The age old question seems to have been answered, at least for now. I’m sure more studies and more reports will be done on just such a topic, but according to the study I just read, scientists have found out that on their own, dieting and exercise seem to take off equal amounts of weight from the body.

That’s right, calorie reduction in the form of dieting, and calorie burning in the form of exercise will both take off relatively equal amounts of weight over an extended period of time. The difference, however, is when dieting alone your body does not reap any of the benefits OF the exercise, it just loses the weight. When combined, dieting and exercise form a powerful union to help you not only lose weight, but also build muscle, increase your cardiovascular health, and ward off more diseases and ailments than I can even begin to list in one post.

Bottom line, if you want to get as healthy as possible, you MUST include exercise in your weight-loss plan. Come to Fit Express to get started on a circuit training plan that will help you boost your cardiovascular health, your muscle mass, all while helping aid your diet plan to drop those pesky extra pounds!

Welcome to Wednesday’s edition of “scary news of the day!” Today’s freaky news comes in the form of women’s health and fitness. Here we go: according to new reports, more and more women than ever are turning from diet and exercise as the ways to avoid obesity, directly TO liposuction and cosmetic surgery. Yikes.

Just how much are they turning? How about this, liposuction rates are up 90% in the UK in 2006 alone. 90%. Last year alone, almost 3,500 women and 500 men chose to have their fat vacuumed out of them instead of choosing diet and exercise as the proper method to maintain healthy body weights.

Experts think that collective opinions on cosmetic surgery have shifted, accounting for a change in the amount of negativity people feel about surgeries such as this, helping account for the rising numbers. If you ask me, the true reason for such a rise is the corresponding rise in obesity. What we’re seeing is technology being able to provide a perceived quick fix for something that has become an epidemic. Stick to exercise folks, stick to dieting.

What do you get when you have one billboard that says “FAT CHANCE” next to a picture of an obese child’s legs and feet and another billboard that says “If that’s your kid, what are you waiting for?” next to a picture of an obese child’s back? Controversy, is what you get, especially when the health risks of obesity are listed right next to these photos. You know what though, controversy = awareness, so I’m actually happy there is a stir.

These aforementioned billboards are part of a $250,000 campaign to raise parents’ awareness of childhood obesity and all of the dangers that come along with it. I couldn’t be happier. The more people that know just how bad it is to let a child become that obese, the less children will actually BE obese. This is a win, win situation.

Some people are not seeing it that way, apparently, and are upset with the controversial message. This is why its aimed at parents, not children, as if they were to aim it at children they’d be competing with, well, just about every major company from McDonald’s to Pepsi; that does not bode well for a $250,000 campaign.

Nevertheless, I love the signs, I love what they’re trying to do, and I hope it works!

Ok, maybe you do know some of these things, but nevertheless, I just found a really cool list of 20 things you may, or may not know about obesity. Some are shocking, some not so surprising, but all are important and extremely relevant. In the end, isn’t relevant all we can really shoot for?

Nevertheless, I’m going to paste this directly from the article I read it from, so please head over and check out the full article when you’re done reading. Here, are 20 things you might not know about obesity:

“1. Child-safety seat manufacturers are starting to make bigger models after a recent study showed that over 250,000 U.S. children age 6 and under are too fat to use them.

2. According to a study by the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, nearly half the 4,000 people responding to an online survey about obesity said they would give up a year of their life rather than be fat.

3. Between 15 percent and 30 percent also said they would rather walk away from their marriage, give up the possibility of having children, be depressed, or become alcoholic rather than be obese.

4. Five percent and 4 percent, respectively, said they would rather lose a limb or be blind than be overweight.

5. From 1991 to 2000, the average weight of Americans increased by 8.5 pounds.

6. In 2004, the Federal Aviation Administration increased its estimate of the weight of the average male from 170 to 184 pounds.

