Month: January 2019

How to Maximize Weight Loss Success

What would you say the distinguishing factor is between your ability to lose weight and successfully keeping it off?

Genes? Family food heritage? Type of diet? Amount of exercise?

Well, according to the researchers at the National Weight Loss Registry (NWLR), the answer is…

 

Motivation.

 

Yup. It’s not genes or family food heritage or just exercise or the type of diet. It’s sheer motivation. Hard work.

And another important factor the researchers have learned?

 

 That no 2 people lose weight the same way!

 

So what does that last finding have to do with you?

It means that in order to lose weight and successfully keep it off, you need to play around with ANY diet and exercise plan you follow, to see what works and what doesn’t.

 

Some of the things you can play with as variables:
  • Times of day you eat.
  • Amount of food you eat at one meal.
  • The times of day you exercise.
  • The types of exercise you engage in.
  • What food you actually eat.

 

Other things to keep in mind while designing a health and fitness program:
  • Understand yourself and where you personally struggle.
  • Don’t be discouraged if you need to try several different plans or programs before hitting on what’s right for you.
  • It may take about a month for a new habit or lifestyle to take hold. Keep at it and eventually the brain—and body—will respond.
  • Trying to lose weight can seem overwhelming. Having an accountability partner or motivating fitness coach can help.
  • Aiming for a health lifestyle change rather than just a weight scale number will provide you the most success.
  • Slow and steady, rather than fast and dangerous, wins the prize!
  • Write down all meals and food eaten throughout your day.
  • You may find eating more frequent, smaller meals is best.
  • When selecting an exercise program, choose to do something you love. You’ll be more likely to stick with it.
  • Don’t allow yourself to be pigeonholed into a specific diet.
  • Be determined to persevere and push through the tough days.
  • If at first you don’t succeed, then try, try again!
  • Remember, as you age, you’ll likely need to tweak your diet and exercise program again as your flexibility, metabolism and muscle mass change.
  • And in some cases, mental health must be addressed and successfully managed before you can find dieting success.
Some specific weight loss success tips:
  • Pay attention to your portion sizes. Most of us eat way too many monster meals, especially at restaurants or all-you-can-eat buffets.
  • If necessary, purchase smaller plates and fill them up. It will give you the impression you’re eating more.
  • Sit down to eat and slow down to eat. It takes a while (about 15-20 minutes) for your brain to get the notice that you’re full. Scarfing food usually means too much food intake. And then that stuffed feeling.
  • Don’t allow yourself to eat on the run, in the car, or while standing in the kitchen.
  • Keep a food journal. In it keep track of everything you eat and how you feel after eating it, even into the next day. If you do that for 30 days, you’ll start getting an idea about what foods may be causing you problems, from allergies to bloating to indigestion and sluggishness.
  • Also keep track of your food-eating triggers, like stress, lack of sleep, late night eating, etc.

 

Moving forward—

Losing weight can, and does, change your life!

If you’re already on a diet plan and haven’t seen much success with it in, say, a month, try tweaking it a bit. Change the food portions; change the time of day you eat the prescribed meals. Exercise more; sit less. And make sure you’re getting enough replenishing water. Believe it or not, many times we think we’re hungry when it’s really our thirst mechanism kicking in. First take a drink and then wait to see if the hunger pangs continue.

Understanding and taking into account all of these factors is known as the “whole body approach” to health and fitness. It’s not a one-size-fits-all undertaking. You’re unique, and you need a unique—or tweaked—health and fitness plan!

NEXT WEEK, we’ll talk a little about the genetic factor, and the newest research on the importance of healthy gut bacteria. Can anyone say “probiotics?”

Until then, don’t throw in the towel. Keep at it until you find your sweet spot. Your health will appreciate you for it!

Blessings,

Andrea

“Certainly there was an Eden….We all long for it, and we are constantly glimpsing it.” —J.R.R. Tolkien

How to Experience the Power of Praying the Scriptures

There are so many ways to pray. You can pray what’s known as “The Lord’s Prayer.” You can use table graces and heartfelt, meaningful prayers of the saints who have gone before us. You can pray what the Spirit brings to mind; groan when you are at a loss for words.

And you can use God’s word—Scripture—to reach the heart of God.

 

What’s so special about using Scripture to pray?

Making a habit of using Scripture to pray has many advantages. Here’s a list of the major things that come to mind.

