When it comes to rising levels of obesity in the United States, there's finally a glimmer of good news. In addition to three drugs now commonly used to treat the overweight and obese, three more weight-loss prescription drugs are in the works. Many researchers say safe and effective weight-loss medications can save lives and a ton of money by curbing the incidence of weight-related diseases such as stroke, heart disease, diabetes and some cancers.

The three prescription drugs presently used to treat obesity include sibutramine (Meridia), which increases satiety; phentermine, which suppresses appetite; and orlistat (Xenical), which prevents some dietary fat from being absorbed by the intestine. Orlistat is sold in a lower dose over-the-counter, like Alli. The Food and Drug Administration is reviewing safety information regarding reports of liver-related adverse events in patients taking orlistat.

Like the three well-known drugs above, the new drugs are intended either for people who are obese, which is considered to be 30 or more pounds over a healthy weight, or for overweight patients who have risk factors like high blood pressure. A quick review of the three new drugs:

First Lady Michelle Obama has killer arms, is in the best shape of her life and loves living a healthy lifestyle. She is certainly leading by example as she encourages America's children to get fit, too. The First Lady recently held a Healthy Kids Fair on the South Lawn of the White House, where she gave some healthy advice to some very lucky kids. And she drew from her own experiences, not only as a mom, but as a child to her own mother. "When I was growing up, fast food was a treat," she said. "We had pizza ... once every semester when we got good grades." In very motherly fashion, she then told the kids to eat their veggies: "We don't want to hear the whining. We want you to eat it. Just eat it, right?"

Mrs. Obama isn't just taking on unhealthy eating habits though. She issued a challenge to kids to be more active every day. "Turn off the TV on your own. Get up and throw a ball. Run around the house. Don't break anything, but move," she says. It's pretty obvious advice, but advice that needs saying these days nonetheless. And, of course, she practiced what she preached by having a go with a hula hoop and jumping rope.

She's taken on a tough cause -- changing the diet and exercise habits that are the foundation of our country's obesity epidemic -- but the First Lady seems up for the job. What do you think? Can Mrs. Obama inspire America to change its unhealthy ways?

Click on the gallery below to learn about Michelle Obama's workout routine.

Michelle Obama might be known for her incredibly toned arms, but she isn't the only lady rocking gorgeous guns. Check out who has the best arms in Hollywood.

It's embarrassing enough asking for a bigger size while shopping. So it is difficult to imagine how it would feel to be so large the British Air Force might have to airlift you to the hospital for a life-saving operation because you were too big to travel any other way. The world's fattest man, Paul Mason, needs to travel 150 miles to the hospital, but given his size a regular ambulance just won't cut it.

Weighing 976 pounds, Mason is rarely able to leave his bed. He requires extensive care, including seven caregivers, which are paid for by Britain's National Health Service to the tune of an estimated $164,000 a year. So far the cost of keeping Mason alive has topped $1 million.

Before you go feeling bad for Mason, consider this: The Daily Mail is reporting that he actually had an ambition to become the heaviest man in the world. After losing over 250 pounds in the hospital about three years ago, Mason told the staff he really didn't want to lose the weight. When he got back home, he gorged himself on family-sized portions everyday.

It is estimated that the 48-year-old compulsive eater consumes 20,000 calories a day -- 10 times the recommended daily limit.

Don't think eating that much in one day is possible? This man devoured a 30,000-calorie burger.

You're a 5-foot-8-inch woman weighing 165 pounds, but to be considered a "normal" weight, you need to be 144 or less. Does your doctor tell you, "You're overweight and you need to lose weight." Or does he dodge the fat conversation entirely and you score the antibiotics needed for that nasty sinus infection.

Chances are strong your doctor won't bring up the health ramifications of carrying that extra weight around. According to a 2005 study, only 40 percent of obese patients were advised by their healthcare professionals to drop weight. Many docs are failing to routinely measure body mass index, and the topic itself is, well, uncomfortable. "Physicians are reluctant to bring up weight because it's such a loaded issue," Dr. William Dietz, director of the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity at the CDC, tells the Los Angeles Times.

Maybe doctors don't think their patients will listen, and they can't exactly pen a prescription for behavior change. But being overweight or obese has data-verified medical consequences -- your risk for weight-related diseases rises quickly when you depart the "normal" range. It's not right doctors aren't measuring and reporting your BMI like your blood pressure. A candid discussion about weight should be a vigilant priority.

The abundance of readily-available junk food is believed to be the cause of this obesity epidemic we're in the midst of, but the makers of many infamous brands, like Mars Bars, Pepsi, Froot Loops and Häagen-Dazs, want to be part of the solution. And they've committed $20 million -- granted, barely pocket change to an organization like PepsiCo -- to shaping our nation (literally) by forming The Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation alongside several non-profit organizations.

