A Grizzly Answer for Obesity

So maybe we’ve been on the wrong track. An alternative approach looks at whether nature, through millions of years of evolutionary experimentation, has already figured out how to appropriately cope with biological threats.

Many fascinating examples exist. A diminutive rodent, the grasshopper mouse, is resistant to the excruciating sting of the bark scorpion. For longevity, nothing can top the naked mole rat, which is naturally resistant to types of pain, cancer and, possibly, Alzheimer’s disease. After weeks of fasting, Burmese pythons are able to enlarge their hearts by as much as 40 percent within two to three days of eating in order to accommodate the increased metabolism — a degree of cardiac hypertrophy that would be a leading predictor of mortality in humans.

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Hibernation by bears is an astonishing feat of evolution. After an epic period of late-summer gorging, during which, every day, a bear may consume more than 50,000 calories and gain up to 16 pounds, it will fast for up to seven months. Then it subsists solely on stored fat, without eating, drinking, urinating or defecating.

Bears also shut down their renal function during hibernation, resulting in badly scarred kidneys and high levels of blood toxins that would kill a human. What is truly remarkable is that the bears’ kidney failure is reversible: Upon awakening from hibernation, their kidney function is fully restored with no lasting damage.

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Fitness and Weightloss Tips

Losing weight and getting fit is a huge topic and it’s important for everybody, and perhaps especially so for IT pros like ourselves who sit in front of a screen all day. We can only scratch the surface of this subject here–the main focus after all of this newsletter is the Windows Server platform not weightloss. But the hugely favorable response we received from our previous issue on this topic demanded that we address this subject one more time.

So first of all I’ll share with you ten tips based on my own experience of losing 50 lbs and becoming fit. Then I’ll share some terrific tips and suggestions submitted by readers of this newsletter.

And if you still want more after all this, guess what? Later this summer I’ll be publishing an ebook that will describe my weightloss story in lurid detail with tons of motivational tips that can help you do what I did. And I’ll include a link to my ebook in WServerNews once my ebook available, so stay tuned to this newsletter!

- See more at: http://fitnesselectronicsblog.com/2013/04/23/from-fat-to-fit-the-conclusion/#sthash.xaaXmiDC.dpuf

Turn Your Smartphone Into the Ultimate Fitness Tracker

Sure, you can shell out between $100-150 for standalone fitness trackers like the FitBit Flex andJawbone Up24. But chances are, you already carry around an even more powerful tracker: your smartphone. These sensor-packed rectangles may be bigger than your average wrist-worn alternative, but they have all the same capabilities (many have far more). All you need are the right apps to unlock your phone’s fitness-tracking potential.

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LIFE More: Fitness Exercise Tech Accessories Features 7 Awesome Fitness Gadgets To Get You Moving This Year

Getting fit is one of the most common New Year's resolutions, but the hardest part is getting started.

That's where tech-savvy fitness gadgets can help. Whether it's a portable GPS that helps you train or a wristband that keeps you on track, these new devices will make getting active and shedding pounds in 2014 that much easier.

Keep reading to see seven new gadgets that will up your fitness regimen.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/best-new-fitness-gadgets-2014-1#ixzz2reB8zaoC

'Identity-Based Goals' Are The Only Way To Make Good Habits Last

If you want to get in shape, you have to believe you're the type of person who never misses a workout.

Read more: http://jamesclear.com/identity-based-habits#ixzz2pZc9SdCA

The reason why it’s so hard to stick to new habits is that we often try to achieve a performance or appearance–based goal without changing our identity. Most of the time we try to achieve results before proving to ourselves that we have the identity of the type of person we want to become. It should be the other way around.

The Recipe for Sustained Success

Changing your beliefs isn’t nearly as hard as you might think. There are two steps.

1. Decide the type of person you want to be.

2. Prove it to yourself with small wins.

Read more: http://jamesclear.com/identity-based-habits#ixzz2pZcge4N1

The Biggest Weight-Loss News of 2013

Another year, another 365 days to unlock the secrets to sustainable weight loss - and in 2013, researchers did not disappoint. From finding the best time to eat a big meal to finding yet another reason to chow down on chocolate, here are the most interesting weight-loss news stories of the year!
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Optimal Music for the Gym

Researchers Say The Right Tempo Boosts Stamina, Energy Efficiency

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Research has found that at the right tempo, music can reduce the sense of exertion as well as boost motivation. Costas Karageorghis, deputy head of research at the School of Sport and Education at London's Brunel University, says the "sweet spot" for workout music is between 125 and 140 beats per minute when people aren't trying to time their movements to the music. Previously, experts believed that the faster a person exercises, the faster the music tempo should be.

Other new studies have shown that when athletes synchronize their movements to a musical beat, their bodies can handle more exertion: Treadmill walkers had greater stamina and cyclists required less oxygen uptake. And swimmers who listened to music during races finished faster than others who didn't.

How Coffee Can Galvanize Your Workout

Can a cup of coffee motivate you to relish your trips to the gym this winter? That question is at the heart of a notable study of caffeine and exercise, one of several new experiments suggesting that, whatever your sport, caffeine may allow you to perform better and enjoy yourself more.
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Everything You Know About Fitness is a Lie

Gym machines are boring, CrossFit is sadistic, and dieting sucks. Luckily, none of them is essential to being truly fit. Through years of trial and error — and humiliation at the hands of some of the world’s top trainers — the author discovered the secrets to real health.

New Studies Eat Into Diet Math

How many calories must a dieter cut to lose a pound?

The answer most dietitians have long provided is 3,500. But recent studies indicate that calories can't be converted into weight through a simple formula.

The result is that the 3,500-calorie rule of thumb gets things very wrong over the long term, and has led health analysts astray. Much bigger dietary changes are needed to gain or shed pounds than the formula suggests.

Consider the chocolate-chip-cookie fan who adds one 60-calorie cookie to his daily diet. By the old math, that cookie would add up to six pounds in a year, 60 pounds in a decade and hundreds of pounds in a lifetime.

But new research—based on studies of volunteers whose calorie consumption is observed in laboratory settings, rather than often-unreliable food diaries—suggests that the body's self-regulatory mechanisms tamp down the effects of changes in diet or behavior. If the new nutritional science is applied, the cookie fiend probably will see his weight gain approach six pounds, and then level off, pediatrician David Ludwig and nutrition scientist Martijn Katan wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association earlier this year. The same numbers, in reverse, apply to weight loss.