Praying Scripture:

  • Reduces anxiety.
  • Helps you focus and hone in on specific needs and problems.
  • Molds your thoughts and guides your conversations.
  • Gives you the tools to pray more specifically and with a holy focus.
  • Allows you to pray more effectively in God’s language.
  • Can draw you closer to the heart of God and sooth your soul when you personalize His word.
  • Can give rest to your soul.
  • Gives you the opportunity to be steeped in it. And that has a profound effect on how you respond to life’s circumstances—good or bad.

 

A Scripture-Praying Case Study—

It invigorates me to use Scripture to pray specifically for my family, friends, church and myself. It seems to add power to my praying. But I haven’t always prayed that way.

I remember the first time my family and I used personalized Scripture praying. It was an eye-opening experience.

We were home schooling our two boys and gathering together nightly for family worship time. A time where we sang worship songs, chatted, read a Bible lesson and prayed together.

One night I selected some verses—I think from Psalms or Proverbs—and had each of the four of us use these verses to pray specifically, inserting our names into the passage where a name could be inserted.

When we finished praying aloud, we lifted our heads, looked at one another and let out a collective “Wow!” Each of us agreed it was powerful. Hearing our own voices and the voices of others speak Scripture directed to ourselves made a deep impression.

Ever since that experience so many years ago, I’ve tried to pray Scripture for my husband, my sons, my daughter-in-law (who joined our family in 2016), friends and other family, and myself.

 

Example of praying the Scriptures:

There are so many Scriptures I could use as examples, but a couple of my favorites are:

Psalm 1:1-3 (personalized)

Lord, I want my sons and daughter-in-law, (I name them individually), to walk in the counsel of the godly, not in the path of sinners, nor in the seat of the scornful, so that you may bless them.

May they each (again, I name them individually) delight in your law, God, and meditate upon it day and night.

So they may be like trees, planted by the rivers of waters, and bring forth fruit in their seasons. May they be trees whose leaves do not wither; and may they prosper in whatever they do!

 

Another favorite of mine to pray is Colossians 1:9-12 (personalized).

Lord, May I be filled with the knowledge of your will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. May I walk in a manner worthy of my Lord Jesus Christ. May I please you, God, in all respects and bear fruit in every good work. I want to increasingly grow in the knowledge of you, O God, and be strengthened with all might, according to your glorious power! May my life express joyous thanks to you, Father, for your grace to me.

 

In four verses, this prayer acknowledges God’s power, authority, wisdom and blessings. And it’s a prayer that seeks to be blessed by God, to be strengthened by Him, and to grow in grace and live a well-lived, pleasing-to-God life.

It’s also a prayer of praise and thanksgiving. One that leaves your heart awed, humbled, grateful, and happy!

 

If you’ve never before prayed the Scriptures, I hope this gives you encouragement to do so and a place to start.

Please let me—and others—know how it impacts you and your prayer life!

 

Until next week, when we’ll embark on a new topic for the month of February, speak God’s word back to Him. He promises it will never return void. Knowing that promise emboldens your convictions and enriches your heart in unexpected ways!

Blessings,

Andrea

“Certainly there was an Eden….We all long for it, and we are constantly glimpsing it.” —J.R.R. Tolkien

Is Exercising More or Reducing Calories the Answer to Successful Weight Management? What You Need to Know About the Science of Weight Loss

Which of these statements have you heard?

“To lose weight, all you need to do is eat less and exercise more!”

“Losing weight is all about calories in and calories out.”

“All calories are the same—a calorie is a calorie is a calorie.”

 

For years this is what we were taught in nutrition and exercise physiology classes, and it’s what we told our patients.

Recent research is showing that these statements don’t paint the whole, complex weight loss picture. But before we dig deeper into what we’re learning now, let’s get an overview of the ugly reality of weight and fatness in the United States.

 

The discouraging facts—

  • In 1990, 15% of adults were classified as obese.
  • Now, at least 71% of Americans are considered to be overweight; nearly 40% are clinically obese.
  • Sadder still is that 17% of kids and teens are obese. When I was a kid it was rare to have a fat kid in your class. (I know that blunt statement sounds mean, but we need to start calling it like it is: these kids are in serious danger of having premature health problems and living burdened lives saddled with chronic health issues.)
  • Excess body fat dramatically increases the risk of serious health problems, like:
  1. Type II Diabetes
  2. Heart Disease
  3. Depression
  4. Respiratory problems
  5. Major cancers
  6. Fertility problems
  • Millions and millions and millions of us spend billions on diet pills, special meal plans and group weight loss programs, and gym memberships.
  • The National Institute of Health considers the problem to be so dire that the organization provided 931 million dollars in 2018 to research the problem.

