Do you watch what you eat Monday through Friday but eat what ever you want over the weekend? A Washington University School of Medicine study found that you could be sabotaging your weight-loss efforts. Carefree eating over the weekend could cause you to gain an accumulative 10 pounds a year.

Those in the intervention groups showed a slowdown in progress on the weekends as well, due to extra calorie consumption. The participants in the reduced-calorie group lost weight during the week, but stopped losing on weekends because they were eating more, Racette said. Those in the increased-activity group kept up their exercise through the entire week, but though they lost weight during the week, they gained it on the weekend because they didn't burn enough calories to make up for the extra food they consumed.

Over time, that pattern slows down weight loss progress for people who are following a particular diet or exercise plan, Racette said, which could lead to frustration when the pounds don't come off as quickly as expected. "They're working really hard during the week, but then they allow themselves to be more casual on weekends, and they end up being a lot more casual," she said. "If it were to continue every weekend, then it could lead to substantial gain over the year because they're not completely making up for it during the week."

The main culprit for the increased calories seemed to be fat -- an average of 36 percent of the study participants' calories came from fat on the weekends, with less than 35 percent coming from fat during the week. The kinds of foods that people often eat on weekends -- convenience foods and junk foods -- are often high in fat, and fat is higher in calories than protein or carbs.

It occurred to the researchers that water retention due to excess sodium intake could be behind the higher numbers on the scale on the weekends, Racette said, but evaluation of the data showed that there wasn't a significant increase. CALERIE follows older people, she pointed out -- younger people may have a weekend diet with more alcohol and high-sodium foods, and that could increase the effect on weight.

The key to keeping the risk of weekend weight gain in check is consistency, Racette advised. Being aware of what you're eating on the weekends and setting yourself up for healthy choices by planning ahead can help you maintain your weight or keep weight loss going through the entire week. The study participants had to weigh themselves daily, which increased their awareness of small weight changes before they became big ones. They also kept a careful record of what they ate; keeping a food diary can help you see patterns in your diet, she said.

SOURCE: REUTERS

Leptin is a hormone that has been found to help the brain resist tempting foods. The natural appetite suppressant was discovered in the 1990s when researchers found leptin caused mice to eat less and lose weight. Since then they have been trying to find a way to use leptin to help treat obesity.

In earlier studies, researchers found that when people lose weight, leptin levels fall as the body tries to protect its energy stores.

Rosenbaum investigated the impact of this loss of leptin on the brains of people who had lost weight, and whether replacing the hormone might help them keep off the weight.

He used an imaging technique known as functional magnetic resonance imaging that shows activity in the brain. The researchers studied six obese patients before and after going on a hospital-supervised diet that reduced their body weight by 10 percent.

People were shown pictures of food and non-food items, such as an apple or a yo-yo. The researchers found that after weight loss, areas in the brain responsible for regulating food intake were less active when people were shown food images. Areas in the brain responsible for emotion were more active.

When the researchers restored leptin to the levels before the dieting, these changes were largely reversed.

SOURCE: AOL

As promised I'm here to share the much anticipated details of how Christina Aguilera got her body back. In just four months, the 5-foot-2 star shed almost all the 40 pounds she gained with son Max. This is
how she did it:

HER GOAL: Her goal was to get back into her favorite pair of extra-small jeans from Hysteric Glamour.

HER WORKOUT: She had rigorous 90-minute workouts with her trainer 5 days a week. For cardio she does 40 minutes of intervals on either the treadmill or elliptical. She also does 40 minutes of strength training, like bicep curls, chest presses, pushups and lunges (three sets of 8-12 reps). She finishes up with 300 different ab exercies such as crunches and 10 minutes of stretching.

HER DIET: She started watching her carbs and startches and switched from white bread to wheat bread.

Breakfast- Scrambled eggs, a whole-wheat English muffin with PB&J
Snack- Fruit
Lunch- Tuna sandwhich on whole-what bread
Snack- Cheddar or string cheese
Dinner- Chicken or fish with a large salad

SOURCE: Us Weekly

"It Mom", Gwyneth dishes about her vices and losing weight in V Magazine:

"I put on 40 pounds with Moses. And I found it really hard to loose the last 20 pounds," Paltrow, 35, admits. "I didn't mind having the big boobs. But it was the stomach roll, the back fat, and the post-pregnant butt. And it was so hard to get rid of."

She did it with by eating "organic, seasonal food that isn't processed."

"I haven't eaten meat for about fifteen years. I eat fish, a little bit of dairy – not much milk – but I love cheese," she adds. "We'll make chocolate chip cookies and eat them, but sugar makes me feel pretty bad. I have coffee and wine. I've got lots of lovely vices!" SOURCE

She must be doing something right, because her body looks amazing.

For years low calorie and zero calorie sweeteners have been under much scrutiny. Although these faux sweeteners are associated with numerous health problems, some are willing to take that risk in exchange for a lower calorie count. However, a new study reveals that real sugar may be better for your waist line than the fake stuff.

In a series of experiments, scientists at Purdue University compared weight gain and eating habits in rats whose diets were supplemented with sweetened food containing either zero-calorie saccharin or sugar. The report, published in Behavioral Neuroscience, presents some counterintuitive findings: Animals fed with artificially sweetened yogurt over a two-week period consumed more calories and gained more weight — mostly in the form of fat — than animals eating yogurt flavored with glucose, a natural, high-calorie sweetener. It's a continuation of work the Purdue group began in 2004, when they reported that animals consuming saccharin-sweetened liquids and snacks tended to eat more than animals fed high-calorie, sweetened foods. The new study, say the scientists, offers stronger evidence that how we eat may depend on automatic, conditioned responses to food that are beyond our control.

Are these findings enough to change your opinion of artificial sweeteners, or will you need more hard evidence? I read another interesting study, that found When rats were allowed to choose mutually-exclusively between water sweetened with saccharin (an intense calorie-free sweetener)and intravenous cocaine (a highly addictive and harmful substance) the large majority of animals (94%) preferred the sweet taste of saccharin. That sounds pretty sketchy to me.

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