Ask Dr. H: Dieter's weight loss is actually good
Question: Would you please explain "weight loss resistance"? I am referring to people like me who are exercising daily and restricting calories to 1,200 a day or less. Despite my efforts, I am losing only one-half to one pound a week.
Question:
Would you please explain "weight loss resistance"? I am referring to people like me who are exercising daily and restricting calories to 1,200 a day or less. Despite my efforts, I am losing only one-half to one pound a week.
Answer: Before we tackle the issue of "weight loss resistance," let me first say that losing one-half to one pound a week is pretty good. That translates to a weekly reduction of between 1,750 and 3,500 calories. At that pace, you'll lose between 26 and 52 pounds in a year. I think it's best to think of the approach to weight loss like running a marathon, rather than running a sprint. Large amounts of weight lost in a brief period rarely stay off for long.
Most folks who are frustrated that their 1,200-calorie diet is failing them are consuming more than 1,200 calories. It has been shown that if you admit such a person to a supervised research facility and place him or her on exactly 1,200 calories a day, weight will always come off. Most folks have a poor ability to estimate the calorie content of foods.
Another factor that contributes to weight loss resistance is your medication list. Examples of medications that may contribute to weight gain include antidepressants; beta blocker drugs for blood pressure; steroids; diabetic medication; anti-seizure drugs; and hormone-replacement therapy. A slow thyroid or elevated insulin level also contributes to weight gain and resistance to weight loss. So too does chronically high stress.
A great Web resource that might help you when calorie counting is:
http://nutritiondata.self.com/
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Coughing during a heart attack is unlikely to save your life
Q:
I received an e-mail that describes coughing as a way of saving your life in the event of a heart attack. Does that actually work?
A: No, with very rare exceptions. What you read is an e-mail that's been circulating on the Internet since 1999. Not only will it not work in most instances when a person is experiencing a possible heart attack, it could make things much worse. The idea is that if a person was in cardiac arrest with a life-threatening heart arrhythmia, the act of forceful and repeated coughing could, in theory, increase pressure inside the chest cavity and assist the heart's pumping of blood, briefly keeping a person from losing consciousness.
The American Heart Association does not endorse this technique for several reasons: (1) It works only in the setting of a life-threatening heart arrhythmia. Since most experiencing chest pain do not know if they're about to pass out, the act of coughing will increase the heart rate and stress an already injured heart; (2) Chewing and swallowing one adult 325-mg aspirin at the moment of a suspected heart attack is a far more effective strategy. It can help prevent a massive clot from clogging a cardiac artery; (3) Even if an experienced person knew he was having a heart arrhythmia where the coughing effort might help, coughing at an incorrect time during the cardiac cycle might make the situation lethal; and (4) Calling for help and resting quietly is a much safer general approach.
See Snopes.com for a description of the cough CPR e-mail you received: