How Does The Body Lose Weight

So you’re finally ready to lose weight. Now the question is: How?

The standard advice -- to eat less and move more -- isn’t so helpful when it comes to the “how.” You probably know you need to cut calories, but how many? Are you better off getting those calories from low-fat or low-carb foods? And what’s going on with your metabolism, your personal energy-burning furnace? Is it programmed to keep you overweight? Is there any way to fan the flames so you can dream of one day eating a piece of pie without gaining a pound?

Even science is still stumped on many of the basic questions of weight loss.

“Amazingly, in this era of obesity, there are still many things that we really don’t know,” says Robin Callister, PhD, professor of human physiology at the University of Newcastle in Australia.

Here’s what we do know about some of the most persistent mysteries of weight loss.

There are new calculators, like the Body Weight Planner available from the NIH and the Weight Loss Predictor from Pennington. Give them a few key details, like your sex, age, weight, height, activity level, and the date you want to hit your goal, and they’ll give you a more realistic daily calorie goal to get you there.

Once you know how many calories you need to eat every day, where should they come from? Is it better to cut carbs or cut fat? How much protein do you need each day? Will having a drink torpedo all your hard work?

Let’s start with the alcohol. “There’s a big debate on whether alcohol calories are even useable, whether you can even turn them into fat. It’s not easy,” says Ken Fujioka, MD, a weight loss expert at Scripps Health in San Diego, CA. “When you look at various studies you actually get mixed results. Some studies say it’s not a problem, don’t worry about it, others say it’s associated with weight gain. So it’s a real open mess.”

Fujioka counsels his patients to pay attention to how alcohol affects their eating.

“Some folks, when they drink alcohol, feel like they have license to eat whatever they want to, and they get into problems.” If a glass of wine weakens your will to resist that plate of cheese and crackers, it’s not doing your waistline any favors.But if booze doesn’t affect your eating, then one or two drinks is probably OK, he says.As for calories from fat, carbohydrates, and protein, this is where one size, or one eating plan, really doesn’t fit all. 

There is good science to show that people who have high blood sugar levels -- associated with conditions like type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, gestational diabetes, polycystic ovary syndrome, and fatty liver disease -- benefit from diets that are lower in refined carbohydrates and higher in healthy fats and lean proteins. Examples of this kind of diet are South Beach, the Zone diet, the Mediterranean diet, and the low GI diet.

If insulin levels aren’t a concern, there’s little difference in the amount of weight people lose if they cut their calories from fat or from carbs, says Kevin Hall, PhD, a senior investigator and expert in metabolism at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in Bethesda, MD. But he says protein calories are a different story.

In the lab, researchers have shown that higher-protein diets tend to increase the number of calories a person burns, Hall says. “So in that sense, a protein calorie is not equivalent to a carbohydrate or a fat calorie,” he says.

Protein helps you burn more calories during the day and helps preserve muscle. When people lose weight, they don’t just lose fat -- they also lose muscle. The more muscle you lose on a diet, the more your metabolism slows. That can make it tough to keep the weight off down the road. Protein also helps you feel satisfied for longer after your eat.

But people can eat only so much protein without changing their kidney function. U.S. dietary guidelines recommend that adults keep their protein in a range of 10% to 35% of total calories each day. Most diets fall into that range. Atkins, for example, one of the highest protein diets around, supplies 35% of daily calories from protein. 

“The potential to gain weight and become obese is in everybody. But for some people, the potential is clearly genetically much, much higher,” he says.

So far, more than 30 genes have been flagged as being linked to body mass index. The one most strongly tied to obesity is called the FTO gene. Researchers recently reported that people who get a faulty copy of that gene are more likely to store calories as fat instead of burn them for energy. The discovery, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, should pave the way for better weight loss treatments.

Though FTO is the most powerful single gene found to date, it doesn’t explain all obesity. Fujioka says obesity is probably the sum of many genes working together.“The more genetic flaws you get that lead you to obesity, you’re more like a loaded gun. The environment will pull the trigger and you’ll just get heavy.” Whereas people who don’t inherit those risk genes will be protected, to some extent, from weight gain, no matter how badly they eat.

Men vs. Women

If losing weight with your mate has you discouraged, ladies, take heart.

