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I am not tired at all! Museveni reveals reason behind sudden loss of weight – pmldaily.com

Posted: December 3, 2019 at 6:42 am

President Museveni says he is not frail but has reduced his weight from 106kgs to 76kgs to match his body weight index (PHOTO/PPU).

KAMPALA President Museveni has revealed that his sudden loss of weight was a deliberate move to shed off the excess weight.

Responding to his social media followers on Monday, December 02, 2019, the President revealed that whereas many think that he looks frail, this is not the case.

One of the contributors thought that I looked tired. I am not tired at all. I have, however, deliberately lost weight by shedding off that fat that I had allowed to accumulate on my body frame because the doctors had not explained to us clearly the mistake of not fighting fat, Mr Museveni said, adding that he has lost about 30kgs.

In future, I will explain to you this awareness. I have moved from 106kgs to now 76kgs. I will stabilize my weight at 76kgs because that is the one that matches with my height of 5.7 feet, he said.

Before I talk about the anti-obesity campaign, however, in my next message I will talk about education in order to put in focus the recent strike at Makerere, he added.

The President also lashed at those who asked him to retire.

Some of the responders were negative. Retire, they shouted at me. That will be decided by our Party, the NRM and the People of Uganda, he said.

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Below is Musevenis letter in full;

Dear Ugandans and, especially, the Bazzukulu.

Greetings. Crime seems to be going down on account of the as yet limited efforts we have deployed. The Police, at the Police Post or station, are supposed to have a standby force twenty four hours a day and seven days a week to react to any call of distress in their area of responsibility.

Secondly, the Police counter (desk) at every Police Station/ Post, must be manned by a Police officer twenty four hours a day and seven days a week so that when a member of Public, under attack by Criminals, rings, there is somebody to receive the call without any delay and, then, promptly inform either the OC station or even the in- charge of the reaction force to re-act immediately.

Thirdly, through the Local radios, all members of the Public in the locality should be informed about the telephone numbers of the nearby Police Post/ Station that they should ring in case of need.

All these steps are easy to audit because of the modern technology. All this is possible and easy to implement even with the old Police methods.

We have now added cameras. Kampala- Wakiso and Mukono are now covered- within eight months, the whole Country will be covered. The Police will be able to watch the activities peaceful and unpeaceful- in the whole Country as far as the highways (major roads) and towns are concerned. Off the major roads, we shall use other methods.

We are, however, going to add other methods soon. Take, for example, the technology of the digital beacons in every vehicle and every piki piki. It will soon be rolled out. The criminals are an endangered species, I can assure you. Also endangered are the Police personnel or members of other security agencies who try to cover up these Criminals. It will be easy to audit and expose them. They will be arrested, charged, sentenced and dismissed from the security services and never to work for any Government department or Local Government forever. They are traitors. If you harm or fail to protectUgandans, starting with the Bazzukulu, you disqualify yourself from Public trust.

I sent out a message in my enshugyi (ancestral cattle- not gift from friends- empaano- not those you bought engabirano). I sent it to the general channels that you call platforms. There is no harm in that because I saw the interesting comments from the Bazzukulu and other social-media users. I thank those who appreciated. I may not list their names here but I thank them. I am always in the Resistance Movement against everything that is anti- African.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the uninformed and shallow Colonial Veterinary staff and even other elements of the Colonial elite, started saying that the Indegenous cattle of Uganda (Sanga and zebu- enkoromoijo) were neither good for milk nor for beef. They were giving little milk and had poor beef. As a cattle owner, I knew that that was alot of nonsense. Yes, some of the Ankole cattle are low milk-yielders. They are called ebipampara. Hence, cattle names like Kapampara, kipampara.

However, others were high milkers. Understandably, the traditional cattle owners, sometimes, preferred ebipampara to the high milkers. Why? On account of the shortage of water and the need for the cattle to walk fast and go far- big distances daily to look for water.

High milkers, with a big udder, cannot easily walk fast or go far. That might have been the dilemma for the traditional farmers. Fortunately, in some of the areas of the cattle corridor, there is a lot of water. These are areas like Ntungamo, Igara, Sheema, Rukungiri, parts of Ibanda etc. Anyway, since I originate from Ntungamo, I was aware of the two lines within the Sanga breed: the high milkers and low milkers (ebimpampara). I could, therefore, not accept the colonial nonsense.

Along the way, scientific proof came in that the Sanga cattle meat is the best in the world because it had yellow fat as opposed to the white fat of most cattle in the World that has got cholesterol. The milk is also better than that of the exotic breeds because it has a higher butter content of 5.25% to 10% compared to that one of the exotics of 3.7% to 4.5%. It is, therefore, good for the Ugandans generally and the Bazzukulu, in particular, to know these facts of our heritage.

Otherwise, the message of the cattle was directed at the cattle- breeders so as to discuss how to enhance the efforts.

The responders had requests of cattle to be given to them and others wanted to pay a visit to the farm etc. Organizationally, it is not wise to arrange cattle gifts or visits to the farm through social media. It will distort the use of social- media. The social- media should, in my opinion, remain a forum for the exchange of ideas.

Organizational matters should be handled in the normal way. There is, for instance, the myooga Sacco, saccos based on the respective specialized activities (obuheesi, okubaija, okunogoora, ICT such as BPOs, boda bodas, hair- salons, garments, food- processing etc etc).

Minister Kasolo can give more information on these. Through those, if you the members make them work well, we can implement the good ideas we shall have distilled through social- media interactions.

Some of the responders were negative. Retire, they shouted at me. That will be decided by our Party, the NRM and the People of Uganda.

