Are you carrying some extra weight? Two-thirds of American adults are either overweight or obese, according to government health figures. Being overweight is more than cosmetic: Carrying around extra pounds has been linked to health problems such as some cancers, heart disease and diabetes. But through diet and exercise, even a little weight loss is beneficial to health.
By the time he reached the White House, Bill Clinton's appetite was legend. He loved hamburgers, steaks, chicken enchiladas, barbecue and french fries but wasn't too picky. At one campaign stop in New Hampshire, he reportedly bought a dozen doughnuts and was working his way through the box until an aide stopped him.
In March 2006, when Mia Walter's* 10-year-old daughter decided to quit gymnastics, the Chattanooga mom was almost relieved.
You may be obese, but does that automatically mean you're unhealthy?
Viagra gets the job done, but it's a quick fix. For many men, weaning themselves off the little blue pill and finding a longer-lasting solution to their sexual dysfunction may require hitting the gym and putting down the doughnuts.
Will Nevin had been dreading the doctor for years.
When Jamil Macias looked down at his new sports uniform, he felt embarrassed by the size on his tag -- he knew it was the largest one on his middle-school baseball team.
At his heaviest, Brent Schmitt weighed 419 pounds. Even at 6 feet 3 inches tall, that was very overweight and he had high blood pressure.
At 16, Shaina weighed 242 pounds. She also had developed a complication of obesity in which pressure builds up within the skull, damaging the optic nerve.
You could envy Anna Paquin a lot of things. Starting with her rocking body, which is on full display one hot morning when the 28-year-old Academy Award--winning actress shows up for our chat at a café in Venice, California, absolutely killing it in cutoff jeans shorts and a paper-thin white T-shirt.
Women who gain weight after giving birth for the first time dramatically increase their risk of developing pregnancy-related diabetes during their second pregnancy, a new study suggests.
Larry Smith's desire to make sure he's alive to watch his grandchildren grow up was his light bulb moment.
Obesity can't be cured by pills, shots or even surgery.
Teenage boys who are even slightly overweight face an increased risk of heart disease later in life, even if they slim down as adults, according to a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine.
John Memmer said his light bulb moment occurred when he couldn't fit on an amusement park ride with his son.
Roughly two-thirds of adults and one-third of children in the U.S. are now overweight or obese. Aside from contributing to rising rates of diabetes and other chronic illnesses, this widespread weight problem also appears to be changing our perception of what's considered heavy.
Many people who are overweight and obese either don't realize it or are in denial -- and too few doctors are setting them straight, according to a new study in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
The length of a mother's employment is associated with an increase in her child's body mass index, according to a study in the journal Child Development.
Remember those resolutions in the beginning of the year -- you were going to get in shape, exercise regularly and take fitness classes?
Erase extra flab with these super-effective tricks.
Lugging a nearly 500-pound body, Matt Hoover was unhappy. Like many Americans, he knew how to lose weight, but was paralyzed by inaction.
Diet drugs have had a rough year in 2010. In October, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) nixed not one but two new weight-loss drugs, lorcaserin and Qnexa, because of possible links to cancer (lorcaserin) and heart problems (Qnexa).
Being overweight or obese may take years off your life, even if you don't have heart disease or cancer, according to a new study of nearly 1.5 million people.
Twinkies. Nutty bars. Powdered donuts.
There were no diet pills, shakes or detoxes. And no, it wasn't caveman food, grapefruit, Twinkies, Taco Bell or Subway sandwiches.
Katie's temper tantrums and emotional outbursts became uncontrollable when she was 5 years old. After diagnosing her with Asperger's syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), doctors placed her on risperidone, an antipsychotic drug used to treat irritability and aggression in autistic children.
Overweight people with a history of heart disease who take the prescription weight-loss drug Meridia may be at increased risk of heart attack or stroke, according to a study published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine.
A cheesy chicken casserole is revamped to meet a Texas reader's health goals.
Dr. David Edelson, a weight-loss specialist in Manhasset, New York, hears the stories of dozens of patients each day -- most of them grappling with serious weight problems, after a lifetime of obesity.
