I paid $657.98 on a gym membership that I used 3 times. That means that each visit cost about $220. 

Like most people on the pudgy side of life, the gym was out of my comfort zone. People running a six-minute mile on the treadmill. Men with big necks lifting weights that were the equivalent of a compact car. Spandex.

It was too much for my self-esteem. I slinked out of the gym—in my baggy t-shirt and sweats, recovering from my 2-mile stroll on the treadmill—vowing to never return.

It appears that I’m not alone. Researchers from the Center for Obesity Research and Education and Temple University report that several mental barriers keep obese women from exercising to lose weight.

The new study looked at data collected from 278 women who were enrolled in a year-long physical activity encouragement study.

The women completed a questionnaire when the study began and during three- and 12-month follow-up assessments. The questionnaire dealt with mental barriers to exercise, including:

• Feeling self-conscious
• Not wanting to fail
• Fearing injury
• Perceived poor health
• Having minor aches and pains
• Feeling too overweight to exercise
 
At every assessment, the obese women reported greater barriers to exercise than their normal weight counterparts. The barriers that the obese women identified at the beginning of the study predicted how much they would be exercising at the 12-month follow-up.

“This is the first time we’ve been able to systematically look at what stops obese women from getting the activity they need,” Melissa Napolitano, an associate professor of kinesiology and clinical psychologist at the Center for Obesity Research and Education, said in a university news release.

Napolitano said that programs that are tailored to overcome these barriers can help obese women feel more comfortable exercising.

The good news is that your primary care giver, surgeon and nutritionist know where you can find exercise centers that cater to your particular health situations. These centers are also staffed with people who can help you overcome those mental barriers. And you won’t be the only one in the gym in a baggy t-shirt and sweats, struggling to get fit.

Ask. You’ll be glad you did.

Continuing research into the connection between one’s mind and body shows that stress has as much impact on your waistline as dieting and exercise. Recent studies have shown that your perception of stressful situations can affect your body’s ability to burn fat.

Emotional eating and the too-busy-to-exercise lifestyles of people under chronic stress are major contributors to obesity. But researchers are finding that changes in the body triggered by stress, such as elevated cortisol levels, can cause insulin resistance and weight gain. During times of tension, levels of cortisol and adrenaline rise, triggering the release of stored sugar and fat into your bloodstream for a surge of energy. Once the stress has passed, cortisol stimulates cravings for carbohydrates and fats to replenish the calorie stores in preparation for the next challenging situation. You reach for more food, and your waistline suffers.

Our bodies are hardwired to react in a fight or flight response to stressful triggers in our environment. It was evolutionary valuable for our bodies to respond to danger with a surge of energy, in case we needed to outrun a saber toothed tiger. Today, this response is often triggered by nothing more than a troubling thought, resulting in negative emotions of anger or fear, and an increase in blood pressure, a tightening of muscles and tendons, and the stopping of digestion. This automatic response can be harmful to our bodies if it is maintained for long periods of time, and it can ultimately lead to weight gain by keeping the cortisol-appetite response constantly elevated.

Making things worse, weight from stress is primarily gained around the waist. Fat stored in this area is easily accessible for the nearby liver to quickly convert it into needed energy. When this energy is never actually needed, the fat continues to accumulate.

In our next installment, we’ll look at ways to prevent this effect from hampering your weight-loss goals.

Last spring, Massachusetts state Rep. Byron Rushing sponsored anti-weight-bias legislation which would outlaw discrimination based on a person’s weight. While he’s proposed similar legislation in the past, this bill received much more attention.

“What was clear from the public hearing we had is there is a growing number of people who think this should happen and an even larger number of people who think we should at least be talking about it,” he said in the article. (You can read the article here.)

The argument against legislation: “Legislation happens when people are too childish to police themselves,” said Sue Ann Jaffarian, author of the Odelia Grey mystery series starring a 220-pound heroine who is a reflection of her creator.

“But, as a fat woman, I don’t want a green light,” said Jaffarian, 55, who worries that such a law would validate what some consider unhealthy weight. She added, “The downside of legislation is that the prejudice would go more underground.”