7. Airlines spent $275 million on 350 million additional gallons of fuel in 2000 to compensate for the additional weight of their passengers. Now we know why the peanuts are no longer free!

8. Stand by your man: More than a decade ago, Manuel Uribe, now weighing 1,200 pounds (the equivalent of five baby elephants) and bedridden for the past five years, was abandoned by his wife because she was frightened by his increasing size.

9. Virgin Atlantic paid Barbara Hewson from Wales the equivalent of US$24,100 in 2002 as compensation after she was squashed by an obese person sitting next to her on a transatlantic flight. Barbara suffered a blood clot in her chest, torn leg muscles, and acute sciatica and was bedridden for a month.

10. Duke University Medical Center found that women and men who lost 10 percent of their total body weight reported a significant improvement in their sexual quality of life.

11. Obesity ranks second among preventable causes of death. Tobacco use is number one.

12. According to the Department of Veteran Affairs, of the 7.5 million veterans who receive their health benefits from the agency, more than 70 percent are overweight and 20 percent have diabetes, which may lead to blindness, amputations, and kidney and heart problems.

13. Two years ago, the Hardee’s fast-food chain introduced the 1,420-calorie 107-fat-gram “Monster Thickburger.” It contains two 1/3-pound slabs of Angus beef, four strips of bacon, three slices of cheese, and mayonnaise on a buttered sesame-seed bun.

14. Mississippi is the home of the mud pie, Cajun fried pecans, sweet potato crunch, fried shrimp, and catfish. Mississippi is also home to the country’s fattest people—more than 25 percent of adult Mississippians are obese. Coincidence?

15. Recent studies have shown that obesity can cause you to lose sleep.

16. On the other hand, a lack of sleep may result in obesity.

17. It’s a vicious cycle.

18. Never forget your past: Aborigines and the Pima indians of Arizona developed obesity, type 2 diabetes, and hypertension after transitioning to a Western lifestyle.

19. If the entire morbidly obese population of the U.S. lived in one state, it would be the 12th highest-populated state, with more people than Virginia.

20. A 2003 study reported that 21 percent of all New York City elementary students from all income levels are obese.”

There you go, there are some crazy ones in there that I had no idea about…sound off, which surprised you most? After you’re done filtering through those, head over to Fit Express and check out our entire line of hydraulic resistance circuit training equipment; you can’t go wrong, and hey, it’ll keep you off that list!

What do you do when your state is one of the most obese in the entire nation? What do you do when year after you’re facing over $100 million in costs related to obesity? You turn to one of the largest names in weight loss in the country, and you give it to people for little or no cost.

That’s right, West Virginia is bringing in the big guns to help put a dent in their growing obesity problem. Yep, Weight Watchers has been brought in, and up to 75,000 West Virginians are going to be eligible for free weight loss classes and coaching through their Medicaid insurance. If this works, there is a strong chance that this program could spread to other states around the United States, especially those hardest hit by obesity in the South.

Stay tuned to this one, it could prove to be extremely interesting and the results are actually quite important. One of the largest hurdles facing some people in the obesity fight is a lack of information, a lack of financial abilities to combat it, and a lack of insurance to help cover it. This could remedy all of that, so stay tuned.

I think it’s been plain and clear that today’s teenagers and heck even younger than that, are not eating properly, nor are they getting proper amounts of exercise. New reports are showing that in the last 7 years, despite huge increases in “eat healthy” campaigns, American teenagers are not eating near enough fruits or vegetables on a daily basis. What’s worse, the situation only gets worse as the teenagers get older.

This study was part of a larger study but in essence studied 944 boys and 1,161 girls in 1999 and again in 2004; what they found was disappointing:

“During the transition from middle school or junior high to high school, teens decreased their intake of fruits and vegetables by almost one serving per day…from roughly four servings to three servings for girls and roughly two and a half to fewer than two servings for boys. They also found that from high school to early adulthood, the teens decreased their consumption by almost the same amount.”

