Courtney Love Loses 44 Pounds

Courtney Love, 42, made a New Year's Resolution to lose weight in a healthy way. People Magazine spotted an entry on her website where she says she's lost 44 pounds since the beginning of this year and that she would like to lose another six to eleven pounds. She's done this with a macrobiotic diet focused mostly on vegetables and fish. She has also been getting lots of exercise as well as partaking in regular yoga workouts.

Health Club Weight Loss Programs

Duncan joined a weight loss program at his local health club twenty weeks ago. This customized program includes personal training, consultations with a dietitian and even group therapy. He has been successful in losing 30 pounds. He also dropped six inches around his waist and lowered his blood pressure and bad cholesterol reading.

The health club he belongs to has only two locations (Seattle and Bellevue). But they have a very sophisticated weight loss program available for their members which includes meeting with a dietitian once a week, getting instruction and motivation with a certified personal trainer three times a week and meeting with a support group once each week.

Maybe we will be seeing more health clubs adopt this kind of approach in the near future. Visit Duncan's site, he will be posting more details about his experience here.

The Health Risks of Being Overweight

What are some of the main health risks of being overweight?

Studies have shown that being even just five to ten percent overweight can increase the risk of getting certain chronic diseases including high blood pressure, heart disease, gallstones, colon cancer and stroke.

You are considered overweight if your BMI is over 25 and obese if your BMI is over 30.

Calculate your BMI here. As an example, a person who is 5'6" tall would be overweight if they weighed more than 155 pounds. They would be obese if they weighed more than 186 pounds.

If you are tired of hearing the health risks of being overweight, and such facts don't help you in your quest in losing weight then rest assured that most other people also feel this way. See more about different motivation methods for changing lifestyle habits here.

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The photo above is by Colin Gregory Palmer

Alkaline Versus Acidic Foods

Most people eat too many acidic foods these days. This creates a real imbalance in our bodies. When the body becomes imbalanced and overly acidic the condition is called acidosis. According to the bible of nutritional information, Prescription for Nutritional Healing, symptoms can include insomnia, water retention, recessed eyes, rheumatoid arthritis, migraine headaches, abnormally low blood pressure, dry hard stools and frequent sighing.

The highest acid-forming foods include alcohol, meat and pasta.

Most fresh vegetables and fruits are alkaline-forming foods.

See a four minute video here where Elaina Love, a raw foods chef, discusses alkaline vs acidic foods.

Star Jones in Bathing Suit at Age 45

Star Jones Reynolds celebrated her 45th birthday this Saturday. Here she is on a beach in Miami with friend and actress Vanessa Bell Calloway. (Photo and scoop via Just Jared).See more about Star Jones and her dramatic weight loss story here.

Can You Simply Change Your Lifestyle?

Knowing the health risks isn't enough to stop people who have bad eating habits. This is also the case for people with other bad habits or addictions such as smoking or drinking.

As one example written about by Carol Crenna, over 1,500,000 people get a coronary bypass or angioplasty each year and this costs $60 billion. Doctors tell patients that to stop heart disease before it kills them they have to change their lifestyle. But two years after surgery, ninety percent haven't changed. People find it incredibly difficult to change.

Alan Deutschman is a doctor who wanted to investigate something aside from just giving the scary facts about bad habits to people. He describes a study done on 194 people who suffered from severely clogged arteries. These people underwent a program where they were given help in switching to a vegetarian diet and quitting smoking. They also participated in group discussions, meditation, yoga and exercise classes. After the year-long program they were on their own but it was found that three years later 77 percent were still sticking to the lifestyle changes and had halted or reversed their disease.

Alan Deutschman has written an interesting book about this called Change or Die: The Three Keys to Change at Work and in Life He says the way to successful lifestyle change is not by using facts, fear or force to change people but rather to help people change deep rooted patterns of how they think, feel and act.

When Dieting and Overeating Become a Vicious Cycle

Most people on a diet are doomed to failure. The statistics say that only four out of a hundred people who diet are able to lose the weight and keep it off.

Studies have also found that ninety percent of American high school girls are dieting, even though many of them are not overweight and obese. A 2001 study of female high school students found that 11 per cent had used laxatives to lose weight, 15 per cent had taken appetite control pills, and nine per cent had made themselves vomit after eating.

