If you happened to catch the season premier of the Biggest Loser last night on NBC, you witnessed a prime (time) example of what could happen if you don’t exercise safety and common sense as well as your body. 

If you didn’t see it, the contestants were dropped off one mile from the finish line of the previous season’s season-ending marathon.  The first to complete the mile won immunity.  The contestant, Tracy, took off at the start and tried to run the mile.  The rest of the contestants had to carry her across the finish line where she passed out.  She ended up having to be flown out by helicopter to a local hospital.  The end result was her missing the entire first week of the competition.

Here are a few tips that may help you avoid injury when first beginning an exercise program.  If you don’t stay safe, you’ll find yourself staying home and not able to further your weight loss efforts by exercising.

Get a thorough physical

It may sound cliche, but do yourself a favor and get a physical before starting ANY exercise program.  This is especially true if you haven’t recently checked your blood pressure, had a cholesterol test, or a blood sugar test.  Other high risk factors include smoking, age Age (men > 45, women > 55), and a family history of heart issues.

If you have recently had a thorough physical and have been diagnosed with any of the above or fall into the other high risk categories, talk to your doctor and see what he or she recommends.  If you have received a clean bill of health, you’re ready to go!

Start slow

This one should be obvious.  If you are 5′-2″ and weigh 250-300 pounds, you are probably not going to be able to run a mile.  Just ask Tracey. There are some great programs out there to take you from sedentary to active in a smart way.  One such program is “Couch to 5K“. 

The same goes for any exercise program that includes resistance training (weight lifting).  If you don’t start slow and try that ‘program you used to use back in high school’, you may not injure yourself but you’ll probably be so sore that it will keep you sidelined just like an injury.

Stay hydrated

When you exercise, your body temperature will rise.  Your body will attempt to regulate the temperature so you will sweat.  When you sweat, you lose water.  You must replace the water you are losing or risk dehydration.  As we get older, our bodies have a harder time regulating its own temperature which makes proper hydration even more crucial.

A key to successful workouts is keeping well hydrated before, during and after exercise. The length of your workouts, heat, humidity and the amount you sweat are all major considerations for keeping your body in proper fluid balance. (source)

Maintain good form

This one is mainly for those choosing to lift weights.  Don’t assume you know how to perform any exercise.  Tiger Woods didn’t step up to a golf ball and drive it 300 yards on his first swing!  Do your research, observe and ask others in the gym…be confident you can perform the lift correctly before you attempt it.

If you have the means, a trainer is always an excellent option.  However, before hiring a trainer make sure you do you homework on them as well.  Trainers should be able to provide you a list of references.  Do yourself a favor and check the references as well as their trainer certification.

Know your limits

Finally, know your limits.   Push your limits but don’t exceed them.  This goes for any type of exercise.  If you’re barely able to jog a 10 minute mile, chances are that you aren’t ready for a 5 minute mile.  If you can barely bench press 135 lbs, don’t try anything more without a spotter.  While this may seem like common sense, many find themselves with an injury for trying to do more than they can handle.

Do you have any tips you’d like to share?  Please leave them in the comments below.

Recent headlines from Britain show yet another attempt to tackle that country’s obesity epidemic.  Faced with ever rising health care costs associated with obesity related health issues, they are giving parents of obese children the opportunity of sending their kids to “fat camp“. 

They are doing this because they have faced the harsh reality of the obesity related costs to having a public option for the populous. Should the public option become a reality for the US, we can expect the same issues that the UK is now facing. 

In part 1 of this series, the current impact obesity related heath issues have on our medical industry was detailed as well as what issues are considered ‘obesity related’.  As it stands now, the majority of the US population is under private health insurance.  What impact have these obesity related issues had on the costs we currently pay?

First, let’s take a look at the rate that health insurance has increase for employers over the last decade.  Over this time, health insurance premiums have jumped over 119%. 

