NEW YORK (AP) — Kaeli Madill is obsessed with dieting.

She subscribes to magazines like Self, Shape and Runner’s World for their “I-Lost-40-Pounds” success stories. She watches pound-shedding transformations on “The Biggest Loser.” She flips through diet books, and buys those with glowing testimonials.
“It makes me feel like I can do it,” says Madill, 26, who lives in Saskatchewan, Canada and is trying to lose 60 pounds. “If I get discouraged, I look at one of those stories, and say that person did it. That person had results, so in time, I’m going to have results, too.”
These days, Madill has plenty of places to find inspiration. Personal weight-loss success stories are cropping up in magazines, on television, on blogs and in long form memoirs, and seem to be resonating among the more than two-thirds of Americans who are overweight or obese.

Actress Valerie Bertinelli, who lost 40 pounds on Jenny Craig, was No. 1 on the Publishers Weekly best-seller nonfiction hardcover list last week for “Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time.”
“Part of what draws you to a memoir is your ability to empathize and relate to these people and their lives,” says Liz Perl, vice president and publisher of Rodale Books, whose many titles include “South Beach Diet” and “The Abs Diet.”
“Clearly many Americans can empathize and relate to what it’s like to lose control of your weight and your health.”
While diet experts acknowledge the stories can be inspiring, they say reading and watching so many testimonials can also be problematic.
Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale, says he sees both opportunity and risk. The narratives may inspire people to shed pounds themselves — but the weight-loss techniques shown in books and elsewhere may not be nutritionally safe.
There is no “one size fits all” approach to weight loss, says Dr. Robert Kushner, medical director of diet.com’s premium membership, who worries people may try to pattern themselves after the successful dieter.
“You can follow one program after another and none of it works for you,” he says. “You can end up being more frustrated. There’s no filtering (with these stories). There’s no one saying, ‘results vary, this may not work for you, read it with caution.”’
To their credit, some of the memoirs stay away from endorsing diet and exercise plans.
Susan Blech, who documents her 250 pound and counting weight loss in “Confessions of a Carb Queen,” writes about her binge eating along with the Rice Diet Program she followed — where participants eat at “The Rice House” but don’t center their diet on rice. She notes that some parts of the program did not work for her and that she is not getting “monetarily paid” by the outpatient treatment center in Durham, N.C.

In “Hungry: Lessons Learned on the Journey from Fat to Thin,” Allen Zadoff writes about his overeating as a part of a larger problem — an undiagnosed food addiction. And Jennette Fulda, author of the upcoming “Half-Assed: A Weight-Loss Memoir,” writes that she doesn’t want people to believe there is “one magic cure-all diet.”
But many magazines do offer specific diet and exercise plans, along with details on how a person lost weight.
Most of this obsession stems from frustration, say diet experts. About 41 percent of Americans are trying to lose weight, according to a Consumer Reports telephone survey conducted last year. Most people who lose will regain. So when someone loses a large amount of weight, it’s almost as though she has broken a code.
Yo-yo dieter Trista Blouin, 35, of Pensacola, Fla., has been dieting since she was 16. Her library of diet books dates back to Susan Powter.
“It’s very discouraging,” says Blouin, whose goal is to lose 70 pounds. When a new book comes out, “I think to myself, ‘maybe this will be it.”’
Discouragement could be a byproduct of so many success stories focused on huge — and unusual — amounts of weight loss, Kushner says. He also takes issue with shows like “The Biggest Loser,” because they make weight loss a competition.
“I think that is the antithesis of what we are trying to convey as a health care community,” says Kushner, also a professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “Weight loss is not a game or a sport.”
Most of the memoir authors say their goal was to inspire — not dish out dieting advice.
“I think whether it be Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, whether it be any diet program, it’s about building a community around you and leaning on your friends and your loved ones,” Bertinelli said in an interview.
“I spent so much time going through all of the hardships thinking I was so alone,” she added. “Had I just reached out, I would have realized I wasn’t as alone as I thought I was.”
Blech echoes that sentiment in her author’s note: “I’ve written this book with my sister because for a long time I felt very alone, and no one should feel that alone and scared and ashamed.”
“This is a book that is not only going to help people but inspire them to want to live the kind of life they want to live,” she says in an interview.
In the long run, it’s clear that dieters need more than inspiration to be successful, says Judith Beck, author of “The Beck Diet Solution,” which teaches cognitive techniques to help people stay on a diet, lose weight and maintain the weight loss. The inspiration may last days and even weeks, but what happens when dieting gets hard again?
“It’s a bit like reading inspirational biographies of musicians,” says Beck. “It might inspire you to learn how to play the piano or conduct the orchestra but unless you learn the skills of how you do it, it’s not going to matter very much.”

