Digital News Report – Losing weight is difficult and the older you get the harder it seems to lose weight. Dr. Oz discussed weight loss strategies as part of his Transformation Nation Challenge. He suggests that viewers could lose up to 40 pounds by this spring. Liz Josefsberg from Weight Watchers was back to share strategies to overcome common weight loss hurdles.
Four Hurdles to overcome Weight Loss Obstacles
Weight Watchers has collaborated with Dr. Oz’s Transformation Nation. Weight Watchers Leader, Liz Josefsberg, returned back on the TV show today to share how to lose weight. Dr. Oz asked her how it has become more difficult to keep the weight off as she has aged. She said it seems like it is harder to keep the weight off and the workouts are longer to recover. Dr. Oz said that goal is to lose no more than 1 – 2 pounds per week. The slower that you can gently shed the weight the longer it stays off.
Hurdle One – Metabolism Slows Down
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Dr. Oz said that as a woman ages, every decade she will lose about 5 percent of her metabolism. If you were eating the same thing at 40 as if you would when you are 20 you would gain weight. At 20 years, you will burn 1572 calories, at 30 years of age, it is 1525 calories, at 40 years it is 1478 calories, at 50 years the calories are 1431, and then at 60 years it drops to 1384 calories. This is the basic metabolic-rate for an average for woman. It could lead to a lot of weight gain if you do not reduce calories.
Liz said that we have to make smarter food selections. She said that we should eat more high-fiber foods, and water based foods such as vegetables. The goal she said is to have a meal that will try to get in a low-fat dairy, a lean protein, and whole grain. She said you could eat all the non-starchy vegetables that you want.
Hurdle Two – Hungrier because of Hormones
Dr. Oz showed how hormones influence your hunger. The brain excretes hormones that turn the fat cells into enlarging fat cells. These fat cells send out hormones saying you are hungry. Dr. Oz said there are ways to control your hunger by automating it with eating certain foods.
The first meal strategy should be to “souper size” it. Liz said to start your meals with vegetable soup. This secret weapon will help you to avoid overeating when hunger would usually take over. When stressed out heat up and eat a serving of soup broth. Dr. Oz said that people who start their meal off with soup would eat 30 percent less food.
Second way to automate is to freeze your hunger. Eat frozen fruit kabobs. They slow a person down in their eating and gives more satisfaction with eating less.
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Hurdle Three – Loss of Muscle Mass
Dr. Oz said that as we age, muscle mass reduces. Not having enough muscles also slows down the metabolism. Liz said the only way to get muscles back is to exercise, but find something that you love. If you love dancing, do it.
Dr. Oz demonstrated a tennis ball workout. Pass the tennis ball under the leg one at a time. You have to lift the leg up high in front of you. Next exercise is to do squats. Pretend to sit down without any chair behind you and put down the tennis ball on the floor, then pick it back up again on the next squat. Repeat the squat about 50 times. The squats and leg lifts should be done for 30 minutes a day 5 days a week to help rebuild muscle mass.
Another workout Dr. Oz explained is to walk for 6 minutes and then you start jumping rope for two minutes. Next take the jump rope and do a figure eight arm exercise motion without jumping for two minutes. Then repeat the process again.
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Dr. Oz announced that Zappos is giving away 5,000 free pedometers at doctoroz.com website. Moreover, Weight Watchers is also offering a free weigh-in at their local facility. The weigh-in form is needed in order to qualify a chance to win the million-dollar prize when signing up and participating with Dr. Oz’s Transformation Nation.
Hurdle Four – Satisfy the Sweet Tooth
Liz said that people could eat dessert every night. However, there are fruit based treats that can help satisfy the sweet tooth.
Mixed Berry Crumble – This is similar to a fruit crisp recipe. Mix blueberries and raspberries and put in the bottom of a baking pan. Then mix brown sugar, flour, and butter to make the crumble topping and the pour the crumble on top of the berries and cook in the oven.
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Chocolate Cravings – Banana Chocolate Wonton Wrapper Dessert. Take some chopped up bananas and mix with some chocolate chips. Place a tablespoon full of the banana chocolate chip mixture in the middle of a wonton wrapper. Moisten the wrappers and seal it. Then bake the wonton in the oven. You get 4 wontons for one serving.
Strawberry Mango Smoothie – Make a blended smoothie with frozen strawberries, mango juice, low-fat yogurt and some honey. Blend it up in the blender and drink. Liz said that she has half of the smoothie in the morning for breakfast, and then puts the rest in the freezer for dessert at night.
By: Robert Williams
Entertainment Reporter