Here's the good news: Three new weight-loss drugs are on the horizon that could help overweight and obese people shed pounds. A Food and Drug Administration panel is meeting on Thursday to discuss one of the drugs, Qnexa, and the panel is scheduled to consider two more drugs, lorcaserin and Contrave, in the coming months.
Flawed, limited and inaccurate. The complaints against the body mass index are many.
Mia Procida, 14, will be starting her eighth summer at Camp Pocono Trails in Reeders, Pennsylvania, at about the same time a new television show, called "Huge" rolls out on the ABC Family network.
Sweating, sore and somewhat humiliated, Christina Jones ran and pushed the stroller with her screaming baby Claudia past Lane Bryant.
Desani Marshall was never really overweight, but she was always a little big for her age. During a checkup at age 4, her doctor pointed out to her mother that Desani was gaining weight more rapidly than he thought was normal. Six months later, she was still putting on pounds at a rapid pace -- a strong predictor of future obesity.
Linda Bacon, Ph.D, dreads swimsuit season, but not because she has anything against the beach.
Five years ago, Juli Ackerman never thought she'd be able to buy an off-the-rack wedding dress. At 5 feet 10 inches, the software-company executive from Newport, California, then 40, was 280 pounds. Her weight had always fluctuated, but she decided that she wanted to slim down once and for all.
One-third of America's youth is now overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The White House on Tuesday unveiled its campaign to fight childhood obesity. First lady Michelle Obama is spearheading the effort.
Worried about your child's weight? You can do more than just nag him or her about eating too much junk food. Implementing three healthy family habits--eating dinner together, making sure they get enough sleep, and limiting TV--may help.
It's shocking, but it's true: Being a woman who's more than 20 pounds overweight may actually hike your risk of getting poor medical treatment. In fact, weighing too much can have surprising -- and devastating -- health repercussions beyond the usual diabetes and heart-health concerns you've heard about for years.
Obesity rates in the United States are still sky-high, but for the moment they appear to have stopped climbing higher, according to new data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Deb Lemire has always been "short and square," a figure she inherited from her grandmother and passed on to her child. So when Lemire took her daughter in for a wellness visit and the well-meaning pediatrician pulled her aside to talk about her daughter's weight, the 47-year-old burst into tears "because I was the 10-year-old being told I was overweight."
Her death made headlines around the world: Samantha Clowe, a 34-year-old British woman, died suddenly this fall from a previously undiagnosed heart condition. At the time of her death, Clowe was following a plan called LighterLife, a very low-calorie diet designed to help obese and severely obese patients lose weight.
These days, Becky Griggs starts her morning well before the sun comes up, in time to meet her clients at the gym at 5:30. It's a big change from six years ago, when she was 352 pounds and, as she calls it, engaged in a "slow form of suicide."
These days, Becky Griggs starts her morning well before the sun comes up, in time to meet her clients at the gym at 5:30. It's a big change from six years ago, when she was 352 pounds and, as she calls it, engaged in a "slow form of suicide."
Most college students expect to receive their diplomas on the basis of grades, but at a Pennsylvania school, physical fitness matters too.
More than 100,000 cases of cancer each year are caused by excess body fat, according to a report released Thursday in Washington.
Schizophrenia drugs, increasingly prescribed to children with bipolar disorder and other conditions, can cause youngsters to experience rapid weight gain, according to a new study.
The little number on the tag on a pair of pants that indicates size can mean a lot to a person, and retailers know it.
Consumers should be skeptical of health and weight-loss claims of the increasingly popular Brazilian fruit, acai, and the free trial offers that ask for their credit card information, a nonprofit health group said Monday.
You know that fat in your body you wish you didn't have? It turns out those cells could be used to create stem cells that one day may be able to cure disease.
So many first-year college students gain unwanted pounds that the so-called Freshman 15 is the subject of a new MTV reality show. (They're auditioning now.)
Barbara Simone of Glen Burnie, Maryland, considers herself terribly flawed. She refuses to show her ankles and she'd never allow them to be photographed. She barely wants to talk about them; in fact, when asked about her legs, she mumbles under her breath that she hates them.
