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Not just the eating but also the actual position of “couch potatoes” is harmful, new research shows. It has been known for some time that people who watch hours of TV a day tend to be at higher risk of becoming overweight or obese. The connection was thought to be because of munching junk food while watching. But Tel Aviv University researchers have found that not just the eating but also the actual position of “couch potatoes” is harmful. Being stretched out in front of the TV is considered to be “active inactivity” and causes viewers to gain weight. Such...

The Coast Guard Thinks You've Put on a Few PoundsBy Dashiell Bennett | The Atlantic Wire – Mon, Jan 2, 2012 The Coast Guard recently raised its "Assumed Average Weight Per Person" standard to 185 pounds, reflecting the growing waistlines of the American populace. The number — which is 25 pounds higher than the previous average — is used to the determine the safe operating capacity of passenger boats around the country. The change may force tour operators, ferry services, and other charter companies to adjust the capacity of their vessels or risk failing their next Coast Guard inspection.

Could anyone interested in weight and gravity do the following experiment and post the results back on here in pounds. Weigh yourself at the middle of your ground floor, weigh yourself again immediately outside your building, and then again finally back at the middle of your ground floor. Thanks in advance. Mark

Are you dieting and/or exercising to lose weight right now? And how much weight do you expect to be able to lose and keep off by following your weight loss plan? You've probably heard that rule of thumb that says you can lose one pound by either eating 3,500 fewer Calories over time or by burning 3,500 more Calories through exercise. And you might very well have heard it from some seemingly reputable sources, like NBC's Today show or from the winning contestants on that network's show The Biggest Loser. The only problem with that kind of math is that...

My husband thinks he heard something about Florida State's quarterback Clint Trickett having been tested for food allegies. Apparently they found something, but he did not hear what, and they think that Trickett will be able to gain some weight now. The reason I am interested is because my son has the same problem that Trickett does. There's absolutely no way to get him to gain weight. To be honest, he runs cross country and track, so during running season and summer practice he runs around 40-50 miles a week. But, in the off season, he does not gain an...

This is no kidding...we take roll call before we go anywhere in the Big Red Bus of Love. Some of you may find this a foreign concept. Many of you probably can't decide whether to laugh maniacally or throw up at the thought of the necessity of it. And a precious few of you are thinking, "Well, duh!" True story: On a recent activity/errand night, I had four of the kids with me. We dropped Gracie off at the YMCA so she could go to her water aerobics class, and then I fled the parking lot...because all the Zumba-ites were...

Holder to oil fraud panel: Report if gas prices don't fall Washington (CNN) -- Attorney General Eric Holder on Friday ordered the newly formed government working group investigating oil and gas prices to make sure gasoline prices are dropping after this week's sudden decline in crude oil prices. Holder sent his memo to several federal agencies, including the FBI, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the departments of Treasury, Energy and Agriculture. He also sent the directive to state attorneys general.

"Clerks" director Kevin Smith has lost 65 pounds after an embarrassing incident where he was deemed too heavy to fly last year. In an interview with Joy Behar on her "HLN" show last Tuesday, Smith shared that the moment made him angry and spurred him to lose weight. He said: "I felt at that moment, I was like, 'You know what? I'll lose the weight, but I'm not putting on thinner clothes.' Because why? I'm still the same person I was when I was 65 lbs. heavier.” He added that the incident made him a more forceful advocate for...

At 285 pounds and 5 feet 7 inches, I may not be the tallest, but I am almost always one of the biggest passengers on a plane. That’s “one of”: as anyone with even the most tangential relationship with news headlines over the last several years knows, Americans are getting fatter and fatter. .. “How many kilos you weigh?” asked a customs officer at Ho Chi Minh Airport when I visited Vietnam a few years ago. “Is that a question on the form?” I responded, slightly unnerved. Smiling, she told me no. She was apparently just curious. After giving me...

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Persistent exposure to light at night may lead to weight gain, even without changing physical activity or eating more food, according to new research in mice. Researchers found that mice exposed to a relatively dim light at night over eight weeks had a body mass gain that was about 50 percent more than other mice that lived in a standard light-dark cycle. "Although there were no differences in activity levels or daily consumption of food, the mice that lived with light at night were getting fatter than the others," said Laura Fonken, lead author of the study...

