Posts

Showing posts with the label body weight

Popular topics

Show more

Busting the 3,500kcal = 1lbs Weight Loss Myth! A Scientific Deconstruction of a Dumb Rule of Thumb Reveals that Women Need More, Men Less Than the "Rule" Predicts

Written by | published on
Image
Image 1: If you are still putting your Happy Meal on a scale, you should not wonder why your weight loss falls short of your "calculations" - especially if you happen to be a woman (img. elementsofwellness.com) While I would hope that most of you have by now embraced the notion that a calorie is not a calorie (at least, when it comes to nutritional calories), I suspect that one or two of you have still just been reviewing how much "calories" they have already eaten, or how much "cardio" they will have to do to compensate for the piece of pizza they are going to eat tomorrow at a friends party... > "STOP!" < this is what you should tell yourselves whenever thoughts like that are passing your mind (well, unless you are in the end-stage of your prep for a bodybuilding contest, I guess ;-) After all, a very recent study that is based on the results of two large-scale weight-interventions ( Heymsfield. 2012 ), i.e. the CALERIE study, condu...
Read full article »

Coke vs. Diet Coke vs. Milk - The "Unhealthy Beverage Shoot-Out": Milk Reduces, Coke Increases Visceral Fat. Dreaded Diet Coke on Par With Plain Water

Written by | published on
Image
Image 1: I guess plastic dolls don't care about "fat" anyway.. so why would they drink diet coke, then? I assume that at least some of you have read the Ask Dr. Andro post from August, 21, 2010, " Are Colostrum and Milk Products Healthy Muscle Builders, a Waste of Money or Toxic Waste? " As the title already suggests, the focus of this article was on milk / milk products as muscle builders and before I came across a recent study that was conducted by a group of scientists from Denmark, I would have called anyone who tells overweight persons to drink skimmed milk instead of water a total moron ... well, I guess, learning never stops ;-) The VAT burning effects of skimmed milk The Danish researchers conducted a randomized controlled trial to investigate the effects of different non-alcoholic beverages on the body composition of 60 healthy, non-diabetic subjects with a BMI (kg/m²) between 26 and 40 (age 20-50y) . In the absence of any other dietary (or exe...
Read full article »

Intermittent Thoughts on Intermittent Fasting - Programing Success: Accept Your Weaknesses, Learn From Your Mistakes, Identify Your Strengths and Build a Better Body!

Written by | published on
Image
Image 1: You may call it "toning" or "shaping", but in the end it's bodybuilding in the literal sense. Assuming that you are all " lean and mean " by now and thus ready to build some serious muscle (for those who missed it, read last week's installment on " Why you better lean out before bulking "), we can finally delve into your first steps on your way to ... wait. I hope you did not forget your "motivational elevator pitch" from the first part of this part of the Intermittent Thoughts , where I asked you to come to terms with what it actually is that you want to achieve . Now, the good news is that regardless of whether you are just sick of that lose skin on your upper arms or want to compete against Phil Heath at the 2012 Mr. Olympia, there are a few fundamental principles that apply regardless of whether you are striving for "toned" 11 inch arms or Coleman-esque 22 inch guns. Gaining weight? Yes! Getting fat?...
Read full article »

- 66% Body Fat! 7 Weeks of Intense (!) Exercise and Moderate (!) Caloric Restriction Transforms Biggest Losers into Healthy Winners. Improvements Persist 4 Month After.

Written by | published on
Image
Image 1: Coming soon on NBC - the next season of the Biggest Loser; this time big couples I don't know if you have followed the 'Biggest Loser" TV show. Other than the show itself, which I obviously must have missed (I still wonder how that could happen ;-), the recently published study ( Ashmadi. 2011 ) on the effects combined intense exercise and moderate caloric restriction had on the 17 sedentary, morbidly obese contestants (32+/-11 years; 50/50 men/women) , of which 3 were excluded from the study, because their arteries were not yet VERSTOPFT enough, really got my intention. After all, finally someone got the order of the words "intense" and "moderate" in relation to exercise and caloric restriction right... its no longer about starving yourself and walking from the couch to the refrigerator, when your weight has gone up into regions (>>300lbs+), where no man, god-beware woman, had gone before (I guess the introduction of high fru...
Read full article »

What Diogenes Has To Say About Weight Loss: Study Investigates "Optimal" Macronutrient Compositions for Weight Loss & Maintenance

Written by | published on
Image
Image 1: Diogenes , a critical thinker of the ancient world and eponym of a European research project; a man right after my liking, who would not tire questioning common "wisdom". I must forewarn you: Being part of the pan-European Diogenes Project , the study I am going to tell you about in the following is not something you can read or understand in a few minutes. Aimed at elucidating the intricate relationship(s) between Di et Ob esity and Genes [the acronym DIOGENES was aptly chosen, for there is little doubt that Diogenes, if he lived today, would certainly feel inclined to debunk many of the nutritional idiocies of our age, cf. image 1], the project that is financially supported by the European Union, is literally epic. Its newest spin-off, an investigation into the "blood profiles of proteins and steroids during weight maintenance with manipulation of dietary protein level and glycaemic index" ( Wang. 2011 ), is no except...
Read full article »

