Night Owls May Pack on More Pounds

Study found they ate worst foods late at night, long after sound sleepers had hit the sack

By Dennis Thompson

HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, June 28 (HealthDay News) -- Night owls are more likely to gain weight than people who get good sleep because they tend to graze the kitchen for junk food in the wee hours of the morning, a new study suggests.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that people who were kept up until 4 a.m. in a sleep lab ate more than 550 additional calories during the late-night hours.

"People consumed a substantial amount of calories during those late-night hours when they would normally be in bed," said study author Andrea Spaeth, a doctoral candidate in the psychology department at the University of Pennsylvania. "Those calories also were higher in fat compared to the calories consumed at other times of day."

As a result, subjects kept up late gained more weight during five days of sleep deprivation than people in a control group who were allowed to get good sleep, Spaeth said.

Late-night overeating is likely the result of hormonal changes that occur in people who are sleep-deprived, said Dr. W. Christopher Winter, medical director of the Martha Jefferson Sleep Medicine Center in Charlottesville, Va.

They tend to experience an increase in their levels of ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates hunger cravings, and a decrease in levels of leptin, a hormone that makes people feel full.

"Now you're in a situation where you are craving bad food and more of it, and your body feels less full when it gets that bad food," Winter said.

The research team monitored the eating habits of about 200 people who, for five days straight, were kept up until 4 a.m. and then allowed only four hours of sleep. They remained in the lab the whole time, going through in groups of four or five at a time.

Subjects were allowed to eat whenever they liked, and trained monitors in the sleep lab maintained a running tally of the amount consumed and the times at which they ate.

Researchers then compared their calorie intake and weight gain to that of a control group allowed a good night's sleep in the same lab with the same food availability.

"The only difference between the two groups was sleep," Spaeth said. "They lived in a suite, and in the suite there was a kitchen with a fridge and microwave."

The eating habits of the control group remained unchanged. The sleep-deprived group began eating additional calories between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m., and they tended to eat fattier foods during that time period. "That does kind of mimic the real world, when you're up late at night and you drift over to your fridge," Spaeth said.

There was one key difference between the lab and the real world. Since the study took place in a hospital, the suite's kitchen was stocked with hospital food. "I'm wondering if the effect would be stronger in the real world, where you have access to more calorically dense foods," Spaeth said.

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im trying to lose 50 pounds?

hello i'm a 15 year old female and im 5'6 1/2 and 193lbs (turning 16 in August) i want to reach my goal weight of AT LEAST 140 by December/end of the year.

have you ever lost that much of weight in that time period? how did you do it?

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High-Fat Foods That Drop Pounds, What Millennials Ask The Internet And More!

Think that cutting out fat is an easy way to trigger weight loss? Think again! These fatty foods are proven to help you slim down. [Refinery 29]

A few things Millennials are turning to the Web to ask: "How exactly do you use Pinterest?" And, uh, "What's twerking?" Here are the other top questions millennials are scratching their heads about. [Mashable]

The CDC has found E. coli in many pool water samples, because apparently folks have been using pools as toilets. So gross! [CNN]

Happy Friday! Celebrate the coming weekend with this representation of a typical Friday workday, GIF-style. [BuzzFeed]

Image Credit: Gourmet/Romulo Yanes

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How To Lose 20-30 Pounds In 5 Days: The Extreme Weight Cutting and Rehydration Secrets of UFC Fighters

The following is a guest post by Nate Green, who works with Dr. John Berardi, nutritional advisor to athletes like UFC champion Georges St. Pierre (GSP).

This is the first of two blog posts entailing extreme physical experiments. Absolutely no performance enhancing drugs of any kind were used.

Part 1 — this post — details exactly how top fighters like Georges St. Pierre rapidly lose 20-30 pounds for “weigh-ins.” To refine the method, Nate performed this on himself, losing 20 pounds in 5 days. The unique part: Dr. Berardi and team measured key variables throughout the entire process, including the last “rehydration” phase. As Berardi put it:

“We used GSP’s exact protocol with him [Nate]. The idea was that by doing this with a guy who didn’t actually have to compete the next day, we could measure all sorts of performance variables that you’d never get with an athlete about to fight.”

