Qnexa, a diet drug for weight loss and obesity has been rejected after lots of R&D and I’m sure big hopes by the many people who struggle with obesity as well as the drug maker that this would make it to market after promising studies showed a substantial benefit in weight loss.

The drug combines two different drugs, one a stimulant which suppresses appetite and the other a medication that is meant to stop seizures (anti convulsant). The combination had high hopes for helping those that were having a hard time losing weight, but ultimately an FDA panel rejected it and recommended it not be approved to go to market in the weight loss industry.

The reason? Well, even though a pretty remarkable benefit was shown by those that were taking it versus those that were not, the risks outweigh the benefit and when that happens, as expected, the FDA has the right to reject it.

It actually was among several other hopeful diet drugs that were being presented to the FDA for possible approval, so we’ll see if any of the others will get through the fairly rigorous and sometimes considered ambiguous process of approval.

I must admit I find it odd that this drug was rejected and yet very serious medical pain relievers that are causing thousand of people to become almost instant addicts were approved without much ado.

However, I must say that the potential side effects are not good for Qnexa. Some of the ones that were identified were suicidal thoughts, increased heart rate and potential birth defects in women who bore children while on the drug or that had been on the drug (it is not clear exactly which one).

The primary reason behind the disapproval was the concern over safety and the lack of enough data to back up that it was safe enough to introduce to the general public. However, the studies showing it’s effectiveness impressed everyone, pretty much showing that it may have been the most effective weight loss drug on the market had it been approved.

I have always, and always will in to the future I am sure, battled the war of the thighs. Thighs run in my family. Although the women in my family are generally fairly petite, we have always had a little “kadunkadunk” in the back end and a little extra on the sides of our thighs as well. Even at my thinnest and most fit shape, I still have that slight “pear shape” the my booty and thighs. Hey, I’m glad to have the body I do, and believe me, I’m glad that I’m healthy and fit to begin with.

Buttttt….there are always things we can do to improve ourselves. And thighs that are a little bigger than you want them can be quite a challenge. Not only that, the thighs are one of the most common complaints of women, because they are so hard to target and they are so hard to pare down.

One of the moves you can try, in conjunction with some really good interval cardio to get the fat off sooner as well, is a curtsy lunge. The curtsy lunge is a great thigh toner, because it targets those dreaded “saddle bags” that you carry on the sides of your thighs. You know, those lovely things that seems to spread out enormously when you sit down?

A curtsy lunge is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. You start off with your legs shoulder width apart. Then, you take your right leg first, behind your left, and bow into a sort of backwards bow, or curtsy. You will feel the sides of your thighs and your glutes tighten up when you do this move, and the better toned you are in this area, the more “pulled in” you will appear.

Now, don’t get me wrong, you cannot get rid of saddlebags just with exercise alone, you must combine this with eating right, because saddle bags are very stubborn. But you can definitely help tone and shape them by doing targeted exercises like the curtsy lunge. And they’re fun to do too!

In fitness cardio workout is an important key element. There is no sport or activity that does not require the need of a cardio workout. Most common of all cardio exercises is running which provides the body with improved blood circulation, trained breathing lungs and stronger muscle.

Now, not every small town or city has the terrain good running mileage. Running can be quite boring when you run in circles on a football court. Interesting form of running is from one place to another without the need to make circles.

To compensate on running when the weather is not on your side, there are fitness equipment that gives the same exercise results as running in the comfort of your own home; The Treadmill and an Elliptical fitness machine.

What is the difference? First of all, lets make a note that both of the machines are perfect for fitness exercising, They both are able to make the body sweat as if you are running in the park. Sweating means that body workout is ‘on the right track’; blood circulation speeds up, lungs are practiced for better breathing, normalizing heart rate, and etc.

The difference is obvious: Elliptical fitness machines lynch the pain in your joints and ankles that you probably get while running. When on a treadmill, and when running classical style, knees and joints are experiencing impact every time the foot touches the ground. These impacts are quite small in the beginning, but after 10 minutes of running they seriously affect the stamina of your body.

Elliptical machines don’t make this kind of problem. They are designed to rotate the legs in the same manner as when running, without a foot impact on the ground. The feet remain stationary positioned on the pedals and make elliptical rotations.