Beverly Hunt is a mover and a shaker. A public relations executive who runs her own business in Laurel, Maryland, Hunt believes in looking good. She keeps active and stays in shape.
To look at her, you'd never know Jessica Ordona, 25, has a problem with her jeans. "I don't like the fact that when you sit down, your stomach comes over them," she says.
Michael Phelps, who scored his fifth gold medal at the world championships in Rome, Italy, last weekend, has a body that frequently propels him to world record speeds in the pool.
Weight-loss surgery isn't risk-free, but a new study suggests that in the hands of a skilled surgeon, it may be safer than previously thought. However, some people -- including those with sleep apnea or a history of blood clots -- are more likely to have problems with surgery than others, according to a study published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine.
When it comes to losing weight, the little things add up -- trying just one new thing every day can quickly make a big difference. With that in mind, we've taken science's best weight-loss strategies and created a week's worth of slimming to-do's.
I can still remember it, vivid as yesterday. It was the eve of my 40th birthday, and I walked upstairs to take a shower. And I was winded. I mean very winded. As I was trying to catch my breath, I took off my shirt, looked in the mirror and tried to convince myself that I was still that fit guy I had always thought I was.
Cutting daily calorie intake by 30 percent may put the brakes on the aging process, have beneficial effects on the brain, and result in a longer life span, according to a new 20-year study of monkeys published in the journal Science.
Mississippi has kept its U.S. heavyweight title for a fifth straight year, among both adults and children.
Weight-loss surgery can sometimes reverse type 2 diabetes and ease other obesity-related conditions. Now, new research suggests that obese women who undergo bariatric surgery experience a 42 percent drop in their cancer risk.
They're bigger, brawnier, and faster than the typical male, but are National Football League players healthier than other men their age?
Hydroxycut products, popular dietary supplements used for weight loss, have been linked to liver damage and are being recalled, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Friday.
If you're looking to curb your appetite and improve your memory, you're probably exercising, eating healthier foods and trying to get some sleep.
Here's yet another reason to stay in shape: Thinner people contribute less to global warming, according to a new study.
What if you had a special kind of fat in your body that burned calories instead of storing them -- and it could be activated simply by spending time in the cold? According to three preliminary studies published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, you probably do.
75 percent of U.S. adults are projected to be overweight or obese by 2015, according to researchers. Americans consume anywhere from 150 to 300 more calories than they did three decades ago and half of those calories come from liquid. A new study out of John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health finds that reducing liquid calories, especially from sugar-sweetened drinks such as punches, fruit juices and sodas, helps people lose weight and keep it off.
David Laibson knows that when he procrastinates, mere deadlines are not always enough to get him going. So, when this Harvard economics professor collaborates on a major project, he'll sometimes promise to deliver a finished product by a certain date -- or else pay his co-authors $500.
This week, Giyen Kim, 34, reached a personal milestone: She has lost 10 pounds since the beginning of the year.
Not everyone wishes others well in fulfilling their New Year's resolutions.
In April, at age 34, Giyen Kim dropped a 60-hour-a-week job to follow her childhood dream of becoming a writer. Now, she's primed to clear her next personal hurdles: making money from writing, and losing weight.
"Snack on four almonds and a third of a cup of nonfat cottage cheese for a nutritious afternoon boost that will have you cruising the house with your nine-month-old!"
Pancreatic cancer patients who are obese may be 12 times more likely to have cancer that's already spread to their lymph nodes at the time of surgery than similar cancer patients who weigh less, according to a study released Monday in the Archives of Surgery.
The names of the weight-loss supplements say it all: 7 Day Herbal Slim, 2 Day Diet, and even 24 Hours Diet. Those are just three of dozens of different brands touted as all-natural ways to shed pounds, and lose them super fast.
In the fight against obesity, doctors have deployed stern warnings, dieting tips, liposuction and open-incision bariatric surgery. But some surgeons have found another avenue for weight loss.
If your pants feel tighter than usual, you might begin to suspect that you've gained a couple of pounds. But at what point should you begin to worry that the weight gain is serious? Could you be one of the approximately two-thirds of American adults who are either overweight or obese, with an increased risk for conditions like diabetes and heart disease? While no single measurement is perfect, here are a few ways to size yourself up.
