Weight Loss Max

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new study suggests that nearly one-third of children undergoing surgery are overweight or obese, placing them at increased risk of experiencing complications associated with the surgery.

“We hope our study and others to follow will help spotlight the obese child as being a high-risk surgical candidate and therefore deserves extra vigilance,” Dr. Olubukola O. Nafiu from University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor, told Reuters Health.

“Obviously, primary prevention of obesity will be the answer,” Nafiu said.

Nafiu and colleagues looked at all 6,017 children who had surgery at the U-M Hospital between 2000 and 2004 and found that 31.5 percent were overweight or obese, with 10 percent classified as obese and 4.5 percent classified as morbidly obese.

Based on age- and gender-specific definitions, 14.4 percent of children were overweight and 17.2 percent were obese, the results, published in the Journal of the National Medical Association, indicate.

“We were quite surprised to find that many obese children and those who were morbidly obese by adult standards were classified as ASA I,” indicating a healthy patient with no increased surgical risk, Nafiu said.

On the contrary, it’s been shown that certain surgical complications are more common in obese individuals compared to normal-weight individuals, Nafiu said.

For instance, obese children may have more breathing difficulties; a higher risk of post-surgery upper airway obstruction; and may require more anti-nausea medication. Obese adults are also known to be at increased risk for surgical complications.

Originally posted on Yahoo! Health News

For many women struggling to keep slim, dieting can seem to last a lifetime.

Or to be more precise, 31 years.

For researchers have found that is how long the average woman spends on a diet over the course of her life.

According to a new report, British women spend an average of six months a year counting the calories and more than a fifth are on a permanent diet throughout their lifetime in a seemingly never-ending quest for the perfect figure.

But they aren’t the only ones waging a constant fight against the flab.

The average adult male spends 28 years slimming, the poll has revealed.

It found that over a tenth of the UK population is currently dieting in a bid to shed the pounds after feasting on festive treats over the Christmas period.

But despite best intentions, three quarters of those who began their New Year with the firm resolution to lose weight will give up by the end of the week.

The average diet lasts 5.5 weeks, with the post-Christmas fast being even shorter at just three weeks.

Half of slimmers throw in the towel due to lack of willpower, while a quarter of respondents said that they give up because their strict diet regime leaves them moody or depressed.

The most determined of dieters are aged between 45 and 64, with almost a quarter spending up to a year slimming.

In comparison, those aged between 18 and 24 are more likely to be yo-yo dieters, with a fifth giving up within a month.

The survey of 1,446 of men and women revealed that nearly two thirds of the UK population are unhappy with their body and feel that being thinner would make them happier.

For women, looks are more important, with over half reporting that they diet to wear fashionable clothes and a third of those surveyed said they watched their weight in a bid to feel more attractive.

But in comparison, men are more focused on their long-term well-being, with over a third saying they wanted to lose weight to be more healthy.

Almost a quarter of the UK population has been on a weight loss diet at one time, with half shedding up to a stone.

But despite the recent catwalk trend for size zero models, most adult British women don’t aspire to be super skinny.

Most crave a hour-glass shape, with Marilyn Monroe’s curves and the voluptuous figure of singer Charlotte Church being among the most desired body shapes.

British men, meanwhile, are more interested in a sporting physique, with 40 per cent citing footballer David Beckham’s body as their ideal, just ahead of film star Brad Pitt.

The report has been welcomed by experts.

Leading dietician Sian Porter said: “Thirty one years is a lot of time dieting when you tot it up, but it shows that people are realising that they must live a more healthy lifestyle.

“It is encouraging that women are being realistic.

“They are not aspiring to be a size zero, but they are looking up to someone more curvy like Kelly Brook or Nigella Lawson.

“But what we need to do is not dieting, but more healthy eating.”

Whilst the majority of those surveyed diet sensibly by eating smaller portions, almost a quarter of respondents said they would consider taking diet pills or only eating salad, and almost one in ten have considered a liquid diet or surgery.

For those watching their waistline, chocolate is the most craved sin, followed by cheese, according to the Ipsos Mori report commissioned by Laughing Cow Extra Light Diet.

Originally posted on the UK’s Daily Mail.

A REVOLUTION in weight loss is about to hit Sydney after scientists devised a workout that burns three times the amount of fat.

They found their specific brand of interval training prompts the body to click into a metabolic response that allows more fat to be burned under the skin and within the muscles.

Researchers at the University of NSW and the Garvan Institute studied 45 overweight women over 15 weeks, putting them through a 20 minute cycling regime in which they sprinted on a stationary bike for eight seconds followed by 12 seconds of cycling lightly.

“They lost three times more weight as other women who exercised at a continuous, regular pace for 40 minutes,” UNSW Associate Professor Steve Boutcher said.

Their success was due to higher amounts of chemical compounds called catecholamines that are produced in increasing amounts when linked to interval sprinting; the resulting chemical reaction drives greater weight loss.

The scientists believe the regime would also be applicable to swimming, walking, running and rowing.

Professor Boutcher said other types of interval training use longer interludes which are not as effective for overweight people and said the current government recommendations for exercise are largely ineffectual.