This is a set-up for a lifetime of weight loss failure. A diet is typically seen as a temporary route to success, but the only real long-term solution is to change lifestyle habits. If you are wanting to lose weight consider making a complete overhaul of your daily lifestyle, in a way that you feel you would want to maintain for years and years.

As my doctor recently said to me, just eat many more fruits and vegetables and get some regular exercise. Consider making fruits and vegetables at least fifty percent of your daily consumption of food, forget a specific diet, limit the white flour and sugar habit and the benefits will be astounding, although gradual.

It all sounds so simple...

Extreme Weight Loss for Jenna Jameson

Jenna Jameson has lost a lot of weight and looks as though she is anorexic. On her website at MySpace she explains how a nasty divorce is responsible for her loss of appetite;

I feel like I need to address the weight rumors that have been swirling for a few months now. This saddens me... only because, everyone that is judging me... has absolutely NO idea what is happening in my life. People are hateful and accuse me of being a drug addict, or an anorexic. Does anyone seem to remember the fact that I am going through a nasty divorce? It has been weighing heavily on me. I worked extremely hard for years to secure my success, and i have been forced to fight for everything I busted my ass for. This has definitely affected my weight. It really hurts that my fans and everyone else) have taken it upon themselves to be so horrible, screaming eat a burger! or we want the old jenna back! I'm sure everyone out there has gone through tough times, and this is when I need support. I wish I could enlighten everyone with what is exactly going on in my divorce and business, but I can't because of legal proceedings. I really hope everyone understands and remembers I am human, and I really need friends and the love and support right now. Soon the divorce will be settled and I am hoping to come out unscathed, but my x is doing his best to make it hard. Thanks for all of your support, and remember I love you! xoxoxox Jenna

Found via Jossip

When A Size Four is Not Good Enough For Hollywood

Lena Heady, 33, the lead actress in the movie "300" is quoted as saying she is going to ditch Hollywood and just do British movies. She says she is sick of Hollywood's obsession with weight and the stress of staying slim enough for US casting directors. Heady is an American dress size 4 (British size 8).

Eating Raw Foods to Lose Over 150 Pounds

Here's a three minute video clip about a woman who used to weigh 294 pounds. She decided to change her diet drastically and began eating only raw foods. Within the first year she lost a whopping 105 pounds. Today she weighs 126 pounds.

This is her story as portrayed by the BBC. The video has some really good before and after photos. Angela Stokes, 27, says the raw foods diet changed her life and that within one month of starting the raw foods regiment she had her first boyfriend in five years. It's hard to believe this is the same woman a couple of years later.

A Massive Dog Food Recall is Underway

There is a pet food company called Menu Foods which makes canned chunks of meat in gravy that is packaged in cans and small foil pouches. Some of their pet food is causing kidney failure in dogs and cats. This company supplies a huge number of brand names. Just for dog food, 51 brand names on this list may be tainted. See their lists for cat food here.

1. Americas Choice, Preferred Pets
2. Authority
3. Award
4. Best Choice
5. Big Bet
6. Big Red
7. Bloom
8. Wegmans Bruiser
9. Cadillac
10. Companion
11. Demoulas Market Basket
12. Eukanuba
13. Food Lion
14. Giant Companion
15. Great Choice
16. Hannaford
17. Hill Country Fare
18. Hy-Vee
19. Iams
20. Laura Lynn
21. Loving Meals
22. Meijers Main Choice
23. Mighty Dog Pouch
24. Mixables
25. Nutriplan
26. Nutro Max
27. Nutro Natural Choice
28. Nutro Ultra
29. Nutro
30. Ol'Roy Canada
31. Ol'Roy US
32. Paws
33. Pet Essentials
34. Pet Pride - Good n Meaty
35. Presidents Choice
36. Price Chopper
37. Priority Canada
38. Priority US
39. Publix
40. Roche Brothers
41. Save-A-Lot
42. Schnucks
43. Shep Dog
44. Springsfield Prize
45. Sprout
46. Stater Brothers
47. Weis Total Pet
48. Western Family US
49. White Rose
50. Winn Dixie
51. Your Pet

Kidney failure signs include loss of appetite, lethargy and vomiting. The recall involves 60 million cans of the contaminated food. Right now it's thought that it is probably the wheat gluten in the product that's the source of the contamination.

