Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa)

02-22-10

Munich (dpa) – Obese people lose weight at high altitudes and keep it off for at least four weeks, according to a team of German scientists.

Independent of any other change in lifestyle, high altitudes appear to increase metabolism, decrease appetite and lower diastolic blood pressure, the researchers report in the journal Obesity.

Understanding the mechanisms behind this weight loss could provide a basis for new treatments for obesity, they say.

Florian Lippl and colleagues at Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich studied the effect of living in high altitudes for one week on the body weight of 20 obese males, while no other change was made to their exercise routine or food availability.

At the end of the week, their body weight, food intake, and diastolic blood pressure had been significantly lowered, effects that were still present four weeks after returning from high altitude.

The low levels of oxygen present at high altitudes could be responsible for an observed increase in leptin, a hormone thought to suppress appetite, though the causes of this need to be further studied, the researchers say.

The lasting weight reduction seen at high altitudes is primarily due to an increased metabolism and decreased food intake, though the reasons behind these changes remain unclear and may be a temporary effect of the body acclimatizing to new surroundings.

Scientists at four clinical research centers recruited 1,685 overweight or obese adults who weighed an average 212 pounds.

The participants were offered 20 weekly group sessions led by nutritionists and behavior counselors and encouraged to try to lose
at least 9 pounds in six months. They were told to consume about 500 fewer calories a day, eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, do
about 180 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity a week, and keep daily food and exercise records.

Dieters who kept their food diary six or more days a week lost an average of about 18 pounds in six months, compared with about 9 pounds for those who didn’t keep food diaries.

I encourage you to keep a log of exactly what you are eating on a daily basis for the first couple of weeks after starting a fat loss
program. It truly is eye opening for many people! However, it can become distracting after a while, especially when you are
on-the-go. Once you have a consistent menu mapped out, it is not as critical to continue to log everything. But if you find that it
makes you more accountable, then by all means, keep writing it down!

For a fat loss diet that includes an easy-to-use diary to track your food intake, check out my plan The Burrito Diet!

Less discretionary income also means less money to spend on snack cakes and chips at the supermarket and calorie-laden “crap-puccinos.”  There will also be less money to waste on the ineffective weight loss scams that are being hawked at every turn – pills, potions, creams and diet books that just don’t work.  Through my free Fat Loss 101 Newsletter, I will provide the most effective and efficient ways to lose unwanted body fat without resorting to the allure of late-night infomercials.

To those considering dropping their gym membership to save some money – go for it! Using your own bodyweight to challenge yourself – pushups, squats, and uphill walking/sprinting – is much more effective at burning body fat and can be done at or near home for free.

Losing inches from the waist line can also have other unintended benefits to the bottom line, like:

• Better gas mileage – potential 5 to 7 cents per gallon savings by dropping 50 pounds of body fat
• Lower food bills – the leaner a person is, the less food required to run on a daily basis
• Lower medical costs – trimming body fat may reduce spending on doctor visits, outpatient care, inpatient care and prescription drugs
• Lower insurance premiums – life insurance companies are giving discounts to their healthier clients
• Lower clothing costs – moving back into widely available sizes means spending less money as opposed to buying clothes at specialty online or “big people” stores
• Potential raises – losing body fat leads to better self-esteem.  Better self-esteem leads to higher productivity at work. Higher productivity at work could lead to raises and/or promotions