Click here to read a pretty inspirational article in the LA Times.  It profiles 5 different people (including actor Larry Hagman) who were able to eliminate their need for insulin… and other medications as well.  Needless to state, there were no magic supps involved… just lifestyle changes.  Very significant lifestyle changes, too.

It’s safe to say that some of these folks workout more than I do (you won’t catch me jogging or hitting the elliptical every day – lol)!   These folks didn’t start from zero, either… more like minus 10.  Here’s a brief rundown:

• Aaron Snyder: 220 lbs. —> 160 lbs. (low carb diet). Lifts weights 4 days/week + rides a stationary bike for 30 min. 3 days/week.
• Howard Yosha: 240 lbs. —> 175 lbs. (low calorie diet). Participates in 2 – 4 yoga classes/week and walks/jogs 2 – 8 miles/day.
• John Burgess: 305 lbs. —> 211 lbs.(low calorie/reduced carb diet).  Puts in 5 1/2 miles on elliptical/day.
• Louise Valenciana: 242 lbs. —> 189 lbs. (low calorie diet). Walks every day for 40 minutes.
• Larry Hagman: 216 lbs. —> 196 lbs. (reduced calorie/carb diet). Exercises for 1 – 2 hours each day (free weights, cardio machines, walking).

Read the whole thing.  It took a lot of dedication to go from where they were, to where they are now.  Color me impressed.

Paul has written extensively about various underhanded tricks that supplement companies use to manipulate the trust of their customers… in fact, he’s written an entire booklet about it, called “Dirty Rotten Tricks” (if you haven’t downloaded it yet, you should.  It’s excellent!).

As noted in the booklet (as well as in this video), one of the most common online scams is the so-called “free-trial” offer, wherein the supplement marketer charges only a small shipping and handling fee for a full month’s supply of the product.  It looks like a great deal… but there’s a catch.  One of the ”Terms and Conditions” you ”agree” to when you accept the free trial offer is enrollment in an ”autoship” program. Unless you cancel the “agreement” within a relatively short period after ordering the free trial, you’re on the hook.  Needless to state, a LOT of people never read the “Terms and Conditions” before signing up, and are shocked/angry to discover they’re receiving product shipments – and credit card charges – they didn’t expect (and often can’t stop).

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…Diet, that is. 

The New York Times has a commendably skeptical take on the principal cookie-based diets on the market: Dr. Siegal’s Cookie Diet, the Hollywood Cookie Diet, Smart for Life and the Soypal Cookie diet.  Eating cookies on a diet may seem like a luxury, but the reality is pretty stark… these diets typically provide only 800 – 1,000 calories per day!

Critics of cookie diets are not convinced. Weight-loss plans that center around a diet of below 1,000 calories do not, they say, lead to long-lasting weight loss and can result in potassium deficiency, gallstones, heart palpitations, weakened kidney function and dizziness. The cookie diet particularly concerns eating disorder activists, who have long criticized fad diets, such as the grapefruit diet, Master Cleanse and Optifast shakes. “Generally speaking, fad diets misinform the public and fuel a fire of continued curiosity with this dieting mentality, which we know gets us nowhere,” said Dr. Ovidio Bermudez, medical director of Laureate Eating Disorders Program in Tulsa, Okla. “They tend to promise a huge return for very little investment,” he said, adding, “We need to be very aware of that fact that whenever we skew our eating in any direction; the chances are that we’re going to hinder our health and not enhance it.”

…“For weight loss to stick, you have to be able to settle into an eating pattern that you can adhere to over time,” said Suzanne Havala Hobbs, a clinical associate professor at the Gillings School of Global Public Health, at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. “That eating pattern needs to provide you with all the nutrients you need while holding calories in balance with the number you expend.

“Diets with a gimmick,” she added, “aren’t harmful for a short period of time. But they’re not likely to cause a meaningful change in behavior that will enable you to keep your weight at an optimal level.”

While the article probably won’t tell you anything that you didn’t already know (or suspect), it reinforces what those of us in the bodybuilding community have understood for years… there are no shortcuts to getting “lean ‘n mean”.  Gimmick diets can certainly take some weight off in the short-term, but they aren’t a path to either long-term weight maintenance or achieving an optimal body composition.  They aren’t worth the effort or the costs, which – in the case of the various cookie diets – can be considerable.