Others wondered how me posing with my cattle helps the unemployed Bazzukulu. It surely, helps those who want to learn by example. I started looking after those cattle when I was 9 in 1954. When I accessed modern education, I did not use it to go to night clubs in Europe, I used to semi- modernize the animal husbandry of those cattle among several engagements.

All my children, except Muhoozi, after their education, did not go into Public Service jobs. They are in the Private Sector, starting with the cattle industry. In the last 120 years of Colonialism and thereafter, none of my parents- uncles etc were in the Public Service.

There is life without working for the Public Service. My involvement with the political struggles is for historical missions of patriotism (loving Uganda), Pan- Africanism (loving Africa), social-economic transformation and democracy. Why? It is for prosperity through the integration of the markets, for strategic security and fraternity in Africa. How many of you on the Social- media are contributing to that direction of thinking?

It is those concepts that will help us to solve the issue of jobs. Do you see how many Bazzukulu are in the factories, for example, the ones I recently commissioned (Balaji Group, Premier Distillers, Simi Mobile and Computer manufacturing plant, among others?

These Bazzukulu are working in these factories that are using the raw- materials of Uganda and that are benefitting from the market of Uganda, EAC and COMESA.

One of the contributors thought that I looked tired. I am not tired at all. I have, however, deliberately lost weight by shedding off that fat that I had allowed to accumulate on my body frame because the doctors had not explained to us clearly the mistake of not fighting fat.

In future, I will explain to you this awareness. I have moved from 106 kgs to now 76kgs. I will stabilize my weight at 76kgs because that is the one that matches with my height of 5.7 feet.

Before I talk about the anti-obesity campaign, however, in my next message I will talk about education in order to put in focus the recent strike at Makerere.

One of the negative contributors said I had made a tarmac road for my cattle while other Ugandans have no accessible roads. Wrong. One reason I bought land in the Kisozi area in 1990 was because it was far away from tarmac roads. One reason I bought land in Rwakitura in 1967 was because it was very far away from the tarmac roads.

In fact, there was no road of any description in that area except the nearly impassable Kazo-Lyantonde and Rushere-Kinoni. Cattle do not need nor do they eat tarmac. They eat grass and drink water. The tarmac road you saw in the picture is not for the cattle but for the People of Butambala, Gomba, Ssembabule , Masaka etc.

Soon somebody will be able to come from Kabale and go to South Sudan without going through Masaka or Kampala. It is for the connectivity of your Country.

I, again, thank the huge number of the responders that appreciated the cattle of the heritage of Africa and my humble and modest contribution in breeding them.

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What Are Your Osteoporosis Medication Options? – HealthCentral.com

Posted: June 18, 2020 at 4:46 pm

On this page:BasicsBisphosphonatesRANKL InhibitorsHRTSERMsTSECAnabolic AgentsOther DrugsSupplements

Whether you have risk factors for developing osteoporosis or youve been diagnosed, you may wonder what the best avenues are for strengthening your bones. While theres no cure for this bone-thinning condition, with the right meds, you can see improvement and slash your risk of fractures.

Osteoporosis means porous bones. In short: Its a condition that occurs when you lose more bone mass than your body can make. Think of your bones as a bank account: You spend the first couple of decades of your life socking away bone (money) for retirement. When you reach age 30 or so, youll hit your peak bone massthe highest bone mass youll have in your lifetime. When youre a kid, a calcium-rich diet, exercise, and general good health yield healthy bone development.

If you skimped on any of the above (say, due to a childhood illness), your peak bone mass might be on the low side. Once you reach that retirement age (over 50), youll need to make some withdrawals; this is when you start losing bone mass naturally and bone formation slows.

If you didnt have a great peak bone mass to start with, you could get into trouble, leaving bones thin, brittle, and vulnerable to breaks. Certain risk factorssuch as being a postmenopausal woman or having a family history of osteoporosiscan also mean youll lose bone at a faster-than-normal rate.

The end goal of all osteoporosis treatments is to stabilize your bone densitymeaning, prevent you from losing additional bonerather than achieve a complete cure. These meds are designed to slow your bone loss, and in some cases, help make new bones, so yours are less vulnerable to fracture (breaking).

Thats important because fractures arent just painful they can be debilitating, leading to loss of mobility and independence, financial strain, and even death. The mortality rate a year after a hip fracture is about 22 percent. Yet, osteoporosis causes a staggering number of bone breaks a year: 1.5 million to be exact, according to research in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

To answer that, lets start with what actually constitutes osteoporosis. The condition is often diagnosed when you have a bone density scan, a test that measures your bone mineral density (BMD).

The most common BMD test is a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry or bone densitometry referred to as a DXA or DEXA scan. It checks the mineral levels in your bones, comparing your level to that of a 30-year-old of the same gender. The idea is to see how far your bone density has deviated since then. Heres how to read your results, known as a T-score:

If youve suffered a fracture, your doctor will likely do a bone density scan to see if osteoporosis is at play. The scan is also routinely given to women starting at age 65 (at risk women can start at 60) and to men starting at 70 years old.

Your doctor will also determine how likely you are to fracture a major bone within the next 10 years via a Fracture Risk Assessment Tool (FRAX). If you have osteopenia and a low risk of fracture, you probably wont be treated with an osteoporosis drug. Instead, the recommendation is to make lifestyle changes to improve, or at least stabilize, your bone density. What kinds of tweaks are we talking about? These may include:

However, if youre diagnosed with osteopenia and have a high risk of fracture, your physician may start you on osteoporosis meds to slow down your bone loss before it becomes osteoporosis. Medications arent always a given though. A person who is diagnosed relatively young with no history of fractures and is otherwise healthy may not need meds just yet.