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January 14, 2008 // Franchising.com // Carlsbad, Calif. – Jenny Craig Inc., one of the nation’s leading authorities on weight management, held a press conference today at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Los Angeles to introduce Queen Latifah as the company’s newest celebrity client. The Oscar-nominated singer and actress will be the focal point of a new message for Jenny Craig – that of losing weight to improve one’s health.

"Today I am taking the first step to improving my health by announcing my goal to lose 5-10% of my body weight with Jenny Craig." stated Queen Latifah. "My hope is to help educate people and motivate others to take their first step to have a positive impact on their health. By losing just 7% of your body weight, and increasing weekly activity, you can lower the risk of developing type II diabetes by 58%."

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You can never be too thin or too rich — unless you’re Kate Moss.

The waifish wayfarer, who made strung-out too-thin heroin chic oh-so-cool in the mid ’90s, isn’t looking so hot ten years on, say sources. Friends, reports the Daily Mail, are concerned that Kate’s gone out of control after the latest round of battles with on-again off-again trainwreck boy toy Pete Doherty, and she’s more gaunt and sallow than usual.

Kate, say friends, has lost almost ten pounds in the last three weeks — and is barely eating. Imagine — a model not eating!

The source of her starvation? Ex-disaster Doherty has been spotted with ex-girlfriend Irina Lazareanu — the same model Moss chose to rep her Top Shop clothing line.

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Courtney Love says colonic irrigation is responsible for her dramatic weight loss.

The former Hole singer credits the purifying treatment - which involves inserting a tube up into the rectum in order to flush out waste in the colon - for helping her lose more than 40lbs this year.

She told Harper’s Bazaar magazine: "Some people think it’s about weight loss, but it’s about detoxing. I would fast several times a year and go for regular colonics. They really did the trick for me."

Before finding her winning formula, Courtney’s weight was rocketing in the wrong direction.

When she attempted to follow a strict macrobiotic diet - allowing her to eat only grains, rice and raw vegetables and cut out caffeine, alcohol, bread and pasta - she actually gained 45lbs.

She said: "My daughter Frances and I were kind of going for it because the dessert is fantastic. I put on 30lbs and I put on another 15lbs out of emotional depression. Then I’m suddenly 182lbs."

Courtney eventually settled upon a dieting regime which included lots of fish, and two meal replacement shakes per day.

The 43-year-old, who now weighs just 139lbs, thinks her success proves that you don’t have to limit your diet too much in order to lose weight.

She said: "I hate reading magazines where the actresses are saying, ‘Broccoli and fish, broccoli and fish.’ You liars. You bulimic liars!"

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Basketball star Shaquille O’Neal has always been a larger-than-life figure, physically imposing but also a huge personality. Yet he’s never been able to translate that into a career off the court. The movies "Steel” and “Kazaam” bombed. They did so by trying to turn O’Neal into an actor, and something other than who he is.

ABC’s “Shaq’s Big Challenge,” doesn’t make that mistake. It lets Shaq be Shaq, the likable giant we know from interviews and sports highlights, without lines to memorize.

Smart move. O’Neal acquits himself quite well, even better than one might expect.

In “Challenge,” premiering tonight at 9, O’Neal’s task is to help six obese children get healthy, but it quickly becomes clear that these kids will require a lot more than positive words.

As he gets to know the kids and their families, he realizes the enormity of the task before him. The kids’ lives are literally at stake. He and his support staff of physicians and trainers must get them and their entire families to take their health seriously.

