How to Lose Pounds Fast

Bon Secours In Motion is challenging people to lose weight and compete for a $100 gift card and gift basket. The deadline to enter is Jan. 31.

The contestants have until May 24, the last day of this season’s “The Biggest Loser” TV show, to shed those pounds.

The next opportunity to join the contest will be Tuesday at Bon Secours Health Center at Harbour View in Suffolk. Weigh-ins will be held between 5:30 and 7:30 p.m. A free educational weight-loss seminar begins at 6:30 p.m. Dr. Anand Kapur, Family Medicine, Harbour View Family Practice, as well as registered dietitian Sheila Bailey and athletic trainer Joshua White, both of In Motion Physical Therapy and Sports Performance, will offer tips on healthy eating, eating out and easy exercise ideas.

When it comes to weight loss, Ashley Johnston, runner-up in season nine of NBC-TV’s “The Biggest Loser,” knows what she’s talking about. Over the seven months of the reality show she lost 183 pounds, setting a record for women contestants, and is working towards a personal goal of losing another 30. Now a spokesperson for the BL Body collection of shape wear, she has also teamed up with Rite Aid to promote healthy weight loss.

Because I know you’ve all been paying close attention to all of the posts that Jimmy and I have been filing, it should be obvious to you what my weakness can be in regard to my diet.

Thankfully it’s not the endless temptations of drive-through restaurants that line the streets as I drive home, nor is it the plethora of tasty snacks that sit atop desks and tables all through the workplace.

The South Beach Diet is a weight-healthy lifestyle designed by Dr. Arthur Agatston, a cardiologist and associate professor of medicine at the University of Miami. Originally developed as a weight-loss plan for his overweight heart patients, he found additional health benefits that led to further diet research and refinement. Thus the South Beach Diet was born.

There are three basic “phases” to the South Beach Diet:  (1) Eliminate Cravings and Kickstart Weight Loss; (2) Lose Steadily, and (3) Maintain for Life. In the first phase, which lasts two weeks, you will eliminate cravings for sugar and refined starches and jump-start your weight loss. This is done by eating nutrient-dense, fiber-rich foods, including lean meats, low-fat dairy, veggies, and eggs. This is similar to the Atkins Diet, where carbs play a very reduced role in the diet.

Fifteen years ago, while living in Cheyenne, Wyo., I would frequently have lunch at a great place called the Egg and I.

Nice little spot, walking distance from the state’s Capitol building.  Easy to get to.

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But on the way back, I would walk by a taco joint.  Another great place.

I love fast food.  I love fast food too much.  I just don’t like what it does to me.

In those younger days, sabotaging your best friends (in any way possible) was always great fun.  

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.

The focus on quality and purity can deteriorate into orthorexia, a term coined in 1996 by physician Steven Bratman to describe a “fixation on righteous eating.” Like anorexia and bulimia, it can wreak serious damage on the health of someone trapped in the obsession.