weight loss

Throw away the bathroom scales; pick up a tape measure instead

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Throw out the bathroom scales - use a tape measure instead

For years, women have been told that weight gain could lead to heart disease. It’s true there is a link between heart disease and the amount of fat on the body.

A study by The North American Menopause Society (NAMS) indicates it’s the location of the fat that matters most.

Not all fat is the same

Research shows it’s abdominal fat – fat around the middle or what doctors call “central obesity” – is the most dangerous.

“The findings of this study are consistent with what we know about the detrimental effects of central obesity.

Not all fat is the same, and central obesity is particularly dangerous because it is associated with risk for heart disease, the number one killer of women. Identifying women with excess abdominal fat, even with a normal BMI, is important so that lifestyle interventions can be implemented,”

Dr. Stephanie Faubion, NAMS medical director.

So rather than using weight or BMI as a measurement of health, women should be measuring their waistline as an indicator of progress.

“Inches off the waist” are more important for heart health that “pounds off the scales”.

“This research supports what we’ve always said at Mindfully Trim™. The numbers on the scale don’t matter.

For example a toned, healthy athlete will be much heavier than a non-athlete, who is the same height. Obviously, the athlete will be healthier and fitter than a normal person. Weight doesn’t indicate anything on it’s own.” said Matt Walker-Wilson, lead researcher at MindfullyTrim™, who did not contribute to the study.

Source: https://journals.lww.com/menopausejournal/Abstract/2019/11000/Association_between_obesity_type_and_obstructive.8.aspx

Photos: Tape measure on scales at Pexles.com

It’s not just WHAT you eat but also WHEN you eat

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What you eat and when you eat it make a difference

A recent study by Vanderbilt University, USA shows that it’s not just how many calories you eat, but WHEN you eat them that will determine how well you burn those calories.

We have all heard that “breakfast is the most important meal of the day”.

It turns out, this is more important than we imagined, for weight management!

Your daily biological clock and sleep regulate how the food you eat is metabolized.

Your body either burns stored fats or burns carbohydrates, and that choice depends on the time of day or night.

Your body’s circadian rhythm has programmed your body to burn fat when you sleep, so when you skip breakfast and then snack at night you delay burning the fat.

In other news: People who compulsively check their phones, tend to be fatter than those who don’t

Read more …

The experiments showed that a late-evening snack flipped a switch on fat/carbohydrate preference.

The late-evening snack session resulted in less fat burned when compared to the breakfast session.

Essentially, calories eaten at breakfast are used as fuel throughout the day.

Calories eaten later in the evening replenish the body’s fat stores.

If you want to avoid replenishing those fat stores – if you want those fat stores to be burned up as you sleep – avoid eating in the evening.

The longer your fast between your last evening meal and your first meal the next day – your break fast – the more of that stored fat is used up.

Calories consumed at breakfast time are burned as fuel throughout the day.

Breakfast - the most important meal of the day

Calories consumed in the evening are stored as fat.

Eating later in the day, means those calories are probably stored as fat

This study has important implications for eating habits, suggesting that a daily, and extended, fast between the evening meal and breakfast will optimize fat loss.

Source: https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000622

Photos: Loaded breakfast table by Pixabay | Woman with red wine by Elina Sazonova | Breakfast bowl and spoon by Burst