Most people probably wouldnt characterize weight-loss programs as lenient.

No, the words that usually come to mind are more along the lines of difficult, impossible and I need a cheeseburgernow, or else I will die.

Caitlin Rose, on the other hand, had the privilege of enjoying pizza, wine andburgers during her eight-week program.

Rose, 27, knew she wanted to start losing weight after she managed to rip two pairs of jeans in the span of one week. At the time, she weighed in at about 163 pounds.

After dumping her jeans in the trash, Rose who works as an executive assistant in Sydney, Australia signed up for something called RAW byVarlah, which offers a myriad of fitness programs, all designed to cater to various ages, fitness levels and interests.

The programcosts $69.95 for unlimited workouts and a nutrition plan. It also incorporates weight lifting into its on-demand exercise classes.

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Rose told Daily Mail Australia,

From a training point of view, I was training six days a week for eight weeks. One day was a rest day, and one day was a stretch day, which was needed with all the heavy lifting,

The biggest appeal of the program to her was theability to continue eating all the foods she loved while she trained.

She added,

I was able to eat things like pizza, burgers and have the occasional glass of wine.

I didnt have to say no to my friends when there were plans for dinner and these meals were balanced with very healthy meals, too.

Over the course of eight weeks, Rose lost approximately 13 pounds and 40 cm off her body measurements.

As if that wasnt awesome enough, the health benefits shes seen from the program have actually gone beyond getting her body in shape.

She said,

Apart from having friends and family commenting on how good you look, having my skin clear up was a huge factor for me.

I suffer from a skin condition called pityriasis versicolor, so my hips and elbows and legs always had this red rash and I always felt self-conscious wearing a bikini if it was really bad.

Its now much more manageable and barely noticeable, and I believe its from streaming the Varlah programs and eating a much more balanced diet.

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Rose is so pleased with the results she saw with RAW, shes already signed herself up for another of Varlahs programs, called DICED.

So, not only has the 27-year-old seen some amazing physical health benefits with this program, but it sounds like she even found a way to cultivate a natural, intrinsic motivation to keep her weight-loss journey going.

Rose said,

Ive toned a lot, but I would like to try and lose a bit more body fat and then who knows I might do another round of RAW as I really enjoyed being able to do weights from home.

I might mix it up do some outdoor training and mix up what workouts I stream mostly based on what I feel like doing day to day.

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Allie is a News Writer at Elite Daily, as well as a recent graduate from The University of Delaware. If you are in her social circle, you probably know more than you care to about her cat, Jasper. She loves to exercise, but basically cancels th ...

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Woman Who Had Insane 8-Week Transformation Shares Easy Trick To Still Eat Pizza - Elite Daily

Subhash Kini, MD, Bariatric Surgeon, Mount Sinai Program for Surgical Weight Loss, Associate Professor of Surgery, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Is Weight-Loss Surgery for You?

A few years ago, I saw a patient whose obesity had led to such poor liver function that her doctor referred her for the national transplant waiting list. She needed to lose weight and lose it now. Following weight loss surgery, her liver function eventually returned to normal, and she was taken off the transplant list. Her diabetes and high blood pressure also resolved, and she feels like a new person today.

For the right candidates, weight-loss surgeryalso known as bariatric surgerycan yield remarkable health benefits, and even be lifesaving.

What Is Bariatric Surgery?

There are several types of bariatric surgery procedures, but the most common are sleeve gastrectomy and gastric bypass. Today, nearly all of them are performed using laparoscopic surgery, a minimally invasive technique.

Sleeve Gastrectomy: In this procedure, the surgeon removes a large portion of the stomach, transforming this digestive organ from a bag-like shape to a smaller tubular shape resembling a sleeve. The capacity of the stomach is greatly reduced, as is the amount of ghrelin, the hunger hormone, that it produces. This suppresses the appetite and makes one feel full more quickly after eating a small amount of food.

Gastric Bypass: This operation also decreases stomach volume and hunger hormone production, as well as reducing the amount of calories the intestines absorb. The surgeon partitions the stomach into two parts: a small pouch and the rest of the stomach, or gastric remnant. Food bypasses the gastric remnant and part of the intestine as it travels through the much smaller pouch directly into the middle portion of the small intestine, which is surgically connected to the pouch through a Y-shaped configuration.

Another procedure, laparoscopic gastric banding or LAP-BAND surgery, was once widely performed, but in recent years it has become less common because its weight-loss results are relatively low and its rate of complications is high.