"There's no question that most people who easily gain weight, and/or quickly regain weight after losing it are different from other folks," says Scott Kahan, MD, co-director of the George Washington University Weight Management Program in Washington, D.C., in an email. "The general public tends to think of 'fat' people as lazy and as having no willpower [but] it couldn't be further from the truth." "Ample evidence, now including this study, suggests that there are physiologic reasons for weight gain, difficulty at losing weight, and rapid weight regain after a diet," he says. "There is no question that certain people...

The weight-centric approach to health is the most common, but least effective philosophy. A healthy metabolism is more important than numbers on a scale. Despite what personal trainers, nutritional gurus and the diet industry have been telling you all of these years, weight loss and weighing less is not the key to living a healthy lifestyle. As a matter of fact, there have been studies that show weight loss can increase the risk of premature death from heart disease. But these findings haven’t dissuaded the forces that perpetuate the notion that thin is in. Rather than worry about numbers on...

Lizzie Velasquez weighs just four stone and has almost zero per cent body fat but she is not anorexic. In fact, the 21-year-old from Austin, Texas, must eat every 15 minutes to stay healthy. Miss Velasquez has a rare condition which prevents her from gaining weight even though she eats up to 60 small meals a day.

A former Hooters worker in Roseville stands a chance of winning her weight discrimination lawsuit based on a law written by a retired Grand Rapids legislator -- a law not found in most states. Cassandra Smith, 20, alleges a Hooters restaurant -- known for its scantily-clad waitresses -- placed her on 30-day "weight probation" earlier this month. She resigned, filing suit Monday in Macomb County Circuit Court. The suit cites the Michigan Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination by employers based on a number of factors. Height and weight discrimination were added in a 1976 amendment written by then-state...

Snacking under stress can contribute to weight gain, and new research shows the snacking doesn't stop for women when the pressure slacks off. Jennifer Waugh, a clinical nutrition manager at Baltimore's Mercy Medical Center, said stress is a common trigger for snacking, especially eating comfort foods, including sweets, pastries, soft drinks or chips. "It seems like people either want sweet, bland, salty, chocolate, high-fat things that are not healthy and are very much considered junk food," Waugh said. "You can have a bottled water, that's always good, or yogurt or milk because it has protein that can make you feel...

<p>PORTLAND, Ore. --The ketchup packet has been around for more than 40 years, and complaints about it for nearly as long: too messy, too small, too hard to open. Now ketchup giant H.J. Heinz Co. is unveiling the first major packaging change to the to-go condiment.</p>

Obesity is a disease of excess, but a new study suggests that a few obese patients are actually lacking something--a piece of one of their chromosomes. The loss might remove a gene that helps the body manage blood sugar and appetite. Obesity runs in families, and researchers have identified several genetic variants that seem to boost the odds of becoming obese. However, these variants only explain a minority of cases. In the last decade, researchers have discovered that genetic differences among people can stem from lost or duplicated sections of chromosomes, called copy number variants (CNVs). Because of CNVs, for...

PORT OF SPAIN (AFP) – Commonwealth leaders representing two billion people on the planet on Saturday threw their combined weight behind upcoming climate talks, driving momentum towards a new carbon-cutting treaty. "We, as the Commonwealth, representing one third of the world's population, believe the time for action on climate change has come," Australian Prime Minister Rudd said as he unveiled an agreement struck at a summit in Trinidad. The Port of Spain Climate Change Consensus, backed by all 53 member states of the Commonwealth, supported the December 7-18 climate talks in Copenhagen and committed to seeking a legally binding treaty...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Parents may be setting their daughters up for weight problems simply by allowing them to drink two or more sweetened drinks daily while young, study findings hint. Higher sweetened beverage intake, such as sodas and fruit and sport drinks, at age 5 years was linked to more body fat during the following 10 years, Dr. Laura Fiorito, at The Pennsylvania State University in University Park, told Reuters Health in an email. Higher body fat during the teen years has been tied to long-term overweight and other health problems such as diabetes and later heart disease,...

The study, conducted by Aletha Akers, M.D., M.P.H., assistant professor of gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and colleagues, further links girls at weight extremes with an increased risk for engaging in sexual risk-taking behaviors. "This study will contribute to sexual health education prevention efforts, which can be tailored to address how cultural norms regarding body size may influence adolescent sexual decision making. Knowing how a girl perceives her weight may be just as important as knowing her actual weight," noted Dr. Akers. Of the nearly 7,200 high school girls asked about their sexual...