 

What does the recent research show?

So what has all of that money and research shown us? The answer is both complex, and a relief.

Scientists have concluded that a calorie is not always a calorie, and that it’s not as easy as calories in and calories out.

What they have found is: it’s the composition of the food you eat rather than how much of it you can burn off exercising that allows you to sustain, and maintain, weight loss.

And these scientists know something else: the diet that’s best for your friend is probably NOT the best one for you!

Evidently people’s individual responses to diets vary enormously. But what they’re not absolutely sure about is why that’s true.

 

So what’s a dieter to do?

Apply yourself to finding out what works for you! And that may require some trial-and-error time.

 

A story of the dreaded calorie and counting it—

Before WWI, scientists throughout Europe had been focusing on and studying the concept of a calorie being a unit of energy. In college, that concept was hammered into my head, and into my nutrition calculations. We studied bomb calorimeters— wonderful devices you put food into and burned so you could determine just how much energy was released during the destruction process. That gave you the calorie count for that particular food item.

But in WWI, in the midst of a global food shortage, the United States wanted a way to prompt people to reduce their food intake. So the government devised its first-ever “scientific diet” for Americans to follow. At its core was the concept and practice of counting calories.

The following decades saw bone-thin bodies as the ideal body structure, so dieting plans were developed along the idea of eating low-calorie meals. One example of this is the still–popular grapefruit diet, where you consume half a grapefruit at every meal. People believed the grapefruit enzymes were natural fat burners. Then the cabbage-soup-every-day diet appeared. I’m not sure what they thought the cabbage might contribute, except to enhance digestion and whisk the fat away.

Then in the 1960s, a woman named Jean Nidetch and her co-founders became insta-millionaires with their Weight Watchers meetings program. She turned a small, weekly encouragement meeting she held in her living room into a billion dollar (today) business.

Her idea promoted that if you ate less fattening food, then the weight would disappear. That helped propel the late 70s idea that if you just eat less fat, you’ll be less fat. I remember promoting that erroneous idea in the 80s. Based on what I’d learned in school, it seemed to make sense—fat gets stored in the body as fat, so if you consume less of it, then you should wear less of it.

How did that work out?

Not well. Not only did people not lose weight, they actually gained weight!

 

The metabolism factor—

Something else scientists have found contributes to what’s been a frustrating mystery.

When you lose weight, your resting metabolism (the energy your body burns while at rest, just to keep the system going) actually slows down. And when you gain back some of the weight, that metabolism doesn’t speed up. It remains stubbornly entrenched in slow mode. And the number of calories a day it doesn’t burn can be startlingly high.

For some contestants on the reality show The Biggest Loser, their metabolisms registered at burning around 700 fewer calories per day than they did prior to their fat burning journey on the show!

But my question is: could that result be due to the fact that contestants lost a huge amount of weight in a very short period of time, something doctors do not encourage, for a variety of reasons, including heart health.

 

Regardless of the answer, the sad truth is that most people replenish their lost weight at two to four pounds per year.

On the surface, this finding seems to support the idea that the body undermines your efforts to take away what it wants to keep.

 

More of the weight loss story—

Some people—and you probably know one—seem to succeed in losing weight with any diet approach.

Yet there is a bright side to the story.

Take a group of people eating a low-carb diet and compare them to a group following a low-fat plan, and you see almost no overall difference in the weight loss results.

What you do see, however, are three types of people: those who lose a lot of weight on the plan they’re following; those that stay stagnant, with no weight loss; and those that actually gain weight.

Do scientists understand why that happens? Unfortunately, not yet, but they are making inroads to cracking the secret.

 

Rena Wong, a Brown University professor of psychiatry and human behavior has been tracking dieters for 23 years through the National Weight Loss Control Registry (NWCR). What she and her colleagues have found is that most of the people on the list have lost significant amounts of weight—a minimum of 30 pounds—and been able to keep it off for several years by varying means.

The significant finding? Most of these people had to try more than one diet before landing one that worked for them.

 

How did these dieters keep their lost weight off?

It turns out that the most successful dieters have some similar characteristics:

  • Most modified their diet in some way.
  • Most reduced how much food they ate in a day.
  • 94% increased their physical activity.
  • The most popular exercise among them was walking.
  • Most ate breakfast on a daily basis.
  • Most weigh themselves weekly, in order to keep an eye on weight creep.
  • Most watch less than 10 hours of television weekly.
  • Most exercise a minimum of an hour every day.

