Category Archives: Weight loss

Lose more weight? Start interval training

When most people think of interval training — if they think of it at all — they think of an intense regimen reserved for competitive types. Distance runners heading to the track once a week to work on speed (evidenced by the Swedish fartlek approach that came into vogue here in the 1970s), cyclists working 30-second county-line sprints into their 3-hour rides, swimmers who periodically inject a speed lap into their long hours in the pool. read more

Seven habits of people who lose weight (and keep it off)

Who better to listen to when it comes to losing weight and keeping it off than people who have lost weight and kept it off.

The National Weight Control Registry was started in 1994 to identify adults who have lost weight and kept it off. Specifically, the registry’s 6,000-plus members have lost at least 30 pounds and kept if off for at least a year. Recently, they were asked how they did it and seven common themes rose to the top. Warning: None of these will make you slap your forehead and say, “Aha! So that’s how you do it! You’ve likely heard all of these before, and you’ve heard them because, at least for the 6,000-plus members of the National Weight Control Registry, they work. Without further jabber, the seven common themes for weight loss are: read more

Knowing when to shed the ‘fat coat’

When I write for newspapers I inevitably wind up with far more information than I can fit into a 600-word lead. Such was the case with a story I wrote for the Observers (Charlotte and News &), scheduled to run in both publications Tuesday. The story is about not getting discouraged if, a month into your new fitness program, you aren’t seeing the results you expected. In the course of reporting I ran into Debra Delano of Charlotte, who had a great story, only a smidgen of which made it into the story. More  of her story appears here. read more

The mystery of fat

Does obesity breed obesity? A 2007 study out of Harvard University found that hanging out with fat people increase your chances of being fat. Now, based on the result of that study comes a new study from the Harvard-Massachusetts Institute of Technology Division of Health Sciences and Technology predicting obesity rates in the U.S. will slowly climb for another 40 years, at which point 42 percent of the population will be obese. Not just overweight, but obese. That finding contradicts previous predictions that the obesity rate has topped at its current rate of 32 percent of the U.S. population. read more