(h/t Pandagon)

As most of you already know, UltimateFatBurner.com has a “sister” site, called RealCustomerComments.com.  The name explains it all: it’s a place where visitors can discuss their experiences (good or bad) with the supps we review.  I’m not directly involved with it at all, although I think it’s a great idea… between the science-based reviews on UFB and the user feedback on RCC, potential purchasers can get a pretty clear picture of the pros and cons of various products.  The two sites complement each other beautifully.

Now, most of the comments on RCC concern the fat loss supps that Paul reviews.  And – needless to state – user comments on these supps vary… some folks agree with Paul’s conclusions and some don’t.  This is to be expected, of course… even the most useless supp in the world will have its defenders (thanks to the placebo effect, if nothing else); likewise, top quality, scientifically-validated supps may not work well for a minority of users.  It happens.  This is why ALL legit user feedback is welcomed – Paul’s not looking for a cheering section.  As we all know, ads can be pretty deceiving: the goal is to provide information viewers can use to make purchasing decisions.  It’s all there: the good, the bad and the ugly.  That way, they can buy whatever products they choose with eyes wide open.

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This week’s routine continued the trend from last week: once again the number of reps dropped and the tempo of each rep increased. In addition, some rather murderous drop sets were introduced: sets of 12, immediately followed by 10 reps (20% drop in weight), then by another 8 reps (with another 20% drop in weight).

Yes, this was kinda painful. It was only done for two exercises in each workout, but that was more than enough for me.

John is still struggling a bit with finding the right weights to start with. This is less of a problem for me – although I did “miss” on my barbell shrug weight. I chose 135 pounds, which I figured would be just about right for me, given the slowish 3-0-1-0 tempo… but I miscalculated. My shoulders handled it just fine, but the weak spot was my grip… I had to (briefly) set the bar down twice towards the end of my second set, as my fingers were starting to ache (note to self: bring straps next time BB shrugs are in the line up).

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According to this NYT discussion of current research, the answer may be yes…

For some time, researchers have known that exercise changes the structure of the brain and affects thinking. Ten years ago scientists at the Salk Institute in California published the groundbreaking finding that exercise stimulates the creation of new brain cells. But fundamental questions remain, like whether exercise must be strenuous to be beneficial. Should it be aerobic? What about weight lifting? And are the cognitive improvements permanent or fleeting?

…Why should exercise need to be aerobic to affect the brain? “It appears that various growth factors must be carried from the periphery of the body into the brain to start a molecular cascade there,” creating new neurons and brain connections, says Henriette van Praag, an investigator in the Laboratory of Neurosciences at the National Institute on Aging. For that to happen, “you need a fairly dramatic change in blood flow,” like the one that occurs when you run or cycle or swim.

The kicker is that it may need to be fairly intense, aerobic exercise – the kind that most people aren’t currently in condition to do.  But, it’s certainly possible to train up to it. 

As noted elsewhere on the blog, there are benefits to higher-intensity exercise that have NOTHING to do with weight loss (as desirable and beneficial as that may be)…this adds to the list.  Thus, it’s as good a reason as any to turn up the heat in the gym, even if you’re happy with your current weight.

As y’all know, I moderate two private fitness forums: one focused on fat loss, the other on building muscle.  Thus, I frequently field questions about supplements: both individual ingredients and branded formulas.

Here’s the deal: every so often, a new member will join one of the forums, and proceed to ask question after question about supps.  They almost never ask for feedback on their nutrition or workouts…just supps.  And as soon as I give ‘em a reality check on one brand, they’re back with another.  And then another… wash, rinse, repeat.

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It’s cross-posted here on the Brinkzone.

Review By Will Brink and Elissa Lowe

If you’d rather not plow through a long review, we’ll give you the short version up front: if you’re a man, the Alpha Male Challenge is a must-read… whether you’re a couch potato who hasn’t exercised in years or the proud owner of a six-pack.

It’s also worth a read if you’re a woman: there’s useful info here for both sexes. And – let’s face it – you’re in a position to inspire and encourage the men in your life: husbands, boyfriends, family, friends and colleagues alike.

Yes, the Alpha Male Challenge is that good – and as professional fitness writers, we’ve seen what the market has to offer. It’s rare to find a book as comprehensive as this one is.

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Just finished reading a galley copy of the ALPHA MALE CHALLENGE – a new fitness book for men by James Villepigue, CSCS and Rick Collins, JD, CSCS.  I’m currently collaborating on a review with Will Brink, which I’ll post it here when it’s finished.  In the meantime, I thought I’d do two things…

1. Post this vid, which highlights the results of the 10-week program…

And…

2. Provide a spoiler. IMHO, it’s an awesome book…definitely worth purchasing!

First, Oprah… according to the Chicago Tribune:

Alleging Internet marketers are using her name without permission, Oprah Winfrey–through her corporate vehicle, Harpo Inc.–on Wednesday filed a federal trademark infringement suit against 40 peddlers of dietary supplements.