The argument for legislation: “I think it would help mostly because it would send a message that fat people are equal citizens. It’s not in the litigation rates, but the rights consciousness that comes after legislation,” said Anna Kirkland, an assistant professor of women’s studies and political science at the University of Michigan.

“Right now, fat is just a marker of bad character, an undesirable personal trait that people bring on themselves,” said Kirkland, who prefers the word fat to the ambiguity of overweight and the clinical-sounding obese. “What you’re doing is forcing the law to force social change.”

Your thoughts?

A new study adds to the growing body of evidence that being fit and overweight is better than just being overweight.

Last month, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York reported that at least half of overweight adults and close to a third of obese men and women, have normal blood pressure, cholesterol and other measures of heart health.

Judith Wylie-Rosett, a researcher on the study, says that being lean does not protect people, either. Close to a quarter of normal-weight US adults in one study had risk factors for heart disease and diabetes.
Add these findings to a 2007 study by the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina, and you have a case for striving for fitness regardless of your weight.

In the 2007 study, Steven Blair, a professor at the University of South Carolina, and his colleagues assessed the aerobic fitness, body mass index and waist circumference of 2,603 adults, ages 60 and older, and followed them for 12 years. During that time, there were 450 deaths. Among their findings:

• Fit older men and women who were at a normal weight, overweight or even obese had a lower risk for death during the 12 years than unfit people at a normal weight.
• The least fit in the study had a death rate four times higher than the most fit.
• In most cases, the death rates for those with higher fitness levels were less than half of the rates for those who were unfit but weighed similar amounts.

Blair says people who are sedentary can get themselves out of “the hazardous low-fit category” by doing 30 minutes of moderate activity, such as walking, at least five days a week. You can certainly be fat, even obese, and still be fit,” he said.

To be in the highest fitness category, you probably need to be doing 45 minutes or more of moderate activity five days, and some of that time should include vigorous activity, he says.

Goes to prove that getting and staying fit—even with moderate exercise—is key to your overall health.

In one of my past blogs, I promised to break down some of the costs of obesity into actual dollars and cents, so you can see for yourself how high it can be over just a year’s time. These figures have been compiled by NewHope Bariatrics®, an industry leader in LAP-BAND® System surgery, and the costs may surprise you. I’ve included the sources from private and government research they used to tally the figures.  Here’s a look at the costs:

• Average medical/drug costs for someone classified as morbidly obese (described as having a Body Mass Index equal to or greater than 35 BMI):  Costs according to a study from the Health Management Research Center, University of Michigan, 2001:  $7,337

 

• Average out-of-pocket healthcare expenses as reported in 2006 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditures in 2006: $2, 684

 

• Costs for time taken out of work, or absent from work according to an article by GA Colditz, “Economic Costs of Obesity and Inactivity,” published in 1999 in the journal, Medicine & Science Sports Exercise: $1,017

 

• Fees and costs for commercial weight loss programs as reported by Marketdata Enterprises, Inc. in October of 2002: $678

 

• Prescription co-pays, if you are taking five medications at the average of $10 per co-pay: $738

 

• Average costs for food (including groceries and dining out) as reported in 2006 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditures: $6012

 

• Total estimated costs over a year: $18,446

Often one of the health problems that accompanies obesity is back, knee, hip, and foot pain. A lot of the time, this is because of the added stress to your back, feet and joints from the additional weight. The pain can make you miserable, and really put a damper on some of your physical activity.

One possible solution you might want to explore is an orthotic insert for your footwear. There are several different kinds of commercially produced inserts available in department stores, supermarkets and drugstores, and they may provide the relief you’re looking for.

However, if you don’t find the needed relief from these products, you may want to talk to a health professional such as a podiatrist, orthopedic specialist, or chiropractor about custom-made orthotic inserts. Normally you’ll be asked to come in for an examination, and they can assess your condition. If indicated, they can also proscribe custom inserts that will help stabilize the foot and bring relief to other areas of your body. Now, you may say, “Well, my feet don’t hurt – it’s my back (or my knees, or my hips).” But, it’s often the case that an imbalance in the feet is the source of pain in other areas of the body.

The big difference between commercially produced and custom inserts is that it isn’t a “one size fits all” approach to the problem. Inserts are prescribed only after a careful examination and assessment. And, they can be fitted for your work, dress, or casual shoes.