Part 2 — the next post — will share how Nate used intermittent fasting and strategically planned eating to gain 20 pounds in 28 days, emulating a fighter who wants (or needs) to move up a weight class in competition.

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighters put it all out in the open for the world to see: they kick, punch, laugh, cry, and bleed in front of thousands of arena fans and millions more watching at home.

But even if you’re a hardcore fan who knows all the stats, there’s something behind the scenes that you’ve probably never seen in full: world-class weight manipulation…

Done right, it can significantly increase a fighter’s chances of winning. An athlete will artificially lower his weight for pre-fight weigh-ins, then show up to the actual fight 10, 20, or even 30 pounds heavier than his opponent. It’s a game changer.

Done wrong, it can make even the toughest guy lose his edge… and probably the fight. There’s serious risk of organ failure if done haphazardly.

Even though boxers and wrestlers have been manipulating weight in this fashion for decades, it has the air of illicit activity. And though it’s legal in MMA competition, you should *never* try this at home or without medical supervision. Excessive dehydration can kill you. “Cutting weight” has no place in real-world dieting or behavior.

This is NOT an article on sustainable weight loss or healthy living. Rather, it’s a fascinating look at how far athletes and scientists will go to manipulate the human body for competitive advantage.

Here’s how it works…

Imagine this: It’s Saturday night and you’re a top-ranked MMA fighter who just stepped into the cage to fight for the 170-pound Welterweight Championship.

Question: How much do you weigh?

The answer may seem obvious: 170 pounds, right? But if you followed the steps of extreme weight manipulation, the real answer is that you weigh somewhere between 185 and 190 pounds. That’s 15-20 pounds more than the “cutoff” weight of 170.

24 hours before you stepped into the cage, however, you did in fact weigh 170 pounds. You had to. Friday night was the official weigh-in where you and your opponent both stripped down to your skivvies, stepped on the scale in front of the judge, and prayed that the number on the scale hit 170 or lower.

But once you stepped off that scale it was a race to gain weight.

I find this kind of physiological puppetry very interesting. Most of us regular guys have a hard time gaining or losing just 5 pounds at a time.

But the top combat athletes can lose up to 30 pounds in just 5 days leading up to the fight. Then they can gain nearly all of it back in the 24 hours between weighing in and going toe-to-toe.

They do this to gain a massive competitive advantage. In other words, the bigger guy who retains more of his strength, agility, and endurance will likely win. The guy who weighs in at 170 — and then fights at 170 — often has a world of hurt coming his way.

That’s why Anderson Silva – arguably the world’s best MMA fighter — normally fights in the 185-pound class even though he actually weighs 215 pounds. A few days before he fights, Anderson “cuts” 30 pounds to make weight…then gains most of his weight back in 24 hours in time for his fight.

Georges St Pierre — arguably the world’s 2nd best fighter – normally walks around at 195 pounds. He ends up cutting 25 pounds to make his 170 pound weight class, and then gains 20 of it back before his fight.

Sneaky, huh?

Just how do these guys do it? And what does this rapid weight loss and weight gain do to their performance?

I’m lucky enough to be friends with Dr. John Berardi and Martin Rooney, two guys who regularly work with UFC athletes.

Recently, I told them I wanted to see what cutting weight was like. Is it really possible for a regular guy like me to drop 20 pounds in a few days then gain all of it back in 24 hours?

And if it was possible, what would it feel like? I heard cutting weight was one of the hardest things fighters do throughout their career. Was I man enough to handle it? Or would I give up when things got tough?

They agreed to help me cut 20 pounds in one week, and then put it all back on again in 24 hours.

Nervous doesn’t even begin to explain how I felt.

Before pics. Full of water and feeling happy.

Now extreme weight manipulation can go horribly, horribly wrong. Even a lot of UFC guys don’t know how to do it the smart way. Instead, they put their bodies in real harm by doing stupid things like taking a lot of diuretics, not drinking any water, skipping meals, wearing trash bags while exercising (sometimes in the sauna) and generally being idiotic.