A case of extreme irony? They don't think so -- according to the recent press release, they're "united in an unprecedented, collaborative and focused effort to help children and adults achieve better energy balance between calories in and calories out." In other words? They want you to know that you can eat as many Oreos as you like as long as you exercise like crazy to work them off.

Photo: Toby Otter, Flickr

There's no question about it. American waistlines are getting bigger every year. With a whopping two-thirds of the population overweight, there has to be a logical explanation, right?

According to one report, blame your parents. The New York Times recently ran an article debunking the fact that healthy diets, exercise and willpower may not be enough to stay slim. Claiming that "body composition is dictated by DNA and monitored by the brain," some researchers think we cannot "will" our way out of obesity.

"Scientists now believe that each individual has a genetically determined weight range spanning perhaps 30 pounds." The Times goes on to state, "The temptations of our environment -- the sedentary living, the ready supply of rich food -- may not be entirely to blame for rising obesity rates. In fact, new research suggests that the environment that most strongly influences body composition may be the very first one anybody experiences: the womb."

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Photo: mod as hell, Flickr

Carrying a few extra pounds won't hurt as long as you're more or less in the healthy range, right? Well, actually, recent studies published in the British Medical Journal are answering that question with a big fat no -- gaining even just a bit of weight over the years can have a serious impact on your health later in life. In fact, every 2.2 pounds women gain can decrease their chances of making it to age 70 by 5 percent. It's even worse news for those who are obese in their 40s and 50s -- they're 79 percent less likely to be healthy at age 80 than women who were lean during those years.

So who fared the best? Researchers found that women who reported a BMI of 18.5 to 22.9 at age 18 and kept it stable over the next 30 years were the healthiest, and women who maintained the same weight throughout their lives -- regardless of BMI -- were healthier than those who let the numbers on the scale creep up.

According to the researchers, "These data emphasized the significance of maintaining a healthy weight throughout adulthood to enjoy a long and healthy life." In other words? A little bit of extra junk in your trunk -- even if you're not reaching obese proportions -- won't do you any favors in the long run.

Need inspiration to stay fit until your golden years? Check out this 74-year-old body builder!

Photo: NBC

Before the contestants for "The Biggest Loser" even got to the ranch for Episode 1, they were hauled off the bus and told to run a mile -- in the sand! That's quite a welcome! The fastest time was 14:17, and the slowest time was 27:47. Contestants struggled through the sand and also struggled for what was probably the first consistent cardio they had done in a long time, except for Daniel, of course, who is continuing from Season 7 and won handily. The end result: Two contestants gasping for air in the medic tent, two other contestants medi-vaced to the hospital and everybody else with a pretty sobering glimpse into what the next few weeks and months were going to be like.

So what actually happens when a morbidly-obese person decides to run? The two big things are: 1) the extra weight greatly impacts the joints and 2) the cardiovascular system is put to the ultimate test.

"I told my wife," said Dr. Darrin Bright, a sports medicine physician and Medical Director of the Columbus Marathon, "It's like running in sand carrying me on your back!" Bright cautions, "I'm sure they had medical clearance to participate in the run, but for any event you have to train properly." Bright suggested that a walking routine would have been a much better place to start with these contestants.

Photo: Getty Images

Samantha Clowe never wanted to be a 'fat bride,' and now, sadly, she won't be one at all. The obese 34-year-old, who was looking forward to her upcoming nuptials, died after an intense crash diet. Described as "fit and healthy" by her family, Clowe lost 42 pounds in 11 weeks on the controversial Lighter Life Diet, which restricts dieters to just 500 calories a day.

We're all aware that crash diets aren't great for you, but you can die from them? You bet -- and this isn't even the first time this diet has killed someone. Just last December, a mother of five died after drinking 4 liters of water, as was recommended by the program. Amazingly, you need your doctor's consent to sign up for the program. Is anyone else having a hard time believing that a trained medical professional would give the OK for this kind of extreme diet?

Photo: Bekathwia, Flickr

If you're trying to lose a few pounds, trading your regular soda for the diet version could be doing more harm than good. True, swapping a can of Coke Zero for the regular kind slices 139 calories from your daily intake, but research from the University of Liverpool in England suggests that your body processes artificial, calorie-free sweeteners the same way it does regular sugar.

Just as your taste buds can't differentiate between regular and artificial sweeteners (aside that chemically aftertaste), the receptors in your intestines aren't able to tell the difference either. Once the intestines sense sweetness, they seek out glucose to absorb. So even though that Equal is calorie-free -- your body may still take calories from somewhere else if these receptors are activated.

"Artificial sweeteners can also activate the glucose sensor and increase the capacity of the intestine to absorb more sugar," Soraya Shirazi-Beechey, lead author of the study and a professor of Molecular Physiology and Biochemistry at Liverpool University, tells the Daily Mail. "If someone wants to lose weight, I don't think artificial sweeteners are going to help," she says. "My recommendation is to eat natural foods, but to eat less of them."