Obviously one of the ways to alleviate pain is to eliminate excess weight. But, while you’re working towards that goal you may want to check out custom orthotic inserts. They could make everyday activities a little more enjoyable, and help put a new spring in your step!

For many people, trying to lose weight can be frustrating, and at times, downright discouraging. Maybe you’ve tried almost every kind of diet, whether it’s a formal program, one you’ve read about in a book, magazine, or been told about, and found that you lose weight only to regain it later when your diet ends. Or maybe you’ve tried popular medications or diet pills, with the same results and some unpleasant side effects. This usually leads to more dieting, and the cycle begins again. It’s the appropriately named “yo-yo effect.”

Well, you’re not alone. Several studies have shown that patients on diets, exercise programs or medications are able to lose approximately 10% of their body weight but tend to regain two-thirds of it within one year and almost all of it within five years.

If you’ve reached the point where nothing seems to work, and you’re concerned about how obesity is affecting your life and your health, then you may want to consider weight-loss surgery.

I want to suggest a solution that you can discuss with your doctor. It’s called the LAP-BAND® System, and it’s helped hundreds of thousands of people take back control of their weight and their life. It’s far less invasive, with fewer risks and side effects than other obesity surgeries. Surgeons use laparoscopic techniques with smaller incisions to place an inflatable band around the upper part of your stomach. The new, smaller upper stomach pouch and a narrowed stomach outlet mean that there’s less room for food and you feel full and satisfied after a small meal. There is no intestinal rerouting or cutting or stapling of your stomach wall or intestines, and your recovery time and hospital stay are much shorter. In fact, the LAP-BAND System can even be performed in an outpatient setting, so people are back home within hours not days. And, unlike other obesity surgeries, the LAP-BAND System is adjustable and reversible.

One of the pioneers and leaders in the industry is the NewHope Bariatrics® and their network of clinical partners. Working with surgeons dedicated to weight loss, the NewHope Bariatrics program starts with education and counseling, and then helps you to reach and maintain your goal through aftercare programs and long-term clinical support. Each week, I’ll be brining you more news about their programs, innovative solutions, and success stories of patients who have reclaimed their life and their health.

First, I’d like to talk a little bit about obesity. Obesity is actually a disease, and it’s estimated that it affects over a quarter of the adults in the United States. It’s one that can cause serious health problems, and is, in fact, more damaging to your health than smoking or alcohol abuse. Associated with about 112,000 deaths each year in the US, obesity is a major risk factor in serious medical conditions such as Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, sleep apnea, respiratory problems, cancer, osteoarthritis and joint problems.

There’s sometimes confusion about the differences between the terms overweight and obese. Overweight and obesity are both labels for ranges of weight that are greater than what is generally considered healthy for a given height.  Excess weight may come from muscle, bone, fat and/or body water. Bodybuilders or athletes may be considered “overweight” because they have a lot more muscle, which is heavier and denser than normal tissue. But many people who are overweight are also obese. There are ranges in weight that have been shown to increase the likelihood of certain diseases and other health problems. One of the most severe stages of obesity which poses the most health risks is known as morbid obesity. Morbid obesity is defined as being at least 100 pounds overweight, or having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 40 or greater. However, it’s important to understand that health risks begin to increase with a BMI of just 27. BMI is determined by a formula that divides your body weight by the square of your height in inches. Sound a little complicated? Just click on this link to see a chart that will show you your BMI.

Here’s where one of the big misconceptions comes in. Obesity doesn’t mean you’re out of control, or a weak person. It is a complex, chronic disease. Weight gain can be caused by a number of factors, including your eating and social habits, amount of physical activity, heredity, pregnancy, changes in metabolism, or even emotional stress. The good news is that it can be conquered.  In fact, medical studies have shown that losing weight not only greatly improves your overall health and lowers your risk of disease, but also can completely reverse and eliminate one of the biggest risks facing obese adults: Type 2 diabetes.

One of your most important partners as you move forward with your weight-loss plan is your doctor. He or she can guide you with diet and exercise advice and help you set realistic goals. And, I hope this blog will be another. Every week, I’ll be posting useful information, news and success stories that will help support you as you begin this great new phase in your life.