The cumulative increase in employer-sponsored health insurance premiums have raised at four times the rate of inflation and wage increases during last decade.  (source)

In 1991, no state had an obesity rate over 20%.  Now, there are 31 states that exceed 25% obesity rates and 49 states (and D.C.) exceed the 20% mark.  As stated in part 1 of this series, the average medical expenditure for an obese person is $1429 per year more than a non-obese person.  Given that obesity rates grew at a rate of 37% over the past decade coupled with the extra expenditure incurred by obesity related issues, it becomes painfully obvious that the obesity epidemic is a major player in the rising health care costs overall.

So what does that mean?  While the government currently faces these challenges on a smaller scale with Medicare and Medicaid, the playing field gets expanded exponentially should a public option be put into play.  Currently, most employer based health care programs offer flat rates regardless of the employees’ weight even though this could be a deciding factor for insurance premium levels.  Most employers generally cover about 71% of the premiums (family) which means the cost for this employee benefit is quickly rising out of control.

Should this trend continue, how long will it be before it becomes non-cost effective to continue to offer the same level of insurance coverage?  Obviously, that is impossible to gage but logic tells us there must be a breaking point.  The employer coverage of the health insurance premium will, in all likelihood, decrease which, in turn, cause the employee portion to increase putting the additional burden on the employee to cover the costs.  Or, in a worst case scenario, health benefits my cease to be offered by some.  Either way, there is no reduction in costs, to the employer or the employee, for the foreseeable future.

Enter the public option.  This option would, in all probability, be subsidized by taxpayer dollars and the fight against obesity shifts from your house to Washington.  We have already heard of new ’sin tax’ proposals to try to offset some of the costs we, the tax payers, are going to incur should this become a reality.  Will we also be asked to send our kids to government sponsored fat camp?  Is gastric bypass surgery, or lap bands, covered under the public option?  Should they be?

Given that this epidemic is growing by leaps and bounds, year after year, is it enough for the government to just refer to a “sin tax” or should we be demanding answers to questions concerning how they plan combat this problem?  This epidemic is caused by so many factors, how intrusive into our private lives would they have to be to truly control it?

If you have any comments, please feel free to post below!

In a recent study, it was found that obesity related medical expenditures have reach $147 billion per year and growing. This means that obesity related health issues make up about 10% of all medical spending.  Here are some more alarming facts:

• The prevalence of obesity has increased 37% between 1998 and 2006
• An obese person has $1429 more, per year, in medical costs than a non-obese person
• Obesity accounts for 8.5% of all Medicare expenditures, 11.8% of all Medicaid expenses, and 12.9% of all private insurance expenditures.

So, what are ‘obesity related heath issues’?  Research has shown that being overweight or obese increase your risks of:

• Coronary heart disease
• Type 2 diabetes
• Cancers (endometrial, breast, and colon)
• Hypertension (high blood pressure)
• Dyslipidemia (for example, high total cholesterol or high levels of triglycerides)
• Stroke
• Liver and Gallbladder disease
• Sleep apnea and respiratory problems
• Osteoarthritis (a degeneration of cartilage and its underlying bone within a joint)
• Gynecological problems (abnormal menses, infertility)

While some of this information you probably already knew, are you really surprised by any of the information that you didn’t know?  It isn’t a new revelation that being overweight or obese is unhealthy.  We’ve known that for decades…if not centuries.  Even with the knowledge of how you become overweight or obese, and the associated related issues, the problem only gets worse…day after day…year after year. 

Why is it that we have all the knowledge we need to do something about it but the problem only gets worse?  If only we could point to one thing and say, “That’s the problem!”  The ultimate responsibility lies with the individual.  However, that is not to say there aren’t external contributing factors at work.  Since it is next to impossible to cover all of the personal and environmental variables involved, we will turn our attention to those external factors. 

Contributors to the obesity epidemic

The focus of this series of articles is on the contributing industries to the obesity epidemic.  We will concentrate on six industries:

• The restaurant industry
• The fast food industry
• The diet industry
• The fitness industry
• The pharmaceutical industry

Each will be featured separately and how each contributes to the obesity epidemic will be explored in depth.  They all work together to create a perfect storm of sorts that tends to keep us in a repeating loop. This is not to insinuate there is collaboration between these industries but rather an unfortunate system that has evolved over time…and continues to evolve.