Yes, it’s true -- pound for pound, a man on a diet will drop 10 pounds faster than you can say “please pass the celery.” And researchers think that’s probably more of a size problem than a sex difference. Men are bigger than women and naturally carry more muscle, the tissue that burns the greatest number of calories. So they do have an easier time losing weight.

But here’s the thing about men: They start strong, but they often can’t sustain the effort.

“At 3 months, men are ahead -- definitely ahead on absolute weight loss,” says Callister, who recently conducted a study of studies, or meta-analysis, to look at the big picture of sex differences in weight loss. “But by 6 months, there’s no difference,” she says.

But do men really lose a bigger percent of their overall weight when they diet than women do?

Surprisingly, few studies have looked at that question. Callister says we still don’t know the answer.

One interesting study, though, compared the weight loss between men and women who had gastric bypass weight-loss surgery. The study found that after 24 months, there was no significant difference in the percent of weight lost by men or women after bariatric surgery. On average, men had lost about 66% of their excess weight, while women had lost about 73% of their extra pounds.

And here’s more heartening news: While women may take a little longer to shed the same weight as men, Callister says they seem to do a better job keeping it off, perhaps because they lost it more gradually in the first place.

What’s the Best Exercise for Weight Loss?

When it comes to dropping pounds, there’s no substitute for pushing back from your plate. But what about exercise?

While it’s important for overall health and mental well-being, it’s probably not going to help you dramatically shrink your size.

“It has dozens and dozens of benefits, but when it comes to producing clinically meaningful weight loss -- weight loss of 5% to 10% or more -- you really want to focus on dieting,” Martin says.

Exercising when you’re trying to lose weight is tricky. It does help burn calories, but not nearly as many as not eating those calories in the first place. And exercise increases appetite, so if you’re working out intensely, it’s really easy to eat back all the calories you just burned.

Martin recommends that people who are trying to lose weight focus on moderate-intensity physical activities, like brisk walking or gardening.

The National Weight Control Registry, which tracks people who’ve successfully lost 30 pounds and kept it off for a year or longer, reports that 94% of members have increased their physical activity in some way. The most frequently reported form of exercise is walking.

Where exercise becomes critically important is for weight maintenance. Martin says most people who successfully lose weight and keep it off exercise a lot -- nearly an hour a day.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

Lose Weight The Easy Way

A post from VeryWell.com will explain ways that you can lose pounds merely by making changes in your life. Who knew that we gain weight because of the lifestyle we lead.

If you're ready to start losing weight, but you don't want to follow a strict eating program, I have good news. You can lose weight without going on a diet. Just make a few simple changes to your daily routine that will help you eat less no matter where you are and lose weight for good.

Ways to Lose Weight Without Going on a Diet

Don't drink your calories. Beverages are bottomless these days. You can't order a soft drink or iced tea at a restaurant without being provided quick, free refills, or having the freedom to get them yourself.

To keep from drinking a day's worth of calories, choose herbal tea, unsweetened iced tea, flavored water or ice water with a spritz of lemon or lime. If none of those choices suits you, allow yourself one glass of the "real thing" and drink only water thereafter. Calories from sodas and other sweetened beverages add up to mega inches on your waistline and many pounds on the scale. The average overweight person drinks as many calories as they eat, but most calorie-counters don't think that drinks matter and never count those calories. 

Eat a healthy breakfast. Taking the time to eat may help prevent costly calorie mistakes as the day progresses. If you skip your morning meal, you might fall victim to an out-of-control afternoon appetite, oversized portions, poor food choices, and overeating, even into the night. If you can't eat first thing in the morning, a healthful, mid-morning snack is a good idea. If you are not hungry in the morning, it could be a sign that you are eating too close to bedtime. Set a cut-off time for evening eating (such as 7 p.m.) and you will probably feel more like eating in the a.m.

Drink plenty of water throughout the day to stay hydrated. You hear it all the time, but you really do need to work in those recommended six to eight 8-ounce glasses of water each day. Thirst can easily be mistaken for hunger, so you could be reaching for food when you are actually thirsty. Eating water-rich foods like fruit will help you stay well-hydrated, too. Don't wait until you are thirsty to drink; try sipping water throughout the day and you may be surprised to find that your appetite seems much tamer.

