It's been a rough morning commute and you've finally made it to the Starbucks counter. A grande Caramel Macchiato and blueberry muffin are calling your name.

According Charles Stuart Platkin's "The Diet Detective's Count Down," you may not want to answer.

The Macchiato with skim milk will cost you more than 220 calories and 40 carbs. You'll have to walk for 57 minutes, run for 23, bike for 31, swim for 27, do yoga for 75 minutes or dance for 37 minutes to burn it off.

Even worse is the muffin (380 calories, 49 carbs). It'll cost you a 98-minute walk, a 40-minute run, 54 minutes on the bike, 46 in the pool, two hours of yoga and an hour of dancing.

Still hungry?

A better bargin might be a grande coffee (10 calories, 2 carbs, 3 minutes walking or yoga, two minutes of dance or 1 minute of running, biking or swimming) and a biscotti (110 calories, 15 carbs, 28-minute walk, 12-minute run, 16 minutes biking, 13 swimming, 37 of yoga or 19 minutes dancing).

Platkin's book also offers advice on creating a food diary and bargain hunting for lower-calorie alternatives. Check out the Diet Detective website for blogs, interviews and more.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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I'm usually on the bully pulpit for weight loss, but today, I have a confession to make. I ate way too much and gain several pounds during the holiday season.

There, I said it. I came clean. Now perhaps I can put the cookies, egg nog and chocolate behind me and get back on track.

God knows, it has been hard to stick to my plan. Food has been everywhere and I've been off my exercise game. The only reason I caught it was I finally got on the scale yesterday -- and almost keeled over from scale shock.

Diet books always urge you to forgo the scale, but honestly, I can't live without it. With one glance, you know when you're eating too much.

Anyway, I know I'm not alone in falling off the wagon. If you did too, let's just start with a clean slate.

All your food sins are forgiven. Now, wipe those chocolate smears off your face and let's move forward into a new year of weight loss.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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The more your belly sticks out, the greater your risk of developing heart disease, a new study shows.

"The message is really obesity in the abdomen matters even more than obesity overall," Dr. Carlos Iribarren of Kaiser Permanente of Northern California in Oakland, the study's lead author, told Reuters Health.

In the current study, Iribarren and his team tested whether sagittal abdominal diameter, or SAD, which is the distance from the back to the upper abdomen midway between the top of the pelvis and the bottom of the ribs, would improve the accuracy of BMI in predicting heart disease risk.

Men with the largest SAD were 42 percent more likely to develop heart disease during follow-up compared to those with the smallest SAD, while a large SAD increased heart disease risk by 44 percent for women, Iribarren and his team found.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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If you're a man working to lose weight, here's some good news for you: A new study has found that losing weight reduces the risk of an aggressive form of prostate cancer.

According to an Associated Press report, after tracking the weight of nearly 70,000 men between 1982 and 1992, researchers from the American Cancer Society and the Duke University Prostate Center found that men who lost more than 11 pounds had a lower risk for aggressive prostate cancer than men whose weight remained the same over a decade.

Previous studies have found that obese men have a higher risk of developing aggressive prostate cancer. This study appears to be the first to indicate that recent weight loss can decrease that risk.

Check out the study, published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, this month.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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Okay, only a few more days of holidays before those New Year resolutions begin. And at the top of so many lists is losing weight.

Here are some simple steps to help you along the way:

* Be realistic. Now you know it took you years to put on that extra 30 pounds. Don't think you're going to lose it by next week or even two weeks from now by starving yourself. Be patient and plan for slow, steady weight loss. Research shows that slower weight loss is easier to maintain.

* Cut out that full-sugar soda and juice. I can't live without soda, so I opt for Diet Coke and Diet Dr. Pepper. If you're a juice addict, try eating an orange instead of drinking OJ. You'll feel fuller and get a lot less calories.

* Watch your portions. Remember, one bagel is equal to about five slices of bread. That's a lot of grain. Learn about portion distortion, which I wrote about in September (Coping with portion distortion.)

* If you must have bread, go whole grain and pick brown rice instead of white.

* Read the labels on your foods for calories, sodium and fat. Sodium can make you bloated and keep you from losing weight.

