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Jovana is 24 years old, and after losing 135 pounds, she says that she's now comfortable wearing a bikini. The Toronto-based woman has been reflecting on her weight-loss journey on Instagram, and just like her 58K followers, we're dying to know how she stays motivated. Jovana's tactic: she always reflects on her journey.

In the incredibly inspiring bikini photo she posted, Jovana wrote, "this is the first year that I actually feel comfortable wearing a bikini. So what does that mean? It means lots of bikini transformation photos! I am so proud of how far I have come, both mentally and physically. It takes a lot of commitment, sacrifice and hard work. But living a healthy, happy and comfortable life will ALWAYS be worth it to me."

Just like many people have come to understand while trying to lose weight, Jovana explains that "there are no shortcuts." Her commendable progress is the result of hard work.

"It can be difficult to stay focused on the end goal and stay INSPIRED," she wrote. "You are going to have to make certain sacrifices and put in work to reach your goals! It is a tough, beautiful, amazing and fulfilling journey. Motivation will get you started, but accountability and CONSISTENCY help you create habits that will keep you going."

With one quick glance at Jovana's Instagram account, we were immediately blown away by her transformation photos, and she explained that those photos are what motivates her.

"It's important to reflect," she captioned the photo below. "Yes, it is important to have goals and look towards the future, but I believe it is so much more important to stop and live in the moment and reflect on how you got to where you are. Reflect on why you started your journey, how you feel, how far you've come, how many lows you've made it through, how many highs you've enjoyed and how much BETTER you feel. Focus on loving yourself every day be present within your own mind! Progress is so much more than physical."

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Down 135 Pounds, Jovana Has No Shame in Her Bikini Transformation Photos - POPSUGAR

(Reuters Health) - After weight-loss surgery, people who get cosmetic procedures to remove excess tissue may have a better quality of life than those who don't get this additional work done, a recent study suggests.

Researchers focused on what's known as body contouring surgery, which can range from a little bit of liposuction to a complete upper or lower body lift that removes substantial amounts of tissue. Body contouring is becoming more common, particularly for patients who lose around half of their weight after bariatric surgery and have substantial amounts of tissue hanging from their arms, legs and bellies that prevent them from looking and feeling like they want after shedding all those excess pounds.

"The obvious direct reason for a patient to seek body contouring surgery is to get rid of a tummy apron and some fat rolls, but when we look a little deeper into why patients are willing to undertake expensive and sometimes risky procedures, some other reasons emerge," said senior study author Dr. Stefan Danilla, a plastic surgeon at Hospital Clinico Universidad de Chile in Santiago.

"Our research shows that the right procedure can improve self-esteem, self-image, sex life, social performance and physical symptoms," Danilla said by email. "That improvement is shown as soon as three months after surgery and can last for years after."

For the study, researchers asked 112 women patients who had already undergone weight-loss surgery how they felt about their body and quality of life before they got body contouring procedures. Then, researchers followed up with 57 of these patients about four months afterwards and checked in with 84 of the women again more than two years after they got body contouring done.

The patients averaged about 40 years old at the start of the study and most of them were at a healthy weight or slightly overweight.

To assess participants' quality of life, researchers asked them about body satisfaction, sex life, self-esteem, social performance and physical symptoms. Scores could range from 0 to 100, with higher marks indicating greater quality of life.

Women's average quality of life scores rose from 44 before body contouring to 86 in short-term assessments done from one to nine months after these procedures. They had a similar improvement in quality of life score of 84 in assessments done from one year to 2.7 years postoperatively, researchers report in the Aesthetic Surgery Journal.

The primary shortcoming of the study is the lack of male participants, the authors note. Only two men at the hospital where the study was done had body contouring procedures during the period when researchers were asking patients to join the study, and both men declined to participate.

Another limitation is that the results are limited to one hospital in Chile, and the impact of body contouring on quality of life might be different elsewhere, especially because many of women's perceptions about their appearance are shaped by what's culturally acceptable or desirable where they live.

Researchers also lacked data on how any surgical complications might impact the extent to which women perceived body contouring as beneficial for their quality of life.

Even so, body contouring may appeal to many patients who are surprised or disappointed to discover they don't necessarily look thin or conform with an ideal body type after weight loss surgery helps them shed most of their excess pounds, said Dr. Daniel Kalbermatten, a plastic surgeon at University Hospital Basel in Switzerland who wasn't involved in the study.

"Often they lost many pounds but look worse and not at all as before weight gain," Kalbermatten said by email. "It helps them find themselves."

SOURCE: bit.ly/2tNojb1 Aesthetic Surgery Journal, online June 3, 2017.

Eli Lilly and Co won a years-long patent dispute with Actavis on Friday after the UK Supreme Court ruled that the generic drugmaker's versions of Lilly's top-selling cancer drug Alimta directly infringe on certain Lilly patents in Britain, France, Italy and Spain.

Inotek Pharmaceuticals Corp said on Friday it would evaluate strategic options after its sole experimental eye drug failed another trial, sending the company's shares tumbling 45 percent in extended trading.

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Body contouring tied to better quality of life after weight-loss surgery - Reuters

Start using these 4 techniques to guarantee weight loss results:

Food Log to accurately track Calories.

Lose 1-2lbs per week to ensure sustainable fat loss.

Weight train at least twice a week to avoid losing muscle.

Start with a goal of losing 5-10% of your body weight.