They lose weight, of course. But they also lose energy and power and develop one bad temper. None of which helps during fight time.

With the help of Dr. Berardi and Rooney, I decided to take a smarter route, instead of putting my health in serious jeopardy.

I started at 190.2 pounds and had 5 days to lose 20 pounds.

Here’s a breakdown of the nutritional strategies we used — the same one Georges St Pierre and other elite MMA fighters use before a big fight. (Remember: we know this because Dr. Berardi is Georges’ nutrition coach).

STRATEGICALLY DECREASE WATER CONSUMPTION

Dropping weight fast is all about manipulating your water and sodium levels.

For a fighter who wants to cut weight quickly and safely, here’s how much water he would consume in the 5 days leading up to his weigh-in:

Sunday – 2 gallons
Monday – 1 gallon
Tuesday – 1 gallon
Wednesday – .5 gallons
Thursday – .25 gallons
Friday – No water till after weigh-in at 5PM.

As you can see, the amount of water starts high with two gallons and decreases with each day till he’s drinking hardly any water on Thursday and Friday.

This is to ensure their body gets into “flushing mode.”

By drinking lots of water early on, the fighter’s body will down-regulate aldosterone, a hormone that acts to conserve sodium and secrete potassium.

And when he suddenly reduces the amount of water he drinks in the middle and end of the week, his body will still be in flushing mode, meaning he’ll hit the bathroom to pee a lot even though he’s hardly drinking any water.

What happens when you excrete more fluid than you take in? Bingo! Rapid weight loss.

DON’T EAT MORE THAN 50 GRAMS OF CARBS PER DAY

Since one gram of carbohydrate pulls 2.7 grams of water into the body, it’s important for fighters to keep their carb intake low.

By doing this, they also deplete muscle glycogen (a source of energy) and keep their body in “flush mode”.

DON’T EAT FRUIT, SUGAR, OR STARCHES

These are carbs that should be avoided entirely while cutting.

EAT MEALS THAT CONTAIN A LOT OF PROTEIN AND FAT

Fighters have to eat something. Since they’re avoiding carbs, Dr. Berardi advises them to load up on high-quality protein like meats, eggs or a vegetarian sources of protein. It’s also the perfect opportunity to eat lots of leafy vegetables (like spinach) and cruciferous vegetables (like broccoli and cauliflower).

Georges St Pierre normally has his meals prepared by a private chef so he doesn’t even have to think about this stuff or make decisions. Recommended reading: here’s an entire article detailing GSP’s training diet.

DON’T EAT SALT

Since the body likes to hold on to sodium (which will hold on to water), dropping salt helps the fighter’s body flush water out.

CONSIDER A NATURAL DIURETIC

This step isn’t always necessary, but it can help when you’re getting down to the wire and still need to lose water. Opt for a natural diuretic like dandelion root, but wait until the last 2 days to use it.

TAKE HOT BATHS

We sweat a lot in hot environments. However, we sweat the most in hot, humid environments. Since hot water offers both heat and 100% humidity, fighters lose water quickly by taking hot baths and fully submerging everything but their nose for 10 minutes at a time.

SIT IN THE SAUNA

This is the “finishing touch” to flush the last few pounds of water and is only used on the last few days leading up to the weigh-in.

So if we take all of that and break it into a weekly plan, it looks like this:

SUNDAY

Carbs: Less than 50 grams per day. No fruit, starches, or sugars.
Protein and Fat: As much as you want in 3 meals
Water: 2 gallons
Salt: None

MONDAY

Carbs: Less than 50 grams per day. No fruit, starches, or sugars.
Protein and Fat: As much as you want in 3 meals
Water: 1 gallon
Salt: None

TUESDAY

Carbs: Less than 50 grams per day. No fruit, starches, or sugars.
Protein and Fat: As much as you want in 3 meals
Water: 1 gallon
Salt: None

WEDNESDAY

Carbs: Less than 50 grams per day. No fruit, starches, or sugars.
Protein and Fat: As much as you want in 3 meals
Water: 0.5 gallon
Salt: None
Sauna in afternoon

