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 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!

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.

You’ve seen these types of people before. In fact, I believe I know a few myself!  They’re those people, men and women, who just can’t seem to sit still for a moment of the day, and even when they sit still, they still seem to be shifting around in the seat a lot , or constantly busy doing “something” other than watching television or even reading.  They’re the fidgets, as we’ve dubbed them.

They can’t stand to stand still for very long, and this is why they are constantly up and around, moving, nervously tapping their legs or feet even when they are sitting down, or even just nervously twiddling their thumbs.  It’s not that they’ve had too much caffeine (although that can certainly factor into it), it’s more like they’re just naturally more active and can’t stand still for very long because they have a sort of ADD of the mind where they can never truly rest until they have settled into bed for the night.

One of the great things about being a fidgeter is that you may actually burn up to 300 – that’s right, 300 more calories, per day just because you are a nervous person.  I thought this figure might be bunk, but when I really thought about the people I know who fit into this category, not one of them was overweight!  They were actually all some of the thinnest people I’ve ever known.

Actually, there are quite a few things that moving around can do for you during the day that not only may affect your weight or even your weight loss efforts, but also things like heart health and mental health. Moving around frequently, even when in a sitting position, actually helps to stimulate your metabolism and your circulation, which means that it is better for maintaining a healthy weight and a healthy heart.

So, next time you’re sitting still, make it a point to tap your toes or twiddle your thumbs, you never know how many extra calories you may be burning!

For about the past decade, maybe a little less, there has been a TON of attention focused on the dangers of having a lot of belly, or visceral fat.  What this means basically is that you have have a big gut, in layman’s terms.  What it means for your body is something all together dangerous.  We all seem to have somewhat of an innate sense of what it right and what is wrong for our bodies.

We know that if we have a protruding amount of fat on our midsection, it can’t be good. After all, we were meant to be sculpted in this area, like the warriors that we once were, hunting and scavenging for food, being lithe and quick and not having all that fat to bog us down and make us slow. It goes back to survival of the fittest, and when you have too much fat bogging you down, you have a sense that this cannot be good for your body, and that your very survival and disease-free state is at stake.

Sure enough, guts were found to be dangerous to the human body. A strong correlation was found between belly fat (guts) and heart disease and heart attacks.  This visceral fat, which wedges itself in between your organs and causes more stress on everything, including your heart, the very important organ that keeps blood and oxygen pumping through your body, puts stress on the heart.

Now, new evidence shows that there is also a definite link between belly fat and dementia.  Patients who had belly fat were much more likely to develop dementia. Now, heart health and dementia are endangered? Definitely time to do something about that belly fat!

Why does it affect your heart so?  You see, when your heart is under more stress than it is meant to handle, it begins to pump too hard, it has to work twice as hard to do the same job. Your blood pressure goes up, which means that the heart valves and other working parts of the heart are put under constant stress. What happens when something like this is put under constant stress and high pressure?  Well, it wears out more quickly of course.

When your heart simply “wears out”, you start to see evidence of it. You may notice that you can’t do physical activities as nimbly as you used to, you may notice you are out of breath more quickly going up those stairs, and you may not even be able to perform some of the physical activities you used to.  These are all danger signs that your belly fat has affected your heart. The best way to get rid of belly fat is by aerobic exercise and diet.

This helps to get the fat out of the abdominal area and restore your health. Aerobic activity is vital to speeding up the loss of belly fat. Without it, you won’t get the results that will most benefit your heart and mental health.

I know for us women, sometimes we want to keep our biceps toned down a bit. We want definition, but we usually don’t want to look like we’ve been taking steroids. We want to look feminine, yet strong, and we want to definitely get the lean definition that so many women envy in arms – like the arms of Sarah Jessica Parker for example. But guys are a little different. First of all, men’s biceps are one of the easiest spots to firm up and bulk up because they are just very easily targeted in workouts.

However, like us women, they find their triceps and other little sinews of the arm muscles a bit tougher to bulk up and lean down. There are actually ways that you can maximize the burn and the bulking up of your biceps if you’re a guy – or a woman, who wants to get this area toned and ripped.

Many times you’ll hear trainers recommend that you alternate very heavy, slow lifting, with lighter lifting and more repetition to help burn the fat layers off to reveal the muscle and to also help bulk up the muscle quickly. This is still a good way to not only get that chiseled look, but also to burn fat off the body in general very quickly, and this of course translates to burning more calories off more quickly, so it’s a win/win situation.

Weight machines are excellent, the kind you find at most gyms, to help vary the weight you’re working with, and the positions in which you are working the muscles, so getting to the gym is a good idea if you’re really wanting to target and blast certain areas. However if you have a great home gym with the right equipment that always works too. It’s all about variation and

Boy, I’m telling you, this is one of the worst cases of cabin fever I’ve had in quite a long time. Even though I know my husband and I can’t afford it right now, I’m so tempted to just book us a quick little trip to Mexico, I keep getting emails on these great deals to sunny, warm destinations where I could actually not be bundled up and be comfortable, how tempting!

Not only that, I just want to get outdoors, run, stretch my legs, and get physical. Maybe do some things out in the garden and get my hands dirty again, smell the earth and the new greenery growing and hear the birds chirp again. Oh yeah, and see that yellow disk in the sky that’s been so shy as of late.

If you have spring fever, then you can do a few things to try to get over it. You can go on a vacation where you can work out and jog outside if you want, lay on the beaches and hike in the warmth and be the physical creature that you want to be, or maybe you can pay to go in a sauna. We love our infrared sauna, it really helps us feel like we’re escaping the cold in the middle of the winter when you feel like you’re one big popsicle all day long.