* Exercise, exercise, exercise. You gotta move at least 30 minutes a day, three to five times a week to burn those calories.

* If you have to have a treat, limit the size and/or make it a healthy one. For example, try a mini -candy bar or have three Hershey's kisses (1/3 of the serving size).

Lastly, watch out for those diet saboteurs in your life. Friends and family may not be aware they are hindering your efforts by placing food close to you, encouraging you to snack or getting in the way of your exercise plans. Remember, you are doing this for yourself. And you can't love anybody else right if you don't love yourself first.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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The bacteria dwelling within a person's gut may help determine how big that gut appears from the outside, according to two new studies, giving credence to the idea that the obesity crisis may be partly due to microbes.

In both mice and humans, a group of Washington University researchers found, obesity can be linked to a relative increase in a group of gastrointestinal inhabitants better suited to grabbing food calories than a bacterial mix more characteristic of lean individuals, according to a report by Newsday's Bryn Nelson.

Scientists led by Jeffrey Gordon, director of Washington University's Center for Genome Sciences, used high-speed gene sequencing to examine the collective genome of two bacterial groups that dominate the human gut. The results showed that one group, known as the Firmicutes, are better able to digest complex carbohydrates and thus extract calories from food than the second group, collectively known as the Bacteroidetes.

The good news is that the Firmicutes seem to gain more of an upper hand as the microbes' hosts gain extra weight.

Check out Bryn's full article and make sure to go to the Nature journal site for some interesting video of scientists explaining gut flora and it's influence on our body weight.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

Posted by The Skinny on Fat at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Eating high-fiber cereal for breakfast can help you consume less calories during the day, according to new research.

University of Rhode Island researchers reported recently that women who ate whole-grain cereals rich in fiber controlled calories better during a three-month study than did participants who ate less fiber.

Sally Squires writes in the Boston Herald's Lean Plate Club that the study isn't the first to find weight benefits in high-fiber foods. In 2004, Harvard School of Medicine researchers reported that high-fiber diets helped women maintain their weight during a 12-year study of 75,000 nurses.

Read the complete article and see how you can get more fiber into your diet.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

Posted by The Skinny on Fat at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A nasal spray designed to fight obesity by blocking the senses of smell and taste moved one step closer to users when Compellis Pharmaceuticals announced that it will start human trials next year.

The Cambridge, Mass., company won a patent for it earlier this month.

"The pleasurable effect of eating is all stimulated by smell and taste," Christopher Adams, the company's founder and chief executive, told Reuters on Tuesday.

"The premise is that olfactory activity that controls both smell and taste is a trigger and a feedback mechanism to eat. If you have some kind of reduced sense of smell or taste, you tend to eat less," he said.

God, I hope so. With all the cookies and other goodies floating good smells through the office these days, maintaining some kind of food sanity has been nearly hopeless. The only thing saving me is working out every day.

I don't know if I want to totally give us my sense of smell, but if it helps me get over the weight-loss hump, I could go for it.

Check out the full article to learn about other obesity-fighting devices that may be coming to a drug store near you.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

Posted by The Skinny on Fat at 10:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Surprise, surprise: The stress of the holiday season prompts women to eat more and possibly gain weight, according to a survey conducted by the American Psychological Association

Nearly half of all women in the United States feel the stress, a condition that contributes to rising levels of comfort eating, drinking and other coping mechanisms that can lead to weight gain, according to an Associated Press report.

Forty-one percent of women in the survey agreed that they eat for comfort during the holidays, compared with 31 percent during the rest of the year. Among men, 25 percent report holiday-season comfort eating, compared with 19 percent during the year, according to the survey.

Experts recommend that to cope with the stress, you opt for less elaborate festivities and say no to that serving of delicious roast beef, lasagna, chocolate or chilled glass of white wine.

And don't forget to exercise. It decreases stress and improves your mood.

For more holiday eating tips, check out my blog item on controlling your holiday intake.

Good luck and happy holidays!

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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Okay, I understand that the Brits are scared about rising obesity rates, but the lastest idea to combat it is beyond ridiculous.

Doctors at the National Health Service suggested that a helpline be instituted for people who bought larger clothes.