…Last year, Oz praised the anti-aging properties of the acai berry.

Not long after, Internet marketers began to sell acai products with implications that they had been endorsed by Winfrey or Oz, said Marc Rachman, an attorney for Harpo. But neither has ever sponsored such a product, he said.

The same phenomenon has occurred involving the health benefits of other substances aside from acai berries. “The subject is discussed on the show, then the scams start. It’s brazen,” Rachman said. But acai berries have been a particular magnet for alleged misdeeds.

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I wrote a bit about NYT restaurant critic Frank Bruni’s struggle with overweight and bulimia a few weeks ago.  The Times just posted a Q & A with him that’s also worth a read.

Here’s a couple of points I thought were especially relevant:

Before becoming the restaurant critic, you had already lost a significant amount of weight. How did you do it?

A. I stopped turning to fad diets. I stopped trying to yoke myself to such extreme calorie deprivation regimens that it was bound to fail. Instead I just tried to cut my intake significantly but not in an untenable way, while way way upping the exercise. It was serious sustained exercised married with an absence of binges. It wasn’t 1,200 calories a day. That had always failed me. It wasn’t even 1,500 a day. It was probably like 2,400 a day but with very serious exercise every day.

Back in March, I wrote a brief post on Australian trainer/model Paul James, who decided to gain 40kg of fat in an effort to understand what his clients go through when attempting to lose weight.

He ’s now on his way back down… naturally, he’s finding it difficult.

After months of eating nothing but fatty, fried foods and sugary drinks, James began liking his new diet — perhaps too much.

“I really enjoyed the food,” he said. “But it soon became an addiction and I am currently fighting that addiction as well to sugar and fat.”

James’ first step to getting fit was to break his addiction, but he couldn’t do it cold turkey. He gradually weaned himself off of sugar and fat. Today he believes he has kicked his habit.

…When James finally did make it back to the gym to begin an exercise regimen, he couldn’t do what he used to do. 

He had so much extra weight on his ankles and knees that he couldn’t run because he was afraid of injuring his joints and he was unable to do a set of sit-ups.

Here it is, in his own words:

That’s what I felt about this article in Time, “Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin“, by John Cloud.  It’s 4 pages long, but these two paras tell you all you need to know:

“More than 45 million Americans now belong to a health club, up from 23 million in 1993. We spend some $19 billion a year on gym memberships. Of course, some people join and never go. Still, as one major study — the Minnesota Heart Survey — found, more of us at least say we exercise regularly. The survey ran from 1980, when only 47% of respondents said they engaged in regular exercise, to 2000, when the figure had grown to 57%.

And yet obesity figures have risen dramatically in the same period: a third of Americans are obese, and another third count as overweight by the Federal Government’s definition. Yes, it’s entirely possible that those of us who regularly go to the gym would weigh even more if we exercised less. But like many other people, I get hungry after I exercise, so I often eat more on the days I work out than on the days I don’t. Could exercise actually be keeping me from losing weight?

When I read this, my initial response was, “WTF???”  Even the researchers he quotes, Eric Ravussin and Timothy Church, don’t go that far.  Is he serious?

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“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

Lao Tzu

About a decade ago, my husband, John, was tipping the scales at 257 lbs.  Despite his height (he’s 6′ 3″), he was borderline obese, and – even worse – had a family history of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.  He knew he had to deal with the weight, and was taking action, but had a looong way to go.  Needless to state, I was on the lookout for ways to inspire and motivate him to succeed, and – after some searching - I found what looked like the perfect e-book for him.

It was Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle by Tom Venuto.

BFFM was my first introduction to Tom’s writings, and I could not have asked for a better one.  Unlike many other programs, it was a detailed roadmap – not only for getting into shape – but for reaching the next level.  Tom truly is one of those ”teachers” alluded to in the above quote… Unlike many other popular and “fad” diet programs, BFFM provides readers with a template for lifelong fitness and maintenance of their ideal weights.

Nonetheless, it’s not for everyone.  Tom is a successful natural bodybuilder, and BFFM reflects his training and discipline.  While it’s “user-friendly”, it’s also fairly detailed – which is why he saw the need for a simpler program that would be just as effective, but more in tune with the “goals of ordinary ‘real people’”.