Are You a Candidate for Bariatric Surgery?

Bariatric surgery is not for everyone who struggles with weight. You may be a candidate if you:

Are 18 to 70 years old;

Have a body mass index (BMI) of 40 or more; or a BMI of 35 or more plus a serious disease (a comorbidity), like type 2 diabetes, coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or sleep apnea. (For instance, a woman 5 feet 4 inches tall would qualify if she weighs more than 235 pounds and has no comorbidity, or if she weighs more than 205 pounds and has, say, diabetes.)

Have been obese for many years and tried persistently, yet unsuccessfully, to achieve and maintain weight loss through methods like working with a doctor, going on multiple diets, and exercising;

Understand what undergoing bariatric surgery involves: a preoperative workup, including heart and lung tests and psychological evaluation; a preoperative diet; the surgical procedure and its risks and benefits; postoperative diet; and follow-up visits;

Are psychologically healthy and medically able to withstand surgery;

And are ready to commit to lifestyle changes, like permanently altering your diet and exercising three to five times a week.

When people who have not had surgery start dieting, they may get hungrier as the diet progresses. It may become so difficult that they give in after a week or two and go back to their old eating habits. Bariatric surgery makes committing to lifestyle changes much easier because patients feel satiated more quickly and for longer periods after eating much smaller meals.

You could still lose weight at first if you continue bad eating habits, like consuming high-carbohydrate, sugary, or fried foods. However, the low appetite afforded by surgery is not lifelong; it may last a few years or less. Thats why it is important to make permanent, healthy changes in diet and exercise during this window of time. People who dont modify their lifestyle could easily regain the weight they lost once their appetite returns to normal.

Bariatric surgery does alter your digestive anatomy. Your smaller stomach and reconfigured intestines (in the case of gastric bypass) decrease absorption of certain nutrients, so you must eat a balanced diet and take daily supplements like multivitamins and calcium.

This is not cosmetic surgery; it is for people who have serious health issues linked to obesity. Because of significant post-surgery weight loss, health problems like diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and sleep apnea eventually resolve in 60 percent to 80 percent of patients. Other conditions, like arthritis, polycystic ovary syndrome, stress incontinence, fatty liver disease, and gastroesophageal disease, also display marked improvement after surgery.

Many obesity-related illnesses can lead to strokes and heart attacks. Obese individuals who undergo surgery tend to live longer than their counterparts who dont have surgery. For instance, one study demonstrated that bariatric surgery lowered the risk of death by up to 89 percent over five years.

Weight-loss surgery can also greatly enhance ones day-to-day quality of life, making it easier, for example, to walk up the stairs or tie your shoelaces. One patient whose sister lived in a building without an elevator told me, Before my surgery, I never visited her because walking up one flight of stairs was such a monumental task. Another patient, a mother in her 30s, was finally able to play with her children outdoors; before the surgery, she was so heavy she couldnt walk or run with them.

If you have been significantly overweight for a long time despite trying your best to shed pounds, consider discussing your options with a bariatric surgeon. Weight-loss surgery is remarkably safe, especially when performed at a nationally accredited bariatric center. To find a qualified facility near you, search the online Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program list.

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Is Weight-Loss Surgery for You? - Huffington Post

Life & Style Weekly

Jonah Hill's Weight Loss Has Never Been More Evident Than in These New Photos! Life & Style Weekly The actor couldn't stop smiling as he flaunted his impressive weight loss in LA on Tuesday, March 14, while leaving a dinner party for Jimmy Choo. Since packing on the pounds for his 2016 movie War Dogs, the 33-year-old appears to have dropped it all ... Jonah Hill shows off dramatic weight loss after admitting ditching beer makes him thinnerMirror.co.uk all 3 news articles »

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Jonah Hill's Weight Loss Has Never Been More Evident Than in These New Photos! - Life & Style Weekly

The health plans for public school and state employees would continue covering weight-loss surgeries until at least the end of 2021 under a bill that cleared a Senate committee Wednesday.

Senate Bill 522, sponsored by Sen. Eddie Cheatham, D-Crossett, would extend a pilot project that started in 2012 as the result of a law passed a year earlier.

Presenting the bill to the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee, Cheatham noted that the surgeries are recommended by the American Diabetes Association for certain patients with Type II diabetes.

"They're encouraging that as a way to bring these people back to normal life," Cheatham said.

