Obese mum loses 10 stone by using her house as an assault course

A mother of three lost a staggering 10 stone after using aspects of her home as an assault course to do exercises each day.

Gemma Howden, 28, was desperate to slim down after seeing her weight spiral to 19 stone, with a dress size of 26.

However, Gemma couldn’t afford an expensive gym membership so decided to be creative in her quest to shed the pounds and used the only means she had – her house, and the objects inside it!

She used an old baby gate placed at the foot of her stairs as a hurdle and jumped back and forth over the gate hundreds of times each day. Gemma also used her stairs as a stepping course and even did star jumps in front of the TV in her living room.

Not owning any weights or dumbbells, Gemma simply utilised tins of baked beans and spaghetti hoops as weights and lifted them during her tough daily exercise regime.

This would be have effective as it is important to incorporate strength exercises into cardio to more efficiently lose weight and tone up as well, and Gemma looks incredible after her impressive efforts.
Reminiscing to her heavier days, Gemma says: “I was absolutely enormous, I couldn’t bare to look in the mirror or have my photos taken. I hated the sight of myself so much I wouldn’t pose for pictures with my kids. To curb my unhappiness I’d stuff myself with a Chinese takeaway for four and then tuck into a giant slab of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk.”

Gemma got the motivation to kick-start a weight loss plan and turn her life around after looking through old photo albums and realising she wasn’t actually in many of the pictures with her children.
She says: “I felt so sad and I realised I was too ashamed to be in pictures because I was such a fat blob. I am 28 and I felt 65. I was puffing and panting everywhere.”

Gemma did her punishing exercise regime literally hundreds and hundreds of times to lose weight, beginning by running up and down the stairs. Whilst her children were watching TV in the living she would be jogging on the spot and after putting them to bed she would do hundreds of reps with large tins of beans and spaghetti.

Gemma’s weight loss story should be an inspiration to anyone looking to lose weight and is a shining example that results can be attained with the willpower and motivation to succeed. Weighing at a healthy 9 stone, she has binned her baggy t-shirts and now wears tight fitting dresses.

She added: “I’d pull the curtains to stop the neighbours seeing me in action – it would have been so embarrassing. But the results have paid off and now I’m ten stone lighter. Now I’m no longer the fat mother at the school gates and my kids’ friends don’t make fun of me. I feel absolutely amazing. When I tell people I lost 10 stone after turning my house into a boot camp they don’t believe it. But it’s absolutely true. I’m living proof that you don’t need a gym to shed the weight. A few cans of baked beans and a baby gate will do just the same job.”

If you are motivated by Gemma’s incredible story and want to lose weight, this can be achieved through weight loss aids in addition to adopting a healthy lifestyle. The prescription medication Xenical is suitable for those with a BMI over 27, whereas there are other medications that do not require a prescription such as Alli and XLS-Medical Fat Binder. To be suitable for Alli or XLS-Medical Fat Binder you must have a BMI of over 25. To find out more information on how to obtain them, visit the ‘Obesity’ area of the Medical Specialists Pharmacy website.

Almost 80% of adults don’t do enough exercise

Nearly eight out of every 10 adults in England may not be getting enough exercise each week and putting their health at risk.

This worrying statistic comes from a study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and conducted by the University of Bristol, where researchers looked at data from over one million adults in England from the Active People Surveys (APS).  It was discovered that 80% were not adhering to governmental targets of engaging in moderate exercise at least 12 times in a four-week time period.
The APS analyses an individual’s socioeconomic position in addition to factors such as the weather and availability of sports facilities to them.

According to the researchers, the study demonstrates a clear association between a person’s education, household income and local area deprivation in accordance with the amount of physical activity they engage in.

It was found that better educated and wealthier individuals were more likely to exercise, whilst the poorer and less educated were more likely to not bother with much exercise. However on the whole, the majority of adults are seemingly way under the recommended levels of activity required to keep healthy.

Those with a degree apparently only had a 12% chance of being inactive but those without any qualifications were in fact three times more likely to not exercise.

Other findings from the study were the fact 8% of people physically capable of walking had not done this for even a mere five minutes continuously in the previous four weeks. Involvement in the most common activities was found to be ‘very low’.

In addition, researchers said nearly half (46%) had walked for less than 30 minutes continuously during leisure time, whilst 88% had not been swimming and a staggering 90% had not even been to a gym in the last four weeks.

Unsurprisingly, the study findings suggested that warm weather provided people with more motivation to exercise and rain decreased the amount of physical activity.

Carol Propper, professor of economics at the university’s Centre for Market and Public Organisation, said: “Physical inactivity is the most important modifiable health behaviour for chronic disease, so knowing who is physically inactive is important for designing cost-effective policy interventions.”

Tam Fry, spokesman for the National Obesity Forum and honorary chairman of the Child Growth Foundation, hit out at the figures and said: “No-one should be at all surprised by these woeful statistics,” and blamed the government for not  doing enough to use the London 2012 Olympics as a springboard for more participation in grassroots sport.