“Walking for 60 minutes, seven times a week does not result in much fat loss, usually 1.15kg over 15 weeks – for a lot of overweight people this is going to be a revolution,” he said.

The scientists found their method could “spot reduce” troublesome areas such as legs and buttocks.

The system will be useful to diabetics, as “insulin resistance was dragged down by about 32 per cent”.

The findings were welcomed by Bondi local Kim Broderick, 21.

“I try to run or walk but if this system works better it’s great.”

The scientists are now ready for the next phase of the study which controls food and exercise plans.

“We hope to find even more loss in fat,” Professor Boutcher said.

The trial will put participants through the interval training while placing them on a Mediterranean diet of fresh food as well as daily fish oil capsules, which helps burn fat more efficiently.

originally posted on news.com.au

There is a drug currently on the market called Clenbuterol that is made to treat asthma in horses, but rumors are circulating that models, celebrities and even body builders are using the drug for the fat reducing and muscle building effects that drug has on people. The drug is currently approved by the FDA for animals only, but with the internet just a click away and Mexico (where the drug is sold over the counter) at easy reach for the SoCal elite, there is not a lot to stop anyone from getting the stuff.

For real maximum weight loss, this is one to look out for. Side effects though, may include DEATH, so think twice before making that order.

From Yahoo Health News:

An experimental anti-obesity drug which could one day be given as a chewing gum is among three projects to win funding under a new scheme from the Wellcome Trust.

The world’s second-largest medical research charity, Wellcome said on Monday it had awarded a research grant to Imperial College London for the work under its 91 million pounds ($176 million) Seeding Drug Discovery scheme — the largest fund of its kind outside the United States.

Other projects eligible for first-round grants are a new drug for fighting cancer being worked on at Bristol University and a medicine against the MRSA superbug from Oxford-based biotech firm Prolysis.

The two university groups and biotech company will each get between 2.3 million and 3.5 million pounds to help them fund research to the point where big drugmakers or venture capitalists have an incentive to step in.

Ted Bianco, Wellcome’s director of technology transfer, said the goal was to bridge a funding gap between micro grants available under government schemes and the larger, later-stage investments provided by capital markets.

Venture capitalists, in particular, have become wary of funding risky early stage research since the bursting of the technology bubble at the start of the decade.

“The core of this initiative is getting more players involved in the business of drug discovery,” Bianco told reporters.

Wellcome’s investment is charitable, but the organization will share in any wealth created as a result of its funding, he added.

Professor Steve Bloom of Imperial College said the cash would allow his team to progress their idea for a new appetite-suppressant based on the natural gut hormone pancreatic polypeptide (PP).

Bloom, who has been working on the project for some years, is convinced PP will not have the side effects found with other obesity drugs, including Sanofi-Aventis’s Acomplia.

But he has so far failed to find a commercial backer because the medicine is a large protein and cannot be made into a pill.

He believes an easy-to-use, insulin-pen-type injection could be available in five to eight years, and in the long term the drug could be put into a chewing gum and absorbed in the mouth. Alternatively, it might be sprayed up the nose.

The Bristol University work on cancer is based on a new way of switching off one of the key mechanisms that leads to the development and growth of tumour cells, while Prolysis is working on a drug that blocks a protein needed for MRSA bacteria to divide.

From Yahoo! Health:

The Food and Drug Administration said Friday it approved a Pfizer drug to help manage the weight of obese dogs.

Pfizer will market Slentrol, a liquid formula, to the estimated 5 percent of U.S. dogs that are 20 percent over their ideal weight.

In a statement issued Friday the FDA says the drug’s “mechanism for producing weight loss is not completely understood,” but seems to cause less fat absorption. Overweight pets are more likely to develop heart disease, diabetes and joint problems, according to the government agency.

According to Slentrol’s labeling, a veterinarian must monitor the monthly weight change of a dog on the drug and adjust the dosage accordingly.

So the new year is here. No more “holiday” excuses, no more huge family dinners. It is time to get to work on that resolution to lose weight and get in shape.

Audrey Okaneko has posted six tips on maintaining weight loss, that should be used as a good guide as your start your first steps to an improved body:

1. Stay accountable to yourself. Weigh yourself either once or twice a week. In order to maintain your weight you need to know how much you weigh.

2. If you do gain one pound or two, make the changes today that will aid you in taking off that one pound or two. You know how to lose weight, you’ve done it before. Lose that one pound before it turns into 5 or 10.

3. You know your weaknesses. If keeping chips out of the house is what it takes, then continue to keep the chips out of the house. If planning out meals so that you know what you’ll be eating each day is helpful, then keep doing it.

4. If you’ve been journaling, then consider continuing to journal what you eat. It is very easy to slip back into old patterns without even realizing what is happening. If you journal what you are eating, then the words are right there in front of your eyes.

5. Continue to make exercise part of your everyday routine. Consider changing what you do for exercise. Play tennis, take a swim, take a walk, take an aerobics class, take a dance class, ride a bike. Mix it up, but keep exercise in your daily routine.

6. Don’t skip meals. As you learned during the weight loss period, your body does better with 3-5 meals a day, versus just one meal a day. Stay in the habit of eating at least 3 meals per day.