Add at least one more serving of produce to as many meals as possible. Veggies and fruit are nutrient-rich and generally low in calories. Many varieties are also full of fiber, to help you feel full. Just be careful of creamy dips or dressings, butter, cheese sauce, and fried vegetables.

Salsa, soups, and pasta sauce are easy ways to work in more vegetable servings each day. (Tip: keep the skin on fresh produce, such as apples, whenever possible as it contains more fiber.)

Make salad your starter. Having a healthy low-calorie salad before your meal will almost certainly prevent you from overeating. Load up all the veggies you like, but just be careful about adding high-fat extras such as shredded cheese or cream-based dressings. Prepackaged, washed salads make it easy to add a salad to any meal without extra effort. Most fast food restaurants offer a reasonably-priced side salad, or some menus offer the option to substitute salad for another side item when purchasing a "combo" or "value" meal.

Go for grains. Whole grains will help you feel full longer than refined carbohydrates. In the morning, a fiber-rich cereal is a smart choice, as is oatmeal. Brown rice, whole grain bread, and whole wheat crackers, are all good ways to include grains in your day. A slice of whole wheat bread goes well with a salad. Microwavable, single-serving brown rice is easy to add to lunch at the office. Or keep wheat crackers stored in your desk drawer for when the afternoon munchies strike.
Always keep healthy frozen meals on hand. Frozen meals that are low in calories can be used as a backup plan for nights when you don't have time to prepare and cook a healthy meal. Try to choose meals with around 300 to 350 calories. (Tip: Even some of the healthier frozen meal choices are skimpy on veggies, so be sure to add a packaged salad or a microwavable, single-serving frozen vegetable to your "instant meal" to better round it out.

Choose foods that will help you feel satisfied longer. While both protein and fat help you feel sated longer than simple carbohydrates, protein naturally contains fewer calories per ounce than fat. Eggs, lean meats, skinless poultry, and reduced-fat dairy products are ideal protein sources. A snack like yogurt, a boiled egg, string cheese or turkey slices will give you an energy boost and quell hunger pangs. Whole grains also contain protein, so you may find combining an animal or dairy protein with a complex carb such as whole wheat crackers or whole grain bread to be even more effective at keeping your energy up and hunger down. If you don't eat meat or dairy, there are also several other sources of protein, such as beans, legumes, and nuts.

Catch some "Zs." Did you know getting enough rest can have a direct impact on your ability to lose weight? Not getting enough sleep can cause you to eat more often or make poor choices. In an effort to compensate for feeling groggy, we tend to naturally reach for higher-calorie, high-fat foods. Getting enough sleep also ensures that you feel energized enough to exercise and that you work out to your fullest capacity when you do. Even if you can't add additional sleeping hours, take some time to simply do nothing, practice deep breathing, read, or listen to some calming music every day. Making a point to relax more can keep emotional eating -- particularly stress-eating -- at bay.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

About White Sugar and White Flour

I wrote a post about quiting sugar and I received emails and comments that totally agreed with me. So today I want to add a few more words about refined sugar and refined flour.
Actually both white sugar and white flour have been processed to the point where most all the nutrients have been stripped away. When this had become common knowledge the manufacturers changed their product to an enriched white flour by adding chemicals to substitute for the nutrition the product was missing.

The changes were made several years ago before we now know that chemicals in food not only don't totally get absorbed into the body but can actually be harmful to the body. Not everyone has the same ability to fight off the affects of chemicals in the body.

White sugar in the body isn't real sugar from sugar cane. Sugar cane or sugar from sugar cane isn't white it's more brown in color. In the process of making granulated white sugar the crystals have to be bleached white so whatever nutrients were in the plant have been stripped out so it's still sweet to the taste but now science thinks that the chemicals used to bleach rawl sugar might be causing a chemical addiction to white sugar. The reason for manufacturing white sugar started because bakers couldn't use the granulated brown crystals for commerical baking. The same reason for flour. The original flour used for centuries, was too coarse for commerical bakeries, it took too much time for bakers to grind the coarse flour into a fine powder, so something easier to use was created and because it was cheap to make it could be sold on the retail market besides.