Stay tuned for part two of this series: the restaurant industry.

Just about anybody can say they’ve succeeded in losing some weight at some point in time.  How many of those can claim they have experienced life-altering long-term weight loss success?  Unfortunately, not many.

As has been said, to be successful in long term weight loss, you must break bad habits and replace them with good habits.  Not only will your lifestyle have to change but so will your attitude.  Losing weight isn’t a sprint, it is a marathon and should be treated as such.  Losing weight is actually the easy part.  Sustaining the weight loss is where the real challenge begins.

So how do you know if you’ve reached that point to where you can be relatively assured you’ve created the healthy habits needed to sustain your weight loss?  There are many milestones you can use to determine this.  Of course, they won’t be the same for everyone but here are few common ones:

Cravings and temptations subside

When you first start your weight loss effort, you will find it difficult to pass up those treats you normally consume.  For some, the temptations are just too great if they are readily available so they completely rid their house of them.  Your body is accustomed to the way you’ve been eating and it really won’t like it too much when you suddenly take away those simple carb, high-fat foods.  It will go through withdrawals.  Most likely you will exhibit physical symptoms such as headaches, irritability, nervousness, fatigue, and more.  Here’s the good news…the symptoms will go away, the cravings will subside, and temptations will no longer be unbearable.  When you get to this point, you’ve won a major battle.

Your food choices don’t change after you meet your goals

The problem with ‘crash’ diets or other extreme weight loss techniques is that it is more often than not unsustainable over a prolonged period of time.  When someone hits their target weight, they return to their normal way of eating and the weight comes back quickly.  Often times, they end up gaining back more than they lost.  This is why nutrition experts suggest a weight loss of 1-2 pounds per week is optimal for long term weight loss.  This allows learn a new way of eating, learn how to make good nutritional choices, and change your lifestyle gradually over a period of time.  If you have hit your target weight but notice that the types and quantities of food you eat doesn’t change that much, if at all, you will be more likely to sustain your weight loss for the long haul.

You ‘blow it’ for a day and don’t give up

Granted, there are differing levels of ‘blowing it’ but this is a trap that many fall prey to.  It’s the weekend and you have a night out with your friends.  You’ve achieved some success toward your goals and decide to relax your diet for a night.  Afterward, you feel guilty.  Your start thinking, “All that hard work and I blow it in one night!”  Thus starts the domino effect.  If you blow it for a night, you might as well go ahead and have a big breakfast…and so on.  You might as well just give up!  Wrong.  You know you’ve rounded a corner in your battle if you can afford yourself a ‘night off’ and hop right back on the horse the next day.  It just becomes a way of life and not a battle of willpower.

You just don’t ‘feel right’ if you don’t exercise

If you have become used to an exercise regiment, in all likelihood you are exercising at the same time every day.  It’s very difficult to workout in the morning one day then in the evening the next and create a routine.  When your body gets accustomed to the time you exercise and you have to take a day off, you just don’t ‘feel right’.  You may notice your energy levels are not as high or thinking in muddled.  You just aren’t ‘right’ until you have your next workout.  When you reach this point, you know you’ve created a good habit that will help carry you to long term weight loss success.

You exercise when you just don’t feel like it

This is a big one.  There are going to be days where the last thing you want to do, for whatever reason, is exercise.  When you find yourself in this situation but still end up in the gym, you know you’ve reached a milestone.  It’s not the days that you feel great and workout that test your mettle.  It’s the days where you’d rather visit a Dentist than run a mile…but yet you still do…that make the difference.

Someone calls you ‘obsessed’

There is a saying in the fitness and nutrition realm: ‘Obsession’ is what lazy people call dedication.  To many that don’t have to deal with weight issues in their lives, your dedication can come off as an obsession.  To those that are experiencing their own weight issues but aren’t doing anything about, it’s probably jealousy.  If someone refers to you as obsessed, take it as a compliment and let it fuel your motivation!

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