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Figures.  I just finished writing about how weight loss devices don't help you lose weight.  And now experts are saying cell phones can do the trick. That's because cell phones can besiege you with reminder texts about losing weight and maintaining it.   I say "besiege" because that's the absolute last thing I would want from my phone.  (I barely tolerate the texts from my friends.) “In conjunction with reducing caloric intake and increasing physical activity, mobile messaging services could help to maintain and sustain weight loss over time,” says Tanika Kelly, associate professor of epidemiology at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, who did a study on this.   “It reminds us to continue our good behaviors.” In the study, done in China (where, admittedly, not too many people are overweight), those who got weight loss reminders and encouragement over their phones lost 3 pounds more than those who did not.  That may...

I read this list with some trepidation.  What am I eating that I thought was good for losing weight that really isn't (though the scale probably tells me, anyway)? According to Greg Presto at yahoo health, the list contains some foods that are obvious, and others that aren't. Like, take, for example, Dannon Light&Fit yogurt.  I live on the Greek kind (hope that's not next!), but this one, says Presto, takes t he "light" part--removing the fat from the yogurt--a step that actually makes it less satisfying, "so you're bound to be starving an hour after eating." What's worse is the fat is replaced with sugar, 16 grams of carbs, 11 of which are, you guessed it, sugar. That's a popular trick of many "light" foods. They have to make it taste good somehow. Next foe of diets: instant breakfast drinks.  More than 50% of their ingredients are, yes, again, sugar. " This super-sweet beverage can actually make you hungrier,...

Hmm.  Somebody should let Weight Watchers know.  For years it's been promoting drinking water -- and lots of it -- in order to lose weight. Now a new study says it doesn't help at all.  “There is very little evidence that drinking water promotes weight loss; it is one of those self-perpetuating myths,” said Beth Kitchin, Ph.D., R.D., assistant professor of nutrition sciences, tells newswise.com. “I’m not saying drinking water isn’t good; but only one study showed people who drank more water burned a few extra calories, and it was only a couple of extra calories a day.” Another myth? Kitchin says you don't need to drink 8 glasses of water a day. “Yes, people do need to get fluids; but it does not have to be water,” Kitchin said at newswise.com. “There’s no evidence that it melts away fat or makes you feel fuller, so if you don’t like water it’s OK.” While water remains the best hydrator, fluid replacement does not have to be in the form of water. You could als...

So maybe you're not fat enough to need bariatric surgery . But it gives those who choose it an unfair advantage over the rest of us.  It just may turn back the clock. According to newswise.com, "Stanford University researchers say surgical weight loss may turn back the effects of aging at a genetic level." Scientists measured the length of patients' telomeres.  Telomeres, or chromosome caps, are genetic biomarkers that play an important role in cellular aging and in the development of disease. "As people age or have chronic disease, their telomeres become shorter," the Web site reports.  But bariatric surgery somehow lengthens them. While patients who underwent this surgery saw their bad cholesterol and high levels of inflammation decrease, they also saw their telomeres grow longer. The length of telomeres is significant, because every time they divide, they get shorter. And the shorter they are, the shorter your life may be.  But that doesn’t mean ...

Want to know why you're not losing weight even with all the activity monitors and mobile apps out there? According to newswise.com, these gadgets are good for measuring your exercise and fitness levels, but they do nothing for the most important part of dieting -- motivating. Says newswise.com, "Current weight loss apps lack proven behavioral strategies, such as stress reduction, advice about managing social cues, dealing with negative thinking and time management." I had an activity monitor this summer and I loved it.  I kept exercising more and more to record higher levels every day.  Then I left it clipped to my running t-shirt when I did the wash.  It survived the washing machine (as it had once before). The killer was the dryer. So now I don't have one, and I'm probably exercising a little less (though I did add swimming to my year-round exercise this year, along with running). Many of the country’s 285 million mobile phone subscribers want to lo...

Big surprise.  Women who are frequently encouraged by their significant others to lose weight are more likely to resort to unhealthy measures, such as fasting and diet pills, according to a new study  by the Health Behavior News Service, part of the Center for Advancing Health, reported at newswise.com. Almost half of the participants said their significant other encouraged them to diet. Unhealthy weight control behaviors -- fasting, using diet pills, and self-induced vomiting -- and some of the more extreme ways young adults try to control their weight, are often the beginning of more severe eating disorders, depression and other health problems, the study found. I'm a big fan of the shows on addiction and intervention, and I can't count on one hand the number of episodes that show young women -- even pregnant women -- hovering over the toilet as all the food they've eaten -- or binged on -- pours out.   I'm fortunate.  My husband could care less w...

So maybe, just maybe, it's not a plan, after all.  A new study has found what many of us have already figured out.  If you do away with large soda sizes, people will just buy more small sizes. According to Lara Salahi in The Boston Globe, "People may end up drinking as much or more soda when they are offered smaller beverage sizes, according to a study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego." She adds that the study suggests that this may totally wipe out any gains from NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg's ban on mega-sized drinks. The mayor, bless his heart, was hoping to get people to adopt more healthy habits overall to cut down on obesity and the diseases like diabetes and heart problems that it can induce.  But many people would rather give up on losing weight than lose their freedom to drink big. And now it looks like it doesn't matter, anyway. Along the same lines, remember when you were in elementary school and all the brownies and ic...

Just what I needed.  A fork that tells me how much I eat. Isn't that what mothers-in-law are for? http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/dieters-dream-a-smart-fork-that-tracks-your-eating-habits/9610?tag=nl.e660&s_cid=e660