Lose weight while you sleep? It sounds too good to be true—but recent research indicates that there is a connection between how much you weigh and the amount of shut-eye you get per night. Two hormones, ghrelin and leptin, help to control appetite. When you do not get enough rest, levels of ghrelin, which increases hunger, rise; levels of leptin, which promotes feelings of fullness, sink. A study in the May issue of Psychoneuroendocrinology found a significant disruption in nighttime ghrelin levels in chronic insomniacs. According to the study, this hormone imbalance leads insomniacs to experience an increase in appetite...

As I write this, tomorrow is Tuesday, which is a cardio day. I'll spend five minutes warming up on the VersaClimber, a towering machine that requires you to move your arms and legs simultaneously. Then I'll do 30 minutes on a stair mill. On Wednesday a personal trainer will work me like a farm animal for an hour, sometimes to the point that I am dizzy — an abuse for which I pay as much as I spend on groceries in a week. Thursday is "body wedge" class, which involves another exercise contraption, this one a large foam wedge from...

I just purchased a package of Peanut Butter M&M's that has led me to ponder three things: Why does the name M&M's contain an apostrophe-s? Why is the package Net weight 1.63 oz.? Maybe related to a metric measure you might suggest. Well they also list that at 46.2g. Why not 1.5 oz. or 50g? Why can't they balance the colors? There's always at least one under represented color. My package has 6 blue, 6 orange, 5 green, 4 brown, 3 yellow, and only 2 red.

Being overweight won’t kill you — it may even help you live longer. That’s the latest from a study that analyzed data on 11,326 Canadian adults, ages 25 and older, who were followed over a 12-year period. The report, published online last week in the journal Obesity, found that overall, people who were overweight but not obese — defined as a body mass index of 25 to 29.9 — were actually less likely to die than people of normal weight, defined as a B.M.I. of 18.5 to 24.9. By contrast, people who were underweight, with a B.M.I. under 18.5, were...

Last year, 200,000 Americans had weight loss surgery and while gastric bypass surgery can significantly reduce weight, the surgery comes with risks. Now a procedure that was once commonly used to treat ulcers is being tested as a safe alternative to weight loss surgery. Action News reporter Kimberly Tere has the details. The vagus nerve controls your feeling of hunger. Some even say every single thing the vagus nerve does is designed to make you gain weight. That is why San Francisco Doctor Robert Lustig is testing laparoscopic vagotomy, a surgery in which the vagus nerve is cut. Cutting the...

So let’s add another item to the list of impossibles: I have lost more than 20 pounds in less than 24 hours on more than a dozen occasions. The most extreme example was 33 lbs. — from 185 lbs. to 152 lbs. — in less than 20 hours, which produced a rather unpleasant 120 beat-per-minute resting pulse while attempting to sleep. In 1999, I was a gold medalist at the Sanshou (Chinese kickboxing) national championships in the 165-lb. weight class (here is a video sample of Sanshou). This is perhaps the most controversial accomplishment in the 4HWW, as I make...

ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska, March 16, 2009 – Air Force Airman Derrick Bell has found that a lot of determination and a little help from his friends helped him meet his goal of returning to military service when it seemed that both his age and weight might have prevented it. Air Force Airman Derrick Bell, left, after he lost 115 pounds to join the Air Force Reserve’s 477th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska. On right, before he spent 11 months to reaching his goal. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The 38-year-old...

UPDATED to include Dane Patterson's apology. A followup to my Thursday story about the fabricated account of "Biggest Loser" eliminee Dane Patterson running a marathon, when in fact he only ran 23 miles: The producers of "The Biggest Loser" are taking full responsibility for the misrepresentation. Here's the apology put out late Thursday night by Reveille, the company behind "TBL": "As the Executive Producers of 'The Biggest Loser' we would like to make an official apology and set the record straight with regards to the claim in last night's episode that Dane completed a marathon in Arizona. "After seeing on...

The average American woman is 53 lbs. heavier than the typical fashion show "runway" model, according to a new study. This video report shows graphics comparing the size of the average runway model (5'9", 110 lbs), to the average American woman (5'4", 163 lbs). I was surprised the average American woman is 5'4" tall. I know this is a little off-topic for what we usually post here at Freedom's Lighthouse, but I could not resist posting this report. If you have ever thought those models don't look like virtually anyone you see in real life, now you know why --...