A few drug classes for osteoporosis that work in different ways to prevent fracture and a treatment plan may include one of the following types of drugs:

This family of meds give your natural bone production a chance to play catch-up by slowing or stopping resorption, when bones break down and release minerals such as calcium into your blood. They home in on and inhibit osteoclasts, the cells that do the breaking down. Antiresorptive drugs include:

Youve probably heard of Fosamax or Boniva (or the Boniva generic ibandronate). Theyre part of this drug class the most commonly prescribed for osteoporosis. Bisphosphonates work by slowing down those osteoclasts, giving your osteoblasts (the bone-building cells) a chance to get ahead. Examples include:

Most drugs come with some risk of side effects, and bisphosphonates are no exception. The most common side effects of bisphosphonates are:

There is a side effect from Fosamax called osteonecrosis of the jaw (loss of blood supply to this bone). Its a risk with all bisphosphonates, but its rare and usually seen in people receiving high doses of the meds during cancer treatments. Another less common side effect is atypical femoral fracture; (yes, an osteoporosis med can actually cause a bone break). Long-term use is linked to breaks in the upper thigh area. Zoledronic acid side effects can also include flu-like symptoms, but theyre temporary.

To reduce the risk of the more serious side effects, current osteoporosis treatment guidelines for bisphosphonates call for reassessing a patients fracture risk after three to five years. If your risk of fracture is low-to-moderate after treatment, you may be able to take a break from the drugs; those who are still high risk can remain on bisphosphonates for up to 10 years.

These injections work by neutralizing RANKL, a protein thats necessary for osteoclasts to do their job breaking down bone. Theyre given via injection every six months, depending on the brand, for up to 10 years. Example include:

RANKL injections can also lead to atypical fractures, and that risk is even greater if you suddenly stop treatment. A study in the journal Osteoporosis International found a five percent increase in multiple vertebral fractures after halting the osteoporosis treatment injection.

HRT cuts down on fragility fractures by 20 to 35 percent, studies have shown, but because of its potential health risks (pulmonary embolism, cardiovascular issues, and breast cancer are just a few), its considered a last resort treatment for osteoporosis alone and is reserved for women who are experiencing both menopause symptoms and osteoporosis. Side effects can include:

HRT is approved for women in the form of daily oral tablets and transdermal patches that are applied daily or weekly.

SERMs arent hormones, so they dont carry the same risks as traditional HRT, but this class of drugs does act similar to estrogen in the body by reducing menopause systems and fortifying your bones and preventing fracture, particularly in the spine.

Its a good option for women who are dealing with both menopause symptoms and osteoporosis, but have a high risk of breast cancer that eliminates HRT as an option. SERMs are taken as a daily tablet. One example is Evista (raloxifene), a daily oral tablet approved for women. Evitas most common side effects are:

This type of drug, like Duavee (conjugated estrogens/bazedoxifene) combines estrogen with a SERM to help with severe menopause symptoms such as hot flashes and boost bone mineral density. Research has shown it can increase both spine and hip density after 12 months. Its a daily tablet thats taken orally. Side effects can include:

Because TSEC contains estrogen, it carries some of the risks of HRT.

These are your bone builders. This osteoporosis drug class is designed to stimulate osteoblasts, the cells that beef up bone formation. Theyre typically reserved for more severe cases of osteoporosis where the risk of fracture is very high. Anabolics include:

The most common side effects of these osteoporosis treatment injections are:

The newest bone maker on the block, romosozumab-aqq, is an anti-sclerosin monoclonal antibody approved for postmenopausal women with high risk of fracture. It comes with a risk of cardiovascular issues, so if youve had a heart attack or a stroke within the past year, this is not an ideal drug. Teriparatide and abaloparatide are synthetic versions of parathyroid hormone, which regulates calcium, essential for strong bones.

While worries about side effects may give you pause about filling your prescription for osteoporosis meds, its important to remember this: The benefits of preventing a fracture (and all that comes with it) win out over the risks of taking these meds, according to guidelines from the Endocrine Society published in The Journal of Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Its not widely done, but theres evidence that pairing an antiresorptive with an anabolic agent may yield better results than giving one drug alone. One study in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research showed combining the bisphosphonate zoledronic acid with the anabolic teriparatide boosted bone mineral density in the spine and hip more than either drug alone.

In an analysis of seven studies, research in the BMJ Open found that a combo of the two drug classes greatly improved bone mineral density of the hip and spine more quickly than an anabolic agent alone. Some doctors will also give an anabolic first (in severe cases) and prescribe a bisphosphonate to maintain your newly formed bone mass.

While bisphosphonates and anabolic agents are the most common osteoporosis medications, some drugs that are used to treat other conditions that can also have a positive effect on bone density.

Youve probably heard steroids are bad for bones. Its true; long-term use of corticosteroids (synthetic drugs that are similar to cortisol, a hormone your body produces) deteriorates bone mineral density, causing osteoporosis. But low doses of anabolic steroids (synthetic versions of the male hormone androgen) may have the opposite effect, stimulating bone growth and reducing osteoporosis pain from fractures, according to research in Clinical Calcium. However, theres limited data to know the long-term side effects of anabolic steroids.

This used to be a malaria medication. How can that possibly help your bones? Hydroxychloroquine is antirheumatic, meaning its used to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA), lupus, Sjgen syndrome, etc. Researchers discovered those treated with Plaquenil had higher bone mineral density than those who werent. Its not FDA approved for osteoporosis and comes with a rare, but serious risk of eye damage in high doses. More common side effects include:

This is another type of bisphosphonate given via IV infusion that slows down bone loss, but its primarily used to treat bone damage from Pagets Disease (a chronic disease that causes deterioration of bone tissue) and certain types of cancer, as well as hypercalcemia (high levels of calcium in blood caused by calcium). Its an option for osteoporosis patients, but zoledronic acid has proved better for fracture prevention.

