement for those of us who have started exercising but don't see the good results on their scales, please let us know!

Weight Loss Success Stories Galore

I just came across this inspiring video of before and after weight loss photos. These people all lost their weight by exercising and making changes to their diet.



Also check out their website at ShapeFit.com for the many interesting and detailed weightloss success stories.

Some Good Reasons to Eat Less Meat

There was a good article in the New York Times yesterday encouraging people to eat less meat. Check it out and let me know what your think.

Treadmill Workouts for Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama looks really fit for her age. She just celebrated her 44th birthday last week. The highly publicized story is that she works out most weekday mornings on her treadmill, starting at 4:30am and is in bed by 9:30pm. She has two daughters aged 5 and 8. I'd be interested in getting more information about her actual workout routine, can anyone supply some good information?

Apples instead of Donuts

Kathy was told she had high blood pressure and had to lose weight. She started on the South Beach Diet in June and had lost 49 pounds by this January. See her story and a couple of other stories of people who want to lose some weight at the New York Times today.

The art print above is Apple Modern.

Weight Goal Success for Heather

Heather has been fat since her teen years. But now at age 31, she is very slim for the first time since childhood. She weighs 140 pounds and her height is 5'9".

She lost 110 pounds in just over one year. See her inspirational story at CNN.

Pedometers as a Weight Loss Gadget

There's been several studies that show pedometers can be helpful to encourage people to get moving and walk more.

In this other study from a few years ago, researchers found that sedentary women had a higher BMI and a higher belly fat ratio than more active women. This would seem obvious to most people but the numbers are interesting anyway. Here 80 middle-aged women wore a pedometer without changing their activity level for a week. The researchers measured their body mass index (BMI) as well as waist and hips (to determine belly fat).

The average sedentary person walks 2,000-3,000 steps per day.

This study found that women who typically walked less than 6,000 steps had a BMI of 29, 44% body fat, a 37-inch waist, 42-inch hips, and a 0.87 waist-to-hip ratio.

6,000 to 10,000 steps had a BMI of 26, 35% body fat, a 32-inch waist, 40-inch hips, and a 0.80 waist-to-hip ratio.

10,000 steps or more had a BMI of 23, 26% body fat, a 29-inch waist, 29-inch hips, and a 0.75 waist-to-hip ratio.

Basically those who walked less had more total fat, and more centrally located fat.

Walking 10,000 steps is doable in 30 minutes time.

The pedometer shown above costs less than $20. It's the best-selling Omron Pedometer

Montel Williams is Drinking his Vegetables

Montel Williams, age 51, is feeling really great these days. In the mornings he works out in the gym on an elliptical machine and he has been drinking a lot of green vegetable shakes for a couple of years. His face is glowing with health, he says his wrinkles have disappeared and he feels very energized.

He's just written a book called Living Well: 21 Days to Transform Your Life, Supercharge Your Health, and Feel Spectacular.

See an interesting interview about his tips for kick-starting a healthy routine here.

Weight View

Here's another way to see your before and after weight loss image. The site is at weightview.com. You can submit your current picture and see what you might look like at your goal weight. They recommend you put the two photos on your fridge for motivation. Has anyone tried it? I haven't yet but plan to today.

Walking for Weight Loss

I linked to this walking success stories site a couple of years ago, but it's worth another look because there are so many good and inspiring stories in one place here. They are all about people who experienced weight loss success by beginning a walking program. Check it out!

The photo of people walking in Central Park in New York is by Pamela White.

Secrets of a Weight Loss Master

Hi, I came across your blog and I love what your doing! I think you will find my story very inspirational. I have overcome binge eating disorder, alcoholism, substance abuse, and chronic illness that developed from my disorder. I personally gained and lost the same 10-15 lbs. over and over for 14 years until I found a way out of the insanity. I've kept my weight off for 20 years now, even through menopause!

I see you did a poll and found that most people wanted to lose under 20 lbs. I am in the weight loss business and I find that to be true. I also encourage people to only think about losing weight in 10 pound chunks because it is too overwhelming to think about losing 30-50 lbs. After they successfully lose the 10 lbs. they can move on to more!

Even a 10 pound weight loss can produce dramatic health benefits and because people have such a hard time losing weight, this is a more realistic plan than a major weight loss. The good news is that success builds on success and after a 10 pound loss people become motivated to go on to even more!

I am one of the first in the industry to introduce weight loss home parties where people form support circles and teams and then compete for cash and prizes. Check out my website for more info! This is going to revolutionize how people lose weight in this country!

Namaste,
Catherine L. Taylor
The Weight Loss Master

Isadora says, check out the very interesting weight loss ideas presented at The Weight Loss Master's Club

A Couple Sets Out to Lose Weight Together

This couple met ten years ago and started a family about five years ago. They now have three beautiful children but are determined to get their health and energy back. They want to feel like they did when they were at ideal weight They've just started their new plan. Help cheer them on.

