Forever Fighting Fat: The Never Ending Weight Loss Journey

Acai Berry Diet, Colon Cleanse and My Tired Old Soapbox

I'm down with the social networking (kinda). I've got four blogs. I'm on LinkedIn. I receive tweets on twitter and I can email my posts via posterous. I have a facebook account. I'm an "expert" on eons.com. I post articles on Helium, Wellness, Associated Content and Wellsphere. And I share my photos on flickr and my presentations on slideshare. For a guy in his fifties, I really need to get out more.

It seems the internet "knows" where I go. Because when I'm on my home page, reading my RSS feeds, and catching up with what's going on; the ads on the pages I visit seem to be related to weight loss. I'll see countless ads from Weight Watchers. Lately I've seen the manly ads from Nutri System.  (You can tell they're manly because the spokesmen are athletes and they're burly and they yell at you and there's loud music.) I am also inundated with banner ads that sell supplements.

So, today, I see this:

I'm kind of intrigued by the reference to Oprah because she's one who's credible and I want to know what the "one flat stomach rule" is. So, I click on the link. I'm taken to this page. On that page, I see this:

As it turns out, good old Melanie Thomas has created her very own blog to talk about how great she's doing on her diet, which she figured out by combining Acai Berry and Colon Cleanse (hopefully not in the blender; yich!). She has posted this blog and her history to show us what a wonderful job it's done and to encourage all of us to try it. She's a very thoughtful, warm person who only wants to help, I'm sure.  to support her statements, she provides "proof" of the changes she has made as shown in these photos:

Owner of Papa John's Pizza Gives Honest & Sincere Advice

I really don't know why this made news. Maybe it's just because he was being honest. Either way, good for the founder of Papa John's pizza.

What Oprah can do to get her weight back under control

I feel for Oprah, really I do. I have had to battle weight my entire life and I've had ups and downs and back again. I also respect Oprah a great deal. Not only did she come from "nowhere" to become one of  richest women on the planet, but she spends her energy for positive causes. She seems to remember from where she comes. I'm sure she has her dark side (as do we all), but for the most part, I think she's a positive contribution to our society. I also admire her willingness to be transparent with the issues and problems of her life. By putting them "out there," she makes it "OK" for the rest of us to accept our own problems. "If she -- with everything she has -- has problems, I'm not so bad myself," we say. That's inspiring. It's motivational. We move forward.

In a nutshell, we need more "Oprahs."

That said, I saw this clip on Larry King:

My reaction?

It's hard to believe that she didn't know this was a lifelong battle. We never get "over" weight issues; we merely get them under control. But control is illusive and it's fluid. Some days you have it; some days you don't. If you have it more days than you don't, you're in control. If you have it fewer than you do, you're out of control. We can very easily slip back into our old habits.

What to do about it?

Science of Weight Loss on Scientific American

In case you want to know a whole heck of a lot about the science of weight loss, Scientific American has this special report:

http://www.sciam.com/report.cfm?id=weight-loss-science

Barack Obama "Falls off the Wagon"

I was watching Meet the Press this morning. (I had a choice between Condoleezza Rice on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" or President-Elect Obama on Meet the Press. It was a no-brainer.) Most of Tom Brokaw's discussion with the incoming president was about the important issues we face: national security, domestic issues, finances, etc. However toward the end, Brokaw asked Mr. Obama about smoking. Here's the exchange:

So what does that have to do with weight loss?

Weight Watchers & Applebee's sued?

Stories like these drive me nuts, not just because I'm a leader for WW, but because I'm so tired of frivolous lawsuits. Assuming the guy's correct and WW & Applebees made a mistake in how many calories or fat grams were on their menu items, it doesn't seem like ALL profits should have to be returned, at least to me.

Stop whining! Eat a little less to make up for it. You'll be OK.

Butt Clenching at Bus Stops

You gotta love this one. It's a report from Great Britain about a study that shows that if people were to clench their buttocks while waiting for the bus, they'd be more fit. Sure, why not? But I guess Great Britain has plenty of money to fund such studies.

Banning Fast Food Restaurants to Control Obesity? Choice or Control?

 I'm beginning to feel like this could be the health topic of the next several years. What is the dividing line between taking care of the public health and government turning into Big Brother?

This time, the battleground is in south Los Angeles where the city council unanimously passed an ordinance banning new fast-food restaurants in this impoverished part of the city for at least one year. (The mayor has not yet signed it.) It's not a random action as there are more fast food outlets in that part of the city per capita than anywhere else. In addition, there are not any grocery stores.

Thirty percent of adults in that area is obese, compared with only about 21% in the county overall (according to a county Department of Public Health study released in April, 2007). For children, the obesity hits 29% in South L.A., compared with 23% in the county.  All of this is considerably higher than a decade ago when the adult rate was 25% in South L.A. and 14% in the county.

I don't dispute that there's a problem. There are a few questions however, not the least of which is whose fault is this?

Recess at Work Day is Today!

OK, it's not specifically weight related, but on another level, it is. After all, if you're having a good time, you're less inclined to eat, right? Of course right! And, you spend more time at work than anyplace else so if you're not enjoying yourself every day when you're working, you're just getting older.

Therefore, a national holiday has been set up -- and it's today! It's called "Recess at Work Day."Check out the information at www.RecessAtWorkDay.com or check out the blog.

So, have some fun. Wear a beanie! Tell your boss it's time for recess. (And if you're in charge, remember happy employees are better for you and your business. Besides, who wants to hang out with a bunch of unhappy people?)

Free Gas, Lose Weight, Get Rich - which is more popular now?

I was going to post today about a study that says the term, "FREE GAS" is becoming a more popular slogan that "LOSE WEIGHT" or "GET RICH." Of course, it makes sense with gas passing $4 per gallon and heading on its way to $6 (or so the experts are predicting -- oy!). Baohong Sun, a marketing professor at Carnegie Mellon University has said more and more companies are using the former term to entice people to buy from them. (By the way, if you follow the link, note the photograph of the gasoline sign in the background. Welcome to the future.)

So, in order to illustrate the point, I was going to find an image of a sign in a window that said "LOSE WEIGHT" and I was going to add, "FREE GAS" underneath it, in that oh-so-clever style I have. Because, see, you can lose weight and get gas if you just have enough fiber. Get it? Funny, huh?

As it goes, in the search for an image I could modify, I found a site that shows "funny images" and thought this one was cute, so I decided instead to share it.  Makes one wonder if the two companies aren't in cahoots. Go in one company and lose weight, go next door and put it back on. Kind of an endless cycle.