According to a study by the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement, the plans, which cover about 45,000 public school employees and about 26,000 state employees, spent a total of $9 million on 775 surgeries from 2012-16.

The covered procedures include gastric sleeve, gastric bypass and gastric band surgeries, all of which reduce the size of the stomach.

Of 282 people who had the surgeries in 2012 or 2013 and completed a survey in 2015, 178 reported a height and weight in 2015 indicating they were obese, the study found.

However, 92 of those who were obese had a body-mass index below 35, which was the minimum required for a health plan member to be eligible for the surgery. Someone with a body mass index of 30 or above is considered obese.

The study also found that, a year after the surgery, the annual medical costs for members who had the surgery in 2012 or 2013 averaged $3,599, compared with an annual cost of $3,964 the year before the surgery.

Josh Mourot, a bariatric surgeon based in Fayetteville, told the committee that a growing number of large employers are covering the surgeries.

The health plan covering University of Arkansas System campus employees began covering the surgeries this year, system spokesman Nate Hinkel said after the meeting.

SB522 would keep in place annual caps on the surgeries of $3 million for the state employee and public school plans. It also would allow the state board that governs the plans to suspend or discontinue the program if necessary to protect the health plans' finances.

The bill was recommended for approval in a voice vote. Sen. David Sanders, R-Little Rock, the only member to vote against approval, said research on the effectiveness of the surgeries is mixed.

He said the state should do more analysis on the effects of the surgeries that have been conducted before deciding whether to reauthorize the program.

"We need to round out our understanding of the impact here," he said.

Metro on 03/16/2017

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Arkansas panel OKs weight-loss surgery bill - Arkansas Online

Healthy Eating on a Budget for Seniors: 10:30 a.m. to noon, April 3. Free nutritional education and cooking class to help seniors stay healthy, eat right and choose an active lifestyle. Instructor will guide seniors through fun, hands-on activities during the 1.5 hour program. To be held at Cameron Senior Center in Westford. Cost: Free, but must register online. Group Conditioning: 9:10 to 10:10 a.m. Mondays, March 20 to May 1. A complete morning workout set to music, designed to strengthen all the major muscles in the body, while boosting metabolism. Safe for all ages and fitness levels. Cost: $78/$75 Aromatherapy: 7 to 9 p.m. March 29. Learn how to make a relaxing or detoxifying bath salt and a room freshener. Basic aromatherapy blending techniques will be taught. The benefits of practitioner-grade aromatherapy essential oils and how to safely use essential oils for you and your loved ones will also be discussed. Leave with gifts to use at home. Material fee of $5 payable to instructor at first class. Cost: $43/40. Family Maple Sugaring Workshop: 6:30 to 8 p.m. March 24. Learn to tap a tree and make your own maple syrup. This fun workshop includes visual presentation for tree identification and sugaring process, tool touch, Native American Sugaring Legend, sugaring history and nutrition facts, sap and syrup-tastings on fresh, warm waffle wedges. Children as young as 6 are welcome, accompanied by family. Cost: $28/$25 family. Group Circuit Training: 6:30 to 7:20 p.m. Mondays, March 20 to May 8. The 50-minute workouts switch between a series of eight to 10 weekly changing resistance stations, integrated with a series of cardiovascular stations. Cost: $91/$88 Paint and Sip for Adults and Teens: 7 to 9 p.m. March 30. Grab some friends, a partner or take some time for yourself! Relax, sip some wine and be guided through an acrylic painting. No experience required and all materials are provided. Teens are welcome, if accompanied by an adult or with written parental permission. Non-alcoholic beverages will be available for those under 21. Cost: 5 Keys to Successful Weight Loss: 9 to 11:30 am. March 18. This seminar will teach eating strategies and mind body techniques to help to help end struggles with food and weight. Cost $32/$29. 3rd Annual Person of the Year Event honoring Nancy Cook: 6 p.m. April 13, Westford Regency Inn and Conference Center, 219 Littleton Road Westford. Nancy Cook has been involved with countless nonprofit and community organizations including the Westford Council on Aging, American Federation Suicide Prevention and Toys for Tots, giving her time, talent and expertise to those who need it most. She is currently the executive vice president of Cook and Concord Oil. Cocktails and a silent auction will begin at 6 p.m., with dinner and presentation at 7:30 p.m. Cost is: $65 per person, $475 for a table of eight. Order tickets by April 9. For tickets: http://roudenbush.org . For more details, call 978-692-5511 or visit roudenbush.org to enroll in classes.