Feeling Depressed : A Portrait

I can relate to this image. It speaks perfectly of the dejected feeling most of us must have occasionally, maybe especially on Monday mornings.

Check out this creative artist's blog. His creations are incredible and almost always elicit some hidden emotion.

A Boot Camp Weight Loss Story

Tim has lost 128 pounds. He lost the first sixty pounds over eight months by starting a regular walking program and then joining a gym. He joined an Operations Boot Camp to help him lose the rest of the weight.

It was just before his 40th birthday that he made the decision to lose weight. It took him less than two years to lose this much weight. For a guy who used to have trouble walking from the parking lot to his office, he's now become a fitness instructor!

Check out his Boot Camp weight loss story here.

Losing Weight With the Help of Meditation

Many of us are trying very hard to change ourselves and our habits at this time in the New Year. But changing habits with sheer willpower is the hardest thing and we are often beating ourselves up about it when we fail. I found the first couple of sentences from this Zen newsletter very interesting in this regard. It's a different approach entirely;

Zen practice begins with affirming the relationship of the moment rather than trying to improve or change ourselves. Instead of trying to change the self that is relating, the effort is in more fully immersing oneself in relationship.

Read more from this Zen Buddhist newsletter here.

The art print above is by Elvira Amrhein

Daily Workouts on the Elliptical

Miss Patti wants to lose about 40 more pounds before her wedding in May. She's lost about 16 pounds already since she got engaged in September. That's when she went out and purchased an elliptical machine and dropped fast food from her diet. She started a blog two weeks ago in her goal to lose weight. She's found new determination to work out for 30 minutes everyday and so far she's lost about seven pounds in the first two weeks.

Check out her weight loss progress here and cheer her on.

Combining Low Carb with Weight Training

Here are some amazing before and after pictures. What is most incredible is that there is only a seven pound difference between them.

Age: 25
Height: 6’4”
Weight before: 250
Weight after: 243

Lucas embarked on an extensive exercise and weight training program together with a low carb diet. Just twelve weeks later he had lost 19 pounds of fat but had gained 12 pounds of muscle. See more about his amazing change in body composition here.

Thinking of Becoming a Vegetarian?

Have you ever considered becoming a vegetarian? I have at times. My husband really loves his meat though. But after seeing this video (and having a toddler myself) I'm really serious about giving it a go for myself (sometime soon maybe).

In this video you see some agile tigers who hunt down a young buffalo. Then a crocodile tries to get their catch away from them. The fascinating part is when the buffalo herd comes back in full force to try to save their young one. This was the #1 most buzzed about YouTube video of last year. I felt a terrible revulsion at watching this, though I realize this is nature and the most natural thing these animals can do in nature. But it would be something if humanity could rise above this.

Goodbye to Chips, Cookies and Candy

Sean has lost 60 pounds. He's 6 feet tall and now weighs 280 and has much more muscle mass than when he weighed 340 eight months ago. He says eating chips, cookies and candy were 90% of his problem. At the age of 27 he was already feeling bad each morning when getting out of bed. His feet would be sore and tight. He's given up the junk food and is exercising regularly (with the help of a SWAT personal trainer) and feels great. See his success story and photo here.

The photo shown here is another success story featured on the SWAT Personal Training website.

A Virtual Weight Loss Gadget

Hi everyone. My name is Adriana and I developed the virtual weight loss gadget you see on the right sidebar. Isadora has kindly let me spout off about it here.

Although we've had this free virtual model for people to put on their website sidebars for a while now, just two weeks ago we got accepted as a gadget in iGoogle.

So now anyone who wants to try it on their own private iGoogle page can do so.

We are hoping to get some comments from people about the gadget. It's meant to be a fun tool for weight loss inspiration in that it shows what you might look like at your heaviest weight, current weight and goal weight.

One reader recently complained that the gadget makes a 100 pound woman look good in a red dress. This is something we need to fix very soon, as currently the images only go down to a BMI of 18, and everything below that looks the same. We definitely don't want to encourage thin people to try to get even thinner and are very aware of the serious illness of anorexia. (Update February 2008: We've made this change now.)

We realize this virtual model is simplistic and there's little people can add on it to make it look more like themselves. But our mega maniacal hope is that if enough people like it and use it, that we might qualify for Google's gadget seed investment program. At that point we would receive the funding to develop this model into something much more versatile and exciting!

There is one other virtual model that we are aware of and this is much more sophisticated than ours. It's called the My Virtual Model and it was developed by a very successful company that employs over 100 people. (See my overview of My Virtual Model on Squidoo for more info). One day we'd like to compete with My Virtual Model ! ;-)

I hope you have fun trying this gadget out and would appreciate any feedback.

Celebrity Diet Secrets

The Daily Mail has an entertaining article today about celebrity diet secrets. These celebrity diet tips are taken from the The Black Book of Hollywood Diet Secrets. They list the tips alphabetically. Here's a couple of examples;

A IS FOR ASPARAGUS: Celebrities live on it. It's a natural diuretic, it diminishes bloating and is on every Hollywood insider's must-eat list. Actor Owen Wilson never misses his daily double dose of asparagus and parsley.