These food recalls are getting much more frequent over the last couple of years. It's another reason to eat as little processed foods as possible, but then again even raw spinach was recalled a few months ago. It's a very worrisome trend.

Everyone is Starved for Something

The other day I was walking past a McDonalds and saw a young fat mother sitting by the window with her baby stroller beside her. Her eyes had a glazed look as she devoured her big ice cream sundae.

I had a flashback from the night before, where I had seen a man sitting at a bar, his eyes glazed from alcohol and gulping back another mug of beer.

I can't understand how people who abuse alcohol can be so critical of fat people. And vice versa, many fat people look down on alcoholics as being some kind of very weak and despicable people. Yet take away the one vice from the one group and you will often see them turn to the other. As an example, studies are now finding that people who undergo weight loss surgery often develop an alcohol addiction in place of food.

Then there are the other thirty percent of the population, who are not overweight and don't overdrink. The majority of these people have some other equally harmful behavioural patterns such as uncontrollable shopping or gambling, nasty treatment of their employees, spouses or children, sexual addictions, beauty and body image obsessions or various other bizarre and harmful ways of manifesting their neurosis.

It seems we're all very hungry for something greater out there. There's a really good book that addresses this problem at the very root. Though it's aimed at people who drink too much, I think it's applicable to all neurosis and to anyone who feels a compulsion to escape to a better place with food, drink or other obsessions.

The book is The Thirst for Wholeness: Attachment, Addiction, and the Spiritual PathIt's written by Christina Grof and the main premise is that addiction is really a search for wholeness. Grof is a pioneer in transpersonal psychology and the book discusses her own addictive past and 'the thirst' to know the true self.

An Extreme Walking Schedule to Regain Health

Priscilla weighed 390 at her heaviest in June of last year. Her and her husband Morton decided to take some drastic measures to lose weight. They are undertaking an extreme walking and cycling regiment. They started on January 1st when Priscilla weighed 343 pounds and their goal is to walk and cycle across the entire perimeter of the United States.

They have completed over 1,000 miles already. In January they did over 390 miles. In February they completed 534 miles. In the first 43 days of their trip Priscilla lost 47 pounds. Her goal is to regain her health and weigh 140 pounds by mid 2008.

They are asking people along the way to help them with donations for overnight stays and free nutritious food and water. Check out their walking and weight loss progress here. See more walking weight loss success stories here.

iPod Fitness Works for Me

I bought an iPod a month ago. I'm writing to report that it's been a wonderful help to me to get me out there walking more regularly. It's the second generation iPod, much tinier and more powerful than the first ones that came out a few years ago. It costs $79. (The photo here shows that it's not much bigger than the size of a quarter.)

Before I got the iPod, I was walking an average of about 7 miles a week. I've been using it for three weeks now and I'm up to about 14 miles a week now. The goal is still to get up to over 20 miles per week and maintain that for a while.

I spend way too much time slouched over my computer. In the last few months I've really begun to feel the muscle and joint strain from this all over the right side of my body. (Especially around my right hip and right arm.) So it's really crucial I get out there and move, not just for fitness and weight loss and all the benefits associated with that, but to make sure I don't develop some long term nerve damage due to my bad computer habits.

I'm not so much into listening to music on my walks as when I was younger and jogging around with my heavy walkman. Now I prefer the fascinating podcasts that are available out there for free. There are tons of really high quality free lectures and talks on any topic you might possibly be interested in.

In summary, the iPod has been a great investment for my fitness motivation so far. Will let you know if it's still motivating me a few weeks from now.

Fruits with the Highest Fiber Content

A high fiber diet is very helpful for losing weight and improving digestion. When our intestinal tract is not functioning properly it can cause fatigue and listlessness. Legumes, vegetables, bran and oats are all high fiber foods. But some fruits are way up there as well in terms of high fiber content. What are the fruits with the highest fiber content?

A cup of raspberries has a whopping 8 grams of fiber and only 60 calories. That's almost twice as much fiber as a cup of broccoli, which is also a high fiber food. Pears have almost 4 grams of fiber. The delicious asian pears have the highest fiber content of all pears. One cup of strawberries has about 3 grams of fiber and one of the small kiwifruits has 2.5 grams of fiber.