The kicker is that the number would be promoted on the labels of all clothes sold with a waist of more than 40in (102cm) for men, 37in (94cm) for boys, 35in (88cm) for women, and 31in (80cm) for girls.

That's right, embarrass folks into losing weight. My god, that kind of system would just make me eat more!

I understand being worried. A report by BBC News said obesity took up 9 percent of the budget and that number is slated to rise significantly in the future as more people become larger.

Other ideas seem more plausible, includiing health checks for those leaving school, making green spaces part of housing complexes, funding surgery for the morbidly obese and taxing processed food high in sugar and salt.

Let's just keep the labels for clothing care instructions.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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As I checked out my room this week at the Conrad Hotel in Chicago, a number of things stood out: the 42-inch flat screen television, the Bose radio, the bathrobe and slippers in the closet.

But one thing in particular caught my attention. The sleek, modern digital scale under the bathroom sink.

Usually, when I go away from home, I tend to go away from my eating plan too. For some reason, whether I am away for business or pleasure, I see it as a "diet-free" time. Of course that means I usually end up gaining weight, even if I work out.

This time I couldn't exercise because a chest cold has been kicking my hiney. So it was doubly important to stay on track. And that's where the scale came in.

I weighed myself each morning and tried to eat accordingly. But more importantly, before dinner each night, I would go into the bathroom to freshen up. When I saw the scale, it operated as a visual cue to watch myself.

And it worked pretty well. Knowing I had to face the scale again helped me choose salad instead of fried foods and desserts.

So thanks, Conrad Hotel. You really took a weight off my mind, and my body. (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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In a major move to fight childhood obesity, Britian's National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has recommended that operations be considered for obese teenagers who are at risk of developing life-threatening diseases.

NICE also urged the National Health Service to consider surgery as a last resort to help save severely obese adults from diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure, according to a Reuters report.

NICE's recommendations were made in the institute's first ever national guide to the prevention and treatment of obesity, which together with overweight conditions costs the economy as much as 7.4 billion pounds a year.

Check out the full article and the full recommendations from NICE on obesity and how to control your weight.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

Posted by The Skinny on Fat at 11:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Now, that some of us have gotten off the couch and started exercising, experts say we should be wary of doing too much, according to an Associated Press article.

Overzealous exercisers can run their way to stress fractures, spin their way to insomnia or even overdo it to the point their immune systems are compromised.

The real sweet spot, as you would expect there to be in any biologic system, is around an hour a day," said Dr. Mehmet Oz, a surgeon at Columbia University and co-author of "You: The Owner's Manual." "After that, it's hard to show a great benefit."

There have definitely been times when I have been guilty, especially if I was trying to make up for cheating on my diet. When I went overboard, my body was sluggish and tired and I was more prone to injury.

Check out the article to see the other warning signs and when to know you should get off the treadmill and out of the gym.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

Posted by The Skinny on Fat at 11:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This week's installment of amNewYork's Personal Trainer exercise column give you tips for free-motion workouts.

"Free-motion machines offer a selectorized weight stack with the ability to do exercises with a full range of motion," says Damon Roxas, regional director of personal training at Crunch Fitness.

Check out the exercises and our full gallery of Personal Trainer articles.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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Hospital stays of obese patients jumped by 112 percent between 1996 and 2004, rising from 797,000 to 1.7 million, according to a report by the Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

The report found that 126,000 hospital stays were of patients admitted for gastric bypass or other weight-loss surgery, according to a United Press International article. More than half were 18 to 44 years old, and the remaining patients were primarily ages 45 to 64. Women accounted for about 82 percent of all patients admitted for treatment of obesity.

Those admitted for other diseases accounted for the roughly 1.6 million other hospital stays. The greatest proportion, 7 percent, was for hardening of the arteries. Other leading conditions included congestive heart failure, osteoarthritis, skin infections, depression, diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder.

You can see more of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's findings in this program brief.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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A little more lean protein at breakfast will last you until lunch, according to a Los Angeles Times report.

"Protein blunts your hunger the most and is the most satiating," said Wayne Campbell, who leads a team investigating protein at Purdue University's Campbell Laboratory for Integrative Research in Nutrition, Fitness and Aging.