THURSDAY

Carbs: Less than 50 grams per day. No fruit, starches, or sugars.
Protein and Fat: As much as you want in 3 meals
Water: 0.25 gallon
Salt: None
Sauna in afternoon for 30 minutes, hot water bath at night

FRIDAY (WEIGH IN AT 6PM)

Carbs: Less than 50 grams per day. No fruit, starches, or sugars.
Protein and Fat: Eat 2 very small meals until weigh in
Water: None till weigh-in
Salt: None
Sauna until weight is met

(Note from Tim: You can download the entire weight-manipulation plan that Nate used here: Weight Loss and Rehydration Protocol.)

Dry as a bone and none to happy about it.

So that all looks fine on paper. But what does it actually feel like to go through it?

One word: Hell.

I started my cut on Sunday at 190 pounds. Here’s a quick rundown of what it looked like.

SUNDAY – 190 POUNDS

I carry a gallon water jug with me wherever I go, which makes me feel ridiculous. But I have to make sure I get my two gallons of water in. Overall, though, I feel fine. It actually doesn’t seem that difficult. I’m not sure what the big deal is.

MONDAY – 187 POUNDS

I’m starting to miss the taste of salt. All of my food is bland. Now I’m drinking one gallon of water instead of two. Still not that bad.

TUESDAY – 182 POUNDS

I go to the bathroom 13 times in one day. A new record, I believe. And I’m still drinking a gallon of water.

WEDNESDAY – 179 POUNDS

Now I’m down to half gallon of water per day, which means I have to ration it out, which feels weird. I have a little with breakfast, a little with lunch, and a little with dinner. It’s definitely not enough water.

My mouth is dry. I feel dehydrated. I’m drinking straight espresso instead of drip coffee because it contains too much water.

In the evening, I try my first hot water bath. I generally enjoy baths, but this one’s different. My apartment’s water doesn’t get as hot as Dr. Berardi wants it to be — “hot enough to cause moderate pain but not burn your hand” — so I fill two pots and a kettle with water, put them on the stovetop until they boil, and pour them into the bath tub.

I get into the bath and immediately regret the decision.

10 minutes later, I’m lying naked in the middle of my living room trying to catch my breath. My eyes are rolled back into my head. My entire body feels like a giant heartbeat. I want to drink some water, but can’t.

This is starting to be less fun.

THURSDAY – 175 POUNDS

I am a zombie. A zombie who sits. Mostly in the sauna or on the couch.

In the sauna I watch beads of sweat collect on my skin. I see my precious water run down my arms and chest and legs and know that I won’t be able to replenish any of it when I get out.

I only have .25 gallons of water to last me the entire day. I’m ready for this to be over.

FRIDAY – 169.7 POUNDS AT 5PM

I look sick, very sick.

I spend the last 30 minutes before the weigh-in in the sauna and drink four sips of water throughout the entire day…

OK, I’ll save you the rest of the journal entries and share some performance data.

While the fighters are tested in competition, no one has ever really documented how much strength or power they lose by dehydrating. (Or how much strength and power they regain after they get all their weight back.)

So we decided to check.

And it turns out, losing 20 pounds in 5 days is not conducive to being strong, powerful, or agile. (Surprise!) I couldn’t jump as high, lift as much weight, or run as fast or as long as I had just a week before during our baseline testing.

POWER TEST: VERTICAL JUMP

Baseline: 31.7 inches
After Dehydration: 27.6 inches

STRENGTH ENDURANCE TEST: 225-POUND BENCH PRESS

Baseline: 15 reps
After Dehydration: 5 reps

ENDURANCE TEST: MAX TIME ON TREADMILL

Baseline: 3 minutes and 14 seconds of sprinting at 8mph with 6% incline
After Dehydration: 1 minute and 28 seconds of sprinting at 8mph with 3% incline

It’s no wonder these guys try to gain all their weight back immediately after weighing in. They’d be screwed if they didn’t.

Speaking of which…

Once UFC athletes cut weight and weigh-in, they’d never be able to perform at a top level. (Which is obvious from my less-than-stellar performance in the gym).