That program is The Body Fat Solution. It was written for…

…men and women who are overweight…This book is for the busy working person who doesn’t have all day to spend in the gym or in the kitchen preparing complicated meals.  It was not written for the full-time athlete, bodybuilder, fitness professional, or person with unlimited time to exercise.

The Body Fat Solution is for the layperson who wants simple explanations and practical action strategies to apply in daily life.

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No… it’s not a joke.

When we ran across an e-mail about a new weight loss product, we thought it had to be a joke — a knife and fork that weigh 1½ pounds each, the better to make you eat more slowly? Seriously?

This is quite serious, according to the Knife and Fork Lift’s inventor, Tom Madden. “Everybody approaches it as a joke,” he said, “but when you think about it, it does require you to eat more slowly.” Eating more slowly, say health experts, allows the brain time to register feelings of satiety, resulting in eating less.

The idea sprung from Madden’s own frustrating attempts, and those of his friends, at sticking with diets. “I’m always trying to lose a few pounds, and all the diets everyone has tried to my knowledge have failed. I thought, maybe I could make it more difficult to eat, and slow the process down.” Madden is the founder and chief executive of TransMedia Group, a Boca Raton, La.-based public relations firm.

He came up with a knife and fork encased in a dumbbell-shaped handle, several times the weight of most knives and forks. But he didn’t think this could be the next big thing since the Snuggie when he sent an early version to a friend — who loved it. “He said it was the most unique, creative, imaginative present someone had sent him,” Madden said. “And I thought, let’s make some more of these.”

For what it’s worth, I’ve written about the link between eating quickly and obesity before, so I can appreciate what Mr. Madden is trying to accomplish here.  But there’s no need to invest in…errr… creative (and somewhat pricey) silverware, when – at least for most Westerners - eating with a pair of chopsticks will do much the same thing.

I’ll give Mr. Madden points for ingenuity, however:  I expect the Knife and Fork Lift would make a great gag gift – for either the dieters or weightlifters in your life.

I just finished reading Tom Venuto’s excellent book, “The Body Fat Solution“, and will be reviewing it here later this week.  For now, all I’ll say is that it includes a thorough discussion on emotional eating, which I thought was one of the most valuable parts.  Needless to state, eating for comfort - or in response to other “triggers” that have nothing to do with physical hunger - makes it difficult, if not impossible, for many people to achieve their weight loss/fitness goals.  Fortunately, Tom has extensive, first-hand experience with helping his clients and readers get their eating behavior(s) under control.  You can get a quick feel for his approach by reading his BurnTheFatBlog post on the subject: “5 Steps to Beating Emotional Eating“. 

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If you’ve ever seen the movie “Dodgeball”, then you know who White Goodman is.  Played by comedian Ben Stiller, the over-the-top fitness nazi and owner of “Globo Gym” is a short man with an oversized ego.  As he quips in the TV commercial that opens the movie: “Here at Globo Gym we’re better than you… and we know it.”

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I’m sure you know the saying. And – when it comes to diet/exercise programs for losing weight and getting in shape – it’s sooooo true.

One of the most self-defeating behaviors I’ve ever encountered during my time on the “Bodybuilding Revealed” and “Fat Loss Revealed” forums, is what I call “The Quest For The Best”. Simply put, most people who are on “The Quest” never stick with one nutrition or workout program for more than a few short weeks, because some other, “better” program catches their eye(s). “Good enough” is never good enough for these folks… they want the absolute BEST return possible for their investment of time/energy/money. 

The irony is that “The Quest” typically sends a whole lot of time/energy/money swirling down the drain, with virtually NO results to show for it. As I noted in an earlier post, it can take some time to make significant body composition changes; so it goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway) that flitting like a butterfly from program-to-program isn’t the best way to to about it. 

If it’s a good, time-and-battle-tested program from a reputable source, it will work – or can be made to work with a bit of tweaking.  But it needs to be given a chance!  Putting one’s nose to the grindstone and being patient aren’t as exciting as starting something new, but in the end, that’s what it takes to get results AND make them stick.

Solid support + baby steps – not surgery or drastic measures – is what it took.

Congratulations to David Smith – definitely an amazing transformation.

When I was a kid, apple cider vinegar was one of those “good for what ails you” nostrums touted in the ”alternative health” media – and it’s still kicking around.  Not surprisingly, it was also pushed as a weight loss aid: I still remember the “kelp, lecithin, B6 and cider vinegar” diet quite vividly… in fact, that one is still kicking around too.  Diets and diet supps are like zombies: they’re damned hard to kill, no matter how much time passes. 

That’s why I winced a bit when I read the following report:

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