How to Lose Pounds Fast

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Obese people may be more likely to slim down if they have money riding on their success through financial incentives — but the weight might creep back once the monetary carrot is gone, according to a U.S. study.

A program in which people stood to lose cash if they failed to lose weight appeared to motivate them, but the motivation didn’t last, the study — published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine — found.

Surgery for obesity began with a simple premise: if you make the stomach smaller, people will eat less, so they will lose weight.

But in recent years the results of obesity surgery have been so outstanding, researchers went back to the drawing boards to figure out what was going on.

Their findings are beginning to present a far more complicated picture of weight — and of how much diet and exercise can really do to change it. Turns out, a slew of hormones from the gut, and their communication with the brain, play a role in the way the body maintains and loses weight.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – It may not be surprising, but people who exercise at least one hour per week have a lower risk of troublesome back, neck, and shoulder pain, a new study shows.

The new evidence supports the possibility that obesity and physical inactivity play a role in a person’s risk of developing chronic pain in those areas, said study co-author Dr. Paul Mork, of Norwegian University of Science and Technology in an email to Reuters Health.

Lindsay Lohan looked incredible Wednesday for her arraignment on a charge of felony grand theft.

She’s in trouble for something grand, and that’s how she was going to present herself: white dress, sleek hairdo, black shades, black shoes.

Her look said, “I’m not the type of person who steals necklaces from jewelry stores in Venice.”

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Fish oil capsules won’t help boost weight loss if you’re already dieting and exercising, new research in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows.

Among a group of overweight and obese adults enrolled in a diet and exercise program, those who took omega-3 fatty acids didn’t lose any more weight than those given placebo capsules, Dr. Laura F. DeFina of The Cooper Institute in Dallas and her colleagues found.

•Age: 34

•Hometown: Quakertown

•Favorite exercise routine: Biking, Dek Hockey.

•Major exercise accomplishment: Lost 65 pounds.

•Proudest exercise moment: Running marathon.

•Significant health improvement: Weight loss.

•Why I exercise: To feel good mentally and physically.

•How working out makes me feel: Stress free and good self-esteem.

•Exercising regularly since: 2005.

•How I find the time: It’s only an hour a day. Everyone has an hour somwhere in their day.

•What motivates me to move: Never wanting to be fat again.

•What keeps me going: I always feel guilty if I don’t do somthing each day.

MONDAY, June 20 (HealthDay News) — Gymnasts, wrestlers and boxers often feel pressure to lose weight to boost performance, but the drastic methods they sometimes use — including strictly limiting calories and intentional dehydration — can be dangerous to their health, experts warn.

To offer guidance to athletes, coaches and parents, the National Athletic Trainers’ Association has issued a new set of guidelines for safe weight loss by athletes.

They include: using body composition assessments to measure lean body mass versus fat; gradually shedding no more than 1.5 percent of body weight a week; eating a balanced diet that includes all food groups; and losing weight under the supervision of nutrition, health and weight management experts.

She also lost what remained of her patience after failing to receive $500 in promised prize money.

Sam Gurnic said she signed up for the contest, offered through several area gyms, in part to lose weight after giving birth to her first child in October 2009.

At her peak, the 5-foot-4-inch Crown Point resident tipped the scales at 235 pounds. Gurnic said she lost about 30 pounds soon after her son was born and continued slimming down over the next six months, mostly through diet.

The drug’s maker, Vivus Inc., said in a statement Thursday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration declined to approve the drug in its present form. The agency asked for more study results and additional information on its possible health risks, including major cardiovascular events and risks for women of childbearing potential.

The FDA did not ask for any new clinical studies, but more may be required if the agency’s concerns aren’t addressed, Vivus said.

With New Year’s resolution making and breaking already under way and another round of the show launching Monday, the post-holiday season is the time when people are the most motivated to make changes in exercise and diet.

Now, thanks to the Columbia Association, the somewhat overweight and the obese alike can forgo the vicarious satisfaction of watching others get healthy by getting themselves started on the road to physical fitness in a competition dubbed “The Biggest Winner.”