Friday, February 01, 2008

Man loses 155 pounds without surgery, weight loss products

Drinking nothing but water for six months helped one of Purdue's research park engineers lose 155 pounds.

Chris Burton will be giving a motivational speech 9 a.m. Saturday for International Sports Clubs' Wellness Retreat in West Lafayette.

Lori Fortwendel, a promoter for the club, said they chose Burton because of his commitment to coming and exercising every day.

"His results were astounding and we were very excited because he didn't have any surgeries," Fortwendel said.

He went from 330 pounds to 230 pounds in one year. According to Burton, people ask if he had gastric bypass surgery; others wonder how he did it without taking weight loss products.

Burton removed all sugars and sweets from his diet and started visiting the gym daily.

One of Burton's motivations for weight loss was his divorce.

"I would come home to nobody and I realized that my weight was just getting out of control," Burton said.

The divorce also made dieting difficult for Burton due to the weekends he spent with his sons and the unhealthy foods kids normally eat.

"It took a lot of willpower for me not to eat that leftover bag of chips when the kids went back home," Burton said.

During his childhood, Burton was often stereotyped as a football player because of his size.

"I did play football in high school, and I lifted weights back then," Burton said. "It was a different kind of husky."

A year after the divorce, Burton's job sponsored a weight loss competition, which he entered and won.

"I kept a food journal of everything I ate, even if it was a piece of candy," said Burton. "Ten pieces of candy do eventually add up to a lot of calories people just don't think about."

Burton presently maintains a weight of around 175 pounds, which he said feels healthy.

"I got a little lower in weight, and it just didn't feel right," Burton said. "I think I'm good for now."

Endobarrier For Weight Loss

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one out of every three American adults is obese. Obesity is generally defined as being more than 20 percent over ideal weight, which takes into account the person’s height, age, sex and build. Obesity is more precisely defined by the National Institutes of Health as a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 and above. Many people fighting the battle to lose weight ride a rollercoaster of fad diets and pills, gym memberships and exercise programs, but, with varying success.

New drugs like the popular weight loss pill Alli are getting a lot of attention, but they come with some major side effects -- a person who takes the drug and then consumes too much fatty food can find themselves with a serious case of diarrhea. For some, it seems no weight-loss alternative really seems to work, and especially when it comes to getting long-term results, and keeping the weight off. Some say this is why so many people have begun to opt for a surgical alternative: bariatric surgery. This year, more than 200,000 weight loss or bariatric operations will be performed in the United States. The number of these surgeries has increased by ten times in just the last ten years. The most prominent types of weight loss surgery are gastric bypass and laproscopic adjustable gastric banding, also known as "Lap Band." The surgeries are different in approach, but the general goal is to surgically reduce or limit the capacity of the stomach and thereby limit how much the patient is able to eat. In optimal situations, bariatric surgery can lead to substantial weight loss, especially for those who are more than 100 pounds overweight. And because obesity has now been linked to a variety of serious health problems, patients say there is more to making this kind of choice than simple vanity -- for many, their long-term health is a concern as well. Obesity puts people at increased risk for chronic diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke and some forms of cancer.

NEW DEVICE: Researchers at Carolinas Medical Center are testing a new experimental device that may offer a less invasive weight loss alternative for patients who are seriously obese. It involves a device called an Endobarrier. The Endobarrier is a sleeve that is placed in the body without surgery. It lines the first two feet of into the patient’s small intestine, to help them lose weight. The Endobarrier works by preventing food from being absorbed until it reaches the lower bowel. Patients who participated in a three month trial with the Endobarrier lost more weight than those who did not have the device. All of the participants in the short term study were at least 100 pounds overweight and were seeking weight loss surgery in the future. Currently, the Endobarrier is being explored only on an experimental basis and only as a prelude to weight loss surgery and not as an alternative to surgery, but Carolinas Medical Center physician Dr. Keith Gersin says its future as a non-surgical alternative is exciting. Future studies will explore longer term weight loss effects of the Endobarrier device.

Green Tea And Weight Loss: Does Green Tea Help With Weight Loss?

Green tea is now being touted as a natural remedy for losing weight. It was bound to happen sooner or later, because this herb from Asia has been admired for over 5,000 years as kind of a wonder cure for many ailments.

Green tea is mainly grown in China, India and Japan. People in these cultures are well skilled in making the perfect cup of green tea. The higher quality green tea is steeped for no longer than 30 seconds. You can usually make one to three cups with the same tea bag.

Green tea drinkers have long credited its medicinal value. They claim it helps to heal wounds, regulate blood pressure and solve digestion problems. Studies by Western medical professionals have discovered that green tea contains a powerful antioxidant called Epigallocatechin Gallate (EGCG). You will often see this as an active ingredient in green tea diet drinks and supplements.

Green tea does have some minimal effect on the body’s fat cells, however, it is not some kind of miracle weight loss cure as some marketers want you to believe. If you choose to drink green tea for weight loss, then you will still need to eat a healthy diet and do some moderate exercise in order to reach your weight loss goals.

Green tea is a great substitute for that cup of coffee in the morning (or more) that you normally drink. Green tea also has some caffeine, but it’s only about one quarter the amount that coffee contains. This means you can drink several cups of green tea before you get the same amount of caffeine in one cup of java.

Green tea is simply healthier than coffee, although coffee is still okay to drink in moderation. If you are a coffee connoisseur, you know that coffee beans are grown in different regions, which gives the beans a distinctive taste when roasted. Well, green tea also has this type of variety. The tea is grown in many regions of China, Japan and India, and comes in different colors and flavor varieties.

High quality green tea will have more EGCG and antioxidant power than the lower quality variety. This doesn’t mean you have to pay an arm and a leg to obtain a box of this delightful herb. Some marketers are selling good quality green tea for an outrageous price and calling it diet tea. They are taking advantage of the green tea diet fad and filling their pockets by overcharging.

Don’t fall for this scam. Some of these unscrupulous marketers are even linking Oprah’s name with their product, giving people the impression that she is endorsing it, when she has done no such thing. Yes, Oprah did have Dr. Perricone on her show and they discussed the benefits of Chinese tea for losing weight, but there is no specific Oprah tea brand being endorsed.

Any high quality green tea will have the same antioxidants and the same slimming effects that you are looking for, many brands can be found for half the price that the so called diet teas run. If you are going to drink green tea every day as part of a healthy diet, then you cannot afford to plop down $30 to $50 dollars every time you need another box of diet tea. That will get old real fast, and like I said, you can get good quality tea for way less.

So, does green tea help with weight loss?

Yes, it does and you should drink green tea for all of its wonderful health benefits, including losing weight and feeling great.

About the Author: Delicious Wuyi green tea is 100% natural and organic. The perfect tea for health and fitness. This pure, Chinese green tea is pre-brewed in individual packets, so all you have to do is mix it with water. Drink healthy and live happy. http://greenteaforweightloss.blogspot.com