What separates "Challenge" from other weight-loss series like “The Biggest Loser” and “Celebrity Fit Club” is that it’s not focused on which kid loses the most weight but rather on the dynamics that have gotten the kids where they are and how to change them.

That seriousness of purpose, O’Neal’s enthusiasm and a complicated but sympathetic group of kids make “Challenge” a television rarity: an entertaining, informative and even inspirational series that mostly avoids cheesiness.

As the show opens, O’Neal is going to the kids’ homes to meet them and their parents for the first time. We meet James, something of a goofball, Chris, who loves baseball, then Ariel, the optimist among the lot, Kevin, the competitive one, Kit, who is shy, and Walter, who’s obsessed with video games. All are medically obese.

The kids enter a six-month program that stresses diet and exercise, working with O’Neal’s team, which include his own physician/trainer, Dr. Carlan Colker, trainer Tarik Tyler, as well as a child obesity expert and a nutritionist.

The show is sensitive yet clear-eyed in showing the dysfunction in each child’s home. Chris’s father, a Cuban-American, admits that in their community being skinny means you’re not doing well financially.

James’s single mom, struggling just to get meals on the table, concedes that she depends on fast food too often because it’s easy. Kit’s parents are hugely overprotective of their only child. They express their love with food.

All the kids acknowledge being teased about their weight, which reinforces their bad habits.

O’Neal, with his open, easygoing demeanor, draws the kids out, getting them to share their feelings. He knows instinctively when to turn on the charm and when to rein it in and just listen, as he does when one young boy discusses having considered suicide.

When the kids fib about their workouts and diets, Dr. Colker calls a meeting with the families and starkly describes the health consequences of cheating.

Even as the children, some crying, admit their lies, O’Neal walks among them, whispering encouraging words. And as much as he may want these kids to become hardbodies, he’s a bit of a softie when it comes to how he treats them. He feels for them.

But what ultimately comes across is O’Neal’s deep sense of purpose.

At one point, Kit is taken to the hospital. She’s suffering from an anxiety attack. O’Neal says something as obvious as it is stunning to hear on TV. He’s talking to his staff. If something bad happens to these kids, he reminds them, "It’s my ass on the line.”

O’Neal is right. He’s taken responsibility for the lives of others, people who cannot fend for themselves, and he’s owning up to that responsibility. It’s refreshing, as this honest and well-intentioned show is refreshing.

Is there a better weapon on the way in the battle against the bulge?

A study released today has found that injecting people with a synthetic hormone may help them lose weight and feel satisfied. The hormone, pramlintide, marketed under the name Symlin, is currently used to treat diabetes.

One team of researchers thinks they may have found a new purpose for it.

"We are very intrigued to find that pramlintide can actually have multiple effects on eating behavior, like curbing binge eating," says lead study author Dr. Christian Weyer. Weyer is director of clinical research at Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc., the San Diego based company that makes Symlin.

But if this treatment sounds too good to be true, that just might be the case. Some leading diet experts say Symlin won’t become a weapon in the fat fight anytime soon.

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Victoria Beckham shunning “moron” food

Not that Victoria “Posh Spice” Beckham needs to lose any weight, but she’s recently been spotted with the book Skinny Bitch, a guide to vegan eating with a sassy, Hollywood attitude. One critic says the book dispenses pretty common weight-loss advice: stop eating junk food, sugar, sweeteners, caffeine, dairy, refined carbs and alcohol. The book is apparently militantly anti-meat, calling people who try to lose weight while eating meat morons and referring to the Atkins Diet as the rotting meat diet. It’s more an advertisement for vegetarianism than it is a diet book. There’s a joke in there somewhere about the authors being bitches because they aren’t eating junk food, sugar, dairy and alcohol, I’m sure…

Gabby calls junk food child cruelty

Speaking of Brits and their diet plans, BBC sports announcer Gabby Logan has a plan for getting rid of the childhood obesity problem: banning junk food. Or, barring that, warning labels on junk food to the effect of “this food could make your child obese.” Logan, 34, is married to a former rugby player and is the mother of 22-month-old twins. She refuses to have junk food in the house and lost her baby weight (more than 50 pounds) in about three weeks without doing “anything special.” She says feed kids junk is “tantamount to child cruelty because you’re handicapping their development if you don’t feed them properly”…

Taylor’s brown rice and chicken-noodle soup diet

Finally, another season of “American Idol” has come and gone, and last year’s Idol, Taylor Hicks, is showing off a trimmer physique. He’s lost 22 pounds since last year by cutting out fast food and fried chicken and eating lots of salads, brown rice, fish and chicken-noodle soup. He’s also running 45 minutes a day and using his performances as cardio. But he still cheats on nights he’s not performing, and his favorite indulgence is chocolate cake.