Two years ago, Karen Daniel was wider around than she was tall.
Barbara Rademacher of Rogers, Arkansas, has found that she loves to document events on camera. Now, she's turning the camera around and focusing on improving herself for 2009.
You have access to more nutrition information than ever -- from magazines like Cooking Light to the Internet, newspapers, and television. When you add to that the hype about fad diets, the resulting information overload creates more confusion than clarity.
Oprah's struggle with her weight has become almost mythic--it's not just that she's been so open and honest about it, but that millions of people share her story.
Tim Kassouf lost 45 pounds, and it all started when he got really mad at his girlfriend.
The mirror doesn't lie. Those buttery cookies and slices of ham from the holidays are showing up in the wrong places on your body.
Mike Moriarty has big expectations for the new year. "My goal is to fit into these pants better," he said, patting his stomach.
If losing weight is at the top of your resolution list, you're not alone. An estimated 80 million Americans go on diets every year, spending more than $30 billion annually on programs and products.
Amid pink slips and plummeting stocks, 2009 may not be shaping up to be the year you hoped for. But one thing you do still have some control over is your body. So put your stress on the shelf and resolve to focus on you come January 1. To help you out, here are some experts' tips for turning last year's failed resolution into something stable for the future and who couldn't use a little more stability?
What exactly is it about breakfast that makes it so beneficial? And are all are breakfasts created equal? A study from Pediatrics, published in March 2008, looked at 2,000 teenagers and found that teens who ate breakfast weighed less, exercised more and ate healthier food than their classmates who didn't eat breakfast
A February 2008 laboratory study from the American Psychological Association says the widespread use of no-calorie sweeteners may actually make it harder for people to control their intake and body weight. Here are tips on the healthiest ways to get that sugar fix without packing on the pounds.
Research suggests that having a big breakfast with carbohydrates and lean protein, and even a piece of chocolate, will help keep your appetite in check all day and help you lose weight.
The holiday season is a great time for family, friends, and well, old wives' tales: Who hasn't been told to wear a hat because you lose the most heat from your head? Or to keep kids away from poisonous poinsettias?
Some people have all the luck. A new study shows that certain individuals with a gene mutation can slurp down milk shakes or other high-fat food and drink without a nasty jump in cholesterol.
When you see photos of Cameron Diaz's slim silhouette or Jessica Alba's flat post-pregnancy tummy, you probably wonder just how Hollywood stars stay so lean or snap back into shape so quickly. While many swear their svelte bods come from eating right and exercising round the clock, the truth is that some celebs may go to strange and interesting lengths to get or stay pin thin. Here, the skinny on exactly what the big names do to get red-carpet ready -- from the healthy strategies you'll want to steal to the just plain wacky ideas you'll want to avoid.
Want to shed some pounds? You're more likely to be successful if you stand to gain --or lose -- some money.
Many kids love interactive video games that involve movement, such as Dance Dance Revolution and Nintendo Wii sporting games. Kids who don't already have them really want them. But can these games help kids lose weight and get fit? How do they compare with real sports? New generations of active computer games stimulate greater energy expenditure than sedentary games, but they are no substitute for playing real sports, according to a study in the British Medical Journal in December 2007.
A study from Brookhaven National Laboratory gives us clues as to why some people overeat and gain weight while others do not. Researchers found that even though their stomachs were mostly full, heavier people didn't stop eating. It has to do with motivation and how your brain controls your desire to eat. The study appeared in the February 15, 2008, issue of NeuroImage.
A Stanford University study, released in May 2007 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, compares the effectiveness of four popular diets -- Atkins, LEARN (Lifestyle, Exercise, Attitudes, Relationships, and Nutrition), Ornish, and Zone -- for women who are premenopausal and overweight or obese. Women on Atkins lost the most weight, although the average loss was only about 10 pounds for 12 months.
There may be a physiological reason why some people do well on low-fat diets while others fail and it's not a lack of willpower. This research was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in May 2007.
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