While fad diets come and go, the principles of proper nutrition remain unchanged. To avoid the frustration of failing diets or gaining back any fat you lose, adopt these 4 principles:

Food Log Wisely

Food logging is beneficial by helping you stay within your Calorie limits. We recommend getting the app MyFitnessPal, and begin logging your food daily for one week. At the end of this week, review your log to gain an idea of how many Calories you are consuming daily. After this initial week, try to log only one day a week for the following weight loss period. Checking in weekly will keep your Calories on track, but prevent you from getting obsessive about the logging itself.

2. Limit your loss to 1-2 lbs per week

When you lose fat too quickly, your body doesnt have the time to adapt and reset to the new you. This is why people often lose large amounts of fat, only to gain it back within a year or two. Instead, aim for 1-2 lbs of weight loss per week. This slower rate allows your body the adapt to the new metabolic demands, and ensures that the fat will stay off for longer.

3. Aim for 5-10% body weight lost per attempt.

Your weight loss goals need to be realistic so that you are successful and the results sustainable. 5-10% weight loss is an achievable result that can be reached in several weeks to months. Pick the time period that you feel like you can consistently devote to this goal, then decide whether you can handle the Caloric restriction needed to lose one pound per week or two.

4. Weight Train to lose Fat, not Muscle.

If you diet only, you will lose weight. However, up to 40% of the weight lost will be from muscle. Essentially, your body knows it is experiencing caloric restriction, and it breaks down your muscle thats not being used to fuel your body. During weight loss periods, try to perform 2-3 resistance training sessions per week that train the full body. Focus on compound, multi-joint movements that tax large muscle groups. Keep your reps low (about 4-8 reps) but keep the weight relatively high.

Accept that weight loss is a process that takes time, and there are no shortcuts. Enjoy the victories you experience along the way. Follow these 4 principles to approach fat loss seriously.

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Tips for Effective Weight Loss | Online Athens - Online Athens (blog)

Its a rainy day here on Long Island, and in about an hour, Ill be heading to a wedding with my girlfriend at a church right around the block. Wed discussed simply walking over there, but with the monsoon thats been coming down for the past hour (and with no hope that its going to stop before 3:00 according to the weather report), it looks like well be driving over there, instead;-)

After the wedding itself, well have an hour or two before we have to head out east for the reception. For those of you unfamiliar with Long Island here in New York, places like Montauk, the Hamptons and several wineries can be found further out towards the tip of the island. Since this is technically July 4th weekend and the rains supposed to die down shortly before wed have to head out, were going to give ourselves a 90 minutetwo hour buffer to insure we can get to the reception on time.

Which brings me to the point of todays email: Commitment. When two people get married, theyre not only committing to each other, but to their spouses family, friends, and the life theyd like to build together. Theres a binding legal document that must be signed prior to the nuptials, and it often entails the bride and groom moving in together (if they hadnt done so already). Any kids or pets that came before the marriage come along for the ride, as it is truly a complete immersion of two individuals lives.

This level of commitment is really quite reminiscent of the one you have to make if youre looking to make a permanent change

Lets face itLosing weight isnt a huge accomplishment anymore! With shows like The Biggest Loser on TV, and a bunch of fad diets and fitness programs that offer you insane results in a very short period of time, losing the extra weight isnt the big accomplishment these days. The big accomplishment is, rather, if you can KEEP THE WEIGHT OFF!

Sadly, we live in an instant gratification society. If youre accessing this right now, then, like it or not, you live in a world of abundance much of the global population doesnt have access to. There are countries that are literally 2030 years BEHIND us from a technological perspective, so email or internet to them is an insane luxury. For us, its a common component of our lives, and is a must

If you really wanted to, you could find a job working from home, have all of your groceries and food delivered to your front door with a few taps of your finger, and you can stream just about anything in the world with a relatively inexpensive internet subscription. We could be shut-ins if we really wanted to!

So when the notions of hard work and of truly adopting a healthy lifestyle to assist in achieving Permanent Weight Loss becomes the reality, many of us would rather revert back to gaining weight and being unhealthy, just to yo-yo and undo all the progress weve made not too far into the future. We really dont want this to take any significant amount of work.

And it doesnt have to take up much of your week! My programs help my clients lose weight FOR GOOD by making their health a priority for just four hours per week. Four out of the 168 hours we have each week is just 2.4% of it! This includes prepping healthy meals and snacks, as well as being fit!

The hardest part is the commitment, the determination and the dedication necessary to really see this thing through. Reaching your short-term weight loss goal isnt the hard part, no matter how much weight you have to lose! Its continuing to eat healthily and to exercise regularly for the REST OF YOUR LIFE! This will insure that you continue to thrive long after the weight has been lost:-)

So, whats it going to be? Are you going to keep yo-yoing, or are we going to nip this in the bud, and make a PERMANENT change?

pete@weightlossbypete.com

P.S. If youre READY to take that first step on your health and weight loss journey, then youre REALLY going to want to download my FREE report!

With 10 years of experience, SEVEN different fitness and nutrition certifications, and a sustained weight loss of 100 lbs., I think I know a thing or two about this Permanent Weight Loss thing;-)

This report will provide you with the five strategies I personally used to lose 100 lbs., and KEEP THEM OFF! These are the same five strategies I teach my Permanent Weight Loss clients, and are the basis to losing weight and getting healthy once and for all!

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What Marriage Has to Do with Permanent Weight Loss... - HuffPost