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In an article posted on www.smdailyjournal.com by By Heather Murtagh

Kate Smith, a school teacher in Foster City, lost more than 100 pounds.

In her 20s, Kate Smith had just accepted she was going to be big.

The 32-year-old English and journalism teacher at Bowditch Middle School in Foster City had been large since she was 7 years old. The trend continued until Smith gave birth to her now 4-year-old daughter Elena. That’s when Smith decided she wanted better for her own little girl. Her loss of more than 100 pounds earned her the cover of People magazine last week in a two-piece bathing suit no less.

Getting down to her goal weight wasn’t an instant fix, nor is it over. It’s a daily battle for Smith to maintain her weight and stay healthy for herself, her family and her students.

Extra pounds always weighed Smith down. She was extremely insecure in school and was teased a lot in middle school.

Before entering high school, Smith went to a Weight Watchers summer camp. She entered her freshman year at a healthy weight, however, didn’t maintain the lifestyle changes taught during camp. Slowly the weight piled on.

After graduating from San Mateo High School in 1992, Smith headed to the University of the Pacific then Fordham University for her master’s degree. It was after college that Smith simply accepted her large physique as the way it would always be.  

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NEW BOOK EDUCATES AMERICANS ABOUT LOSING WEIGHT WITHOUT LOSING THEIR MIND

- Book Offers Straight Talk and Sensible Approaches to Weight Loss -

(HealthNewsDigest.com) - Pittsburgh – Struggling with weight loss? Tired of magic bullets and empty promises? Confused about diets and looking for answers? In a weight loss marketplace filled with hyped claims, confusion and unrealistic expectations, a new book, titled “are you losing it? losing weight without losing your mind,” delivers straight talk about healthy weight loss strategies and offers a sensible approach to losing weight and keeping it off.

With contributions from four prominent weight loss experts, the book exposes myths and obstacles that discourage weight loss, gives practical advice on lifestyle and behavioral changes, provides low-fat menu ideas and offers physical activity tips. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Consumer Healthcare, the maker of alli™ — the only FDA-approved over-the-counter weight loss product approved for use by overweight adults – funded production of the new book. 

“This book provides a much needed educational tool that takes you on a thoughtful journey about simple lifestyle changes that may deliver big health benefits,” says Gary Foster, Ph.D, contributing author, director for the Center for Obesity Research and Education and professor at Temple University. “People’s misperceptions about dieting and weight loss keep them in a vicious cycle of failure. Given the rising epidemic of overweight and obesity, it’s time we set the record straight. We need to talk honestly with people about how to successfully lose weight.”

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Washington, May 3 (ANI): Rehabbed singer Britney Spears has embarked on her mission to lose weight, for she has begun her rigorous dance and exercise sessions.

The ‘Toxic’ singer, who made a brief comeback show in a San Diego club, has already lost 15 pounds, burning 1,500 calories a day thanks to her dance regimen.

At her dance practice sessions in Millennium Dance Complex, the 25-year-old gets to choose her list of dancers, reports the Star.

Apart from the dance classes, Spears does 500-1000 crunches at one go to work on her six-pack.

Mother of two is also under strict diet and is also undergoing LipoDissolve treatment, which is a less invasive type of liposuction.

Spears’ efforts have already begun to show, as one of her fans, who attended her comeback gig, said that Spears looked really great, and that she has made a comeback to prove she can still give her best.

“I think she worked the stage, her body looked great. So it was good to see her finally come back and prove us all wrong,” the fan said.

Spears’ last major show in June, 2004 was her Onyx Hotel Tour in Ireland. (ANI)

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