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Roudenbush Community Center events - Westford Eagle

In todays society, people are pressured to comply with social expectations of being skinny, athletic and beautiful.Society tends to judge peoples beauty by their physical appearance or how many likes they get on an Instagram posts. With all the pressure to be skinny and fit, people, especially women, tend to diet or do intense detoxes. I believe that dieting never works because of the mentality that comes along with being on a diet.

Before spring or summer break, we always hear about people going on extreme diets or crazy detoxes to lose 10 pounds in two weeks. Our Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram feeds are full of ways to lose weight quickly. Although they may seem like easy fixes and you may lose the weight in time for your vacation, these are not the best way to keep the weight off and maintain your body goals.

I believe that dieting never works because of the word dieting itself: It should be a change in lifestyle, not a temporary change in eating habits. Having the mentality of being on a diet makes things much harder. If you go in to changing your eating habits by saying you are changing your lifestyle, losing weight will be much easier. Your mind is your biggest enemy when it comes to losing weight.

Losing weight is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes time if you want to lose the weight and keep it off. If you just just eat lean meat, fruits and vegetables and cut any fats, sugars and unhealthy carbs, your body will become unaccustomed to these foods, and when you return to your normal eating habits it will store them as fat.

Therefore, it is important to not cut foods out for a small period of time to drop pounds fast; rather, cut foods out little by little and eat in moderation. Instead of dieting and removing the things you love to eat, try reducing your calorie intake by eating smaller portions of the meals and foods you like. Keeping in mind that moderation is key, eat whatever you want from time to time. Dont feel guilty for eating ice cream, just dont have a pint every night. Moderate your intake and control your portions.

By eating all the things you want in moderation and in smaller portions, your body will still be used to all the foods youre eating and be able to process things more easily. Removing foods from your daily diet and later reintroducing them to your body can be worse for your health than the foods originally were. This is why simply eating more healthy foods, moderating the unhealthy foods and eating smaller portions is the best diet. It may not be an easy fix, but it will help you keep the weight off. It takes 21 days to build a habit. Therefore, after 21 days you will have developed the habit of eating this way and changed your lifestyle forever while losing the weight the healthiest and the smartest way possible.

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Out with the diet, in with the lifestyle - The Baylor Lariat

PHILADELPHIA, PA--(Marketwired - March 16, 2017) - The GOLO diet is a fairly simplistic approach to reduce dietary sugars and focus on fat loss through managing insulin resistance. The weight loss strategy is based on the belief that slow metabolisms and easy weight gain are both a product of too much insulin production. According to their website, higher insulin levels prompt the body to store excess fat rather than allowing it burn off. The body will produce more insulin if an individual does not engage in regular physical activity, or over eats. Age is also a contributing factor in higher insulin production, as insulin levels tend to rise over time. When excess insulin no longer efficiently converts glucose into energy, that glucose is eventually converted to fat and is stored primarily in the belly. Insulin resistance is usually a byproduct of excess insulin build up, thereby making weight loss even more difficult.

While insulin resistance is a common culprit when it comes to weight gain, Dr. Nishant Rao of Diet Doc Medical Weight Loss explains that insulin resistance is not always at the center of every person's challenges with weight management. "Unfortunately, this approach may not work for everyone as there are individual dietary macros to consider." Weight gain can occur for a variety of reasons, but without a proper diagnosis, dieters can find themselves incorrectly targeting a problem that they may not have, while also ignoring the real issue. Dr. Rao also takes issue with the dietary supplements used within the Golo Diet. "The ingredients in the supplements associated with the diet are not very well connected to weight loss. At the end of the day, the ingredients listed won't do much to improve insulin resistance."

If you believe that insulin resistance is leading to weight gain, Diet Doc's team of doctors, nutritionists and coaches will assess your health history and current health status to determine the best dietary plan and weight loss medication regimen for your unique weight loss needs. Diet Doc believes in using comprehensive strategies that will nail down what is causing your weight gain and will offer unlimited phone support as well as prompt prescription delivery so that you can lose weight fast and keep it off. Diet Doc clients report losing 20 pounds within 30 days.

