weight-loss-related stories
Fast 15-Minute Workout: This Week on AOL Health
Photo: Getty Images
To say that we're all busy these days is somewhat of an understatement. Whether it's thumbing the BlackBerry well into the night, shuttling the kids to soccer and piano practice or trying to keep up with the housework, we all have our unique time sucks that eat away at the day. AOL Health knows how busy you are and how important it is for you to stay fit, which is why this 15-minute workout is worth a look.
You don't have to spend hours upon hours at the gym to create a sculpted body. Just 15 minutes a day, three times a week is enough to ramp up calorie burn and start getting those muscles toned . These seven simple moves can be done in your own home and allow you to get your body in shape without sacrificing your daily routine.
As the day progresses, you lose time (and motivation) to work out. Find out how to get a morning jumpstart on a healthy routine.
The Best Weight-Loss Tool in the World?
Jonny's Take, Diet & Weight Loss
Photo: Getty Images
I can't help but watch with a combination of amusement and sadness when I read about the billions of dollars spent each year on useless weight-loss products, programs that don't work and high-priced gimmicks that promise to effortlessly relieve the pain of being overweight -- especially when some of the best weight-loss tools in the world are both virtually free and right under our noses.
Which brings me to the subject of today's post: The apple.
Yup, the lowly, all-to-common apple, of which there are literally hundreds of varieties. They're available 12 months a year (but in season right now!), are cheap as dirt, can be had anywhere -- and they happen to be one of the best kept weight-management tools on the planet.
How to Build a Successful Weight-Loss Program
Fitness, Motivation, Fit or Fiction
Liz Neporent is a diet and fitness expert and co-author of "The Fat-Free Truth."She regularly appears on national TV programs and is the president of Wellness 360, a New-York based wellness provider. You can also follow her on Twitter @lizzyfit.
Photo: Getty Images
Normally, goal setting is a topic I tackle during New Year's resolution season, but since I just got a question about whether or not goals are really that important if you want to lose weight or do something meaningful with your fitness program, I figured this is as good a time as any to remind you how important it is to have real, tangible goals for your fitness program. As Edwin Locke, the father of modern goal-setting theory once pointed out, "Telling someone to 'Try hard' or 'Do your best' is less effective than telling them to 'Try to get more than 80 percent correct.'"
If you are serious about getting results from your workouts, diet or any other aspect of your fitness plan, go through my 10-step goal-setting guide. Is it too much to ask when you're trying to squeeze the most out of your efforts? Me thinks not.
Happiness May Hinder Weight Loss
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| Photo: jupiterimages |
Having a glass half-full attitude may be hampering your weight loss. Optimism is generally regarded as a good thing, but when it comes to dieting, research shows that having an overly happy-go-lucky outlook on life can negatively affect weight loss success.
A Japanese study published in the journal BioPsychoSocial Medicine found that people who are happy are less likely to successfully lose weight compared to those who have a slightly negative and cautious outlook. Researchers conducted psychological profiles of 101 obese men and women who participated in a six-month weight loss program. Those who started out the program with a slightly negative outlook showed more weight loss success than those who were more optimistic.
While the study didn't find that being happy means you're doomed to see the scale remain stagnant, it does point out that being too optimistic can have its downfall. Essentially, having a sanguine attitude can help control negative emotion, but it can also cause people to give in to temptation because they believe everything will work out.
Post-Weekend Damage Control - This Week on AOL Health
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| Photo: jupiterimages |
Even if you don't chronically indulge on Saturday and Sunday, there's always the long weekend away or wedding celebration where you throw the rules out the window. No matter what your vice, or how often it creeps up, you may find yourself on Monday with a less-than-ideal number on the scale. Don't fret! We've got a few tricks up our sleeve to help you get back on track.
Click here for post-weekend diet damage control.
Can Artificial Sweeteners Help Keep Weight Off?
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| Photo: Cassandra Hubbart, AOL |
Researchers followed the eating habits of 303 men and women. One group had previously been either overweight or obese before losing weight and keeping it off for at least five years. The second group had no history of being overweight or obese.
Both groups' eating habits were then recorded on three random days to assess dietary intake. While both groups consumed a low-calorie, low-fat diet, those who had been overweight or obese drank more artificially sweetened beverages, which reduced their calorie intake.
Omega-3s and Weight Loss
Jonny's Take, Diet & Weight Loss
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| Photo: sxc.hu |
Maybe so. New findings reported in the British Journal of Nutrition found that overweight and obese people have lower levels of omega-3 fatty acids than people with a healthy weight.
"Our findings suggest that (omega-3) fatty acids may play an important role in weight status and abdominal (obesity)," wrote the researchers, led by Professor Monohar Garg from the University of Newcastle, and president elect of the Nutrition Society of Australia.
Other research has shown that omega-3s have a protective role in preventing obesity. "Previous studies involving children and adolescents have shown a negative correlation between adiposity (fatness) and [blood levels] of omega-3s," explained the researchers.
Go-To Get Fit Gear and Snacks
Diet & Weight Loss, Fitness, Reviews & Products
What are the top gym bag must-haves -- or if you work out at home, what do you just gotta have? Here's what these Twitters were talking about this week:


Read any good Tweets? Give us a shout on Twitter and let us know all about it!
Sensa Sprinkles - The Slimming Solution You've Been 'Weighting' For?
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| trysensa.com |
Can a spoonful of powder sprinkled over your meals help you lose weight? Absolutely, according to the founder of Sensa Tastants. Dr. Alan Hirsch, a neurologist from the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, is pretty sure he's found the answer to help the world lose weight, and it can be yours too for a mere $60 a month. So what's the deal with this magic potion, and can it work for you?