So what do they do next? They gain as much weight as humanly possible in 24 hours.

Here’s how they do it. (And how I did it, too.)

DRAMATICALLY INCREASE WATER INTAKE.

According to Dr. Berardi, the body can absorb only about 1 liter (2.2 pounds) of fluid – at maximum – in an hour. So he advises the fighters he works with to not to drink any more than that. Instead, he tells them to sip 1 liter (2.2 pounds) of water per hour.

However, the fighters won’t retain all that fluid. In fact, probably about 25% of it will be lost as urine.

So, here’s the math for someone like Georges St Pierre:

9 liters (20 pounds) of water to get back.11 liters (25 pounds) of fluid between Friday weigh-in and Saturday weigh-in to get it all back.24 hours in which to do it. 8 of which he’ll be sleeping and 3 of which will be leading up to Saturday weigh-in.

This leaves 13 total hours for rehydration.

So as soon as Georges steps off the scale, he literally slams a liter of water and carries the bottle around with him, refilling it and draining it every hour until 3 hours before his fight. (There isn’t a bathroom in the cage.)

EAT AS MUCH CARBOHYDRATE (AND PROTEIN AND FAT) AS YOU WANT

Now’s also the time for fighters to load up on carbs and pull all the water they’re drinking back into their muscles. It also helps them feel more human and look less sickly. (Something I definitely experienced during my super-hydration phase.)

Dr. Berardi has his fighters eat a big meal directly after they weigh in. He doesn’t restrict calories – his athletes can eat as much as they want in that meal as long as it’s healthy food like lean meats, sweet potatoes, rice, and vegetables. (Gorging on junk food is a bad idea.)

Then on Saturday (fight day), Dr. Berardi has his fighters eat a satisfying amount of healthy food in a few small meals leading up to the fight.

ADD SALT TO EVERYTHING

Since sodium helps the body retain water, fighters are encouraged to add extra salt to their meals.

Here’s what my super rehydration schedule looked like:

FRIDAY AFTER WEIGH-IN

Carbs: Eat as much as you want in one meal after weigh-in and testing
Protein and Fat: Eat as much as you want in one meal after weigh-in and testing
Rehydration Beverage: Drink 1 liter of water mixed with 1/2 scoop of carbohydrate/protein drink for every hour you’re awake. (We used Surge Workout Fuel.)
Salt: Salt food

SATURDAY

Carbs: Eat satisfying amount in four meals before weigh-in
Protein: Eat satisfying amount in four meals before weigh-in
Rehydration Beverage: Drink 1 liter of water mixed with 1/2 scoop of carbohydrate/protein drink for every hour you’re awake but stop 3 hours before testing.

Back to normal-ish.

First things first: Personally, I ended up gaining 16.9 pounds back in 24 hours. Not bad.

But the real question: How much strength and power do you really gain when you super-hydrate?

Answer: A lot.

While I didn’t perform as well as my baseline (when I did all the performance tests before I started the experiment), I got really close. Which means that even though I put my body through a week of torture, it was almost 100%.

And I totally annihilated my performance numbers from just 24 hours before when I was sickly and dehydrated.

I ran faster and longer, jumped higher, and lifted more weight for more reps.

POWER TEST: VERTICAL JUMP

Baseline: 31.7 inches
After Dehydration: 27.6 inches
Re-hydrated: 29 inches

STRENGTH ENDURANCE TEST: 225-POUND BENCH PRESS

Baseline: 15 reps
After Dehydration: 5 reps
Rehydrated: 12 reps

ENDURANCE TEXT: MAX TIME ON TREADMILL

Baseline: 3 minutes and 14 seconds of sprinting at 8mph with 6% incline
After Dehydration: 1 minute and 28 seconds of sprinting at 8mph with 3% incline
Rehydrated: 3 minutes and 25 seconds of sprinting at 8mph with 6% incline

For an MMA fighter, this is about the time when he’d be getting ready to step in the cage and fight, which means it’s about the same time you’d turn on the TV and see him in his corner, jumping up and down, getting psyched and ready for battle.

How much does he weigh?

It’s safe to say at least 10-30 pounds more than the weight class he’s fighting in.

