Body types are different. We all know that. People tend to deposit body fat in different areas. It is therefore a common and seemingly reasonable thing for people to target specific areas of the body for weight loss. It is common to see people at the gym on strangely designed exercise machines design to “target” specific trouble spots. Continue reading “How to Target “Trouble Areas” for Fat Loss”
Can You Exercise Less and Be Healthy?
You may have noticed the headlines from a new study recently released in JAMA Internal Medicine in the popular media recently. It has appeared with titles such as:- “Maybe that workout can wait till the weekend?” (CNN)
- “Weekend Warrior Workouts tied to longer life.” (Reuters)
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“‘Weekend warrior’ workouts are as beneficial as just 20 minutes of exercise a day” (Newsweek)
When I see headlines like these I get a bit nervous. Whenever the media tend to get a hold of research they do their best to distill the results into as few words as possible. At best this misses a lot of the nuance of the research and at worse is downright misleading. Continue reading “Can You Exercise Less and Be Healthy?”
Why Does a Pulmonologist Care About Obesity?
Probably the question I get asked most frequently when people find out that I wrote a book on weight loss is, ‘Did you used to be overweight?’. The premise of the question is not unfounded. There are many people who, having been successful at significant weight loss, want to share their experience and secrets with others. If you’re curious, the answer is no. Aside from a brief pudgy pre-pubescent awkward phase, I have never been overweight (adolescence is just cruel). Continue reading “Why Does a Pulmonologist Care About Obesity?”
The Myth of the ‘Healthy’ Obese
I was recently watching the stand-up comedy of John Pinette. For those of you who don’t know of him, he’s mostly famous for his comedy related to his obesity. In his recent performance he described how he went to the doctor for a checkup and got a “clean bill of health” based on his bloodwork and other tests.
Obesity Horror Stories
All thanks to heaven and PSE&G because I just got my power back after hurricane Sandy gave us quite a beating. You may have heard my wife’s shouts of joy if you live within a three mile radius of our house. All that time without the buzz of electricity allowed me some time to think about some of the recent things I’ve seen around the hospital that have reinforced the importance of the fight against obesity. Seeing as Halloween was cancelled on the streets in the neighborhoods around here, I figured I’d give you a bit of a real-life horror show to help motivate you to lose weight. I’ll relate just a few of the many stories of the horrors of obesity in the hospital.
The No Cost Cure for Diabetes
There is an interesting physiological fact about muscle that will be of great benefit to all who are trying to treat or prevent diabetes associated with being overweight. In the book The Weight Loss Counter Revolution I explain why being overweight causes diabetes, what this does to your body, and why it’s so damaging. In short, the body uses insulin to get sugar out of the bloodstream into cells where it is needed to provide energy. Continue reading “The No Cost Cure for Diabetes”
The Weight Loss Counter Revolution 