B IS FOR BLUE PLATES: Why? Blue is the least appetizing color for human beings and studies show when you eat from a blue plate you eat less.

E IS FOR EPSOM SALTS: By bathing in these, you can actually-soak away the pounds

But despite all these entertaining tips, the main secret lies at the bottom of the article where the author says "These women don't skip the gym - ever. If they have to get up at 5am to start filming, they will get up at 3am to work out."

Check out their article about celebrity diet secrets here.

Craving Sweets or Alcohol?

If you crave sweets this may mean you have a vitamin deficiency and that if you ate more of certain foods it would be easier to quell and drastically reduce your craving for sweets.

Naturopathic medical doctor Colleen Huber says that if you crave sweets, what you really need are nutrients such as chromium (so eat more broccoli, grapes, cheese, dried beans and chicken) or carbon (eat more fresh fruit) or phosphorus (eat more chicken, beef, liver, fish, eggs, nuts, legumes) or sulfur (eat more cranberries, horseradish, cruciferous vegetables, kale, cabbage) or lastly tryptophan (eat more cheese, lamb, raisins, sweet potato and spinach}.

If your particular sweet craving is usually about chocolate, you are probably craving magnesium. Curb your desire for chocolate by eating lots of raw nuts and seeds, legumes and fruits.

See a very interesting list about various food and alcohol cravings and how they are related to mineral or vitamin deficiencies.

The art print above is by Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin

SuperFoods RX as a Focus

SuperFoods Rx is one of the few weight loss books that gets a five star rating on Amazon. The book has been out for over a year and has helped a lot of people. Essentially it recommends eating much more of the 14 healthiest foods and their substitutes.

Here are the superfoods;

* Beans -- reduce obesity
* Blueberries -- lower risk for cardiovascular disease
* Broccoli -- lowers the incidence of cataracts and fights birth defects
* Oats -- reduce the risk of type II diabetes
* Oranges -- prevent strokes
* Pumpkin -- lowers the risk of various cancers
* Wild salmon -- lowers the risk of heart disease
* Soy -- lowers cholesterol
* Spinach -- decreases chances of cardiovascular disease & age-related macular degeneration
* Tea -- helps prevent osteoporosis
* Tomatoes -- raise the skin's sun protection factor
* Turkey -- helps build a strong immune system
* Walnuts - reduce risk of developing coronary heart disease, diabetes, & cancer
* Yogurt-- promotes strong bones and a healthy heart

Here's one readers comments on Amazon;

I was never much of a cook, but I have always been interested in getting my family to eat healthy foods, and this book has shown me how easy it is to do just that. The 14 foods listed as "Superfoods" are delicious, and the authors include numerous "sidekicks," or foods that offer the same or similar benefits. After just one month of preparing foods using the recommendations in "SuperFoods Rx," everyone in my family has experienced significant health benefits--my husband's cholesterol level plummeted, and lifelong digestive problems have disappeared. Best of all, everyone from ages six to fifty LOVE the meals (one favorite is a stew I invented that contains turkey, carrots, cabbage, canned tomatoes, beans, spinach, onions, cubes of firm tofu and/or whatever else is on hand; I use Goya "cubitos" and seasoning for a delicious broth). Nobody wants sugar cookies anymore, now that we can go to the fridge anytime and enjoy luscious cultured yogurt with blueberries and diced walnuts, fresh watermelon--even some yummy dark chocolate with a pot of green or black tea. The possibilities are endless!!
Diets do not work--they are temporary, often based on absurd principles, and only perpetuate an unhealthy obsession with food. As the authors point out, what is needed is a permanent change for the better in eating habits for the entire family.

See a good interview with the author of SuperFoods RX here.

The accompanying book The Superfoods Rx Diet: Lose Weight with the Power of SuperNutrients was just released last week and is already one of the bestsellers on Amazon.

30 Pounds to Go

Meredith has 30 pounds left to go. She is halfway to her goal weight. Last year her goal was to lose sixty pounds and she succeeded in losing thirty. She did this by cutting out a lot of sugar and exercising regularly. She went from a size 16 to a size 12 (she is 5'10") and was feeling pretty proud and comfortable with her weight as she had not fit into a size 12 since she was a kid.

But over Christmas her father spent a long time in the emergency room in the hospital due to his Type II diabetes. She says;

There are few things that I fear more than developing Type II diabetes. I've seen how it can maim and cripple both mind and body when left unchecked, or when lifelong habits prove insurmountable. Having full and proper use of my limbs, appendages and brain is a better motivator than being able to tug on size-8 jeans, though you'd think otherwise if you read my food journals from the past few years.

Now she is determined to lose thirty more pounds. See her story; 30 Pounds to Go.