How to Lose Pounds Fast

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Women who are very obese may be able to safely lose some weight during pregnancy — and possibly reduce their risk of needing a cesarean section, a new study suggests.

The findings, reported in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, add to evidence that at least some obese women may be able to shed pounds during pregnancy without harming themselves or their baby.

But researchers still caution that women should not start a weight-loss diet during pregnancy, and should instead talk with their doctor about any healthy diet and lifestyle changes.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Obese women who lose weight during pregnancy may have a lower risk of certain pregnancy complications, but — with the exception of extremely obese women — those benefits may be outweighed by negative effects on the baby’s birth size, a new study suggests.

The findings, published in the obstetrics journal BJOG, add to the fairly controversial idea that it can be healthy for obese pregnant women to maintain their pre-pregnancy weight, or even lose a few pounds.

Inveterate blogger Tony Pierce has acknowledged that his up-at-all-hours lifestyle isn’t conducive to a trim physique.  He wants to lose 20 pounds through … well, no discernible plan, it would seem. He’s asking for suggestions.

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.”

MONDAY, Feb. 7 (HealthDay News) — Babies who were formula-fed and introduced to solid foods before they were 4 months old were more likely to be obese when they were 3, researchers report.

The timing of solid foods didn’t increase the odds of becoming obese in youngsters who were breast-fed. But among children who were never breast-fed — or who stopped breast-feeding before the age of 4 months — introducing solid foods before 4 months of age was linked to a sixfold increase in the risk of obesity, according to the research, which was published online Feb. 7 and will appear in the March print issue of Pediatrics.

MONDAY, Feb. 7 (HealthDay News) — Babies who were formula-fed and introduced to solid foods before they were 4 months old were more likely to be obese when they were 3, researchers report.

The timing of solid foods didn’t increase the odds of becoming obese in youngsters who were breast-fed. But among children who were never breast-fed — or who stopped breast-feeding before the age of 4 months — introducing solid foods before 4 months of age was linked to a sixfold increase in the risk of obesity, according to the research, which was published online Feb. 7 and will appear in the March print issue of Pediatrics.

This week, they weighed in at their one-year-later follow-up appointment.

Paris lost 133 pounds, and Donelle lost 187 pounds, for a combined total of 320 pounds.

With it, they reclaimed their lives.

“It was incredible. It was like a miracle for us,” said Paris, 47, of Newport News.

Working long hours, eating late and being inactive, the couple added pounds over the years. Paris weighed 337 and Donelle weighed 567 pounds when they underweight surgery Dec. 15, 2009, one right after the other, at Sentara CarePlex Hospital in Hampton.

Thought so.

It’s hard to start new habits, or break old ones. A person can only take so much discouragement.

In Jenny Ruano’s case, after countless resolutions to lose weight, she decided the best way to get unstuck was to do something drastic: gastric sleeve surgery.

At her heaviest, Ruano weighed 242 pounds. Overweight since she was a toddler, the 5-foot-1-inch-tall Kendall woman had failed at the gamut of fad diets. At restaurants, she could polish off an appetizer and two entrees. She never felt full.

In her late 20s, Ruano pushed hard to get the weight off, eating better and hitting the gym twice a day, she said.

“People could eat nothing but jelly beans, and if they were eating just a small amount, they would lose weight,” says Donald Hensrud, chairman of preventive medicine at the Mayo Clinic and medical editor in chief of The Mayo ClinicDiet, a guide to healthy weight loss. “You might be able to get away with it for a period of time, but the more restrictive (the diet) is — and the longer you follow it — the greater the risks.”