Science has proof that when you quit using white sugar which means you have to stop eating any food that contain sugar or sugar substitues that most people will see an improvement in their health.
White flour may or may not be a hazard to your health but is probably the major cause for obesity. All manufacturered products from pasta to bread, cake, cookies, pretzels, you name it, it contains some white flour. You might thing that because you buy rye bread or some other brown bread that it has no white flour but in this country commerical bakeries use some white flour in everything they make. When you read the labels you might see a few different flours in the package of pancake mix or loaf of bread but somewhere on the label it will say wheat flour or bleached wheat flour. Wheat flour is even in your breakfast cereal.

Many diets today want you to avoid all processed foods because of the white sugar, food additives, wheat flour, and other chemicals that can be in processed foods. The weight problem the all humans have today, I believe, can be contributed to manufactured or processed foods. A lot of restaurant food your eating is processed food created in factories because it cheaper to create the food in large amounts and then ship to stores and restaurants the amount they need. This also helps to keep prices lower to increase the volume.

I'm not saying that you can't find healthy food because you can. In some parts of the country and the world you can still find the butcher who will cut your meat in front of you, meat that has never been frozen an was delivered to his shop just a few hours before. A good butcher shop will receive fresh meat every day. A busy produce market will get fresh produce every day. Produce that was never refrigerated or frozen. It come straight from the farm.

To sum up this post, I just want to say that cancer is something we put in our body when we eat something the body can't deal with. The problem with chemicals in the body is that the body stores the chemical because it can't process it and we eat more every day and the body keeps storing it and the storage area keeps growing because chemicals in the body will never dissolve or dissipate. Remember this last sentence if nothing else.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books.

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page.

Why Am I Overweight?

I have written similar posts before about the same subject but now I want to take a different approach. My last post was on another website, that covers the same topic, "losing weight".

It's true that Americans like to "overindulge". We have those people who don't see a problem with their weight, even though they are 20 pounds overweight. Then there are people who have a more serious problem and try and cut calories by skipping meals.

Those people with little to lose (20 pounds or so) are basically living in denial. "Yes, I could take off a few pounds but it's not a big deal, I'll get around to it." These are the ones that are pretty active and generally able to maintain their weight about 20 pounds over and because they don't see themselves getting bigger, they are happy to do nothing. These are the people with "creeping obesity". That 2 pounds a year that you add to your weight and don't even notice it. But after 10 years your 20 pounds heavier and don't know why.

Maybe because you never tried to change your diet. When you had the change and you first saw that your belly was getting bigger you shrugged it off and did nothing. You never tried to change your diet because you didn't see anything wrong.

Other people with a more serious problem are usually heavy from childhood. They grew up heavy for their size and age and because of their diet continued the same lifestyle. These people grew up eating the wrong way from little on.

I was one of those children that grew up heavy. My family owned a farm when I was growing up. My brother and I lived a farm life until I was in 4th grade and then we moved to the suburbs. I bring this up because I might have been heavy but my brother was thin and we ate the same food, same dinner table, ate the same time of the day and ate a very good diet. My diet was dairy, organic fruit, and vegetables, berries, and grapes that were in season. All seasonal home-grown produce and poultry and eggs from our farm. Almost everything we ate was from our farm. It was a very good life, but for some reason I was heavy and my brother was thin. And I stayed heavy until I was in my 20's when I got a construction job as a laborer.

In my 20's I did thin out but in my 30's when I left construction I started to gain weight again. The reason I brought up my story is because there was no obvious reason for the differences between my brother and I except for genes. I conquered my weight problem after a lifetime of bouncing up and down between 170 and 220 pounds. Now I'm 160, I have more strength than I've had in years and I have more energy than I can ever remember. I don't have body fat anymore, not that you can see anyway and I'm happy and healthy.

So maybe genes are a factor, or my it's the food you eat when your small and growing up. There could be many reasons for a weight problem but that doesn't mean that you can't do something about it. It's easy to pick up bad eating habits. Some come from childhood and others just because we don't want to take the time. We get in the habit of doing what's easy. Then we explain it away by blaming our actions on a "lack of time". I didn't take the time to do it the right way and I took a short cut. Maybe that's what bad habits are about. Maybe being overweight is because we are taking the short cuts in life to make more time for the pleasures.