In October, Campbell and his colleagues reported at the annual meeting of the Obesity Society that women who added a little more lean protein to their breakfast — in this case, a slice of Canadian bacon added to an egg sandwich made with an English muffin — experienced less hunger over the next four hours compared with those who ate the sandwich sans bacon.

Read the complete story and let me know what you think.

-- Amanda Barrett. amNY.com

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The Atkins diet is protected by the First Amendment against the claims of a Florida man who said the low-carbohydrate meal plan was dangerous and to blame for his heart troubles, a Manhattan judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Denny Chin made the finding as he tossed a lawsuit in which Jody Gorran, of Delray Beach, Fla., claimed his cholesterol level shot up from 146 six months before he began the diet to 230 afterward, leading to severe chest pain and an angioplasty treatment.

Gorran, a wealthy businessman, wanted the judge to order warning labels be put on the Atkins books and other related merchandise similar to the way they exist on cigarette packages, according to an Associated Press report.

The judge said a book about the diet was not an advertisement for products but rather was a guide to leading a controlled carbohydrate lifestyle.

Besides, he noted, Gorran admitted he had consumed large amounts of pastrami and cheesecake, foods the average consumer expects may increase cholesterol levels and the risk of heart disease.

Now, I'm not trying to be mean, but pastrami and cheesecake????

Come on, get real. Just like any other plan, you gotta cut calories to lose weight.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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With the holiday eating season upon us, now is a good time to start planning to jump-start your fitness plan for the new year.

Stacy's Boot Camp, which runs fitness classes in Central Park, is offering a free 60-minute workout at 2:45 p.m. on New Year's Eve. The event is open to exercises of all experience levels. The group meets at 86th Street and Central Park West. Participants are warned that it is an intense outdoor workout, so you will need to wear exercise clothing and sneakers.

Pre-registration is required at www.stacysbootcamp.com.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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Can losing weight really be as simple as turning off our senses of smell and taste? A Boston company aims to find out.

The Boston Globe reported that Compellis Pharmaceuticals said it has been issued an initial patent for a nasal spray that aims to treat obesity by blocking the senses of smell and taste.

Compellis said it has demonstrated the effectiveness of its treatment in tests with animals and hopes to begin testing on people next year.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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I love to swim and of course, I shower daily, but it seems I can never get enough water inside my body.

Unless I've been working out, drinking water just isn't that appealing. Yet experts say water intake can help you make you feel fuller so you don't eat as much. And drinking water helps improve your skin tone.

That's why I've decided on a new tactic to help me consume more. I am going to take a page from Blake Sylvia's
Before, During and After plan, in which a dieter drinks a glass of water before a meal, one during and another afterward.

That will give me at least nine glasses of water a day, right up there with the recommended 9-12 per day.

Just make sure no one blocks my path to the restroom.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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An article from the Wilmingdon, Del. News Journal offered 13 little changes you can make to help you eat less and improve your waistline.

The ideas range from using a smaller dinner plate, to measuring food twice to make sure you have the right amounts to spliting meals with family and friends when you go out to dinner.

My favorite is to step away from the bag when having one of your favorite treats.

Check out the list and see what you can incorporate into your diet.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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The Board of Health took a big stand Tuesday, voting to make New York the first city in the nation to ban artificial trans fats in restaurant food.

Restaurants will be barred from using most frying oils containing artificial trans fats by July 1, and will have to eliminate the artificial trans fats from all of its foods by July 1, 2008.

The ban contains some exceptions; for instance, it would allow restaurants to serve foods that come in the manufacturer's original packaging.

I know many restaurants consider the rules a hardship, but I am all for the ban. Trans fats are thought to contribute to heart disease. And they are used in cooking all kinds of foods, from pastries to pizza to french fries, so they can be hard to avoid.

And while I don't exactly want Big Brother telling me what to eat, I do appreciate the effort to help prevent heart problems and hopefully, save us some health-care dollars.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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Is the obesity epidemic really as bad as it seems? Scientists have been struggling with this question for a while.

For an interesting take on the question, check out Linda Bacon's piece in the Los Angeles Times.