Sensa promotes itself as a diet-free, exercise-free, totally natural way to lose weight in a hurry. OK, so then how does it work? Apparently, Sensa builds upon findings that show that people who had lost their sense of smell and taste tend to gain weight. Given that information, it would make sense, then, that heightening the taste and smell of food might help people lose weight. And he's got it right, if his figures are to be believed. According to Dr. Hirsch's findings, nearly 1,500 participants in a six-month trial lost an average 30.5 pounds, around 5 pounds a month.
How to Tell Your Partner to Lose Weight - This Week on AOL Health
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| Photo: Getty Images |
The End of Overeating
Jonny's Take, Nutrition & Supplements
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| Photo: Hachimaki, Flickr |
According to Dr. David Kessler, that's exactly what food manufacturers have been doing for years, and that's at least partially responsible for the epidemic of overeating and obesity we're now witnessing.
Kessler, the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, has written a terrific and compelling book called "The End of Overeating." The book makes several arguments:
- Food has been "engineered" to contain various combinations of fat and sugar and salt that have never before been found in the human diet.
- These combinations -- particularly fat and sugar together -- are designed to stimulate brain chemistry in a way that makes it virtually impossible to resist these foods (Remember "betcha can't eat just one"?).
- These foods "amp up" the neurons in the brain, getting them to fire more. "The message to eat becomes stronger, motivating the eater to act more vigorously in pursuit of the stimulus," he writes.
- The most important goal of food "design" is not nutrition but to create a feeling of anticipation and desire by activating the pleasure centers of the brain.
- Once the pleasure centers of the brain have been "hijacked" by these foods, our desire for them no longer has anything to do with hunger and more resembles addictive behavior than anything else.
Break Your Bad Diet Habits
When you're battling to lose weight (and let's not kid ourselves -- it is a battle), it's often the subterfuge that keeps you from winning. You feel like you're doing everything right, but it's those sneaky ol' bad habits that make the last five (or 10, or 20) pounds so dang hard to drop. Often, you don't even realize you're doing anything detrimental to your diet!
For example, eating a really light breakfast or skipping it entirely might actually sabotage your weight loss efforts. Oh, and those sexy heels you've been wearing? Yep, those aren't doing you any favors.
The video above gives some helpful tips for changing those deceptively bad habits, but if you have suggestions of your own, be sure to leave a comment!
And, because you can never have too many weapons in your arsenal when fighting those cravings, check out these new diet tools.
Dancing Your Ass Off - How DYAO Star Mara Lost 26 Pounds
Diet & Weight Loss, Fitness, Celebs & Entertainment
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| Photo: Mitch Haaseth |
That's Fit: You struggled with weight issues all your life, and when your brother's diabetes-related death was followed by your diagnosis, you knew you needed to achieve a healthier weight. Why did you choose to try out for "Dance Your Ass Off"?
Mara Hall: I was in denial [for a long time]. Diabetes is a silent killer. It's not like other disease where you automatically get sick. You don't really know the magnitude of the disease until it hits you. I didn't exercise. I didn't lose weight. I continued to overeat. Even after my brother died, I didn't think that it couldn't happen to me. But I grew up and matured and I said, "Look, Mara, you really have to get this under control and you have to get this together, because if you don't, you're not going to make it to the age of 40." So I started working out. As an adult with early onset diabetes, I began taking dance classes in 2003. I thought it was a great way to lose weight. And "Dance Your Ass Off" [appeared in my life] right on time.
Initially, I thought that "Dance Your Ass Off" was just a dance show. I love dancing. I've been dancing -- tap, jazz, all kinds of dance -- ever since I was a little girl in Detroit, MI. Once I did some research, I found out that it was a weight-loss show as well. I thought, How great is that to be able to do what I love and lose weight as well?
Weight Loss is Like the Game of Golf
Jonny's Take, Diet & Weight Loss
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| Photo: chispita_666, Flickr |
Friedman was writing about Tom Watson, a 59-year-old phenomena who captured the public imagination when he came within a hair of winning the British Open in a playoff against a world-class golfer more than 20 years his junior. "The way he lost the tournament underscored why golf is the sport most like life," writes Friedman. Apparently, after making two perfect shots on the 18th hole in the final round, the ball bounced a little too hard and ran through the green.
Here's what Friedman had to say about it, and here's why it made me think of weight loss:
"Golf is played on an uneven terrain designed to surprise. Good and bad bounces are built into the essence of the game. And the reason golf is so much like life is that the game -- like life -- is all about how you react to those good and bad bounces. Do you blame your caddy? Do you cheat? Do you throw your clubs? Or do you accept it all with dignity and grace and move on?"
Are you beginning to see where I'm going with this?
Meryl Streep and Amy Adams Ate Their Way Through 'Julie and Julia'
Diet & Weight Loss, Celebs & Entertainment
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| Photo: Frazer Harrison, Getty Images |
Nora Ephron, director/writer/producer of the film, insisted her cast not only eat the food prepared on set, but enjoy it. And enjoy it they did. In an interview with Ladies Home Journal, Streep admitted, "I gained 15 pounds. I'm still trying to lose it. It was worth it."
Adams' weight gain wasn't as drastic, but she said to Access Hollywood, "Eating, eating, eating and eating. As long as the costumes fit, I could eat as much as I wanted, which was great. There was some weight gain but I didn't weigh myself so I really don't know."


