What’s also not surprising, but relevant, is that the boys in the group on average consumed almost a serving less than the girls of the same ages. The reasons why aren’t exactly clear, they think parental and family attitudes might have something to do with it, but it is still unclear. Bottom line, keep your kids eating healthy, make fruits and vegetables fun, present them in odd or fun ways, just get them eating it every single day!

The link between diabetes and consistent exercise has been gradually coming more and more into light with each passing month. Today, I found yet another article clearly highlighting the link between the two, and how exercise can actually help prevent recurring gestational diabetes. That, folks, is amazingly great news, but it still needs to be analyzed and figured out exactly how.

The article I just read talks about an exciting new study being launched that is studying “the effects of exercise programs on pregnant women with a history of gestational diabetes — a condition triggered by pregnancy that puts them at higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes later in life.” The study is backed by major diabetic foundations and has quite a bit of money pushing it; they are hoping to find, in depth, how different types of exercise programs affect it. It’s already been proven that there IS a link between the two, now over 360 women are being studied to see how to best accomplish this.

Head over and check out the article, then, conduct your own experiments by coming to Fit Express and exercising at least 30 minutes a day. Trust me, this is one situation in which it’s a win, win, win.

Ahh this is the way I like to end a week, a post about groups of people really trying to make a difference in the world. A group that realizes the problems our country is facing when it comes to fitness and health, and instead of just reading about it, gets up and does something to fight it.

That group, today, is a group of 5th graders in Mesa, Arizona that are trying to make a dent in the obesity problem. According to the article I just read, “Across Mesa Public Schools, 6,500 fifth-graders are being challenged to take 10,000 steps a day, the equivalent of roughly five miles, as part of the Walk On challenge to get in shape during February and adopt a lifestyle that combats obesity.”

Think if everyone walked 5 miles a day, think how much better shape we’d ALL be in, think about how much better the outlook of our collective futures would be? Go read the article, get inspired, and then get up and get moving. Start this weekend, there is no better time. Don’t like walking, come to Fit Express!

Finally! It’s about time fear and concern are being voice about obesity, and I don’t care what country it is happening in. The fact that it’s happening at all makes me happy. That’s right, concern in the U.K. is being voiced over the state of their children’s growing obesity problem.

Not to be rude, but it really is about time. This is a problem that’s been getting out of hand for the last 10 years and concern is just NOW being repeatedly, publicly voiced? Oh well, it’s happening now; Government officials are now urging teachers at primary schools to warn parents when and if kids start facing obesity problems. They believe that a failure to warn parents (should parents even NEED warnings, they see their kids every single day) will result in the parents remaining in the dark as to the negative risks that associate obesity. Wow.

I don’t know, but I think it’s more the role of the parents first to realize the current condition of their children, be it weight, mental health or whatever else. THEN, the primary schools and teachers at those schools should act as a backup plan, an insurance plan to the parents careful watch. Why should this be the other way around?

Let me know what you think, I’m curious how everyone else feels about this situation, who’s job is it?

Talk about a conundrum, try this one on for size: It has been proven that lack of exercise, obesity, and poor fitness can lead to diabetes; we know this, it’s true and has been proven. While we know this, recent studies are also showing that most diabetics don’t exercise, won’t exercise, or claim they can’t exercise. Conundrum.

That’s right, according to new reports, fewer than 40% of diabetics obey their doctors orders to get consistent daily exercise. That means over 60% just aren’t doing it. Yikes. What makes this even worse is the fact that of those people, the people who were most in danger, the people that were warned the most by their doctors, were the least likely to engage in any form of physical exercise. The worst thing is, most know that without exercise they elevate their risk of everything from nerve damage to high blood pressure.

The key here is to remember the difference between being “unwilling” to exercise and “unable.” Many diabetic patients are unable to exercise from their conditions, and that is understandable; for those who can, you should, please. Head over to Fit Express and get started on a low-impact exercise plan today!