Tag Archives: body fat

Find Your Happy Weight

From BMIs to skin calipers, there are many different tools and calculations you can perform to measure your weight. But many of these numbers are just that – numbers that are averaged from hundreds of statistics on risk factors for illness and other health predictors. What about finding your ideal weight? The one that feels good for you and most importantly, that is realistic.

In a recent health article by Karly Randolph Pitman, she elucidated five tips for finding your healthy weight. The five tips are:

1) Recognize Your Own Body and its Own History. Self magazine features a healthy weight calculator that takes into account your age, height, children and activity level. As a caveat, I took this health assessment and if I weighed what the Self Happy Weight calculator suggested I could weigh, I would not be very happy. While Pitman’s other tips for finding your ideal weight are pretty spot-on, this Self Happy Weight Calculator could use some fine-tuning. (more…)

Posted on March 2, 2024 by heather

Top 5 Fat Burning Exercises

Tired of your old, boring workout routine and searching for a new and enjoyable one? Today, I am going to discuss the top five exercises that burn calories like it is going out of style.

1. Swimming Workouts are a fun and enjoyable activity for almost anyone and burns up to 700 calories per hour.

2. Running stairs adds a new twist to your cardio routine and burns up to 700 per hour calories as well.

3. Boxing is a great total body exercise and burns around 900 calories per hour.

4. Snow skiing or snowboarding burn 600 to 700 calories per hour, depending on your weight, but is expensive and the mountains are not always right next door. It is still a great workout and helps reduce a great deal of stress.

5. Running, the best of both worlds. Although rough on the joints, it is by far the best fat burning exercise for the body. Running burns up to 1,000 calories per hour, depending on how fast and far you are running.

Posted on March 2, 2024 by Matt

Cankles, a Sign of Good Health

Ever look down to find that your calf and ankle seem to have morphed into one continuous body part? Popular culture has termed this attractive feature the “cankle.” Everyone from pregnant women to those carrying some extra weight have been plagued by the cankle, but none have yet to embrace it.

Studies on fat distribution in the body show that an ankle that has lost definition, having joined itself with calf, could be a signal of better health, for those who aren’t obese. Those carrying extra weight in their lower body are less likely to have weight-related health problems, like those who carry weight in their abdomen, which puts additional strain on the organs.

Wendy Kohrt, PhD, a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado – Denver, says “leg fat may protect postmenopausal women by drawing triglycerides out of the bloodstream, where they constitute a risk factor, and into fat deposits in the legs.”

Source: Prevention Magazine March 2024

Posted on February 10, 2024 by Natalie K

Obese Children Have Adult Health Issues

Obesity rates for children are out of control. About a third of American children are overweight and one-fifth are obese.

I think most people are aware of this news, since it’s been reported for quite some time. But if you need even more convincing of the gravity of the situation, check this out: doctors are finding that obese children (as young as 10) have the arteries of 45-year-olds! There have also been other heart abnormalities found that greatly raise their risk of heart disease.

Dr. Geetha Raghuveer, of Children’s Hospital in Kansas City, and her colleagues used painless ultrasound tests to measure the thickness of the wall of a major neck artery in 70 children, ages 10 to 16. Almost all had abnormal cholesterol and many were obese.

The kids’ “vascular age” was about 30 years older than their actual age, Raghuveer said.

So, next time you see a young kid who is “chubby,” don’t just think it’s baby fat. Some will turn out OK (actor Jerry O’Connell, above, is one famous example), but as this study shows, they could be compromising their future health.

Posted on November 18, 2023 by Jason

Top 5 Exercises To Burn Off Those Halloween Sweets

Halloween has come and gone, and it is now crunch time before the holidays that consist of smorgasbords, lazy days watching football and spending time with loved ones. I do not know about you, but I indulged in the sweets gathered from Halloween and probably gained a few of those unwanted pounds. For those that do not know, due to the shortage of storage capacity for sugar, the body stores excess sugar as fat. Thus, fat-free candy really is not fat free after all. So, be careful when indulging on pop, candy, and even sugary sports drinks. With that being said, it is time to hit the gym, or where ever you may workout, and burn that sugar and those few extra pounds gained from the past holiday. (more…)

Posted on November 10, 2023 by Matt

Your ‘Mystery’ Taste Receptor

Can you name the five human taste receptors? Most of us think of sweet, sour, salty… from there maybe some of us will remember bitter. But I bet you wouldn’t have guessed umami.

Umami is a Japanese word meaning “savory.” It’s attributed to responding to the taste of meats and cheeses. I dug up an audio piece that examines the history of umami and the controversy over whether it exists at all.

But wait, there may be more! (more…)

Posted on October 15, 2023 by Jason

Show Jennifer some Love…

As a guy, I can’t fully relate to the body image issues women deal with. I can, however, have an opinion. And, in our celebrity-obsessed culture, the level of distortion about what is beautiful, or even for that matter, normal and healthy, has officially reached surreal levels.

This mean-spirited tabloid story about photos of Jennifer Love Hewitt and her supposed weight gain is so dysfunctional, it practically defies belief. When a size 2 woman with, gulp, a pocket of cellulite, has to defend her figure, how far have we fallen from reality?

Posted on December 19, 2023 by Jason