Weight maintenance can best be defined as ‘losing at least 10% of initial weight and maintaining this new weight for more than one year‘. Have you been successful at weight maintenance? Chances are, the answer is NO, as this is the area where most people fail. Yes, you can work hard to lose weight, but can you keep it off – for a year. Here are some weight maintenance tips for you:

• Eat breakfast – individuals who successfully maintain weight loss almost always eat breakfast.
• Control your meal portions – monitor portion sizes no matter the occasion.
• Eat from all food groups.
• Try to eat a low-fat, low-calorie diet every day.
• Set your meal times – to prevent binging.
• Keep a diary to monitor what you eat.
• Monitor your weight by weighing regularly.
• Engage in regular physical activity – progressively increase exercise to five hours per week or more.
• Include strength training in your regular exercise routine.
• Include significant amounts of physical activity in your recreation time.
• Maintain some sort of support with one or more professionals or a support team of friends or family who have goals similar to yours or who will encourage / motivate you.
• Try to fight off depression and disinhibition – do not use food as comfort / solace.

Hope you find these weight maintenance tips useful. Keep at it!

According to a study that was reported at the 17th European Congress on Obesity (ECO) – May 7, 2009 – patients with obesity who took either of two different dose combinations of Phentermine plus controlled-release (CR) Topiramate (VI-0521) lost more weight than patients who were taking either drug alone or placebo.

It was noted that both dose combinations were well tolerated over the 6 months of the phase 3, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. The researchers randomized 756 patients to 1 of 7 treatment groups. The 4 single-drug groups were treated with Phentermine at 7.5 or 15 mg, or Topiramate CR at 46 or 92 mg. The 2 combination groups received VI-0521 7.5/46, which contained Phentermine 7.5 mg plus Topiramate CR 46 mg, or VI-0521 15/92, which contained Phentermine 15 mg plus Topiramate CR 92 mg. A seventh group received placebo.

In addition to the drug treatment, all patients were given lifestyle and exercise advice and followed a diet that cut their calories by 500 kcal/day. The mean age of all patients was 45.6 +- 11.9 years and 79% were women.

One of the first steps to real / effective weight loss, is managing and watching what you eat. With this in mind, you need to understand the different types of food that you ingest, and how they may impact your weight loss efforts. Today we focus on trans fats.

Trans fats are manufactured fats. How / why? Manufacturers change natural fat to trans fats in order to prolong the shelf life of bread, milk substitutes and desserts. A tiny amount exists in nature, but the problem dosage comes from food that is produced in factories.

The 411:

Source – manufactured food, especially baked goods. Imitation dairy products, hard margarines and some cheeses in particular. Also note, trans fats make shortening harder.

Benefits – none really .. so stay away from them

Caution – read food labels carefully to see which products contain trans fats. The U.S. Government now requires that trans fats used be listed on product labels.

Danger – Trans fats are associated with increased bad cholesterol, and can float around in your system – getting in the way of nutrients. Additionally, the residue can be solid at body temperature, thus it’s like wax floating around in your blood stream.

The bottom line is that you should avoid trans fats – eat as little products as possible that contain trans fats.

With regard to weight loss pills, it’s undoubtedly best to stick with what’s safe and approved – Generic Phentermine for example! The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning that dieters and bodybuilders should immediately stop using Hydroxycut – a widely used Canadian-made weightloss supplement – as it has been linked to cases of serious liver damage, and at least one death.

Here are a few lines from the official FDA warning:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers to immediately stop using Hydroxycut products by Iovate Health Sciences Inc., of Oakville, Ontario and distributed by Iovate Health Sciences USA Inc. of Blasdell, N.Y. Some Hydroxycut products are associated with a number of serious liver injuries. Iovate has agreed to recall Hydroxycut products from the market.

The FDA has received 23 reports of serious health problems ranging from jaundice and elevated liver enzymes, an indicator of potential liver injury, to liver damage requiring liver transplant. One death due to liver failure has been reported to the FDA. Other health problems reported include seizures; cardiovascular disorders; and rhabdomyolysis, a type of muscle damage that can lead to other serious health problems such as kidney failure.

The FDA has said also that the maker of Hydroxycut has agreed to recall 14 Hydroxycut products. Available in grocery stores and pharmacies, Hydroxycut has been advertised as being made from natural ingredients. According to the FDA, an estimated nine million Hydroxycut packages were sold last year.