Balance on the elliptical machine is maintained with two handles for the hands that move forward and backwards along with the movement of the legs. This is the difference between the elliptical machine and the treadmill; the elliptical machine includes the hands in the workout, while in running hands have no role.

But a good thing about a treadmill is that there is an option on it allowing you to lift the treadmill a little higher; simulating running uphill. This type of running is advanced in character and puts more pressure on the thigh muscles giving it more power.

The choice on which machine is better varies from athlete to athlete. Treadmills gives more strength and is much more challenging with the cost of joint pains; the elliptical machine is more for cardio workout excluding any pain in the joints or knees.

It’s so funny to think that two sports that I always dreaded having to play as a kid, because it usually meant being humiliated due to the competitive nature of gym class and also because I had almost zero athletic skills and hand eye coordination as a kid, are two of the best summer sports to play at parties. Not only are they fun to play when you’re putting a few beers back at summer parties, but they also happen to be great sports for burning calories in the summer heat.

You do a lot of running back and forth in both of these games, and that’s where you get the majority of your workout done. It’s not so much hitting the volley ball or the birdie with your racket that works your body out, but it’s like basketball, you’re constantly running back and forth chasing the ball.

The last time I played volley ball, it was pretty hot outside, and I was really out of breath at the end of the game, and sweating a lot to boot. It’s a great way to brush up on your hand eye coordination and keep your mind sharp because your mind has to be “on” the whole time.

A badminton set with two rackets and two birdies will cost you only about five bucks at Wal-Mart. And, if you’ve already got a net, then all you need are the birdies and the rackets. And then, of course if you have a net, you just need to buy the volleyball to play a couple different sports at once.

Both games are really fun, and just about anyone can do them. They get you moving, and they’re a great conversation piece afterwards, so you’re not all just sitting around like bumps on a log instead of engaging in physical activity.

Make sure you wear good tennis shoes, because if you don’t, you’re feet will slip and slide all over, especially if you’re wearing flip flops, which is the mistake I made a couple weeks ago, I was slipping and sliding all over.I’m lucky I didn’t blow my ankle out!

I must admit, I’m getting a little tired of the fear mongering that seems to be perpetuated by the media lately. I’ve heard horror stories of kids and adults getting mysterious bacterial infections from swimming in lakes and ponds, and have heard the stories about swimming in the ocean too. They range from shark attacks to other nebulous sea creature attacks, and weird reactions to stepping on urchins and so on and so forth.

If you want to get right down to it, just about every physical activity carries with it some sort of fairly obscure, rare risk with it. Even running on roads seems to be dangerous sometimes when you hear random stories about people getting hit with cars. But what are you supposed to do, be limited to only working out in your basement for physical activity, and never enjoying the great outdoors and the variety of fun, heart pumping activities it offers?

Heck, weight machines can fall over on you and malfunction if you want to get technical, anyways. The most recent scare tactic was a report that came out saying that people may be getting sick more after they went to the ocean. The trick was that the people that went for a dip in the water instead of just staying on the beach and soaking up the rays, actually had a higher incidence of getting things like stomach problems or even cold and flu symptoms more than the people who didn’t go for a dip.

Apparently the concern is the pollution and bacteria that might be in the water which can enter the body and make one sick. So what are you supposed to do, never go in the ocean even when you’re on a gorgeous vacation where the crystal blue water is beckoning? I don’t know guys, I call foul on this one. I’m going to take my chances, and the next time I’m near the ocean, I’m still going in, sickness be damned!

In a surprising turn, at least for me, there have been reports that kids in the UK are actually more obese than kids here in the US.  This is surprising because it has been the US that has been in the spotlight for so long with increasing childhood obesity, and of course the skyrocketing cases of adult obesity as well. This is all in the wake of numerous government and privately sponsored programs that are meant to decrease the incidence of childhood obesity and increase their exercise and dieting awareness.

Gym classes in elementary schools are even being revamped to include more actual activity time for the kids, so that they get their exercise in every day at school, rather than sit like lumps on logs all day. If you ask me, this one is long overdue. I remember sitting in class all day and not being able to focus just because I had SO much energy to burn off as a kid and sitting their all day made me nervous and anxious, not to mention tired!

