Fitness Pudding - Where The Proof Is

We still hear it all the time – that 3500 calories is equal to one pound of body weight. The thought might be appealing, that one can simply create a 500 calorie per day deficit by either cutting 500 calories from their diet, adding 500 calories per day of exercise, or a combination of both. After one week, the deficit of 3500 calories (500 calories x 7 days) should result of 1 pound of weight loss....

A CNN blog recently revisited the tantalizing myth that sex is a workout. It must be circulating pretty well right now on social media, as I have been asked by several people if this is true or not. The article is referring to a 2013 publication from the New England Journal of Medicine entitled Myths, Presumptions, and Facts about Obesity , written by a prestigious group of experts. Myth #7 states "A bout of sexual activity...

Have you ever felt the urge to reward yourself with food after a workout? Many do. Some might be choosing their food choices off how many calories were "burned" during their workout. For some, being able to eat what they want is a reason they exercise in the first place. Clearly, such a mentality is in opposition to the goal of healthy eating. We have already discussed the  conflicting caloric estimations of cardio machines . In...

This morning, I waved to my little girl, as my wife drove away to drop her off at her first day of school. When they were out of waving distance, I said a quick prayer, and grabbed another cup of coffee before sitting down at the computer to get through all I needed to do today - mostly writing at the computer. As nerdy as it sounds, there was some excitement thinking about the free hours...

I was asked this question back on July 4th, where hot dogs are consumed in mass quantities - with or without the 'fattening' buns. I actually forgot about it, until I saw that ESPN Classic was showing the replay of a hot dog eating contest. I guess increasing one's risk of cancer is considered a sport? So, are hot dogs carcinogenic?  Yes. And the cancer risk is not just limited to hot dogs, but any processed...

A recent study finds that if you drink more water, you can lose more weight and stay slimmer. Wait, does it say that? Well, you would believe so, if you depended on these internet breaking news headlines. Drinking More Water Could Help with Weight Loss 8 Secrets Of Drinking More Water, Including Weight Loss The New Secret to Losing Weight? Water I love the last one, as if water - the magical cure for weight gain...

  Transcript With juicing becoming quite the phenomenon, especially green juice and juices that claim to “detoxify” or “cleanse”, I have been asked to answer the question, "Am I juicing too much?" I am unaware of an evidence-based prescription for juicing. There is also very little research on the effects of juicing. A 2013 editorial, “Juicing is Not All Juicy” states, “Up to now, there have been no reports of juicing-induced damage, until this issue of...

“I’m not fat, I’m big boned.” “I am overweight, because of my large bones.” We might be quite familiar with such comments, but is there any truth to them? Skeleton Weight First, take a moment and answer the following question. How many pounds do you think your skeleton weighs? 5 pounds? 10? 20? 40? The DXA machine helped us to decipher if muscle actually weighs more than fat , and I think will help us answer...

The classic brain teaser asks, “What weighs more, a ton of bricks or a ton of feathers?” Unfazed by this childish trickery, we would answer that they would weight the same – one ton. Using the same rationale, could we answer, “Does muscle weigh more than fat?” And this is our question for the day. Pound versus pound, sure, they would be the same. One pound of muscle weighs the same as one pound of fat....

I suspect that the confusion on this topic, beyond the deceptive title, is that most people have simply read the title and moved on. Popular articles from the NY Times ,  US Today , and a Today Show segment  illustrate this point quite well, by highlighting that one-minute of exercise is just as good as a 45-minute workout. Could this be too good to be true? The Actual Study These articles are referring to a very...