New Diet Doc patients can call or easily and effortlessly visit https://www.dietdoc.com to complete an initial comprehensive, yet simple, health questionnaire and schedule an immediate personal, no-cost consultation. Diet Doc Physicians all received specialized training in nutritional science and fast weight loss. Diet Doc reviews each patient's health history to create a personalized diet plan geared for fast weight loss, or that addresses life-long issues causing weight loss to slow down or stop. Nutritionists work personally with each patient and use their own algorithm to craft meal and snack plans that are compatible with each patient's age, gender, activity level, food preferences, nutritional needs and medical conditions. They combine these state of the art diet plans with pure, prescription diet products that enable their patients to resist the temptation to reach for sugary snacks, eliminate fatigue and curb the appetite. Over 97% of Diet Doc patients report incredible weight loss results with the majority losing 20 or more pounds per month.

At Diet Doc, all patients gain unlimited access to the best minds in the business. Their staff of doctors, nurses, nutritionists and coaches are available 6 days per week to answer questions, offer suggestions, address concerns and lend their professional guidance and support. Because of this, more and more people are turning to Diet Doc for their weight management needs. Diet plans are tailored to be specific to the needs of those of any age, gender, shape or size and for those who are struggling to lose that final 10-20 pounds to those who must lose 100 pounds or more. Call today to request a private, confidential, no-cost online consultation.

About the Company:

Diet Doc Weight Loss is the nation's leader in medical, weight loss offering a full line of prescription medication, doctor, nurse and nutritional coaching support. For over a decade, Diet Doc has produced a sophisticated, doctor designed weight loss program that addresses each individual specific health need to promote fast, safe and long term weight loss.

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Dr. Nishant Rao Examines Why the Insulin-Based 'GOLO Diet' May not be the Best Weight Loss Strategy - Marketwired (press release)

The last time I talked to you all about my weight, I confessed that Id regained some pounds. Unfortunately, for the rest of 2016 things got much worse before they got better and about half of my hard work went down the drain. Its not something Im proud of, but after assessing some of theways I went about losing weight the wrong way the last timeand forgiving myself for the regain, at the beginning of 2017 I decided to get my ish back together.

While I wouldnt be relying on a trainer this time because I needed to be more accountable to myself I did implement some of the practices my trainer taught me, one of which was the benefit of supplements. And no I dont mean gimmicky lose weight fast supplements, I meanproducts that provide nutrients to help your body perform at its best and boost weight loss efforts that there are no substitutes for: exercise and clean eating.

Because Id reaped such good benefits from HUM Nutritions Big Chill pill, I decided to explore what options the brand had for my health goals. Thats when I came across Ripped Rooster andSkinny Bird. Ripped Rooster is a thermogenic fat burnerthat contains 7-keto, a natural metabolite that has been shown to eliminate and reverse the decrease in metabolic rate that can happen after dieting. Because I was coming off of a year of losing 92 pounds, I wanted to give my metabolism a boost and I was well aware of the benefits of Green Tea in aiding weight loss, which this supplement also contains.

As attractive as the word skinny is in the name of the second supplement, what really excited me about this productwas its promise to not just curve your appetite, but reduce stress eating. Ive told you all more times than I care to think about how emotional eating has repeatedly been my downfall, so I was definitely game to try something created specifically with that issue in mind. Plus the pill helps boost metabolism and control blood sugar, the latter of which Id been suspecting I had issues with because I hadnt been eating on a regular schedule and certainly not healthy foods.

Let me tell you, the difference when I take Skinny Bird and when I dont is palpable. As I type this, Im slightly struggling to finish a small smoothie that Ive been working on for nearly an hour. Monday I didnt take the supplement and downed the same medium size smoothie and was ready or a snack within another hour. Its unfortunate that I have a hard time remembering to take this supplement 30 minutes before breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as directed, because Id likely see even more benefits if I did.

Nevertheless, I am 15 pounds lighter than I was when the year began and I feel 15 times better than I did in 2016, and not just because Im smaller. In addition to the weight loss aids above, I also resumed taking Omega-3s. Fish Oil has fatty acids that help maintain brain and heart health and, being overweight and working out daily at high intensities, I didnt want to play with the latter. I also appreciate that OMG! Omega the Great doesnt have a fishy aftertaste.

I take these supplements in addition to a daily multivitamin, which you should take regardless of any attempt to lose weight, and B-12 to assist my energy levels. Its a concoction that has worked wonders for me so far, but the key word with everything I said here issupplement. None of these pills is a substitute for healthy eating or hard work, they simply make the pay off for doing so that much greater.

BTW, you can follow my weight loss journey do-over more closely here.

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How HUM Helped Me Get My Health Back On Track (And Lose 15 Lbs) - MadameNoire