Right now, there are no natural supplements that experts recommend in lieu of FDA-approved osteoporosis drugs. If youve been searching the internet for that, youve probably come across info on strontium, a trace element, for osteoporosis.

There is some scientific basis on this one. A study found that postmenopausal women who took two grams of strontium ranelate every day for three years suffered 37 percent fewer spinal fractures compared to women taking a daily placebo pill.

Theres also a strontium ranelate-based drug (Protelos) approved in Europe, but not here in the US. (Its associated with some serious side effects such as pulmonary embolism and heart attacks.) So, should you take an over-the-counter version of the mineral, such as strontium citrate or strontium chloride, to strengthen your bones? Not so fast. These are not the same as strontium ranelate, and theres no evidence they work.

What about OTC estrogen pills? Phytoestrogens, plant-based versions of the hormone such as soy and flaxseed, have some limited data behind them to show that they may help slow bone loss. But physicians say not enough to replace your prescribed medication. Phytoestrogens in your diet may be better at preventing low bone density than treating osteoporosis.

No one drug stands out as the safest; all medications have side effects. Youll have to weigh the pros and cons of each with your physician to find the right fit for you. Typically, bisphosphonates are well tolerated and have been shown to be safe to take for up to 10 years, which is why theyre the first line of treatment for osteoporosis.

Theres no cure for osteoporosis, but you can strengthen bones and reduce the risk of fracture by taking medications and making lifestyle changes. These include: boosting your calcium and vitamin D intake, doing weight-bearing exercises at least three days a week, drinking less alcohol (no more than one to two drinks a day), and if youre a smoker, quitting.

No, osteoporosis drugs are not a lifelong commitment. You can take bisphosphonates for up to 10 years, but the latest osteoporosis guidelines suggest reassessing a patients bone density between three and five years, and, if possible, taking a break from the drugs. Bisphosphonates linger in your bones after you stop taking them, so you have some built-in protection. RANKL agents such as Prolia can be used up to 10 years, while anabolic agents can only be given for up to two years.

The risk of suffering a fracture is far greater than incurring some of the most serious side effects of medication. One in two women over age 50 will fracture a bone and fractures can be extremely painful and debilitating. Need more convincing? Consider this stat from a New York Times article: For every 100,000 women taking bisphosphonates, fewer than three will have osteonecrosis of the jaw, and only one will suffer an atypical femoral fracture. But 2,000 will have avoided an osteoporotic fracture.

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Nutrisystem’s (NTRI) CEO Dawn Zier on Q4 2016 Results – Earnings Call Transcript – Seeking Alpha

Posted: February 28, 2017 at 1:41 am

Nutrisystem Inc (NASDAQ:NTRI)

Q4 2016 Earnings Conference Call

February 27, 2017 05:00 PM ET

Executives

John Mills - Managing Partner at ICR

Dawn Zier - President and CEO

Mike Monahan - CFO

Keira Krausz - Chief Marketing Officer

Analysts

Frank Camma - Sidoti & Company

Mitch Pinheiro - Wunderlich Securities

Linda Bolton-Weiser - B. Riley

Alex Fuhrman - Craig-Hallum Capital Group

Matthew Gall - Barrington

Chris Krueger - Lake Street Capital Markets

Mitch Pinheiro - Wunderlich Securities

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to the Nutrisystem Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2016 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. An interactive question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Mr. John Mills of ICR. Thank you. You may begin.

John Mills

Thanks, Matt. Good afternoon everyone, and thank you for joining us to discuss Nutrisystems fourth quarter and full-year 2016 financial results. Today Dawn Zier, President and Chief Executive Officer, will provide an overview of the business and insight into the 2017 diet season. Mike Monahan, Chief Financial Officer, will review the fourth quarter results and provide first quarter and full-year 2017 financial guidance. And Keira Krausz, Chief Marketing Officer, will review and provide insight into the companys marketing initiatives. We will then open up the lines to take your questions. Please note, on todays call we would appreciate participants to limit themselves to two questions and rejoin the queue for any follow-up questions.

Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that during this conference call, Nutrisystem management will make certain forward-looking statements about its outlook for 2017 and beyond that involve risk and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements are generally preceded by words such as believe, plan, intend, expect, anticipate, or similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are protected by the Safe Harbor contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risk, and changes in circumstance that are difficult to predict, and many of which are outside of the companys control.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ from expectations include, but are not limited to, those factors set forth in Nutrisystems filings with the SEC. Nutrisystem is making these statements as of February 27, 2017, and assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise any of the forward-looking statements made during this call. In addition to the GAAP results, Nutrisystem will provide certain non-GAAP financial measures on this conference call. Nutrisystems earnings press release for the fourth quarter and full-year 2016 can be found under the News Release link on the Investor Relations page of the companys website at nutrisystem.com. The tables attached to the earnings release include reconciliations of the non-GAAP financial measures to the most direct comparable GAAP financial measures.

And with that, I will turn the call over to Dawn Zier.

