Waistline Circumference

Do you know your waist circumference? If you don't, take a moment to consider that it might be just as important for you to watch your waist as your weight. Pulling out a tape measure and assessing your middle-measurement may help you evaluate your overall health better than simply stepping on a scale. This article will help you understand how to measure waist circumference.

Why should you measure your waist if you already know your weight? Your waistline measurement may be a better barometer of the big picture because extra weight around the waist may be a sign of future health issues. Even if you are not overweight, it can be important to keep tabs on your waist measurement: Excess abdominal fat even in normal-weight individuals is associated with a substantial increase in risk of dying. One theory about the risk of carrying excess weight around your middle is that excess abdominal fat increases the risk of insulin resistance and causes inflammation, and as a result, increase the risk of both diabetes and heart disease.

As a rule of thumb, women who have a waist circumference higher than 35 and men higher than 40, have a significantly increased risk of developing obesity-related health problems.

To measure your waist size, use a standard tape measure to do the following steps:

• Put one end of the measuring tape against your stomach just above your belly button and hold it in place.
• Use your other hand to wrap the measuring tape around your waist until it meets the end you're holding over your belly button.
• Take note of the measurement where the two ends meet. The point where they meet is your actual waist measurement.

Tips: The tape should be kept parallel to the floor. When you pull the other end of the tape around, you should keep it close to your skin, but it should not compress it at all.

(Note: According to the National Institutes of Health, waist measurement does not predict disease risk in those with a BMI over 35, so taking waist measurement as a way to predict health risks is not applicable for those individuals.)

_Source

_{Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults: The Evidence Report. 1998; NIH Publication No. 98 - 4083.}

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Weight Loss Q&A: SugarBusters

What is SugarBusters!?
The Sugar Busters! Diet was developed by a Fortune 500 CEO named Leighton Steward along with a cardiologist, an endocrinologist and a gastroenterologist.

The answer to weight loss on SugarBusters!: Sugar – not fat – makes us overweight. It is based on the theory that too much sugar causes insulin to rise, which leads to higher blood sugar … and a higher number on the scale.

Is it a low-carb plan?
This plan is not technically a low-carb diet as it does not define how many (or how few as the case may be) carbohydrates you can have in a day. There’s no counting carbs (or calories). The diet just happens to teach you to omit certain carbohydrates from your diet.

What types of foods will I have to give up?
You will eliminate sugar – and not just candy bars and cakes – that means all sources of sugar, which includes foods that rate high on the glycemic index such as honey, beer, pasta and potatoes. You’ll avoid highly-refined foods such as processed foods in favor of whole foods (except for those whole foods that have a high-glycemic index).

What is the food on the plan like?
While avoiding starches and sugars, you will eat lean beef, chicken and other lean protein sources as well as certain vegetables such as beans, lettuce and squash. You’ll also be getting in some low-fat dairy products. Many fruits are acceptable. Whole grains are completely acceptable and encouraged.

Say sayonara to such foods as white bread ... carrots ... corn ... pizza crust ... and potatoes, as well as candy, sugary cereal, pre-packaged snack foods, and desserts. If you need to satisfy that sweet tooth, you can turn to sugar-free treats or sweeten acceptable foods with some NutraSweet.

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How To Lose 1 to 5 Pounds in 30 Minutes

How to Lose 1 to 5 Pounds in 30 Minutes
From your Weight Loss Guide

Not all of your excess pounds are from fat. A simple trick kills two birds with one stone: You figure out how much water you've retained and you get rid of it in 30 minutes.

Difficulty Level: Easy ?? Time Required: thirty minutes

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Here's How:

1. Weigh yourself.
2. Take a water pill, or better yet, eat a bunch of parsley without salt to increase your diuresis.
3. Soak in an extremely hot bath for 30 minutes. The bath water will cause the excess water from your tissues to seep out. The heat will increase your sweating and water evaporation from your lungs.
4. Weigh yourself again.
5. Any pounds lost were from water weight.
   

Tips:

1. Do not limit your intake of liquids (except caffeine and alcohol), even if you are retaining water.
2. Go easy on the salt if you are retaining water.
3. Make it a habit to eat plenty of parsley, cucumbers or watermelons if you are retaining water.

Related Information:

• Holiday Aftermath
• Swimming for Weight Loss
• Exercise Index
  

More How To's from your Guide to Weight Loss

Put this How To on your PDA!

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Understanding Activity Levels

The benefits of becoming more physically active go well beyond improving your appearance or fitting into a certain clothing size. Getting enough exercise can significantly reduce your chances of developing a number of serious health problems. Knowing the important health benefits of exercise can help you stay motivated to keep moving when you feel like giving in.

Different physical activity levels bring different health benefits. The more often you are active, the more likely you are to experience the health benefits doing so can bring. Let's take a look at four different physical activity levels and their respective health benefits.

Sedentary Lifestyle

A sedentary or inactive lifestyle refers to exercising fewer than three times per week. A sedentary lifestyle contributes directly to weight gain and eventually, obesity. Inactivity tends to decrease the sense of overall well-being and can increase the risk of developing certain health problems and diseases, such as type 2 diabetes.

Lifestyle Activity

Lifestyle physical activity refers to activities you do regularly as a part of your everyday life. These types of activities typically burn about 150 calories a day for the average person.

The following are examples of moderate lifestyle activity:

• Walking to and from work, 15 minutes each way
• Raking leaves, 30 minutes
• Playing basketball, 20 minutes

The health benefits of a regular lifestyle activity include: Better blood cholesterol levels, reduced body fat, controlled blood pressure, and improved metabolic health. Those who are moderately active also experience improved quality of life and typically have a lower risk of developing chronic disease.

