Biffster’s WeightJournal.com

• Calorie Control Council | Calorie Calculator
  Very cool little calculator to determine your baseline calorie range
  (tags: tools)

• Couch Potatoes Who Start Exercising After 40 Can Still Stave Off Heart Disease
  It’s never too late to start exercising.
  (tags: health exercise heart)

Another MedicalNewsToday.com article (I must be bored this morning) caught my eye. It appears that a definite link has been found between sleep deprivation and obesity:

“The ‘epidemic’ of obesity is paralleled by a ’silent epidemic’ of reduced sleep duration with short sleep duration linked to increased risk of obesity both in adults and in children.These trends are detectable in adults as well as in children as young as 5 years.”Professor Cappuccio points out that short sleep duration may lead to obesity through an increase of appetite via hormonal changes caused by the sleep deprivation. Lack of sleep produces Ghrelin which, among other effects, stimulates appetite and creates less leptin which, among other effects, suppresses appetite. However he says more research is needed to understand the mechanisms by which short sleep is linked to chronic conditions of affluent societies, such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension.

So which comes first? Is a person obese because they are sleep deprived, or does the sleep deprivation start from being obese (e.g. sleep apnea)? Either way, it leads directly into a vicious cycle, one that is surprisingly hard to break out of. But apparently one can add “consistently getting a good night’s sleep” to the list of things to do to help lose weight.

An article on Medical News Today suggests that online weight loss services can be very, very successful in helping one lose weight:

Now, Americans are even dieting online — seeking the tools, support and motivation of online communities to achieve weight loss goals.

A study by Brown University found that people who enrolled in a structured online dieting program lost three times more weight in six months than those who casually surfed the Internet for diet information.(2)

Normally, I would be extremely optimistic about this news. However, I am a little hesitant about this, because the rest of the article seems to be a paid advertisement for an online diet service, MyMedifast. So is this legitimate? Is it spam? I dunno.

• Obesity Concerns Change Focus Of America’s $61 Billion Addiction To Munchies
  Not surprisingly, we’re starting to spend money on healthier snacks. Maybe the food industry will get the hint and start reducing the amount of crap that they sell.
  (tags: snacks food industry healthy)

• Diet.com Summer Fun Weight Loss Challenge Expects Over 3,000 Participants
  A challenge is always a good thing to participate in. A lot of times the competitive spirit can help a person stay motivated when everything else fails.
  (tags: challenge summer)