The problem with that is we will pay the price for taking that short cut. We pay the price in different ways. And with our body, taking short cut means that we don't take care of our body. We don't eat the right foods we aren't active enough to keep our body in good working condition. And the price you pay is that your body will start to fail. Body functions will slow down to the point that they quit functioning and you die and early death.

You are responsible for yourself, not your doctor. All a doctor can do is make you more comfortable. They treat the symptoms, very seldom can they stop the problem from reoccurring. I never take painkillers because painkillers will cover up the problem and I want the problem fixed.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page.

There Is No Magic Pill

Everyone looks for the easy way to do everything. We look for the App to change the stations on the TV, you look for the App to open the garage door, the App to do your Taxes, but for losing weight, there’s no easy way. Did You ever do a search: "lose weight” and see all the different websites that have the answer for quick or fast weight loss; just buy this or eat this and the weight will melt away. It won’t happen and if you lose weight it usually comes right back.

I lost weight by changing my diet and I never went back. And if I’m on vacation or go to a family gathering and I do slip up and eat something that will add fat, if you go right back to your meal plan the next day, any extra fat you added will disappear fast. When I changed my diet and started to eat fresh, mostly vegetables and fruit for dessert or for a snack, eating more nuts and not eating that food I use to eat. Not eating that food that put the weight on in the first place. I’m not a vegetarian, I do eat meat, but I stick to white meat chicken or tuna or wild salmon.

 My trick to losing weight is to eat as little animal fat as possible. White meat chicken has some yellow fat on the outside of the meat and It’s easy to remove, so you are eating meat that’s 95% fat-free. Fat on a fish is almost the same, the fat lays outside the meat under the skin. The advantage to eating fish is you get the nutrients from the Omega-3 fatty oil in the fish and salmon and tuna are rich in Omega-3. Other seafood has fish oil and minerals but for my money, I’ll buy wild salmon and tuna. I think you get more nutrients for your money. Red meat and even pork contain animal fat marbled through the meat. Some red meat is leaner than others but all animal meat contains animal fat. It’s a good source of protein but you can’t avoid the animal fat and that’s the part your system doesn’t process very well and will turn most of it into Body fat and store it.

Yes, humans have always eaten animal meat, but throughout history, man has never had a very long lifespan. On average, we probably live longer today than humans have ever lived throughout history. Having said that, science has no idea how long humans could live if we could eliminate disease and illness. 

Now we all know the science can’t remove all disease and illness in the next century, but we can change our diet and become healthier and whether science knows that or not eating healthy is the answer to longevity. That and exercise for your body and your mind will definitely keep you fit and active for many years to come. 

It would be nice to avoid all those health problems our grandparents had. And by eating healthy, I know I’m going to live a better, longer life. 

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

How Healthy Are You?

Surprisingly Simple Longevity Tests

Most of us think that we're in good enough shape. We tend to judge ourselves by other about the same age. Actually, that's probably not good. We tend to judge ourselves by others who aren't in good condition. I don't know anyone who compares himself with the 80 year olds that Golf three times a week. If you don't know anyone like that it might be you don't live in Arizona or Florida.

Your physical condition is a good indicator of "how long you'll live". Most people think they're in better shape than they really are. As a result, they're usually shocked to find out the results. Try it for yourself.

No one can predict exactly how long you'll live, but researchers have devised some surprisingly simple tests that are strongly correlated with a risk of early death - or a longer life - in the years to come.  Here's a look at some basic ways scientists are attempting to assess your physical capability and the associated chances of living longer.

1.   Sitting-Rising Test:  Developed in the late 1990s by Brazilian scientist Claudio Gil Soares de Araujo at Gama Filho University in Rio de Janeiro, this test simply involves going from a standing position in a small (2 meters by 2 meters) area to a sitting position on the floor, and then rising again.

Subjects are scored according to how many supports they require to perform the cycle: a point lost for using a hand, forearm, or knee, for example, to either sit or stand.  Another half-point is deducted for generally unstable execution.  A total of 10 points can be achieved for each full cycle.

In a 2014 paper published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, Araujo and others discovered that older adults had a 5 times greater risk of mortality during the 6.3-year follow-up period, if they scored only 0-3 points on the test, relative to the top-performers scoring between 8-10 points.  A total of 2002 adults between the ages of 51 and 80 years participated in the study.

