Some of the most (temporarily) effective, drugs for controlling the appetite have been discovered to work through increasing the effects of serotonin. Unfortunately, serotonin seems to have multiple effects, not just on appetite reduction. One of those other effects sometimes led to fatal heart valve abnormalities in people who took those drugs. Now researchers have been able to identify the pathway by which serotonin affects the appetite specificially. Thus, the drug companies hope, they will be able to make drugs that act in that pathway, rather than other pathways that should not be disturbed at all.

Of course the question always arises: What will happen to the appetite when the patient stops taking the drug? Even if they had a drug that only suppressed the appetite, would the patient learn to eat the foods that helped the body? Would the patient learn to read and respond to the body’s normal signals that it has had enough food? Would the patient learn to think like a person at his/her Happy Weight? -Di

New clues to how major weight-loss drugs work (EurekAlert!)

Some of the most important weight-loss drugs work by enhancing the effect of the brain chemical serotonin. These include sibutramine (trade name Meridia) and fenfluramine, which was recalled after the combination with dexfenfluramine, called fen-phen, was linked to potentially fatal heart valve abnormalities.

technorati tags:weight, loss, drugs, side, effects

Here’s a question from a lady who has tried just about every diet but is still above her Happy Weight and is getting a lot of flack from her daughter. She says she feels anxious, depressed, angry, guilty, and frustrated.

Sound familiar? There are a lot of us who know exactly what all the major diets say to do, and have done it for  at least two days in a row, but just aren’t getting down to where we feel and look wonderful.

The psychologist who is answering questions for this newspaper is giving good sound advice on how to approach a diet plan. But of course that’s only one of the three components of getting to Happy Weight. This frustrated dieter also needs to fit some physical exercise into every day. Not just because it burns calories, which it does. Not only because it can help develop her muscles, which burn more calories than nonmuscle tissue. But also because exercise makes a body and a mind and a spirit feel good. You don’t need to run ten miles to get runners’ high, you know.

The biggest component to getting to one’s Happy Weight is the inner game. Not just the “make a plan and stick to it” and “make small goals and celebrate when you reach them” type of behavioral modification steps. Those are very good but they aren’t going to get at the core of the matter.

The psychologist points out that the writer has negative thinking from not being able to control her weight. Duh.. So why can she not control her weight? Until she has resolved her underlying issues, it doesn’t matter how much good diet and fitness advice she gets. She won’t stick to any plan long enough to make significant progress.  What deep-seated need is she fulfilling by staying above her Happy Weight? Until she figures that out and decides whether that’s a need she still wants to satisfy, there won’t be any lasting resolution of her dilemma.  -Di

Parent Q&A: Weight loss takes time, commitment (Lansing State Journal)

Question: I’m a frustrated fat person. I’ve just about given up ever losing my excess weight. I’ve tried every diet that’s come out in the past 20 years and cannot lose weight. On top of that, I have a 17-year old daughter who is relentless in her complaining about my weight. My husband does physical labor and is not fat. He’ll eat whatever I put on the table and never complains about the food or

technorati tags:diet, plan, lose, weight

“I have a friend who never gets on the scale. When her favorite pants become tight, she says, she knows she’s gained weight. Although that method is reliable, it’s also after-the-fact. I don’t want to discover the stove is hot because I’ve burned my hand. I like to receive my bad news in advance of total catastrophe.”

This is an excellent description of what it’s like to be a weight watcher. No, I don’t mean the national organization. I mean somebody who gets on the scales every blessed morning and treats the results as the harbinger of the day. An actual ritual, requiring scarifice when the God of the Scale is not pleased for more than one day in a row. A God who isn’t really pleased unless the loss registers for at least three days in a row. And requires constant vigilance and sacrifice if his pleasure is to be maintained.

Remember the inches test? We delved into that a few days ago when we were discussing visceral fat, the dangerous kind. The God of the Scale can mislead us. We can be truly fat and yet weigh less. So enjoy this article and be glad you are not One of Those. Let us proceed towards our Happy Weight without obsession or appeasement.  -Di

technorati tags:lose, weight, scales, lose, inches

Rose Reisman is on the road, sharing her secrets for weight loss and her tips for healthy eating. “For years, my weight would fluctuate by 10 to 12 pounds,” says the cookbook author, caterer and mother of four. “I’d blame the cleaners when my clothes started to get tight.”

This diet book writer looked at what she was doing when she lost some weight. She noticed she would skip meals or eat very little and then she would get hungry. Well, you know what happened next.

She says one of her secrets to losing weight is to be sure she is eating enough of the right foods. Be sure you have the four food groups in every meal or snack. You fill half your plate with nonstarchy vitamin-laden vegetables, a quarter with protein, and a quarter with grains or starchy vegetables. That way you will feel satisfied and not go way out of balance trying to stop feeling hungry.

This and eight other main principles are in her new book, Secrets for Permanent Weight Loss (Whitecap, $29.95)

She is also a cookbook writer and so has a lot of recipes to help people on their way to their Happy Weight. -Di

technorati tags:lose, weight, diet, recipes

Many women take calcium supplements to ward off osteoporosis later in life. That’s a good thing and it seems it has another benefit as well. In a study of over 10,000 men and women, 53-57 years of age, scientists at the Fred Hutchison Cancer Institute found that the women, but not the men, who took at least 500 mg of calcium supplements daily gained about 4 pounds less weight, on average, over a ten year period than women who didn’t take supplements.

The other part of the equation that should be considered is weight-bearing exercise. That type of exercise seems to keep the bones from losing so much of their calcium and we know it also keeps the pounds at bay. So, next, we need to see a study in which both calcium supplements and weight bearing exercise are studied independently and together. Any volunteers? -Di

World Fitness

Calcium’s role in women’s weight loss identified InTheNews.co.uk,?UK?- Jul 11, 2006 … “Although more evidence from randomised clinical trials is needed before calcium supplements can be recommended specifically for weight loss, this study … Study Finds Calcium Helps Build Bone Strength And Prevent Weight … AMonline.com all 17 related

technorati tags:weight, loss, calcium, supplements

In to be more convincing in her part in an upcoming movie, actress and singer Beyonce felt she needed to drop a few pounds. Did she run to the salad bar and the gym? Nope. Instead she credits cereal, especially granola, as her big fitness trick. She eats it through the day to stay in shape and quell hunger.

Is this a long term plan? What’s the protein content of granola? Is there broccoli granola? Does her dentist know about this? -Di

technorati tags:weight, loss, granola, diet, Beyonce

We all know we should exercise if we want to get to and stay at our happy weight. Is that just to make us sweaty? One thing it does is burn calories. That’s why people do aerobic exercise. It also makes us feel better to get the blood and oxygen circulating. Our bodies and our minds just feel better when we do some exercise every day. Even a 20 minute walk has some effects.

But it seems that we also need to push around some weight, either our own or at the gym. You start losing muscle at an early age and it shows. It also slows your metabolism. Fortunately, that trend can be stopped and even reversed at any age. Visions of having to spend hours pushing around things that are way too heavy? No time to do all that?

There’s another school of exercise theory that says you should do a limited number of repetitions at a weight suffficient to cause exhaustion and then that’s it for that body part for that day. For example, you choose a weight that you can curl (bicep curl) twelve times only and you could not possibly lift it one more time Then go to the other arm. Same for your leg presses, and so on. The whole workout will take you 20-30 minutes if you don’t dally.

Check this article out for a good introduction to this technique and you’ll be beautiful before you know it.  -Di

technorati tags:weight, loss, fitness