The associate nutritionist at UC Davis writes that our fears about fat may be misplaced.

"Although it is true that we're moderately fatter than we used to be, life expectancy has also increased dramatically during the same time period in which our weight has risen (from 71 years in 1970 to 77 years in 2003). Meanwhile, heart disease rates have plummeted, and many common diseases emerge at older ages and are less severe. We are simply not seeing the catastrophic consequences predicted to result from the 'obesity epidemic.' "

Check out the full article and see what you think.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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Women who are obese should focus on exercising, not dieting, to improve their health, according to British researchers.

A team from Leeds Metropolitan University and the University of Hull had 62 women from ages 24 to 55 work out about four hours a week, according to a BBC News article. The women were also were taught good eating habits, such as how to cook, and received social support.

They lost only a small amount of weight, but became significantly fitter with lower blood pressure, heart rate and cholesterol levels. Their respiratory fitness increased and they also felt better about themselves.

Dr Erika Borkoles, exercise psychologist at Leeds Metropolitan University said health professionals needed to shift their focus from weight loss to helping people become healthier.

"Don't go on a diet," she advised. "Change the way you eat, you can eat what you want in moderation."

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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Blogging one's way to weight loss has become very popular among dieters of all stripes, but for the first time, a governmental organization is using it to help officials lose weight.

Noritoshi Ishida and Keizo Takemi, vice-ministers in Japan's health ministry, have pledged to drop 11 pounds each in an effort to lead their country by example. A blog will chart their progress over the next six months.

"Considering my position as a vice-minister of health, I felt I had to do something about it," Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun quoted him as saying in a BBC News article.

I, for one, can testify to blogging helping you stay on the straight and narrow. There is an awesome power in knowing that the public is watching your diet, along with you.

Now, if my readers can just walk me through the holiday pitfalls, I'll really be okay.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

Posted by The Skinny on Fat at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The more time it takes you to eat a meal, the less food you will consume and the more you will enjoy it, according to a new study.

Women consumed about 70 fewer calories when they were told to take their time eating a meal of pasta and sauce, compared to when they were instructed to eat it as quickly as possible. They also rated the meal as more pleasant when they ate slowly.

"They got more pleasure for (fewer) calories, and more satiety for (fewer) calories," Dr. Kathleen Melanson of the University of Rhode Island in Kingston told Reuters Health.

Here's all the more reason to take a moment to savor your meals, instead of shoveling in your food in 10 minutes. Don't forget to eat at a table whenever possible and only concentrate on eating instead of reading or watching TV. Making mealtimes special definitely helps control mindless eating.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

Posted by The Skinny on Fat at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There have always been boarding school for teens, but one in California has a new twist -- it's a weight-loss academy.

The Academy of the Sierras, the nation's first weight-loss boarding school, is located in Reedley, Calif. It's a temporary home to 80 boys and girls who wage a battle against excess pounds and the pain that put them there, according to an article in the Chicago Tribune.

Students have classes in nutrition, cooking and fitness, in addition to regular subjects. They also have therapy sessions and exercise about three hours a day.

Check out the full story and see what you think.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

Posted by The Skinny on Fat at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

While tooling around the web today, I came across an unusual weight loss site called Maria's Last Diet.

It was unique in that instead offering you a diet plan, it gives you support to help you stay on whatever diet you choose.

The site, created by Kenneth Schwarz, Ph.D. is a psychologist and psychoanalyst, and his wife Julie, offers the struggles of Maria to stay on her diet. Maria, according to the site, is a fictionalized everywoman.

Dieters can find helpful articles, quizzes, questions of the week and psychological exercises to help them examine their relationships with food. One question that hit home for me was "Do you automatically respond to a situation by eating rather than considering a better solution?"

There is also a Dear Maria blog.

Check out Maria's Last Diet and get the support you need to make a better you.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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All week long, CBS Evening News has been telling the story of what it means to be overweight in America.

The stories have focused on whether obesity is a function of willpower or genetics, the business of dieting, portion control, the body mass index and more. Check out the obesity package and it's related video.

You can also see an interactive presentation on diet and nutrition.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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