Put the "A" to the "D": Very High Dietary Vitamin A (Retinol, not Beta Carotene!) Content Ameliorates Visceral Adiposity and Improves Insulin Sensitivity in Obesity Prone Rats

Written by | published on
Image
What's the first letter in the alphabet? "D"? Well if you look at current research on vitamins, you would think so. Vitamin D is everywhere, vitamin A - if anything - its toxic antagonist. You, as a faithful student of the SuppVersity know better anyway: balance is where the magic lies; and thus you probably won't be surprised that not vitamin D, but vitamin A supplementation improves insulin sensitivity and ameliorates weight gain in a group of obesity prone rats on their favorite fattening stock-diet ( Jeyakumar. 2011 ). Image 1: Molecular structure of all-trans retinol In the Journal of Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism , Jeyakumar et al. published the results of an early 3-months intervention with a vitamin A-enriched diet (129mg vitamin A/kg diet) on visceral obesity and insulin sensitivity in 50days old obesity prone (WNIN/ob strain) rats: Compared to stock diet-fed obese rats, vitamin A-enriched diet ...
Read full article »

High Dose Fish Oil NOT Effective in Promoting Weight Loss on a Professionally Monitored Weight Loss Regimen

Written by | published on
Image
Those of you who visit the SuppVersity pretty regularly will have noticed that I am reluctant to buy into all the hype about omega-3 fatty acids and the myriad of purported health benefits of high dose fish oil supplementation . According to the results of a very recent study published in the Journal of the American Society for Nutrition ( DeFina. 2010 ) my doubts appear to be legitimate. Table 1: Mean change in adiposity measures in the omega-3 supplement and placebo groups The scientist investigated the effect of 3.0 g eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) plus docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) at a 5:1 ratio (EPA:DHA) [ standard fish oil caps usually have a ratio of 3:2 and you would have to take about 10 caps to get to that amount of EPA + DHA combined] on the weight loss of 128 obese and overweight individuals. Although fish oil treated individuals tended to lose a few more grams of body fat (cf. Table 1), this effect was no statistically significant, so that the researchers consequentially...
Read full article »

Does Fat Make You Fat? A Review of Scientific Studies.

Written by | published on
Image
The intention of a review by Shikany et al. ( Shikany. 2010 ) was to answer a bunch of questions surrounding the "war" that has been raging between low and high fat dieters in the past months, even years. Let me anticipate the result: there is no conclusive answer to the question, whether fat will make you fat. Not yet...!? A comprehensive review of electronic citation databases was conducted to identify studies related to  the following questions: What are the effects on body weight and body fat if the prescribed proportion of ingested energy from fat under isoenergetic conditions is altered?  What are the effects on body weight and body fat if the prescribed proportion of ingested energy from fat under ad libitum but confined conditions is altered? What are the effects on body weight and body fat if the prescribed proportion of ingested energy from fat under ad libitum, non-confined conditions is altered? What are the effects on body weight and body fat if the p...
Read full article »

Again: Green Tea Makes you Healthier, Maybe Less Hungry. It Won't make you Leaner!

Written by | published on
Image
While most green tea products are advertised as "fat-burner" or "weight loss supplements" a recent study by  Stendall-Hollins et al. ( Stendall-Hollins. 2010 ) confirmed, what attentive readers of the SuppVersity will already know: Green Tea certainly is healthy, but consumption of the brew or capped extracts, alone, won't make you lose weight: The effect of daily decaffeinated green tea intake on weight, body composition and changes in resting metabolic rate, energy intake, glucose, insulin, homeostasis model assessment - insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and lipids was evaluated in overweight breast cancer survivors. Participants had a mean weight of 80.2 kg; body mass index (BMI) 30.1 kg m(-2); and body fat 46.4%. Participants (n = 54) were randomised to 960 mL of decaffeinated green or placebo tea daily for 6 months . Results: Mean (SD) tea intake among study completers (n = 39) was 5952 (1176) mL week(-1) and was associated with a significant reductio...
Read full article »

Bioperine: Why is it Part of Your Fat Burner?

Written by | published on
Image
Chemical structure of piperine from Piper nigrum (Wikipedia.com) More and more fat burners and other dietary supplement contain the patented pepper extract Bioperine . Supplement producers as well as patent holders claim that the extract that is highly standardized (95%) for piperine, a polysaccharide from black pepper ( Piper nigrum ), would ( Sabinsa. 2009 ) increases blood supply to the GI tract increases emulsifying content of the gut increases active nutrient transport and thus facilitate nutrient absorption. Unfortunately, respective advertisements, as well as the information provided on the website of the patent holder , do not give references to scientific investigations. Reason enough for the SuppVersity to try and differentiate fact from fiction, BRO- from PRO-science.
Read full article »
Disclaimer:The information provided on this website is for informational purposes only. It is by no means intended as professional medical advice. Do not use any of the agents or freely available dietary supplements mentioned on this website without further consultation with your medical practitioner.