Since we are experts at fixing fat mice, instead of trying to work it out for humans, where there are apparently at least 6000 genes relating to overweight/obesity, let’s research how to turn fat people into mice.

Anyway, I appreciated the humor of the premise.

The most popular diabetes drug in the United States, metformin, targets the same proteins produced by the deleted gene, raising the possibility that millions of people might have been taking a life-extending drug for the last 50 years.

Thankfully, I am not diabetic although I have been warned I am heading that way. So, I don’t have any personal experience to draw upon when it comes to Metformin or other diabetes treatments. But the thing that is very interesting here is the possibility for engineering genetically a more healthy body. I’m not sure how I feel about that – honestly, my attitude would be “Ok, you go first” to the scientists that develop a genetic treatment plan. But, it’s still interesting to think about and discuss the possibilities.

They use a BMI of 30 as the discriminating factor between employees that pay a lower insurance premium and a higher insurance premium, and incentivize employees to make progress during the year even if they can’t get all the way below 30.

I know some will take issue with BMI being used as the measurement; others point to the host of factors largely outside of a person’s control that contribute to obesity; still others might argue about unfairness – the host of behaviors individuals can engage in that contribute to poor health and rising costs (smoking, excessive alcohol, etc) that are not singled out for higher premiums. But no one can disagree that obesity is a big problem not just for the health care system, but for the health of Americans.

Reduced-calorie diets result in clinically meaningful weight loss regardless of which macronutrients they emphasize.

When I state that I am agnostic with regard to weight loss programs, this is pretty much why and certainly matches my own experience. I’ve done them all and they all resulted in about the same weight loss. The only consistent factor is that lose weight consistently when I average 1800 calories per day.

Awesome!

Meet Tyler.

Inspirational because he’s doing what works for him, not a program or fad diet, and getting the results.

Look forward to joining you in the not-obese category of people someday, Tyler.

I’ve written about how I really like the Wii for a substitute exercise from time to time. Yesterday, Diet-Blog posted about the upcoming WiiFit, which promises to extend the exercise and fitness options to Wii owners.

The base games provided with the Wii is the WiiSports package, which includes tennis, boxing, baseball, golf, and bowling. Most are just fun, but boxing will kick your butt, assuming you do it right – actually ‘throw’ punches, bounce, and duck. It’s something I’ll do on a rainy day, or if I get home late and don’t want to go for a walk in the dark. Plus, it’s just different, which helps body and mind.

I wouldn’t want a video game to replace the exercise options for myself or my kids, but having a tool like this to substitute and shake things up from time to time is a big help. Having more options in WiiFit will help even more. Can’t wait for May to get here!

Um, ok Kirstie, but didn’t you lose 75 lbs on Jenny Craig? So, why should anyone pay you for an unproven weight loss program? Or, will it be so similar to Jenny Craig that price wars break out?

Hmmmm…..

Can’t believe Jenny Craig didn’t have some kind of non-compete clause in that contract…

Man, I really liked that movie. It reminded me a lot of the town where I went to high school. The atmosphere back home has changed a bunch in the past 25 yrs, but back then, yeah, it was that kind of place.

Anyway, the intarwebs are all abuzz today about Ron Lester, the actor that played Billy Bob, having lost 350 lbs. Gastric Bypass surgery, of course, but you still gotta give him credit – surgery or not, that’s a rough road to travel and he has my respect.

It’s also taken 14 surgeries to tighten the loose skin. Jeez…

Before:

After:

Photos from IMDB

As much as I hate the “nanny-state”, and as much as this is one of the finest examples of the “nanny-state”, I have to say that I like it. My kids’ eating habits are bad enough, but with the way the schools administer lunches allows my kids way too much choice in their food. We have to deposit money into an account, and the kids are charged for what they take with no limitations placed by the school. Last week, we discovered the youngest had plowed through her account about twice as fast as the older one thanks to desserts.

She’s supposed to bringing lunch now.

But, I just don’t see the point of giving kids sugary, fatty foods at lunch. We know how bad it is for their health and we know how bad it is for their behavior. Maybe it would be harder and more expensive to prepare healthier meals (is it, really?), but isn’t it worth it?