Dawn Zier

Thank you, John, and thanks everyone who has joined. Today I'm pleased to report our third consecutive year of double digit revenue growth at 18%. We were also able to grow our earnings per share by 34% as our business continued to scale and we maintained a disciplined approach to cost management. These result exceeded our full-year revenue and earnings per share expectations. Based on our performance of the first two months of the diet season, Im pleased to share that we are on trajectory to deliver our fourth consecutive year of double digit revenue growth in 2017 led by the continuing strength of our core brand NutriSystem. We focus on several strategic areas in 2016 that just set up for success in 2017 and beyond. Let's start with product innovation. Turbo 10 resonated well with consumers in 2016 as did Uniquely Yours and our other flexible meal option. Our science based clinically supportive programs appeal to a broad set of consumers looking to safely and effectively lose weight. Lean 13 which we launched for diet season 2017 appears to be another home run resonating with new and existing customers.

Next, we had tremendous success this past year growing our shakes and a-la-carte sale. Our shakes are an important component of our program and are also available as an ala carte option. With now many customers adding ala carte products to their program and migrating to more flexible options as they continue on their weight loss journey. We expect continued growth of these products offerings throughout 2017. Third, NutriSystem continues to attract new customers and win back former ones. Our advertising messages resonate and we set a high bar for efficient and successful marketing campaigns in 2016 as our media team creatively capitalized on TV viewership space, while simultaneously testing across many new digital channels. Were seeing continued breakthroughs in 2017. Keira will go into greater details in her remark. Fourth, new customer growth achieved over the past three years feeds 2017 reactivation pool. Our pools continued to grow; we are offering more options and as a result have seen revenues increase due to both volume and rate. Reacs, as we refer to them, are very profitable since the majority of marketing costs are assigned to new customers.

Turning to retail. We remain stable at Wal-Mart and made continued progress in expanding into the grocery channel. We anticipate modest growth for retail in 2017 and although retail remain a small part of our total business, we believe it provides a halo effect to our direct business and it's an attractive opportunity for us as an alternative sales channel to some products. And last but certainly not least the South Beach Diet. It's hard to believe that we just acquired the brand a little over a year ago, just the brand, and have taken it from concept development to product actualization. I'm happy to report that in January we showed strong consumer interest in the South Beach Diet. We plan to build and capitalize on this brand equity as we fine tune key levers that drive length of stay such as pricing and product configuration. As with any new product launch, optimization continued iteration is expected and we're deploying that same disciplined and methodical approach that we use our NutriSystem to South Beach. Our early read is that we expect the South Beach Diet to drive 20 to 25 million in revenue for 2017 positioning the brand for meaningful growth in 2018 and beyond as we build out customer pools and increased marketing spend.

In short, heading into 2017, we believe our core NutriSystem brand is stronger than ever and its not one thing that is working right, its many things. We expect our direct to consumer business to continue to be the major driver of growth in 2017. Furthermore as I just mentioned, the steps we took to build on our multi-brand strategy have us well positioned for addictive growth through the South Beach Diet brand and more flexible options including ala carte coupled with state of the art marketing engagement tool will continue to extend our relationship with the customer and deliver additional lifetime value.

I will now turn the call over to Mike who will walk through our 2016 financial results and discuss our first quarter and full-year 2017 guidance. After that Keira will add more color to the success were seeing this diet season and at South Beach.

Mike Monahan

Thanks Dawn, and good afternoon everyone. 2016 finished strong, revenue for the full-year 2016 increased nearly 18% to 545.5 million compared to 462.6 million last year driven by new customer growth, improved reactivation and continued improvements of the customer experience in our economic. Adjusted EBITDA and earnings per share increased 31% and 34% year over year for the full year respectively. Gross margin for the year increased 140 basis points to 52.9%. Marketing spend increased 23% further expanding our customer reach profitably. And marketing as a percentage of revenue was 27.9%. Revenue in the fourth quarter was especially strong and came in at 108.9 million, up nearly 21% year over year. We continued to benefit from increased viewership surrounding the presidential election. Adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter was 18.7 million with earnings per share of $0.29 representing year-over-year increases of 54% and 123% respectively. We invested 14.8 million of capital expenditures into the business during 2016 and finished the year with 33 million of cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments on hand.

During 2016, we returned 21 million of cash to shareholders through our dividend. Driven by the continued success of NutriSystem brand, we are projecting 2017 to deliver our fourth year of double-digit revenue growth. For the full-year of 2017 we are projecting revenue to be in the range of 630 to 650 million, adjusted EBITDA of 95.8 to 100.3 million and consolidated earnings per share of $1.55 to $1.65. Capital expenditures are projected to be 12 to 14 million for the full year. For the first quarter of 2017 we're projecting revenue to be in the range of 202 to 207 million, adjusted EBITDA in the range of 11.6 to 13.6 million and earnings per share of $0.14 to $0.19. We expect of course the first quarter of 2017 to be particularly strong due to favorable television viewership and timing of retail shipments. The revenue contribution for quarter as a percentage of the full year consolidated revenue should follow a similar cadence to 2016. Due to the success of Lean 13, our model assumes incremental marketing spend in the second quarter of 2017 year over year. This spent helps to drive full year profit but impacts the cadence of EPS contribution in the year pushing some of the Q2 EPS contribution into the second half of the year.

As Dawn mentioned were pleased with the launch of the South Beach Diet. For 2017, we expect the brand to drive roughly 20 to 25 million. Were excited that the customer response to our advertisements has been favorable demonstrating that demand for the brand and product is there. Through customer feedback weve recently learned that customers are experiencing some storage issues due to the freezer space constraints which is leading to delays in second shipments and some early cancellation. Unlike NutriSystem, our South Beach Diet currently has very few grab and go or non-frozen items available. To resolve this, the product development team is focused on introducing more grab and go offerings in the upcoming month. As a result, 2017 guidance factors in modest solution for the brand primarily in the first half of the year. We believe the South Beach Diet is resonating with customers and we are confident in its future growth. We are continuing to deploy marketing dollars to build brand awareness and the customer database, this will position the brand for growth and profitability in 2018. With each of our brands we are focused on and investing behind four core principals to support long-term growth. One, attract more customers, revenue from customers in their initial diet cycle were up over 18% year-over-year in 2016 primarily driven by increased customer starts, improved pricing and increases in upsell and ala carte sales. Our marketing campaigns and product improvements have been effective.

