Spot reduction is the performance of a particular exercise to lose fat in a certain area of the body. Unfortunately, a study in Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise has shown that spot reduction is not effective. In addition, it is important...
With obesity at record levels, there has been an increasing awareness in the importance of eating a healthful diet and exercising regularly to lose weight. Exercise and diet are used to create a calorie deficit, which forces the body to turn to...
Certain foods keep your bones strong, and others help out your heart; but for those looking to trim away unwanted pounds, it's time to incorporate fat-melting foods like fish, leafy greens and oats into your diet. Choosing foods like these can...
Density is a measure of mass per unit of volume. For example, a marshmallow is less dense than a similarly-sized cube of metal. Energy density, with respect to food, denotes a similar relationship. It measures the number of calories per unit of...
Based on a measure of obesity of body mass index of 30 or higher, 35.5 percent of women and 32.2 percent of men were clinically obese as of February, 2010. Of those Americans, 5.7 percent were extremely obese. Only approximately one-third of...
Regardless of how much weight you have to lose, weighing yourself periodically is important to keep track of your progress. For obese people, recording weight at home can help avoid embarrassment, save regular trips to the doctor's office and...
Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions and is an area of ongoing concern in the United States. A child who is defined as obese means she has an excessive amount of body fat. In comparison, a child who is overweight might only need to...
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or higher is considered overweight and 30 or more is defined as obese. BMI is based on an individual's height and weight. Obesity can lead to serious health...
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity happens when a person has a body mass index of 30 or greater. Obesity causes a greater likelihood of cardiovascular disease, certain types of cancer, and type 2 diabetes. A...
Obesity affects children of all ages and is detected even in babies at 6 months old. In the past, pediatricians did not focus on obesity in babies and rarely recorded such conditions in their monitoring. Now that the obesity epidemic continues to...
Sugar is a naturally occurring substance that is an integral part of all fruits and vegetables. Sugarcane and sugar beets are the source of commercially produced sugar that has become criticized for its overuse, leading to record levels of...
More than two in three American adults and one in three children are considered obese, defined as having a body mass index of 30 or greater. Since the early 1960s, cases of obesity have more than doubled from 13 percent to 35 percent of adults...
Many companies offer wellness programs for their employees as ways to improve productivity and job satisfaction. They provide benefits for both the employer and employees. Wellness programs often employ a holistic approach that includes fitness...
With obesity and heart disease at a record high in the United States, the complex carbohydrate called fiber is taking center stage. Dietary fiber comes from the plant foods you eat, including fruits, grains and vegetables. After you swallow a...
Dieters consume an average of 20 percent more calories than they estimate when they do not keep records of their caloric intake, according to "Handbook of Obesity Treatment." Not only could this slow weight loss of a dieter, but it could cause a...
The United States has record rates of obesity and cardiovascular disease, and heart disease is the nation's number one killer. Omega-3 fatty acids have been heralded as a way of counteracting some of the negative effects of the typical American...
Childhood obesity is a nationwide problem that carries many emotional, sociological, and physical risks. Several recent research studies have found a link between child self-discipline and obesity. By teaching children to make healthy choices, as...
The paleolithic-style diet follows the premise that our genetic predisposition to food has not changed for 2 million years. Basically, modern civilization is eating foods that attack and compromise our cave dweller bodies. Proof of the theory...
In 2010, the International Obesity Task Force reported that nearly 475 million adults worldwide were obese. Documentation of obesity didn't start to surface until the early 1600s, but physical evidence of its presence can be seen nearly 12,000...
When you are trying to lose weight, it may seem paradoxical to eat more of anything. However, some foods offer particular properties that make them excellent choices in the battle against the bulge. Coconut oil contains an array of unique fats...
As you may have heard, children today have a lower life expectancy than their parents for the first time in recorded history. Obesity and sedentary lifestyles are predicting serious epidemics of heart disease and diabetes when the younger...
The quest by men and women for perfect physiques has made exercise a passion for many and words such as "cardio," "reps" and "resistance" part of the popular vernacular. At the same time, obesity has reached record levels, largely due to unhealthy...
As the U.S. experiences record rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease, the ramifications of a diet composed largely of processed foods have become clear. These disorders, which cause more American deaths than any other factor, are directly...
The terminology used to describe obesity is evolving in the United States. In addition to phrases coined in popular media, scientists also have a separate naming system to categorize people by their level of body fatness. The names used are...
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded the adult American overweight and obesity percentages at 67 percent for 2005 to 2006. These numbers have prompted at least some to hit the gym. What many don't realize is that the true key to...
Green tea supplements now appear on the shelves of almost all health food stores. Promoted for a variety of reasons, including cancer protection and immune system support, the supplements demonstrate promise in increasing the rate of fat burning...
Devices such as pedometers or walking routines help obese people get healthy by facilitating weight loss. You must burn more calories than you consume to lose weight; this is called a caloric deficit. One pound of fat has about 3,500 calories, so...
The body mass index, which is known as BMI, measures body fat and assesses your risk of getting obesity-related diseases. The index is a simple equation--weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared. It was created under a different...
Weight loss camps are destination for children and teenagers looking to lose weight. Starting in the 1960s, "fat camps" have undergone an overhaul, changing their methods to focus more on healthy weight loss techniques and less on extreme methods...