 

And they also have similar attitudes and behaviors:

  • Most do not consider themselves to be hard-charging, super-performer Type A’s.
  • Most are self-described morning people.
  • Most were motivated by a health scare; a desire to live a longer, healthier life; and to be able to spend more time with their loved ones.
  • And they were highly motivated to find what worked for them and to persevere.

 

Take-home lessons for us:

This information can be disheartening and encouraging.

It tells us that we can lose weight, if we diligently try to find the method that works for us, stay determined and positive, and persevere in best diet practices for our body, at any age.

It’s nice to know that there’s more to the story. It gives many of us a sense of relief and re-invigoration of determination and hope.

And I think it’s important for us to always remember that a loving God fearfully and wonderfully makes all of us. He starts knitting us together in our mother’s womb.

 

I know only too well how easy it is to throw up your hands in frustration when the one-size-fits-all plan fails you. But I invite you to rejoice over your uniqueness, knowing that you will find something that gives you success, if you want it badly enough and are willing to stick with it.

NEXT WEEK: How to find what diet and exercise regimen works for you.

Until then, take heart, you can find success if you know the science of weight loss!

Blessings,

Andrea

“Certainly there was an Eden….We all long for it, and we are constantly glimpsing it.” —J.R.R. Tolkien

For more information on this particular research, see the article “Why Tour Diet Isn’t Working and What to Do About It by Alexandra Sifferlin in Time magazine’s special edition publication The Science of Weight Loss, 2019.

19 New Year Prayers for Yourself

Little did I know when I planned this week’s topic that I would find myself in profound need of it!

 

Last Monday, just as I was walking out the door (literally) to drive to Phoenix to attend a 3-day Critical Incident Stress Management program for first responders and chaplains, I tore the outside meniscus in my right knee. At least that’s what the Physicians Assistant thought I did, although I’m unconvinced that’s the only thing I tore.

Anyway, much pain, an icy pack of corn, and two hours later, I was all crutched and braced up and driving up to Phoenix. I know; I’m a stubborn masochist. But the seminar was wonderful, and it was good to escape the distractions of unfinished work at home and be stimulated by learning (one of my favorite things to do).

The swelling subsided a bit, I did get to the point where I could put some weight on it, and I snagged a front-row chair where I could spread out and prop my leg up on a crutch. Sleeping was a bit more challenging, though, since moving around caused pain.

So I definitely felt the need for prayer! I needed a MRI as fast as they could get approval and schedule it (I had it very late last Friday afternoon), and a doctor’s read of it. (As I write this, I’m still awaiting that.)

So, with my big toe bone spur removal still in recovery mode, and this new injury added to that, my year is shaping up to be much different than the one I envisioned. Thankfully, we hadn’t made any specific plans (which is unusual), and most of my next several months is wide open and free to deal with it all.

 

But I really want this knee to heal well, so I can return to Spain to walk more of the Camino and visit my aunt and two uncles this summer and maybe do some hiking around Big Bear, Northern California, and Oregon. Those goals will require a delicate dance between my medical providers and me—in treatment, rehabilitation, patient adherence, and my old body’s healing response. I’ll need to be vigilant and rein in my tendency to overdo and push.

And I’ll need to be praying focused prayers, rather than just looking at the entire event pragmatically.

 

New Year prayers—

You may have already thought of many things you can bring before God in prayer, specifically for this new year; you may have already received specific prayer requests—like the young girl at my former church that was hit by a car after getting of the school bus this past week and is still unconscious; and a dear, older friend in the hospital for heart problems. And another friend’s sister-in-law who fell and hit her head on New Year’s Eve and never regained consciousness. Her husband had to make the decision last Monday to remove life support. Now the family is confronting profound, unexpected grief after the shock.

A lot of things have already gone very, very wrong in this New Year, and, so far, it’s been pretty rough for many people. And you likely feel a burden on your heart to pray for them.

 

Praying for yourself—

Truly, there is much to pray for.

But what about more general prayers, the ones we should probably be praying all of the time?

These would be personal prayers specifically for us, the ones that draw us closer to God, that delve us into seeking His heart, knowing Him better, being more like Him, preparing ourselves for the tough, ugly parts of life that get slung our way. The tough, ugly events that get slung in the way of friends and others.