1/2/2009 - MANAS AIR BASE, Kyrgyz Republic (AFPN) -- "I knew I was unhealthy and had to make some changes, especially when I thought about my five-year-old looking up at me," said Senior Airman Jarvis Johnson. "Without changes, I wouldn't be around to see him and my daughters grow up." When you ask someone what they can accomplish in six months -- just 24 short weeks -- they may say something like, "I plan to finish a couple college courses," or maybe, "I'm going to read a couple books," or "Tour a little." Many may say they are going to...

For the first time in a decade, losing weight will NOT be one of my New Year's resolutions. The reason? After years of piling on the padding (and a few failed weight-loss attempts) I've lost 60 lbs. over the past four months. I've only blogged about diet once and did so hesitantly. But that two-year-old post is still getting consistent hits. Everybody is Googling for the silver bullet to shedding pounds. They think that there must be some secret diet, high-tech fitness equipment, or miracle pill that will finally give them health. As I said back then, fat people offer...

RAWAH, Iraq, Dec. 9, 2008 – Before Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Allan Desruisseaux could become a Marine, he had to become a loser. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Allan Desruisseaux, a telephone system and personal computer repair technician with Regimental Combat Team 5’s Provisional Rifle Platoon 3, patrols the streets of Rawah, Iraq, Dec. 4, 2008. Desruisseaux dropped from 326 pounds to his Marine Corps recruit training graduation weight of 189. U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. M. Trent Lowry  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Desruisseaux lost more than 100 pounds between his first visit to a Marine Corps...

Reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MDAre there really certain foods that can help you lose weight and keep it off? We're not talking about any so-called miracle food that "melts the fat" (does the cabbage soup diet ring any bells?). These are foods that really can help you lose or maintain weight, either by helping you to eat less or to burn more calories -- or, in some cases, maybe even helping to decrease your body fat.Experts say there are two basic categories of foods that can be considered "keeping it off superfoods" because they fill your tummy without piling on...

Thinking too much can make you eat more. Researchers at Universite Laval say intellectual work raises peoples' calorie intake and could be a reason for obesity. A group of 14 students were invited to eat as much as they wanted at a buffet, after taking part in three different tasks: * Sitting down and relaxing * Reading and summarizing a text * Finishing memory and attention tests on a computer All the tasks turned out to be low energy -- students only needed three more calories to do the mental work than to rest. However, they spontaneously ate 203 more...

EDINBURG -- Authorities scrambled Friday to figure out how to arrest, incarcerate and prosecute a woman estimated to weigh nearly half a ton who was indicted on capital murder charges earlier this week. Mayra Rosales, 27, has remained under house arrest since she was charged in March with beating her 2-year-old nephew to death. But now that her case has moved into the state court system, law enforcement officials must address a whole new set of logistical problems before it can go to trial.

I Read a story in the Washington Post about the death of a young woman. This ultra-huge died in her sleep. Her mom blamed it on obesity. Possibly so ... her mom is obese herself. In the story the mom bemoans the lack of "affordable" weight loss clinics and exercise facilities. Oh boy ... here we go. As we know, in the modern USA every single item or service that a person could possibly need or even want must be affordable. The new mantra is that there is something wrong with our country, our economy and our government if someone...

Six young brothers and sisters face being taken from their parents and put into care because they are overweight. Social workers have warned they will intervene if three of the youngsters – including a 12-year-old boy who weighs 16 stone – do not shed several pounds in three months. The parents have been told they risk losing all their children if there is no improvement in the 12-year-old or two of his sisters aged 11 and three – who weigh 12 stone and four stone – by June. The parents could lose their obese children if they cannot help them...

It was alleged he spent $80,000 over a 10-year period on hookers. But the morality of public servants and the hypocrisy of high office, the fact that he wanted “unsafe” sex - this wasn’t what people were talking about. Most of the focus was on “Kristen”, the prostitute he met at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington DC and booked for $1,000 an hour. She was described as, “American, petite, very pretty, brunette, 5 feet 5 inches, and 105 pounds”. My female friends in New York were outraged. “105 pounds? No way.” This was the biggest grievance. Not that she was...

“The obesity epidemic has absolutely been exaggerated,” said Dr. Vincent Marks. I once ticked off the local franchiser of Weight Watchers by pointing out my weight gain after quitting smoking was no big deal. OK, the column should not have pointed out that the Nazis did not feed people to death in the Holocaust. Did I mention she’s Jewish? Now we have been told to the point of ridiculousness that we face an obesity epidemic — an abuse of a noun that really medical professionals, of all people, should avoid. The definition of overweight and obese were redefined to the...