And now you know the “secret” to extreme weight manipulation, something 99.9% of guys who watch MMA will never know.

Pretty cool, right?

If you have questions, please put them in the comments and Dr. Berardi and I will do our best to answer them.

###

Nate’s not done yet. Next we’ll have Part 2 – How To Gain 20 Pounds in 28 Days: The Extreme Muscle Building Secrets of UFC Fighters.

For more about Nate and his work on building muscle and gaining strength, check out Scrawny To Brawny.

Posted on May 6th, 2013

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caloric intake and vanity pounds

Hi :)

I have recently put on a bit of weight, mostly because I had exams and so little time for exercise whereas I was eating more then usual, simply because I was exhausted from all the studying and felt I need more energy.

Now, exams being over, I started regular exercise again (5-7 days/week, some days running, other days light weights, normally half to one hour per day).

I eat healthily - lots of fruit and vegetables, and as I am vegetarian, I upped my protein intake (as that was a bit lacking).

I am 19 years old, 54kg and 1.61m, I would like to get back to 51kg.

My normal day/meals:

BREAKFAST

2 slices of wholegrain bread with hummus

SNACK

smoothie (1 banana, 1/2 cup greek yogurt, spinach, 1 cup berries)

LUNCH

pasta with vegetable tomato sauce and salad (leafy greens)

or

vegetable risotto with salad (tomato salad, leafy greens, etc.)

SNACK

fruit (banana, pear, apple, etc.)

DINNER

another smoothie (2 bananas, cocoa powder, 1/2 cup greek yogurt, berries)

Now, the problem (only considering weight loss :) ) is that I love to bake, as does my mum - for instance, we made this wonderful cinnamon apple bundt cake. I love bundt cakes and cannot get enough of them - I can easily finish off half of it (sometimes more *blush*) in a single day.

Basically, my question is - how "bad" for my desired weight loss are such "slip-ups", what is my optimum calorie intake (the calculators seem to give me numbers between 1500 and 2100) and... basically am I eating OK for my goal weight and general health?

Thanks a lot :)

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Losing 2 Pounds Per Week Help !!

I am 186-187 Pounds, 5 Feets 7 Inches, 15 Years Old.

My BMR is 1970.

I have been doing some calculations and i just need to verify them.

Ok my BMR is 1970, multiply by 1.2 (Sedentary) its around 2400 Calories.

If i exercise to burn 600 calories and i decide to eat near my BMR at 2000,

Then I have a Calorie Deficit of 1000 Calories right? Its 2 pounds.

Will this work?

P.S: I'm thinking about doing this 2 pounds per week till 30 days, then ill start on 1 pound per week ( don't tell me why I'm doing it first at 2 pounds, not your concern or business )

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Only .40 pounds lost in 3 weeks......?

Mayhe I want my weightloss to happen too quickly. I have been eating much better, drinking more water and working out at least 3x per week. I dont understand how I have onky lost .40 pounds. Not even a freaking half a pound. Any suggestions? I am hoping to lose 30 pounds by November 16.

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A year ago i was 400 pounds due to stress and binge eating and two kids...

I got a divorce and i saw my weight coming off did not change my routine but cut diwn on portion sizes considerably..i lost 170 pounds but i am still a huge amount for my height of 5 ft 2 in..i still have considerable muscle from being very active when younger and running behind two young kids...I'm 230 and. Hit a stand still on weight loss..i have a workout routine..can anyone give me tips. or ideas to jump start my weight loss again

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"25 POUNDS IN 100 DAYS" challenge!

At my heaviest I weighed 235 lbs. That was January 2012. Since that time, I've lost almost 30 lbs, gained it back in a pregnancy, and lost a few more since baby has been born (7 weeks ago). 

My goal after pregnancy was to get down to at least 200 by this weekend.

This morning's weight: 200.2.

New goal! 25 pounds in 100 days. Trying to get down to 175 by September 23rd. Roughly 1.8 lbs per week.

I'll be checking in weekly. Feel free to join in!

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Last 10 Pounds!