 

Below you’ll find some ideas for self-prayer. I’ve developed them from Gospel for Asia founder K.P. Yohannan’s praying for yourself material. Hopefully some of them will touch your heart.

 

You could pray for:

  • mercy that you may endure, no matter what the year brings your way;
  • grace to be an encouragement to others;
  • strength to stand for God’s truth and justice in your home, your workplace and the public forum;
  • an extra measure of love so you can demonstrate God’s love and give hope to those around you;
  • help in seeing and loving people as God sees and loves them;
  • help in being an encourager to those despondent in spirit or frightened by the world’s precarious state;
  • help with believing in others’ potential;
  • help in living with an open heart and hand—in being generous as our Heavenly Father is generous to ALL;
  • help in loving others when no one else will;
  • help in knowing how to take care of yourself;
  • help in extending grace to others, as God has extended His grace to you;
  • help in believing in the seemingly impossible;
  • help in expecting God to show up and do great things;
  • help in deepening your prayer life in order to have a better relationship with the Father;
  • help in removing any unbelief or a jaded, cynical spirit;
  • help in self-discipline and holy living;
  • help with trust that God will meet your every need this year;
  • help in being obedient to God’s call and direction in your life;
  • help in developing a more thankful, worshipful heart, in all things.

 

These are just a few ideas. Nineteen of them to be exact. I’m sure you can add to the list.

I invite you to re-write them in prayer form, personalize them, use them as daily devotionals, or focus on the ones you know you really need help with.

 

NEXT WEEK we’ll explore the impact on your life of praying the Scriptures. And I’ll give you an example of what I’m specifically doing this month in that area.

Until then, don’t neglect to pray for yourself as you pray for others. Your relationship with the Father, and depth of it, depends upon it!

Blessings,

Andrea

“Certainly there was an Eden….We all long for it, and we are constantly glimpsing it.” —J.R.R. Tolkien

The Science of Weight Loss: Rethinking Your Dieting Programs

Did you see the recent news report about the famous Keto diet, which is the big diet craze right now. While some extol its virtues, others claim it’s dangerous.

So what and who should you believe when it comes to healthful eating and lifestyle?

While anecdotal evidence can be helpful, it’s best to follow what the current research says, as long as the research you’re reading isn’t funded by special interest groups or the chemical or food companies promoting the food or protocol. (Beware, some information you find on “reliable” sites is also tainted by big money.)

 

So what are the recent findings?

Like a breath of fresh air, the recent findings are…(drum roll, please)…

 

ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL!!

 

Hallelujah!! The research is validating what most of us have known all along.

Everyone is different, and my diet plan may not look like yours. And it probably shouldn’t.

 

What the recent findings tell us about diet and exercise—

A Time magazine Special Edition* supplement (2019) reports the U.S. weight loss industry to be 66 billion dollars annually. No wonder marketers push so hard for us to buy their new programs!

Some of the ways Americans try to lose weight are through:

  • Coordinated diet programs (Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, etc.)
  • Bariatric surgery
  • Week or more of expensive stays
  • Calorie and step-tracking apps
  • Fad diets (they list Paleo and keto in this category)
  • General high protein diets, like South Beach, etc.
  • Vegan

 

And yet, with all of these diet choices and dollars spent, more than 70% of Americans still tip the scales into the overweight or obese range.

And that’s a problem health-wise and finance-wise, for all of us. Why? Because more than 70 illnesses—like heart disease, Type II diabetes, and some cancers—area the “direct result” of being too fat!

But shouldn’t losing weight be easy, simply a matter of burning off more calories than you take in?

You would think so, and that’s why I was taught several decades ago. In fact, until just recently, that was the belief. Now scientists agree that isn’t the case. Losing weight, and keeping it off, is hard.

And anyone who has tried to lose weight knows it isn’t true. And 80% of us dieters are aware of another discouraging truth: we’ll regain all of the weight we lost and probably a few pounds more in two years. That sad fact is a finding of a UCLA review of 30 studies on the matter.

As Louis Aronne, director for the Center for Weight Management and Metabolic Clinical Research at Weill-Cornell Medical College says,

 

“Obesity is a real disease, with real physiological consequences: when you gain weight, the nerves in your hypothalamus that conduct signals from your fat cells to the rest of your brain become damaged. As a result, your brain doesn’t realize that you’re full, so you keep eating.”

 

If that’s the case, any over-fat person would probably need to stop eating before you get to a point of satiation or fullness.