Kids need to run around, and with the advent of video games, I think we really started to see a drastic decrease in kids physical activity and a subsequent increase in obesity. Kids need to move around – period. Not only for their physical health, but also for their mental health.  We need to have kids on structure fitness programs when they are in school, as this should be part of the learning process and helping them to develop good habits, and how to actually enjoy physical fitness. If you ask me, it’s more important than half the classes they have kids taking now!

If we start with kids when they’re young teaching them things that they will love to do that gets them plenty of cardio exercise and getting their heart rate up, chances are that the rest of the healthy lifestyle like eating well and being mindful of other things will follow. If we make this part of their school regimen, then we are not just strictly putting it in the hands of parents who may or may not know how to teach their children the healthiest habits they can be teaching them.

This is the job of the schools, not just to teach the kids about math, but also to teach them how to live longer, happier and healthier lives. In the end, it would benefit kids in the UK and here in the US, and they would pass these same habits on to their kids, and so on and so forth.

It seems that more and more evidence is mounting that the best way to burn fat and keep muscle on the body while getting rid of body fat is to do a regimen at least a few times a week where you are getting short bursts of extremely physical, hard activity, followed by short recovery periods.  I had first talked about this a few months ago when my husband and I began doing circuit training which used this principle, and we both lost a lot of weight for working out for only about 25 minutes to a half hour.

It truly did seem that this short burst of activity was working better for us than the consistent activity we had performed in our home gym, say on our elliptical machine, or at the gym outside of home on the treadmill. The typical gym session for me consists of about a half hour of pure, consistent cardio, not anything really intense, but constant moving on a treadmill, recumbent bike or elliptical machine, followed by weight work and floor work like abs and pushups to tone my muscles.

Turns out that I could have gotten a lot more out of this time by making sure I was alternative really hard, agressive and explosive movements, by periods of recovery.

Findings now are pointing to the fact that this type of exercise, where you do really hard activity for thirty seconds, until you feel like you literally couldn’t do a second more, it’s so taxing, then you follow it up with 90 seconds of recovery where you are going at a normal pace (not slow, but still working out), then go on your thirty second round again with intensity, and do this for about twenty minutes until you’ve completed around 9 cycles or more, you will get much more out of it.

Your body apparently works more of something called “white muscle” which burns fat and calories much more intensely than the other muscles of your body. This white muscle really kicks it into high gear when your body is extremely taxed. So you are working this on and off for the whole time, burning that fat and getting a deeper, more effective workout, building endurance and burning several more calories and fat.

I tried this on the recumbent bike at my work gym a few times, and believe me, you are sweating a LOT more than if you did a regular half hour on the thing!  I was sweating my butt off after 15 minutes, whereas it normally takes me a little longer to do that when I’m on the bike.

We’ve all had moments where we feel like our hearts are going to beat out of our chests. Where we feel like the hectic nature of our day will never let up, and that we won’t catch a break until we’re laying in our beds sleeping that night.

When you catch moments or even whole days like this where you literally can’t find a few moments to just sit there and take a deep breath, these are the moments when it becomes even more important that you take a few minutes out of your day to breathe deeply, and rejuvenate your body by sending fresh oxygen to every cell and muscle, reawakening your energy and your basic bodily functions.

The sad thing is, most of us don’t know how to breathe properly. It took yoga to help me figure out that I was breathing much too shallowly most of the time. I felt the invigoration of deep breathing, the powerful way that it calmed my body and the way that the deep yogic breathing’s sound actually helped further quiet my mind and allowed me to think straight and in an unencumbered way that I hadn’t experienced before.

You see, when you breathe properly, it instantly de-stresses your muscles, joints and even your mind.  When you don’t breathe properly, it actually restricts the amount of oxygen flow that your body is getting, and you tend to not be able to breathe as well and this actually leads to even shallower breathing, which sometimes gives you a panicky, light headed feeling.

You may want to actually close your eyes when you are doing deep breathing techniques. Doing this helps you to shut out the outside world and helps you to focus more on the sound of your breathing, which can be very relaxing and invigorating.  You also will want to focus on a place far away. I like to imagine that I’m on a beach, with no one around, with only the sound of the waves crashing on the beach. I imagine the warm sun is bearing down on me, and warming my body with it’s radiant heat, and that my whole body is relaxed.

I actually try to steal away to the bathroom at work when I do this. It helps me to escape any prying eyes, and lets me be by myself during this very quiet and restorative time.