For the full-year 2017 we are projecting continued increases in new customer revenues due to increased product demand and our ability to profitability deploy marketing dollars to reach new consumers. Reactivation revenue continues to strengthen as a result of increased customer count and improved reactivation yield. We delivered nearly 33 million and 142 million of reactivation revenue in the fourth quarter and full-year 2016 respectively. For the full year this represents approximately 26% of consolidated revenue and 20% growth year-over-year. We expect reactivation revenue to continue to be doubled to be double digit growth driver in 2017. Two, improve the overall satisfaction and economic contribution of each customer. The average customer profit contribution continues to expand as we introduce new product offerings and manage our cost of goods. Revenue per customer has improved due to pricing and product enhancement. This increase was also complemented by meaningful increases in upsell rates. Gross margins on an annual basis are improving due to increases in average selling price and effective management of food and distribution costs. For the full-year 2016 gross margins increased year-over-year by 140 basis points to 52.9%. 2017 guidance assumes additional improvement in gross margins as we continue to grow revenue per customer and manage cost of goods.

Three, extend our marketing reach. Marketing expense for the fourth quarter of 2016 was 23.9 million or 22% of revenue compared to 20.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2015. Our improved customer economics continue to enable us to deploy additional marketing dollars to attract more consumers. For fiscal year 2017, our Lean 3 campaign is strong. We are projecting increased media spend in both online and offline channels as we continue to profitably expand our customer reach. In 2017, year-over-year revenue growth is projected to be largest in the first quarter as we continue to see increased viewership as a result of the presidential inauguration. We are expecting viewership to return to more normal levels for the remainder of the year. Marketing as a percentage of revenue is expected to increase year-over-year due to two drivers. One media investments to support the South Beach Diet and two, improve lifetime value of NutriSystem customers enabling us to reinvest dollars to expand our media reach while still improving our operating margins. Retail continues to be an important channel for us. In addition to product sales, we believe having a presence in both direct to consumer and retail provides improved brand awareness. The retail channel is expected to grow in 2017 and reach approximately 35 million in revenue for the full year.

Four, invest in the business to support future growth. In early Q2 2017 we will be opening our fourth frozen warehouse to support increased volumes and reduce shipping time to the end consumer. We also continue to invest in our digital platform making improvements to our websites and enhancements to our tracking tools and content site. Finally, we are focused on the South Beach Diet brand and positioning it for top and bottom line growth into 2018 and beyond. During 2016, we returned 21 million of cash to shareholders through our dividend which has been consistently in place since mid-2008. Our business model remains capital efficient enabling us to both return capital to the shareholders and invest in strategic growth initiatives to drive shareholder value. The board of directors has declared a dividend of $0.175 per share payable March 20, 2017 to stockholders of record as of March 9, 2017.

I'll now turn the call over to Keira.

Keira Krausz

Thanks Mike, 2017 if off and running. We had an exciting January with the healthy rise in customer starts, continued growth in the popularity of our Uniquely Yours program and an increase in customer engagement via our digitally delivered content and apps which in turn enabled increases in incremental sales to existing customers. We expect to grow revenues from new customers by double digits in the first quarter. In addition, our ramp up of the South Beach Diet is going well and we are pleased to have two well known differentiated brands in the weight loss space. The keys to our continued success are many, but can be grouped into two main themes. First, we embrace trends in the larger consumer environment and adjust our offerings accordingly to serve consumers better in order to help more of them lose weight and improve their health in ways that are simple, effective and easy to follow. Let me share some observations about our world and then mention quickly how we seek to meet consumer needs.

The world is increasingly complex. We keep things simple to make it easier for people to take control. People want healthier food options at an affordable price, NutriSystem and South Beach food has no artificial colors, sweeteners or flavors; most of our South Beach food is gluten and our frozen food is as fresh as home delivery gets at a price accessible for millions. There is no such thing as a one size fits all loss approach. We now have two distinct approaches NutriSystem which allows people to eat favorite foods made healthy and the South Beach Diet which makes following to low sugar, low carb, high protein light snack. Everyone uses their mobile devices 24/7, we've invested to make our sites responsive, are optimizing for every device and have apps that support our customers and keep them connective, expect everything on demand, our counseling group is the most accessible in the industry, customers can email, chat online or call us seven days a week, 17 hours per day. Buying online and home delivery are now the norm. So we have a simple shopping experience and a supply chain ready to pick and pack each customized order of hundreds of items and deliver quickly. A second theme being that underlies our success in our team. We fight hard for every next inch of progress, employ rigorous analytics on our never ending quest to uncover problem, bring forward solutions, identify the next big opportunity and better serve our customers.

With those overarching themes in mind, we've had some specific breakthroughs that are making this diet season a success. Our Lean 13 program with clinically support results is quite strong and is attracting more new customers and reactivations alike. We've been able to expand our television reach. Were on more stations, more network, more shows in more dayparts. We've expanded our digital reach. We're able to use digital channels like display, social media, email and content marketing to introduce ourselves to new consumers. Our television channel is healthy and we're growing our digital channels so that we meet consumers wherever they are. Our Uniquely Yours program which allows customers to select from over 150 frozen grab and go items continues to grow. Last January, we shared that just over 50% of our customers choose Uniquely Yours. Now that percentage has jumped to 60% and we expect that it will continue to climb. We're happy that our freshest nutritious great tasting frozen food has become such a customer favorite. Our add-ons like ala carte items and shakes which we sell primarily to existing customers also continue to expand. More people are adding them to their orders and average spend per annum order is increasing.