Araujo's team writes that the Sitting-Rising Test (SRT) is a simple gauge of musculoskeletal fitness, with the capacity to predict mortality among community-dwelling adults in this age range.

Another version is the Chair Rise Speed Test, which calculates how many times you can rise from a chair and sit back down again, within a minute.

 A 2014 paper published in the British Medical Journal compared the fastest sitters with the slowest among 2766 53-year old adults. At baseline, women performed anywhere from 21 stands/minute on the low end to almost 37 stands/minute.  The range among men was just under 22 stands/minute for the low performers, to 39 stands/minute at the high end.

After 13 years, those of either gender who performed poorest at the outset had more than twice the risk of death from any cause when compared with those with a higher chair rise speed at the start of the study.

2.    Grip Strength:   The strength of your hand grip is typically measured using an electronic dynamometer.  In numerous studies, a stronger grip has been linked with lower all-cause mortality, especially among older adults. In the 2014 UK study of adults aged 53, women's grip strength ranged from 21kg (46lb) to almost 34kg (75lb), while the men squeezed from 36kg (79lb) to 54.5kg (120lb).  Averaged across both sexes, and taking other risk factors like body mass index, smoking status and physical activity levels into account, the 53-year olds with the poorest grip strength had anywhere from a 29% to 98% greater risk of death from any cause during the 13 years of follow-up.

3.    Standing Balance Time:  The same 2014 BMJ paper examined how long its subjects could stand on one foot with their eyes closed.

 The resulting times were short, with a maximum average of just 19 seconds for men, and 10 seconds for women.  The good news: achieving simply those brief standing balance times was linked with lower mortality.  Poor performers of the standing balance test -  clocking in at just 3 seconds for both women and men - had a 2.5 greater chance of dying from any cause, during the 13-year study.

4.    Sitting Height:  If you think your overall height is the only tallness measure researchers are interested in, you're wrong.  Sitting height, an anthropometric measurement which compares the relative proportions of the torso and legs, has been linked in Western populations to the incidence of heart disease. Greater leg length (and less relative sitting height) has been viewed as an indicator of better childhood health, which may protect against age-related illnesses like heart disease and diabetes in adulthood.  

Data on other ethnic populations are less clear, however; a 2007 Chinese study found that greater sitting height was linked to more diabetes and abnormal lipid levels (dyslipidemia), whereas a 2011 paper published in the International Journal of Epidemiology found no relationship between height (including sitting height) with mortality among 136,202 adults in the Shanghai Women's and Men's Health Studies.

5.    Gait Speed:  Can how fast you naturally walk say anything about your longevity?  Yes - according to epidemiologists from the University of Pittsburgh and elsewhere, in their 2011 paper published in JAMA. The researchers examined 9 separate studies involving a total of 34,485 participants and found that among both sexes, gait speed was linked with survival at all ages. A natural gait speed of 0.8 metres/second (about 1.8 miles/hour) corresponded with average life expectancy for each age; walking faster than that as a natural pace was linked with better than average longevity.

Since walking requires energy, balance, and engages multiple organ systems to work together, the researchers suggest slower speed may indicate hidden illness or poor overall conditioning.

6.    Waist to Height Ratio:  Some researchers believe that waist to height ratio - calculated by dividing the waist circumference in centimetres by a person's height (also measured in centimetres) is a better predictor of disease than weight or body mass index.  The advice is simple: keep your abdominal fat down, and make sure your waist measurement is not greater than half your height.

Bottom line:  These tests are simple tools to measure the statistical probability of an early death, as indicators of overall health and conditioning.  You can improve your own odds of living a long, healthy life by staying physically active, eating an anti-aging diet, staying active within your social circle, keeping stress at bay, not smoking, and drinking only in moderation.

Medical science knows little about how long human should live. They can only go by past records. But they do predict that humans will live longer in the future because we are learning more about the body and what we need to do to take care of ourselves. The benefits of living a healthy lifestyle will be to age slower and to stay young longer and if that leads to a longer life, okay, but for me, I want to enjoy my days as long as a can. 

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

Are The Expensive Gym Programs Worth The Money?