Or, you can maybe get some great workout dvd’s that show tropical, outdoor scenery. It sounds kind of ridiculous and trivial, but I love watching the Gilad shows Total Body Sculpt and his other one too, because they are exercising outdoors in Hawaii. It sort of makes me feel like I’m there with them, and the moves they do certainly make me feel like I’m sweating it out on the beach.

Cabin fever is bound to take hold when you live in an area, like I do, where it snows a lot in the winter and the temperatures are cold enough to keep you indoors most of the time. However, if you choose the right outlets, you can escape the winter doldrums in your own home!

I saw an interesting headline that I just had to watch the other day on the news that said that exercise is actually not beneficial for some people in regards to helping them maintain or lose weight. Some people can exercise every day, and still look like they have never exercised, and the study that was originated in the UK wanted to look at why about 4 out of 5 people who work out do not really see any type of weight loss benefit or weight maintenance benefit from doing so.

The study though, I think puts the more important aspects of exercise aside, like how it makes you feel, how it gives you more energy, conditions your heart and lungs, and has a multitude of other health benefits, not just as use for losing weight or maintaining a certain said weight.

For example, my hour on the elliptical machine could be wasted if my only goal were to burn calories and control my weight if I belonged to this class of people who do not benefit that way from exercise, however, I do receive that benefit form exercise, I know I do because I am leaner and thinner when I am consistently exercising. Of course, I have to watch my diet as well, but still.

These 1 out of 5 people are apparently missing some piece of genetic makeup that allows them to aerobically burn off calories and oxygen, which is the key component to burning off calories and controlling your weight via cardio exercise. Because of this, they do not garner those benefits, but that does not mean they aren’t garnering many other benefits such as mood enhancement, cardiovascular conditioning and heart health, circulatory health, and even digestive system health benefits by following a regular exercise routine.

Exercising releases endorphins, it lowers stress hormones like cortisol in the body, and it conditions our bodies to be strong and more lean and also to be conditioned to go through strenuous, physically taxing situations. That right there is enough in itself to make you want to exercise, at least it is for me!

We all know that a couch potato existence is no good for our health and overall longevity, but now there is even more evidence that shows that sitting for long periods of time, even if you do habitually work out, is not good for your health, and triggers dangerous chain reactions in your body that send signals to your heart and other major organs to stop working as effectively.

Your blood sugar and blood pressure may also be affected. This is for all people with desk jobs by the way, even if you do happen to work out periodically, since most people with desk jobs happen to sit for long periods of four or more hours at a time.

Think about how bad this is for your circulation. At least try to get up every hour on the hour and take a brisk walk to get those heart and circulatory functions going again, like you’re alive instead of a person on the brink of death, which is basically what sitting for long periods of time tells your body to do. It goes into a sort of conservation mode, so it slows the metabolism and other key functions that help you to maintain your health and keep your body running optimally.

I have had a desk job now for ten years. It was really hard for me to get used to this lifestyle because up until I started this job in my twenties, I was used to having very active jobs, like waitressing and restaurant work where you were constantly running your tookus off to get people things, set tables, run and grab food, make food, you name it, for customers.

When I started such an inactive job, I was really fidgety and found that I was exhausted at night on the way home, even though I had not physically exerted myself at all during the day. Sitting all day or the majority of the day has the opposite expected effect on your energy. It actually takes it away. You’d think you were “conserving” your energy by sitting all day, but what really happens is counterintuitive, you become more tired and less energetic and focused.

Sitting really is a no win situation. Sure, it’s something we all crave and like to do, but if you make this sedentary position the majority of your life, then you may pay the health price for it dearly.

Before you know it, it’ll be out with the indulgences and in with the strict discipline when it comes to two things :Food and Working Out. Both of these tend to get a little out of control around the holidays for those of us that celebrate the whole full 25 days of Christmas with reckless abandon. For us Americans, I think that we look at the holiday season as a free for all, a cart blanche to do whatever we want in regards to food and exercise, whenever we want. I think that it’s honestly a big reason why we love the holiday so much. We can, relatively without guilt, feel like we can do this once a year and not get hassled about it by our inner conscience of friends or family.

Shoot, I’ve admitted numerous times that my workouts wane and my appetite for fatty, greasy and sugary foods increases triple fold around this tricky time of year, and I consider myself to be a fairly nutritionally and health aware person who tries to do the right thing most of the time.

In January, companies are already gearing up for the inevitable rush on fitness equipment, DVD’s, workout accessories, and anything that is related to losing weight, toning up, and getting back into shape after so many of us have thrown caution to the wind long enough to do some damage to our slim physiques. You can also count me in that boat.

I plan on definitely getting my mojo back when it comes to my shape, my fitness level, and my muscular definition, which has suffered due to not enough working out and too much indulgence in things like sugar cookies, candies and cakes, and not to mention things like mashed potatoes and fattening soups, and fried foods.

One of the fitness items that has been on my list for a while to buy is a good, gym quality punching bag. I would love to have a heavy bag to hang from the rafters in our basement, as I think it would be great to tone up a place on my body which I’ve always felt was a bit thick looking, my arms. I would also like to get a medicine ball, I’m just waiting on these types of items to go on sale.

Although, I don’t expect to find any incredible clearance deals, word on the street is that most retailers have not overstocked this year, and there will not be as many good clearance deals. Hopefully next year will be a little better.