These foods make great snacks. Get munching on some rasberries, pears, strawberries or kiwifruits today!

To lose weight without going hungry, try eating 25 grams of fiber everyday. This is the daily recommended amount but very few people get even half of this much fiber in their daily diet.

Some of these fruits can be quite expensive, especially when they are not in season. The most cost-efficient way to get a high-fiber diet is to eat lots of legumes, greens and brown rice. Legumes and greens are loaded with other vitamins and nutrients as well as fiber.

Jessica is Fat No More

Jessica has lost 140 pounds. She has lost all her weight naturally, without surgery, fad diets or diet pills. She says she was finally able to start losing weight "once I realized that being "fat" and being "me" were not the same thing.

See her weight loss tips here.

Munnalita On Infertility and Obesity

Munnalita Kyrimis wants to get pregnant but she hasn't been able to conceive and she thinks her obesity may be the reason behind her infertility.

Munalita is one of the contestants on the Biggest Loser in Australia. Her starting weight on the show was 127 kilograms which converts to 280 pounds. She is 5 feet and five inches tall.

She's a hairdresser and becoming a mother has always been her dream. Her and her husband have already tried IVF for two years but her doctors have told her she really needs to lose weight to help her fertility and improve her chances.

Her infertility has made her more depressed and this has led to an even worse obsession with food. She says she eats an extreme amount of chocolate and is always thinking about food.

Munnalita has done really well on the Biggest Loser so far. In the first four weeks she has already lost 37 pounds.

We wish her the best luck and great determination for the rest of the show.

Mel Russell on the Biggest Loser

Mel Russell is one of the contestants on the Biggest Loser show in Australia. She is 24 years old and her starting weight on the contest was 108 kilograms which converts to 239 pounds.

At six feet tall she's quite a bit taller than the average Australian woman. She works at a food magazine as an advertising coordinator and has to share offices with skinny snobby fashion magazine types. She's never had a boyfriend and feels her weight is the key problem.

She's done really well in her first four weeks on the show. She has already lost 30 pounds.

We wish her great luck and lots of determination as the contest proceeds.

A Toned Belly Inspirational Video

For those of us with a little extra flab on our bellies, here's an entertaining video clip showing toned bellydancers show off their beautiful bellies. It's a promotional video for the Bellyqueen Dance Theatre in New York.

An Outstanding True Story of Fat to Slim

Jennette has succeeded in an incredible feat. She has lost half her body weight. She is now down to 186 pounds and wants to lose another twenty pounds. (She's 5'9" tall.)

Jennette has done it the slow way. She's completely changed her diet (by abiding to the South Beach Diet guidelines) and is now exercising regularly.

In the process, she has scored a book contract to write about her weight loss journey. Her book, Breaking Up with Lane Bryant: A Weight Loss Memoir will be published in early 2008. It's unlikely she got a huge royalty in advance for her book. But if I was Oprah, I'd be a little worried about the competition. Oprah signed a book contract earlier this year to write about weight loss and received an incredible record $12 million dollar royalty advance.

Jennette has a wonderful writing style. I've posted about her before but if you haven't visited her site yet, see her story here. Her book is going to be a blockbuster bestseller.

Breathing Mindfully to Lose Weight

How can something as simple as breathing help us lose weight?

I know what I need to do to lose weight. So why aren't I doing it? The real secret for losing weight successfully is not some specific diet and exercise plan but in the mental and emotional hangups that I have to battle with in order to get to that point where I am no longer sabotaging my body and want to take good care of it.

I came across a very interesting podcast by Gil Fronsdal, a Buddhist monk. He discusses how breathing properly can bring about physical and mental healing.

The breath connects us to our inner world, our body, our minds and our emotions. The mechanical process of breathing is intimately tied to our intentions, reactions, feelings and thoughts. We breathe shallowly when we are not at ease. Many people are chronically contracted around their breathing. They have a band of tightness in their chests at most times.

His 43-minute free podcast discusses how important the breath is and how we can become much less anxious in our daily lives if we practise some daily meditation. The lecture doesn't mention weight loss as a goal but he is addressing the deeper underlying problems of anxiety and unhealthy coping mechanisms. I found the first seven minutes a bit boring but it got much more interesting after that. You can listen to it here. It's the lecture called "Healing Breath" dated March 2003.