What are the effects of a Human Growth Hormone (HGH) deficiency in, and how can it make you more fit and energetic and help to increase health and ward off aging?

There are reports suggesting that age-related problems can be helped by supplemental doses of human growth hormone (HGH). Our body naturally produces HGH when we are young, but its production declines as we age. Amazingly though, the consequences of the age-related deficiency in HGH are said to be reversed by supplemental doses of HGH.
Peak levels of HGH are observed during the growth phase of life.

After longitudinal growth stop, production of HGH starts to drop and as one age, levels of HGH falls dramatically. Older adults may eventually become fully deficient of HGH. Since HGH has been involved in speeding up repair of cells and tissues as well as in optimization of the body function and composition, changes in the body function and composition becomes apparent.

Age-related deficiency of HGH is associated with increased body weight, insulin resistance, muscle wasting, dry skin, neurological impairment, low sex drive and lack of energy. A myriad of degenerative disease also occur during the adult phase of life including cancers, heart diseases and osteoporosis.  Presently however, people in their eighties and nineties who are still looking healthy and vibrant is quite normal. These people may have embarked on HGH therapy where they could enjoy wide range of benefits.

Benefits of HGH Replacement Therapy

HGH supports the production of other hormones hence the decline in HGH production during adulthood affects the production of other hormones. Aging reduces the levels of melatonin, steroids and many other hormones. But when HGH-deficient adults were given HGH supplements, they are said to have gained energy, have increased muscle strength and mass and improved mental abilities and psychological attitude.

Supplemental HGH increases the levels of HGH hence it also stimulates production of other hormones. The positive effects of HGH supplements are to be attributed to its stimulation of HGH to produce estrogen which protects from bone loss, testosterone which helps in building muscles and DHEA and pregnenalone which elevates mood.

The list of benefits from HGH grows by the day. Aside from the commonly known benefits of HGH, many other benefits from HGH supplements were reported. These include revitalization of the liver and brain functions, increased exercise capacity, increased volume of thymus gland, enhanced function of the immune system, increased kidney blood flow and efficiency, improved body heat function, reduced risk fro cardiovascular diseases and general enhancement of ones sense of well-being.

How Do HGH Supplements Work?

Supplements work by increasing the levels of HGH in the body either by directly adding more HGH through injections or stimulating the pituitary gland to produce natural HGH. Injections of this hormone are very expensive and not everyone can have access to them. HGH injections may also alter the function of the pituitary gland since it would be loading the body with synthetic HGH.

In contrast, HGH supplements do not add any synthetic form of HGH in the body. These supplements are a “releaser” which works by stimulating natural production of HGH. Since HGH supplants work well with the body, it has no side effects. Being more affordable, the supplement form could be a better way to prevent or at least delay the onset of aging.

So, I guess it should be no surprise that different people react differently, metabolically speaking, when it comes to the benefits we gain from working out. Research is now showing that like so many other oddities of the human biological profile, your metabolism is totally different when it comes to how it is affected by exercise, when compared with other people. This means that people may vary in the rewards they reap from working out. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t work out though.

If anything, it should be a kick in the pants to make sure you work out all the time, and not only that, but that you are also pushing your body to your personal maximum at least a few times a week, to push your metabolism levels up and get the most cardio benefit out of it too.

When testing for the benefits of exercise in various people, it was found that some people experienced a much longer post-exercise period where their metabolisms seemed to be on high than others.  Some may only experience fractions of an hour with a higher metabolism and energy rates, while some may go an hour or more with this higher burning rate.  This also goes for energy levels as well. Some may experience much more profound jumps in their energy levels than others.

As we had talked about before, there is also new research pointing to another interesting fact about working out and burning calories and fat.  Apparently, if you work out on an empty stomach, or at least a few hours after you’ve last eaten, you will probably burn more fat, and hence, burn more calories off your problem areas, than if you work out after a quick snack.

I know I’m going to try to practice this, but it will be hard.  It’s hard to work out without a lot of fuel, but there are times when I haven’t eaten in a few hours where I’m not ready to eat. For people like me, who need to eat every few hours or their blood sugar goes all haywire, this may be a  bit of a challenge, but for others not so much.  Whatever type you are, know that you will get so much benefit from exercising. The evidence is overwhelming that those who exercise enjoy greater physical and mental health, and may also enjoy longer lives with less disease.