Tag Archives: appetite suppressant

Fun Workouts Boost Weight Loss

workout fun

So you’ve been exercising for years and still aren’t losing as much weight as you’d expect? Get this: Science is now telling you to have more fun and to see better results. A new French and American research study is now suggesting people may lose more weight during physical activity that feels more like playtime than a torture session at the gym. This study suggests that your attitude toward physical activity influence what you eat after a workout and ultimately whether or not you drop pounds.

Many people who start exercising do not lose as much weight as expected. In fact, some people actually gain weight after starting a workout routine despite the extra calories burned at the gym. Here’s why: A lot of people who push their physical limits eat whatever they’d like after an intense gym visit. Previous studies have explained this phenomenon as an increase of appetite hormones post sweat session—that people really were ravenous after working hard. While this may explain the physiological part of it, this new study is hoping to prove that psychology can explain the rest. (Try these 7 ways to keep your appetite in check.)

Scientists recruited 56 overweight women and tasked them to complete the same one-mile outdoor course, with lunch to follow. Half of the women were told that this course will be rigorous exercise and to monitor their exertion levels. The rest were told that this is meant to be a walk for pleasure where they can listen to music and enjoy themselves. Upon completion of the course, the women were asked to estimate her mileage, calorie expenditure, and mood. Women in the first group reported feeling much grumpier and more fatigued even though the two groups estimates of mileage and calories burned were almost identical. (more…)

Pfizer Developing Weight Loss Drug that Suppresses Appetite

With Lipitor becoming generic, Pfizer pharmaceuticals has decided to venture into the realm of weight loss medicine. Currently the only approved weight loss drugs that are available by prescription are Xenical and stimulants like phentermine, Adderall or Ritalin. Utilizing a different pathway, Pfizer hopes to control a patient’s appetite as opposed to stimulating the body’s functions to possibly control the market once more.

The new drug currently called OAP-189 is an appetite suppressant and mimics the body’s hormones that signal when someone feels full. Like adopotide, this currently is a drug injected into the subcutaneous fat in the skin. More research will need to be conducted to see if an oral option could still provide the same results. The most common side effect right now appears to be nausea and the researchers are hoping that by purifying the compound it will more closely mimic the body’s natural hormones that control hunger thereby minimizing side effects.

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Obesity Vaccine May Be on the Horizon

Has it really come to this? Well, maybe it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise since obesity is often referred to as a disease.

Just as kids get vaccines that have made things like polio and smallpox obsolete, there may come a day when adults who are struggling with their weight can be vaccinated to suppress their appetite.

A new study involving mice successfully got the obese subjects to eat 50 percent less after they were given the vaccine, which was ghrelin (the hormone that stimulates hunger) attached to harmless virus-like particles.

The theory behind injecting ghrelin is that the body develops antibodies against the hormone, which would suppress the hunger-inducing substance. (more…)

Fat Controls Your Brain, Eating Impulses

french friesIf you’ve ever thought that your favorite food was “calling your name,” irresistibly drawing you to the refrigerator, it’s not just all in your head. Well, actually it is in your head. But, it’s very real. Let me explain…

A study at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas has found that fat from certain foods goes to the brain and triggers the brain to send messages to the cells in the body, telling them to ignore the appetite-suppressing signals from leptin and insulin.

The interference with the leptin and insulin hormones, which are involved in regulating your weight, goes on for up to three days. (more…)

Antibody May Suppress Appetite

There’s a new possibility for suppressing appetite, and hopefully dropping weight. An antibody has been discovered that breaks down and suppresses an appetite stimulant produced by the human body.

Scientists with The Scripps Research Institute say the antibody catalyst, GHR-11E11, increases the metabolic rate in fasting mice and curbed their eating even after the rodents went 24 hours without food.

I’m not sure if this is known to translate in human subjects, but since recent reports from the World Health Organization say about 1 billion people worldwide are overweight or obese, anything is worth a shot.

It’s not being touted as a be-all, end-all cure for obesity. It will still take the usual combination of things to lose weight: optimum nutrition, exercise, and psychological components.

Sensa Diet Review: When Biology and Food Technology Meet

sensaWe are truly living in an era of mind-boggling technological innovations. When it comes to food, science is creating some pretty wild stuff that is making genetically-modified tomatoes look like cell phones from the early nineties.

One of the latest class of products that are designed to help us lose weight are tasteless food additives that are sprinkled on food. Once ingested, they have the power to induce feelings of fullness by acting on certain areas of the brain. It’s kind of like what may happen if hoodia were to meet your salt shaker. But unlike many dietary supplements, these food additives don’t contain hoodia, drugs or any other stimulants.

One such product is Sensa. (more…)