I’m a podcast addict these days, listening to shows on my daily commute as well when I workout. One show that’s on my weekly schedule is NPR’s Science Friday, and recently, they had author Gina Kolata who recently wrote,
Rethinking Thin: The New Science of Weight Loss–and the Myths and Realities of Dieting. I plan on reading the book and doing a book review, but for now, I highly recommend the podcast which I found very interesting.

The book focuses on all the recent studies on nutrition and dieting, trying to be the objective observer in a world that is fraught with agendas and the lure of fast cash. People spend a lot of money on diet and exercise related products, and it’s hard to separate out the good data from the bad. Ms. Kolata, who is a science reporter for the NY Times, seems to have done a lot of research on many topics I’ve wondered aloud myself including how successful diets really are, why it’s so hard to keep weight off, and how really bad is being overweight to begin with.

One of the things that struck a chord with me is her discussion on how the body wants to gain back weight after a diet. I’ve been fighting this right now, having lost a significant amount of weight and now unable to keep it off unless I cut my calorie intake down at least 30% from what is the recommended amount. I think it’s a significant reason why people yo-yo so much on diets, and by the sounds of it, it will be something I have to do for quite a while if I want to keep this weight off.

Keep an eye out for a review as soon as I have a chance to read this book.

Diet Blog has a nice, no nonsense approach to dealing with your favorite foods and how to avoid overeating them. One of the problems I have had in the past is the yo yo phenomenon were I lose weight and then pack it back on again after I get off the diet. For me, the biggest struggle is dealing with the reality that a diet isn’t a one time thing but a change to a new lifestyle so that post is a good start for me in enjoying foods that I love without sabotaging my own health.

(Original Source: Haven Logan)

Radical Behavior has an excellent post on calculating what your ideal weight should be, and after looking around, found that there is not any hard calculation to make it easy. Calculations vary a lot, and I find that even the BMI calculations for the definition of being “overweight” tend to be too low for me at least when I consult with my doctor about it. I’m borderline line overweight according to the charts, but to anyone who notices my recent weight loss, I look fairly skinny.

Here’s some links to some ideal calculators:

• HallsMD Ideal Weight Aggregation (Hat Tip: Radical Behavior)
• MyFoodDiary.com Ideal Weight Calculator

One of my biggest issues with eating is that I tend to eat for other reasons that being hungry. Sometimes it’s emotional, other times it’s that I’m tired and food acts as a quick pick-me-up. At other times, I eat because my friends or family is eating and I want be part of the group.

Diet Blog has a good post on Indicators of Emotional Eating. Many times, I can check off 4-5 from that list.

As I’ve been dieting, getting enough water has been top on my health agenda. Drinking more water make you feel more full and satiated, but it also replaces some of the water you normally would get from eating food. It also is beneficial to your kidneys which is battling all the waste produced from burning fat.

How much you should drink has always been a question for me. My typical answer is to just check my urine color and try to make it as clear as possible. Diet blog has a better answer to that question.

Small Bites posted their take on diet soda and it’s well worth a look.

As a long time diet soda drinker, I’ve been cutting back quite a bit and shifting to water during the work day. I stopped using products with aspartame for a couple months to see if it made me feel any different, but in my case, I couldn’t feel any noticeable differences in my body, so I started adding a bit back (mostly via sugarfree chewing gum and toothpaste) over time.

My new hobby is making my own sodas with a home soda machine from Soda-Club Home Soda Makers, which is a lot of fun. It doesn’t really save you much money, but it uses a lot less resources on the environment as far as waste products, and it’s fun to be able to tweak the recipes to your liking. My family uses the pre-made diet mixes, but we also just carbonate some water and throw in some sliced fruit to get a Calistoga Water style drink which is also very tasty. The additional benefit for me is that their diet soda mixes use Splenda as opposed to aspartame, which I prefer.

Really Useful Fitness has a nice post about oatmeal, one of my favorite foods. The bonus is the recipe for pumpkin oatmeal which I can’t wait to try out next time I stop at the store and get the ingredients.

The Diet Blog has an interesting post about a study done at the University of Pennsylvania. They split dieters into two groups; one was told to increase the amount of fruits and vegetables in their diet while the other was told just to reduce the total calories they ate every day. The result was that the first group lost 13 lbs in in 6 months while the other only lost 5 lbs.

To me it’s common sense; it’s easier to stay on a diet if you don’t feel hungry and by eating foods low in calories that still satiate you, the more easily you can stick to it. From my personal experience, I would add that foods with a low glycemic index tend to stay in your stomach longer and make you feel full longer as well.

Really Useful Fitness Blog has a good post on 4 ways to lose fat faster. I’ve basically been doing all four to do good results. Here’s 2 more to add:

1) Wait 15 minutes if you have a food craving.

Along with the tip to eat frequently throughout the day, I also have noticed that for me, my food cravings go away after a small snack of a few calories and waiting 15 minutes or so. If I’m consumed by the thoughts of eating a piece of pie, I force myself to wait 15 minutes and eat an apple instead. By the time the 15 minutes are up, I end up feeling satiated and have forgotten about the pie entirely.

2) Eat a small snack first thing in the morning within 30 minutes of waking.

One tip I heard which has been helpful is to eat a small snack within 30 minutes of waking up in the morning. Supposedly, it revs up your metabolism early in the day. Up until I started this crusade to get healthy, I used to skip breakfast in the morning and grab a cup of coffee instead. Nowadays, I grab a light snack upon waking up and then walk the dog for 30 minutes, and I feel a lot more awake and active by the time I hop in the car to get to work.

Read the whole post at Real Useful Fitness.

I’ve been battling a cold over the last few days, and if with all those deadlines looming at work, I had a tough time deciding whether I should go to work or sleep it off at home. You don’t want to pass the cold on to your co-workers, but on the other hand, you don’t want to appear to be a slacker.

This is a pretty common question, and this article from MedicineNet seems to be the best I have found on the subject.