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The central Mexican city of Aguascalientes is considering paying a cash bonus to local police who slim down, amid the increasingly common sight of overweight officers in Mexico. Aguascalientes city hall plans to decide next week on whether to pay 100 pesos (5 pounds) for every kilogram (2.2 pounds) that officers lose, a police spokesman said on Thursday. "We do have some fat officers. We have been encouraging them for a while to lose weight, to be more agile, to do sport," he added. Obesity is one of the biggest health problems in Mexico, where diabetes...

HEALTH and beauty. They seem inextricable. That smiling, slender woman on the cover of Self magazine. The ripped guy looking out from the pages of Men’s Health. They’re thin. Their eyes are bright. They look like they’re bursting with energy. They may well be. But they might be better off if they had listened to their grandmother and... --snip-- Today, poorer people are most likely to be fat and so, said Abigail Saguy, a sociologist at the University of California at Los Angeles, “fatness is associated with downward mobility.” Weight has thus become a moral issue couched in health concerns,...

some doctors are now warning that bariatic surgery - which jumped 40% in frequency in 2005 from the year before - can increase a patient's risk of a rare, yet serious neurological condition called Wernicke's encephalopathy. A result of a vitamin B deficiency (no doubt spurred by the poor digestion that removal of large portions of the stomach and intestine can cause), this condition can cause confusion and impaired coordination, memory, and vision.

Obesity is more dangerous than smoking and will dramatically shorten the lives of millions, a landmark study has found. While smoking reduces life by an average of ten years, the research says being seriously overweight can cut life expectancy by as much as 13 years. The Foresight report, written by 250 leading scientists, says Britain's obesity crisis is so severe that it would take at least 30 years to reverse. If current trends continue, by 2050 about 60 per cent of men, 50 per cent of women and 25 per cent of children in the UK will be clinically obese...

Americans are obsessed with fat because fatness has become a symbol for poverty, downward mobility, nonwhiteness and socially marginal status in general. Fear and hatred of fat has very little to do with the health risks associated with being "overweight" and "obese" (which are wholly imaginary and highly exaggerated

The original prototype for the kilogram, stored under lock and key near Paris, appears to be losing weight. The cylinder, which dates back from 1889, seems to have lost 50 micrograms, compared with the average of dozens of copies of the original. Richard Davis, of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Sevres, said: "The mystery is that they were all made of the same material, and many were made at the same time and kept under the same conditions, and yet the masses among them are slowly drifting apart." The one in Sevres is the original that the...

I don’t often remark on entertainment subjects; this is the sort of thing I leave to people whose childhoods included eating paint chips while listening to Casey Kasem. With that said, the Britney Spears debacle during the MTV Video Music Awards is a situation that requires a comment. I will leave the topic of her lip syncing, dancing, and speculation of her intoxication level to those who were apologists for Marv Albert after he slipped on a leather teddy and bit a prostitute a decade of so ago. It is the criticism of her body that I am having a...

DALLAS, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have determined a single "skinny gene" might alone control whether a body tends to accumulate fat. "From worms to mammals, this gene controls fat formation," said Dr. Jonathan Graff of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, the study's senior author. "It could explain why so many people struggle to lose weight and suggests an entirely new direction for developing medical treatments that address the current epidemic of diabetes and obesity." The gene, called adipose, was discovered more than 50 years ago but its mechanism was not determined. In the new study, researchers...

Rules require link only http://www.theolympian.com/opinion/story/117372.html

HAVANA - A statement signed by Fidel Castro Wednesday said his weight was stable and he was eating solid foods after months of intravenous feeding that followed several operations, including an initial surgery that did not go well. The statement from the 80-year-old Cuban leader said he was taking all medicines orally and his weight had stabilized. "I tell everyone simply that I am getting better and maintain a stable weight of about 176 pounds," he wrote. "It wasn't just one operation, but various. Initially it wasn't successful and had a bearing on my prolonged recuperation." He added that the...

The bad body image blues has been hitting some big names in music hard these days. First, British sensation Lily Allen posted on her MySpace blog that she was researching liposuction because she thinks she is chubby. Now Star magazine (via I'm Not Obsessed) is reporting that Kelly Clarkson is on a mission to lose weight in order to get a boyfriend.