Engagement with our digitally delivered content and apps is way up this year. NuMi users are up to 50% in January and we had over 26 million page views in one month. We had over a 1.5 page views on the [indiscernible] content site. This level of engagement demonstrates how much are customers look to us for simple credible advice. We are building what we hope are strong and lasting relationships. These high used platforms are also on their way to generating significant revenue as we have more ways of communicating with our customers throughout their weight loss journeys which means more opportunities to offer appropriate products. In addition to having a great start to 2017 for NutriSystems Lean 13 campaigns, we are equally excited to have launched the South Beach Diet. The programs nutritional approach with the focus on lean protein, healthy flats and low sugar with groundbreaking when Dr. Agatston first introduced it and we believe it is even more relevant and on trend today. We had a solid start to acquisition in January and spend in order to build brand awareness and start testing expansion opportunities. Going forward well be disciplined and methodical about balancing our desire to grow reach with a need to achieve a profitable acquisition costs for customers.

Now that we have the basic South Beach Diet customer acquisition engine up and running, we will employ the same quick and highly iterated approach to maximizing revenue per customer as we have used with NutriSystem. As a reminder its this approach that allowed us to grow the percentage of customers taking NutriSystems highest price program option from about 30% to over 60% over the past few years. It also led to success of price increases on our basic, core and Uniquely Yours program without lowering demand and motivated NutriSystem customers to add ala carte and shakes to their program. Frankly, maximizing our RPC and customer lifetime value is where our team excels. We hypothesize that having two strong brands in the market will allow us to expand more quickly and so far we are encouraged by our ability to attract new non-NutriSystem customers with South Beach. Perhaps because of the differentiation in die tapproaches, food portfolios and branding the vast majority of South Beach customers are not on the NutriSystem database and the overlap in new leads is low. This is a good sign that our multimedia strategy should generate long-term incremental revenue and EBITDA.

The addressable market segment is large and growing and the South Beach Diet should allow us to get a larger portion of the $10 billion to $15 billion opportunity. We believe every woman and every man has the power. The power to dream of improving one's body and health, the power to take control. Our job is to help by developing simple easy to follow effective programs and to communicate with customers anywhere they are anytime they need us. We look forward to the rest of 2017 in which NutriSystem and the South Beach Diet, two great weight loss brands expand side by side.

Now Ill turn the call back over to Dawn for some closing remarks.

Dawn Zier

Thanks Keira and to everyone on the call today for your interest in NutriSystem. As we head into 2017 we believe the NutriSystem brand is as strong as ever and our multi-brand strategy is taking hold. Based on our diet season performance during the past two months, we're well on our way to achieving our fourth consecutive year of double-digit revenue growth fueled by our continued focus on our key initiatives, proven business model and analytical rigor that drives continuous improvement. As we look to the future we are operating from a position of strength having not one but two powerhouse brands to help us extend our reach to new customers and capture more of the large addressable weight loss market. Our priorities are to, one, continue to grow the NutriSystem brand in a financial meaningful way. Two, continue to build our multiband strategy making us well positioned to achieve 20 to 25 million on revenues from the South Beach Diet in 2017 positioning the brand for meaningful growth in 2018 and beyond; and three, run a very disciplined business that is focused on topline growth through price and marketing innovation while not taking our eyes off cost. Im really proud of all that the NutriSystem team has been able to accomplish. The engagement across every level of the organization and the private eye employees take in helping people become healthier versions as themselves are extraordinary. The strategy and vision that the leadership team has said, outlines the path forward but it's the exceptional companywide execution that runs gold into results. So big thank you to the entire NutriSystem team for 2016 that delivered results beyond our expectations and for a great start to 2017.

With that Id like to open up the lines for questions. Operator?

Question-and-Answer Session

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Frank Camma from Sidoti & Company. Please go ahead.

Frank Camma

Just with respect to Mikes comments on the cadence of the guidance, because obviously that kind of sticks out, I mean so it's a nice jump in Q1 and granted I mean I understand you don't want to be too aggressive here and also you did get obviously the bump from the inauguration. But is there any reason to believe that the average customer for example wouldnt be as sticky later in the year. I mean I know you get a lot of visibility in Q1 but I wonder if you can just talk about that a little bit.

Mike Monahan

Frank, its Mike. As I mentioned on the call we expect the quarterly revenue as a percent of annual revenue to be reasonably similar to last year. On a year over year basis there's two reasons why the growth is a bit heavier in the front half of the year. First is timing of retailing QVC revenues, in 2017 the revenues from retail and QVC are a little bit more front loaded due to timing and shipments in the shows. And the second really has to do with the fourth quarter of 2016 similar to new customer acquisitions and reactivation revenue we're able to deploy a higher percentage of media dollars to attract customers in that quarter due to increased viewership as a result of the presidential election. So for this year in 2017 we modeled in more seasonal growth.

Frank Camma

Ill go back to my model. I was just looking as you're coming up against pretty difficult comp in Q1 and obviously youre going up against that even higher, so that was unusual. My other question was related to the gross margins since you talked about the expansion. Is there any reason to believe that the South Beach Diet, do you get a similar margin profile on that product or is it lower in the beginning since your scaling up? And thats all I have.

Mike Monahan

So we're still early on with the South Beach Diet, but we've modeled gross margins to be a little bit less than NutriSystem for the year but we continue to adjust the program and expect them to rise over the long term. But for 2017 the South Beach Diet isn't having a material impact on our consolidated gross margin.

