Weight Loss Challenge Nears Goal If Sleep Doesn't Interfere

[This article was first published as Weight Loss Challenge Nears Goal If Sleep Doesn't Interfere on Technorati.]

Since my last fitness challenge update was put in another spot on technorati, some of you may have thought I had given up and jumped onto the bandwagon instead of walking beside it.

Fear not. I'm still at it although weight loss has slowed to a snail's pace with just under a half a pound duly recorded this week. The good news is that I am just 1.5 pounds shy of my original weight loss goal since I started my "Frying-in-my own-fat" Weight Loss Challenge on Aug. 15. Even better news is that I think I'm going to try and lose an additional 5 pounds after I knock off that last 1.5 pounds.

Of course that means I'm going to have to pump it up a notch and be more vigilant. Sadly, Howard the Shelter cat is not helping at all with this endeavor preferring to steal and play with the tape measure, and more or less scoffing at my weight loss attempts.

Despite searching for new articles for weight loss inspiration this week, I find only the same old stuff being rewritten, restudied and regurgitated. According to  recent article, a supposedly "new" study shows a connection between interrupted and lack of sleep to obesity. Both are problems for me, and both ideas we've covered before here.

Apparently an irregular, restricted sleep schedule continued over a year period can amount to more than a 12 pound weight gain.

One of the articles quotes Orfeu Buxton, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School who headed the research, as saying, “Getting adequate sleep is what we’re calling one of the three pillars of health: sleep, diet, and exercise go well together, and they interact. If you don’t get enough sleep, it’s hard to get enough exercise. If you’re not getting enough sleep, people eat more food. That causes them to gain weight and make inappropriate food choices — sugary treats and snacks.”

Another "new study" from the American Journal of Preventative Medicine tells us that the secret to weight loss is not through fad diets. According to the article, the secret to weight loss is  "a combination of more exercise, eating less fatty foods and joining a weight loss program. What doesn't work? Popular fad diets, liquid diets, and weight loss pills."

Ya, think?

I think Howard the Shelter cat could have arrived at that result. Apparently, though, those brides-to-be aren't heeding any of the logical weight loss advice with the latest Bridal Hunger Games thing. Instead, they are spending hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of dollars, and using feeding tubes, 800 calorie diets, shots, cleansing juices and such.

Don't these people think someone is going to notice when they mushroom back out to their pre-hunger game size?

I'm not saying that I am completely above this  smoke-and-mirrors approach to weight loss. I'm just waiting for the right one. If anyone ever finds a way to carry around a permanent PhotoShop filter, well then, count me in.

In the meantime, I've got my green tea, 100 calorie packet of dark chocolate almonds and exercise to see me through to my goal.