Okay guys! I'm a new member and I'm in need of a little bit of help. My current weight is 121 and my goal weight is 110. I'm finding the last 10 pounds super hard to lose. I've lost 60 pounds so far and I would like my last 10 pounds gone by my 21st birthday in September! If anyone has any suggestions to get the last 10 pounds off, I would appreciate it!

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need to lose 15 more pounds

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

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need tips to lose six pounds. I'm stuck

Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

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I'm 87 pounds trying to get to at least 115

I'm 20 years old 5'2 and 87 pounds. Although my figure is petite I am underweight and am desperate to gain weight. Lately I've lost my appetite by just looking at myself in the mirror and seeing no improvement. I tried taking the CB1 weight gaining pill and it did not work. I've been seeing a nutritionist and we're constantly trying to work out a meal plan but nothing works. I'm healthy and all but just a very picky eater. Can someone give me some advice as to what I should do

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Cash Incentives, Penalties May Spur People to Shed More Pounds

Title: Cash Incentives, Penalties May Spur People to Shed More Pounds
Category: Health News
Created: 3/7/2013 12:36:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 3/8/2013 12:00:00 AM

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Cash Incentives, Penalties May Spur People to Shed More Pounds

Study found those who won or lost $20 depending on weight-loss success stuck with the program

By Denise Mann

HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, March 7 (HealthDay News) -- Money talks when it comes to motivating people to lose weight, a new study shows.

And it doesn't have to be a ton of cash, either. Just receiving $20 a month for losing 4 pounds -- or having to hand over $20 for not shedding the weight -- was enough incentive for many people to stay the course, according to research that is to be presented Monday at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology, which is set to begin this weekend in San Francisco.

"Financial incentives and disincentives can help people lose weight, and keep it off for one year," said study author Dr. Steven Driver, resident physician in internal medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. "It's not about getting rich, it's about being held accountable."

In the study, 100 employee volunteers who were considered obese (body mass index between 30 and 39.9) were placed into one of four weight-loss groups: two with financial incentives and two without. All of the weight-loss plans included an educational component, and one included a structured behavioral plan as well.

Those individuals in the financial incentive groups who met their goal received $20 per month, while those who didn't had to pay a penalty of $20 into a larger bonus pool. Participants in the two incentive groups who completed the study were eligible to win this bonus pool when the study ended.

When all was said and done, those who were paid money for shedding pounds lost more and were more likely to complete the study. Specifically, 62 percent of those who got paid for losing weight each month stayed the course, compared with only 26 percent of those who had no opportunity to receive financial incentives. Among people in the incentive groups, weight loss was slightly more than 9 pounds, on average. In contrast, participants who did not receive money to lose weight lost an average of 2.3 pounds.

More study is needed to see how long these changes can last, Driver noted. "The real challenge is to extend this research, and see if we can develop a sustainable financial incentive model that lasts for longer than one year," he said.

Many employers are beginning to offer such programs to encourage healthier behaviors among employees, Driver added.

And this is a good thing, said study co-author Dr. Donald Hensrud, chair of preventive, occupational and aerospace medicine at Mayo Clinic. "We need to use creative strategies to help people eat less and exercise more, and do all of those things that they know they should be doing," he said.

One expert said the findings make sense.

"I don't find it surprising that even a really small financial incentive helps spur some weight loss," said Dr. Scott Kahan, director of the National Center for Weight and Wellness, in Washington, D.C.

The real question is how long these healthy habits will last, he pointed out.

"The challenge is how to help people lose weight in a way that is sustainable. This is more data that financial incentives and disincentives do play a role in what our behaviors are, but things like this are not likely to make a long-term impact on the obesity epidemic by themselves," Kahan said.

"We need to be thinking about a comprehensive approach that addresses much more than increasing initial motivation," he explained. "We need to maintain this motivation over time."

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Piling on Pounds When Younger May Lead to Enlarged Heart Later

Title: Piling on Pounds When Younger May Lead to Enlarged Heart Later
Category: Health News
Created: 3/7/2013 2:36:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 3/8/2013 12:00:00 AM

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A Few Extra Pounds Linked to a Longer Life

Jan. 1, 2013 -- Overall, people who carry a few extra pounds tended to live longer than those who are either normal weight or very obese, new research shows.