In short, you probably need to religiously count calories so you don’t risk overeating!

 

But isn’t a calorie a calorie?

 That’s what I was taught in college, and that belief held for years in the scientific community. Now we know that’s not the case. The body handles and digests food differently depending upon the food’s chemical make-up.

One thing I learned 30+ years ago that still holds true, however, is that when you lose an extreme amount of weight—defined as 10% or more of your body weight—your body starts preserving energy by switching specific hormone productions and sending your body into starvation mode. Result? You’ll be walking around feeling constantly famished.

Is that what it comes down to, though, always feeling hungry? Some researchers say yes, while others say there is a better way.

 

What about exercise?

When trying to lose weight, we can’t avoid exercise. It’s is a key component of the weight loss puzzle. But what type is best, aerobics or resistance training?

That answer hasn’t changed in some time.

For optimal health and successful weight loss that you can maintain, you need both.

While aerobic exercise increases the number of calories you burn off, resistance exercise improves your metabolism or metabolic rate. And a higher metabolic rate means your body burns more calories even when you’re in a relaxed state. You could say you “burn hotter.” You get more bang for the buck.

As my son would say, “Sweet!”

 

So what should your overall goal be for good health?

Scientists and doctors say your focus should be an improvement in overall health, not just an aim for a number on a scale, or weight poundage pumped in the gym.

But don’t despair! Researchers do know from their findings that It doesn’t really matter whether you’re on a low-fat or low-carb diet, because the end result for both types of eaters is the same amount of lost weight! That’s the opinion of Caroline Apovian, a weight-loss specialist at the Boston University School of Medicine. She’s also president of the Obesity Society.

Hallie Levine, the author of the chapter “What a Healthy Diet Looks Like” in the Time supplement also quotes Apovian as saying,

 

“I usually encourage patients to eat as much protein, fruits and non-starchy vegetables as they want, while restricting starch intake to one or two servings a day.”

 

Why is that? It’s because protein is essential to growth and healing and muscle mass building. That’s important because it’s the muscle that’s primarily responsible for your metabolism level.

Another critical take-home message is that

 

a lower carb diet (30% or calories from protein and the remainder from low-glycemic foods—the kind that cause your blood sugar to rise quickly) is much easier to stick to because it’s less likely to trigger those nagging hunger pangs.

 

So what would fall into the low-glycemic column? That would be foods like:

  • non-starchy vegetables, like carrots, peas, sweet potatoes
  • nuts
  • beans/legumes, like garbanzo beans, white beans, black-eyed peas and lentils
  • some fruits (Beware: many fruits will spike quickly your blood sugar! And fruit juice almost always will.)
  • eggs, dairy, meat, fish and fish oils

(For more in-depth information on low-glycemic foods, see the American Diabetes Association website.

 

And the Time article mentioned one more important fact:

 

When you do have carbs on your plate, try to eat them last.

 

Eating this way, rather than chowing down all of the hot bread the server delivers to your table to keep you occupied before the meal arrives, helps keeps your blood sugar down and those all-important insulin levels low

So you could eat your bread, if you eat it for dessert!

 

So how much weight loss is enough?

Evidently losing just 5% – 10% of your body weight results in positive health gains. Your risk for diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular disease can drop. And that’s great news!

So maybe before we make grandiose plans to whittle our tummies and legs into a size 6 jeans, when we’re currently wearing (comfortably!) a size 12 isn’t what we should aim for.

How many pounds lost would that be?

Unfortunately, because clothing manufacturers’ sizes are all over the map, it’s no longer easy to tell. But, in general, the consensus is that you would need to lose 8 -10 pounds to drop one pant size.

For a 150-pound woman, that’s within the 5% – 10% range.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

 

As we go forward, we’ll look at a variety of important findings, like what scientists learned from the reality show The Biggest Loser, why your particular diet may not be working for you, finding your dieting sweet spot for health, weight management and fitness, and what Blue Zone model living can do for your health longevity.

We’ll also delve more into the exercise component.

Exciting stuff!

See you back here next Wednesday with the next installment.

Blessings,

Andrea

“Certainly there was an Eden….We all long for it, and we are constantly glimpsing it.” —J.R.R. Tolkien

(*If you want this information in more detail and in your library, I encourage you to pick up a copy of the Special Time Edition The Science of Weight Loss at your local drugstore or bookstore. It’s on sale until April 5, 2019.)