It's unclear from Shirazi-Beechey's research whether the amount of glucose absorbed after sensing an artificial sweetener would equal the calorie-equivalent of a regular soda.

Photo: Janet Kimber, Getty Images

In these economic times, do you really want to pay the price of being overweight? Carrying around extra pounds can add up to extra dollars spent on everything from plane tickets and gas to prescription drugs and health care coverage. This week on AOL Health, we uncover these surprising financial costs and emotional burdens that the obese often have to carry.

Photo: Darren Hester, Flickr

Some weight loss drugs help you slim down but may cost you your health -- and other products don't even work at all. But there is some promise in a new drug in development that can not only help you lose weight, but can also help treat serious complications of obesity, specifically diabetes and high cholesterol. In recent studies on mice, fatostatin, as it is currently known, led to weight loss of 12 percent, reduction in blood sugar levels of 70 percent, reversal of diabetes and lower cholesterol. According to the findings from Chemistry & Biology, "Fatostatin blocked increases in body weight, blood glucose, and hepatic (liver) fat accumulation in (genetically) obese mice, even under uncontrolled food intake."

As for how it works? In a nutshell, Fatostatin stops the body from producing fat -- it's released as energy instead. It works by effectively 'turning off' proteins that help control fat synthesis.

OK, it's one thing to help mice lose weight -- past experience has proved that what works on a mouse doesn't always work on a human. So can it do the same for us? "I am very, very optimistic," lead author Sahil Wakil tells MSNBC. So are we -- but I'm hoping most of us are taking steps to change our lives today instead of holding out for a so-called miracle drug that's years away.

Wondering how to slim down? Find out how Phylicia Rashad did it.

Photo: willposh, Flickr

British people are too lazy to have sex, at least that's according to a recent study by Nuffield Health in UK. And if that wasn't shocking enough, there are even more startling findings. Such as? Well, one in six say they'd rather sit through a TV show they didn't want to watch than get up to change the channel if the remote was broken. And more than half said they'll always choose the elevator over two flights of stairs. Wow -- no wonder Britain is the most obese nation in Europe.

But don't be too quick to point the finger -- I suspect Americans aren't doing much better. Obesity rates are similar between the two countries, and considering the majority of us don't engage in any exercise whatsoever, I'm guessing a U.S. based study would show similar results.

OK, so maybe stairs aren't your thing, and the couch is just too darn comfy to justify getting up, but that doesn't mean you have to be a total blob -- there are plenty of fun and fabulous ways to get fit.

Have you tried bocce ball and beach paddleball this summer? Sorry to burst your bubble but you really have no excuse to be quite so lazy!

Photo: bethography - meltingmama, Flickr

It's not news that obesity in the United States has become a serious issue. Not only is it damaging on a personal level, but on a national one. For example, obesity has cost the state of California alone an estimated $41 billion yearly in health care and other factors. And, a study found spending on obesity-related conditions has doubled over the past 10 years and now accounts for 9.1 percent of medical spending.

In fact, it's a big enough problem that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is holding its inaugural Weight of the Nation Conference on Obesity Prevention and Control. The conference began yesterday and will go through tomorrow, and you can keep up with it on Twitter by following @CDC_eHealth or searching #won09.

It's certainly going to be interesting to see what decisions and legislation ultimately come out of this conference -- acknowledging the gravity of the situation is certainly a step in the right direction. But what will the next step be?

Photo: e-magic, Flickr

Have the pharmaceutical companies finally found the magic pill for weight loss? While it's not magic, Orexigen Therapeutics Inc. has had positive results in their recent trials for Contrave, a new obesity drug.

In one trial, 48 percent of obese participants who took a higher dose of Contrave lost at least 5 percent of their body weight; only 16.4 percent of control participants (who were taking a placebo) lost comparable weight. In a second trial, 56.3 percent of those taking Contrave lost weight compared to 17.1 percent taking a placebo.

With a more than 7 percent difference between Contrave takers and placebo takers, the trials were above the FDA guidelines for weight loss drugs. (FDA guidelines state that there must be at least a 5 percentage point difference.) A lower dose of Contrave also showed positive results in trials.

Instead of blocking fat absorption like Orlistat (found in the over-the-counter drug Alli) or controlling appetite like Meridia, Contrave tackles weight loss from another direction. Contrave is a combination of Wellbutrin, a common antidepressant, and naltrexone, a medication used to treat addictions.

Existing weight loss drugs have some nasty side effects. Fat blockers, for example, can cause diarrhea and/or anal leakage. Orexigen states that Contrave was generally well tolerated by trial participants. However, possible side effects include gall bladder inflammation and seizures.

Orexigen plans to seek FDA approval for Contrave next year.