The review, of 97 studies that included a combined 2.88 million people, questions the notion that people of normal weight live longest.  

“It is possible that under certain circumstances, being a little overweight is good as opposed to bad,” says Steven B. Heymsfield, MD, executive director of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La. Heymsfield wrote an editorial on the review but was not involved in the research.

About 30% of women and 40% of men in the U.S. are overweight based on their body mass index (BMI), a measure of size that takes into account a person’s height and weight.

While they may not be able to wear their favorite clothing size, Heymsfield says it doesn’t necessarily mean they are sicker than people who are at so-called normal BMIs.

“You have to separate out the cosmetic part from the health part,” he says.

The review, which is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, takes a fresh look at nearly two decades of research into the relationship between body weight and death risk.

“We have a huge amount of data because we collected almost 100 studies,” says researcher Katherine Flegal, PhD, a distinguished consultant with the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics in Bethesda, Md.

People with BMIs under 30 but above normal were less likely to die during the studies compared to people with normal BMIs.

A reduction in the risk of death from all causes was about 6% lower for people who were overweight, and it was remarkably consistent from study to study, Flegal says.

Those people considered obese based on BMI, however, were worse off. They were about 18% more likely to die of any cause compared to those of normal weights.

Though the findings are provocative, they come with some important caveats.

The study only looked at the association between death and body size. It didn’t include other measures of health that may be related to weight.

“Total mortality [death from all causes] is important, but it doesn’t tell you much about quality of life,” says Heymsfield. “It’s not whether you’re at risk of developing diabetes. It’s not whether you’re at risk for developing joint problems."

The study also just shows an association; it doesn’t prove that body weight is the reason that some bigger people tended to live longer than those at normal weights.

For that reason, Flegal says, people shouldn’t give up on their goals to eat right and exercise.

“We’re not trying to make any recommendations,” she says. “It’s not intended as a call to any kind of action.”

But the findings may be reassuring to people who carry some extra weight but are otherwise healthy.

“Maybe a few extra pounds is not as lethal as we’ve been led to believe,” Heymsfield says.

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Learn How to Lose 5 Pounds Fast in One Week

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Do you want to learn how to lose 5 pounds fast in one week? You can reduce your weight successfully, but you have to be sincere, patient and determined to change your lifestyle and eating habits. It is certainly not easy to lose weight in such a short span of time because it will take utmost hard work and commitment on your part to achieve your weight-loss target. You need to plan your diet to reduce your weight successfully.

Here is the way to learn how to lose 5 pounds in one week:

A high protein diet can help you in reducing the extra pounds faster. High protein diets have gained tremendous popularity as research says that protein is able to satisfy hunger better than any other fat or carbohydrate. When you eat high quality protein foods, they increase the amount of leucine, an amino acid that help a person maintain muscle mass and increase the fat-burning capacity.

Yes, you can lose 5 pounds in a week by eating high fiber foods. There are many researches to suggest that eating high fiber food keep your body hydrated, full and also help in losing weight. Our body cannot digest fiber so quickly so it stays longer in our system. In an addition, we cannot absorb any calories or fat from it. But, there are many health benefits that we can take from high fiber foods. As you’ll feel full, you will automatically eat less.

If you want to learn how to lose 5 pounds in one week, starts with first step i.e. eat breakfast every day. When you eat breakfast, it reduces the hunger and help you avoiding overeating. You will feel more energy to perform your physical activity during the day. It actually increases your metabolism and causes you to burn more calories throughout the day. Skipping breakfast can make you put on extra weight and tend to cause obesity.

If you seriously want to lose 5 pounds fast in one week, you have to cut down junk foods from your diet. Don’t eat any junk food for the entire week and you’ll find yourself losing weight successfully.

In order to burn off 5 pounds in one week, you need to burn more calories than what you consume. Perform physical activities such as swimming, skipping, jogging to burn more calories and increase fitness level. To lose 5 pounds in a week, you need to burn approx. 2,500 calories in a day.

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