Moderate Exercise Program

A moderate exercise program refers to participating in some type of cardiorespiratory endurance exercise for at least 20 to 60 minutes, three to five days per week. This can also include strength training and stretching exercises.

Someone following a moderate exercise program might do one of the following:

• Jogging for 30 minutes, three days per week
• Walking briskly for 30 minutes, three to five days per week
• Weight training, one set of eight exercises, two days per week

Those who follow a moderate exercise program experience all the benefits of regular lifestyle physical activity. They also achieve improved physical fitness in the form of increased cardiorespiratory endurance, improved muscular strength and endurance, and greater flexibility. Moderate exercisers experience an even greater improvement in overall health, quality of life, and reduction of chronic disease risk.

Vigorous Exercise Program

A vigorous exercise program refers to exercising for 20 to 60 minutes most days a week, which may include aerobic exercise, interval training, strength training and stretching exercises.

Someone who pursues a vigorous exercise program may perform all of the following activities:

• Running for 45 minutes, three days per week
• Doing intervals, two days per week
• Weight training, three days per week

Those who follow a vigorous exercise program experience all the benefits of lifestyle physical activity and a moderate exercise program; they also see a greater increase in fitness. Additionally, there is a somewhat greater reduction in chronic disease risk for those who follow a vigorous exercise program.

It's important to note that a vigorous exercise program can increase the risk of injury and overtraining.

_Source

_{Roth, Walton, et al. Fit & Well: Concepts and Labs in Physical Fitness and Wellness 5th Ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill College, 2002.}

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Create a Food Journal

To begin keeping your food journal, simply pick up a spiral notebook or a bound, lined journal. Obviously, the first thing you want to record in your food journal is the food you eat. You will also want to record beverages. This is just as important as recording food, since many Americans consume a large portion of their daily calories in the form of sodas, coffee drinks and juices. Try to include an exact portion size whenever you can. Keeping an accurate food journal means writing down everything that you consume, including samples and tastes while you are cooking, etc. Many of us eat without being truly conscious of it; keeping a food diary is the only way to get a true idea of your food intake.

Related Resources

• Food Diary Print-Out
• Weight Loss 101 Food Diary
• How to Keep a Food Diary

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• Food Diary - How to Keep a Food Diary

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Weight Loss Plateau

Have you hit a plateau where the scale just seems to be stuck at the same number for weeks at a time? If you're there, don't panic... it's only a temporary situation. Sometimes our bodies may get in a sort of "rut" and doing the same old, same old just seems to stop working. Don't let this situation stop you dead in your tracks. Now is not the time to give up! Here are a few tips on how to deal with a weight loss plateau:

• Eat something "bad". Sheri is on the Weight Watchers 1-2-3 plan, and although she has had a good deal of success, the last month or so was really tough for her. She says she was losing only a half a pound a week -- if anything -- instead of her usual pound or two. When she spoke to her Weight Watchers leader, they discovered Sheri was going just under her Points range some days. What did Sheri do? She headed to the nearest Burger King! Sheri swears by eating a hamburger once a week to stay on track. "The weight started coming off again, just like it did in the beginning. I guess the burger gives my metabolism a little boost. I can't believe I eat a Whopper on Weight Watchers!"
• Be honest... are you cheating? Sometimes if we don't monitor our eating habits very closely, we fall back into old habits without giving them a second thought. Are you falling into the mindless eating trap? Are you stressed and responding to it by eating? Have you stopped paying attention to portion sizes? Are you writing down absolutely everything -- even sodas or candy from your co-worker's candy dish -- in your food diary? Even if you don't normally keep a food diary, track what you eat for a minimum of three days. Do you see any patterns -- certain times of the day, certain foods, eating with certain people? Doing a little extra stringent self-monitoring may point out some areas that need improvement.
• But don't be too hard on yourself! On the other hand, you need to make sure you're not depriving yourself and then setting yourself up for a binge. Sometimes we "make up for" not eating our favorite foods for days or weeks at a time by overindulging when we finally do say yes to our craving... which certainly sets us up for a stumbling block. Instead, let moderation guide you. If you allow yourself small portions of your favorite foods -- even if they're not diet-friendly -- or better yet, if you can find reduced fat versions of them, indulge! If not, you may give into cravings without giving them a second thought simply because you feel you've missed out on your favorites for so long.
• Pump some iron. Marci wrote me to say that she experienced a weight loss triumph when she began lifting weights. "I had been at the same weight for nearly six weeks! I was doing everything on my diet by the book and walking my 30 minutes a day, but it just stopped working! I was ready to give up." But Marci didn't give up. Instead, she high-tailed it to the nearest sporting goods shop and purchased a set of dumb bells. She started out small, just doing curls with three pound hand weights, but she soon worked up to using ankle weights for leg exercises and she eventually increased the weight of her dumb bells. "It wasn't magic, but I did start seeing changes. At first I just saw some toning, which was great, but I really wanted to see the scale move. In about three weeks I broke through and lost six more pounds!" If you consider using weights, be sure to okay it with your doctor if you have any orthopedic or muscular-skeletal conditions.

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Enriched Food

Definition: An enriched food is a food to which nutrients have been added. Typically, the added nutrients were present in the food in its original form, but were removed at some point during processing. White bread -- to which certain vitamins are added after the bleaching process depletes them -- is a commonly-consumed enriched food.

Examples:

Pasta made with enriched white flour is an enriched food.

Weight Loss Glossary

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