The American Medical Association Adopts New Policy On BMI & Measuring Obesity. Here’s What You Need to Know

The American Medical Association (AMA) recently adopted a new policy regarding how BMI plays a role in measuring obesity. I’ve always stressed that body composition data, which will tell you how much muscle, fat and water your body contains, is far more important than BMI.

Having Lower Hemoglobin May Have Health Benefits

Recent research suggests that being at the lower end of the normal hemoglobin range may have some health benefits. So, it turns out that in the case of hemoglobin, less may be good.

Why You May Want to Get Up Close and Personal with Contact Thermography

In a nutshell, contact thermography is a tool that allows us to see what’s going on underneath the skin by detecting differences in temperature between different types of fats. It’s non-invasive, pain-free and utilizes Encapsulated Liquid Crystal plates to locate fat precisely.

How Being Skinny Fat Can Make You Lose Your Mind

Have you ever heard someone refer to another person as “skinny fat?” If you are not familiar with this oxymoron, skinny fat essentially means that a person looks skinny but actually has a body with little muscle and a high amount of fat.

You May Not be Overweight or Obese, but Are You Overfat?

We sometimes feel pressured to lose weight, so we can look a certain way. But my opinion is that we need to focus less on losing weight and more on losing fat!

If you have lipedema, weight gain is a disorder and not your fault

If you’ve ever felt like no amount of dieting and exercise works on your bottom half, read on. There’s a relatively common fat disorder called lipedema, often mistaken for simple obesity. It is estimated to affect 10 million to 17 million Americans, with signature characteristics of a slim upper body with large hips and legs.

How to actually lose weight and keep it off

On the show “The Biggest Loser,” participants arrive seriously obese, then drop pounds dramatically with a combination of intense exercise and carefully planned eating. But after the show, many contestants gain it all back. So how can non-reality show people keep the weight off, then?

Extreme obesity may be taking years off a person’s life

Obesity is on the rise, not only in the United States but around the world. According to the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013, more than a third of all adults are now overweight or obese. But despite how common it is to be overweight or obese, body weight can be a difficult topic to discuss. It is often discussed in the context of how you look and feel. But we would be remiss if we didn’t talk to you about your quality of life and life expectancy too. We want you to love yourself and love how you look and feel, but we also want you to enjoy a long and healthy life.

Ditch the scale

You are unique. That’s why one-size-fits-all doesn’t really work when it comes to your health. So why are you still using a scale? Two people may weigh exactly 150 lbs. but have drastically different body shapes, builds and sizes, with very different ratios of muscle and fat. Their fitness goals and the way those goals are reached are going to be totally unique.

What are the dangers of weight loss pills?

You step on the scale in your bathroom, hoping your weight hasn't gone up again. You know all your clothing has become a little tighter, but lately, you've been way too busy, and at the end of the night, you are exhausted. To your dismay, the number has gone up. You've tried joining a gym, but that only lasts a month. And you've tried diets, but you just don’t have the time or energy. If this sounds like you, perhaps you have considered giving weight loss pills a try. Here’s what you need to know.

New Year’s resolution for weight loss – What actually works?

Most people know that there is an obesity epidemic in the U.S. Although excessive food intake and lack of activity remain the main culprits, there are many reasons why people become overweight. Some of them include more sugar being added to foods, environmental toxins, excessive antibiotic use, diet drinks, hormone-treated cattle, increase in stress levels and lack of sleep. The problem is only getting worse.

Slow and steady wins the race! Losing weight too fast can be dangerous

If you’ve watched certain TV shows, then you’ve seen some pretty astronomical weight loss numbers, with many contestants dropping upwards of 10 pounds a week! Or perhaps you’ve witnessed pretty dramatic weight loss in real life -- that aunt who looks unrecognizable at the family reunion after following a rigorous diet, or that co-worker who found his stride at the gym and seems noticeably thinner each week. They might look better, feel better, and think they’re getting healthier. But did you know that if you lose weight too quickly, you may actually be putting your health in jeopardy?