This is a question that we all struggle with. We think about all the times we tried to lose weight and didn't. It seems we always quit after a few months so why spend a lot of money. And I understand. I lost my body fat without spending any money, so why should you. My opinion is that when you make up your mind that you're going to do this, you will finally do the research and find a program that will work for you.  It doesn't take money. Throwing money at any problem has never been the solution.

This article first appeared on MyFitnessPal.com and gives you the pros and cons of these gym programs.

When resolution season rolls around, we’re all faced with the tough question: Is spending money on pricey, high-end wellness trends really worth it? Sometimes it feels like you have to choose between your personal fitness and the fitness of your bank account. The not-so-simple answer to this question is it’s complicated. To see which trends really are worth the extra cash, check out our list of worth it picks — plus three to skip.

LUXURY GYMS: WORTH IT

Luxury gyms can seem like a waste of money — especially when you can get access to a treadmill or a set of dumbbells just as easily at your local budget gym. But according to economists, there’s merit to shelling out for a luxury gym. The theory is that paying more for your membership will actually make you more likely to use it. Since wasting a $10 per month membership feels much less painful than spending $300 each month for a membership you don’t use, going luxury may just be the motivation you need to stick to a gym schedule.  This is the upside of Luxury Programs, but you want to remember that most of these programs are pretty tough. They are not for the timid. They work you very hard because they want you to see results quickly. But you have to be in pretty good shape just to take the punishment.

LUXURY BOOTCAMPS: NOT WORTH IT

At nearly $40 per class, these classes talk a big game that they don’t necessarily live up to. Yes, their HIIT-style workouts can be effective, but they use moves and equipment you can re-create yourself at a less-expensive gym. If you really want to get the full “boot camp” experience while still saving money, have your gym buddy yell at you drill sergeant-style throughout your sweat session.

MEAL DELIVERY SERVICES: WORTH IT

According to many estimates, meal delivery services tend to shake out to be about the same price as groceries. This means that not only will you guarantee yourself a healthy meal, you’ll be saving time (and time is money) by not having to make your weekly trip to the market. You might even pick up enough cooking skills to cross cooking classes off your list of resolutions.

ORGANIC FOODS: NOT WORTH IT… IN MOST CASES

As you probably know by now, buying organic isn’t cheap. Because organic farms are often smaller and don’t use chemicals in the growing and harvesting process, it takes them more time to produce the same amount of food as compared with larger, non-organic farms. Since time is money, you can expect a markup. Conventional wisdom has held that shelling out for organic alternatives is naturally healthier for you, but research has thrown that belief into question. According to the 2012 study, in most cases, there’s not enough scientific evidence to back up the better-for-you claims.

TRAVELING FITNESS MEMBERSHIPS: WORTH IT

Depending on your city, memberships that let you attend a variety of boutique classes can get quite pricey, prompting many potential users to hesitate before committing. Will you really make it to three classes a week? Luckily, many of these memberships help remove some of that workout doubt by adding an extra incentive. If you don’t make it to a class you signed up for, you’ll still be charged, effectively silencing all those last-minute thoughts of hitting the snooze.

LUXURY YOGA STUDIOS: NOT WORTH IT

Whether or not to pony up for a high-end yoga class is a fairly divisive topic. On one hand, many yogis find the practice to be about total wellness, including pampering yourself with the amenities that many luxe spots offer. However, others argue that the practice should be a bare-boned, egalitarian focus on the body. Since high-quality free yoga classes, outdoor yoga meetups and YouTube yoga tutorials are incredibly easy to find, skip the expensive memberships and treat yourself to the occasional spa day to round out your wellness routine.

LUXURY CYCLING STUDIOS: IT DEPENDS

The rise of pricey cycling options made the exercise bike cool again. But as most devotees will tell you, these classes are more about the spirit than the Spinning. Classes feature a distinctly clubby feel and DJ-curated playlists to provide the soundtrack to motivational mantras, distracting you to the point where you almost forget you’re working out. If going to the gym is a struggle for you, the added dose of fun and energy is totally worth the per-class price. But if you enjoy your gym time and don’t need fist-pumping music to get motivated, save your pennies to upgrade your gym membership and use the spin bikes there.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page.