Operator

Our next question comes from Mitch Pinheiro of Wunderlich Securities. Please go ahead.

Mitch Pinheiro

Yeah. Hey, good afternoon. That was a heck of a quarter and even probably better guidance, which I want to ask about. So when I try to sort of back in to new customer revenue growth for 2017. And if I take the bottom end of your guidance range and subtract the 35 million of reactivation revenue and call it, 25 five million of South Beach, I get to a number that somewhere, it looks like new customer revenue growth -- somewhere in the mid -- maybe mid to high teens. Is that about right?

Mike Monahan

Yes. And new customer revenue and reactivation revenue are kind of within the guidance ranges that we gave. So you're not far off. That's in the general direction of where it should be.

Mitch Pinheiro

And that feels like -- I mean so that's a continuation against, I think Mike you said 18% new customer revenue growth for 2016.

Mike Monahan

A little more than 18%. Correct.

Mitch Pinheiro

A little more than 18%. So that's also strong growth. I mean how do you see the components. Is it like an equal parts new customers, average pricing like the mix and want to stay, I mean how do we look at the components of that generally?

Mike Monahan

Yeah. So -- I'm sorry, go ahead.

Mitch Pinheiro

Well, generally speaking. I mean I know you don't get out exact, but just need to understand if it's weighed to more average pricing or mix or how do you look at it?

Mike Monahan

And so a large portion of our growth factored into the guidance comes from overall customers, the combination of new customers and reactivated customers that are driving it. Were also getting a good percentage from an increase in upsell rates. So these are things like our shakes and a-la-carte items that have been improving. And the next piece of it is the revenues were collecting from the South Beach Diet. So those three things are modeled into 2017 growth. We are getting a small benefit from pricing and length of stay, but those are a little bit less of the drivers we've factored into the guidance for 2017.

Mitch Pinheiro

And just follow-up on that, on like -- you talk about upsell, I mean how significant is the upsell component of the new customer revenue growth?

Mike Monahan

So we don't get the exact dollars for it, but where we're seeing an upsell is were able -- for new customers coming in, were able to sell about a third of those new customers, some sort of an upsell on their initial order and then we're also able to keep them a little bit more sticky after they're done with the program by selling them a-la-carte items in more of a transition sense.

Mitch Pinheiro

Okay. And then just so second question just around South Beach is when you look at just your initial feedback, the initial economics that you're getting, is there any material difference in the way South Beach is behaving on those metrics compared to Nutrisystem, core Nutrisystem. Is there anything fundamentally different that you've learned that is, that changes the way your longer term look at South Beach?

Mike Monahan

Initially, I can speak to initially what were seeing. So we launched South Beach as we said in the script, we launched the South Beach Diet with primarily frozen offerings. So after watching customer behavior, we're seeing slightly higher delay rates and second order cancellation due to storage. So people receive the product and they -- it's a little bit more difficult to Nutrisystem to set it in your freezer space. So this is the one issue that is impacting length of stay in the near term for South Beach that makes it different than Nutrisystem. But what we're working on right now and the product development team is going to be launching in the upcoming months are more Grab `n Go items. So these are things that you can put in your pantry that don't take up freezer space where it would look a little bit more like the product configuration Nutrisystem and we expect that to address the length of stay and have it come up closer to where Nutrisystem is.

Operator

Our next question comes from Linda Bolton-Weiser from B. Riley. Please go ahead.

Linda Bolton-Weiser

Hi. Congratulations on the strong growth. So when you look at the sales growth projections for 2017, it looks like it's about 16% to 19% sales growth, but then if you add back the $0.14 of investment in 2016 and the $0.03 from the [indiscernible], I mean really the EPS growth is like 14% to 21% is what I calculated. So it's kind of in line-ish with the top line growth. So am I thinking of that the right way? So I mean on a base level business, you're not really getting really a lot of margin expansion or am I thinking of that the right way for 2017?

Mike Monahan

Well if you're looking on an adjusted basis, I would say just looking at the revenue and taking out the South Beach revenue component that we've talked about because thats not really contributing in year one to the bottom line. That's going to be more of a long term into 2018 contributor. So if you look at the growth there, you're going to notice you should see that there is scale in the business where on an adjusted basis, the EPS is growing at a faster pace than the top line revenue.

Linda Bolton-Weiser

Right. I got you. So is South Beach like around break even in 2017 or is it actually a little bit loss making on the operating profit?

Mike Monahan

So we mentioned that there would be some dilution this year, primarily in the first half of the year for South Beach as we build the database.

Linda Bolton-Weiser

Okay. And then so I know you're probably still testing and whatnot, but I guess one of the things I always understood was the frozen food leads to higher customer satisfaction and longer lengths of stay. So I'm wondering if you [indiscernible] into the South Beach, do you think theyre going to have a compromise on the satisfaction or length of stay that you might otherwise achieve?

Dawn Zier

No. This is Dawn. No, we don't actually -- as Mike had said, the issue that were having right now is the freezer space issue where they cant fit all the frozen into the freezer and what we know from feedback from the customer is that it depends on what meal occasion you're talking about. So for breakfast and lunch, people do like to have some ready to go actions and for dinner, it's more the frozen. So we're looking for -- we're going to get some more of a mix where people can do Grab `n Go. We think it will be -- and even as we about Uniquely Yours, which is our premium option, remember that's not all frozen, it does have a longer length of stay, but that is a mix of frozen and ready to go item.

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Nutrisystem's (NTRI) CEO Dawn Zier on Q4 2016 Results - Earnings Call Transcript - Seeking Alpha

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