To stay healthy, NHS guidelines state that adults aged 19-64 should try to be active daily and get at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) of moderate-intensity aerobic activity each week. This can include fast walking, hiking, volleyball, rollerblading or basketball. However, on top of this the NHS recommends to engage in muscle-strengthening exercises on 2 or more days each week. This can include heavy gardening (such as digging and shovelling), lifting weights, yoga and exercises that use your body weight for resistance (such as push-ups and sit-ups).

It is apparent that many of the population are simply not doing enough to stay active and this in conjunction with poor diets are causing more and more people to become overweight or obese. The good news for those overweight or obese is that it is never too late to make positive changes and a healthy, balanced diet in conjunction with exercise and a weight loss aid such as Xenical, Alli, or XLS-Medical will provide you with the tools to live a much healthier life.

Overweight woman assumed ‘pregnant’ loses half her body weight

A young woman could prove an inspirational role model to millions of overweight Brits after she has now slimmed down from her 16 stone frame to a svelte size 8 exercise enthusiast – training six times a week!

Jodie Driver, 23, had long been referred to as ‘the bubbly and cuddly one’ during school years, however one particularly cruel male masseur at a holiday resort in Turkey left her feeling like action needed to be taken to reduce the size 22 frame being carried on her 5ft 2in stature.

It was back in June 2009, when Jodie accompanied her mother Jo, 45 and a friend on holiday in Bodrum, Turkey, where they decided to sample the local culture by having a traditional Turkish bath and massage.

For 16 stone Jodie however, this would mean exposing the weight being hidden underneath her clothes and she felt reluctance.  After doing so, nasty jibes from the male masseuse soon made her rush to put the clothes back on.

Reminiscing about the life-changing holiday, Jodie says: “The masseur told me to take my clothes off so I stripped down to my underwear. The first thing he did was point to my stomach and said “baby?” I was gob smacked, and told him “no, definitely not”. He then said again “baby?” while making belly shapes with his hands on his own stomach. I was horrified.”

Jodie added: “During the whole massage he was talking and joking to his mates in Turkish and they were all laughing at me, it was really demoralising.”

After this upsetting episode, Jodie stayed covered up for the remainder of her holiday for fear of further insult. Then after arriving back home and browsing through her holiday pictures, she was shocked by her appearance.

“I looked at myself in the photographs and said: “I have to change”. I saw myself smiling, but I didn’t look happy, there was a sadness around me.”

Not wasting any time to make positive changes to her lifestyle, Jodie signed up to a gym the very next day to begin the process of losing weight. Her goal was to complete the 2010 Race for Life and to do this she began going to the gym three times every week and gave up junk food.

Initially, Jodie found it difficult to run 30 seconds, let alone the 5k distance for the Race for Life. However, by banishing takeaway and ready meals and opting for chicken and vegetables, her energy levels soon began to increase and she suddenly found herself being able to run for an hour at the gym.

Six months later and Jodie had lost an incredible four stone and now adheres to a healthy diet that consists of oats with water and a scoop of whey protein for breakfast, Greek yoghurt, white fish with vegetables and chicken with spinach and sweet potatoes.

She eventually ran the Race for Life in just 35 minutes on her 21^st birthday and then aimed to complete a half marathon the following year in April 2011 - which she managed to do and complete in 1 hour and 53 minutes.

Jodie is now a size 8 dress size and looks healthy, toned and happier than ever! “I now train six days a week, doing around one hour cardiovascular exercise plus weight training which targets specific muscle groups. It takes an awful lot of self-discipline…Looking back, I ironically have a lot to thank that Turkish masseur, as he inspired me to change my life. He did me the biggest favour.”

In what is an incredible turnaround and inspiration for those needing the motivation to lose weight – Jodie now plans to compete in the UK Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation’s bikini category later on this year.

If Jodie’s amazing weight loss story has motivated you to drop the excess pounds and reap the benefits, you can achieve similar success by adopting a healthy lifestyle and diet in conjunction with a scientifically proven weight loss aid such as XLS-Medical, Alli, or the prescription medication Xenical. All are available today from Medical Specialists Pharmacy at incredibly low prices.

TV chef recipes contain more calories than ready meals

If you have ever sat down in front of the TV with a microwave ready meal and felt a degree of guilt watching one of the many celebrity chefs preaching about their ‘healthy’ meals, perhaps you don’t need to be worried anymore. A study featured in the Christmas edition on the British Medical Journal website, even go on to claim that recipes included in TV shows from chefs such as Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver show be given to viewers with accompanying health warnings and be aired after the watershed. The study authors also argue for nutritional information to be included on recipes in cookery books.

The UK government and NHS Choices both argue that ready meals are less healthy than meals prepared from scratch, and should be avoided if possible. One of their arguments is that these types of meals usually have a high saturated fat and sugar content, contributing to an ever-increasing number of Britain becoming obese.

Obesity levels are predicted to go through the roof over the next few decades,  with excess weight being responsible for a variety of health conditions such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease and high blood pressure. Men who are overweight also risk suffering from erectile dysfunction problems.
Research that has been conducted in recent times have unearthed evidence to show that consumers can be swayed in their dietary choices by the unhealthy stigma attached to supermarket ready meals and television chef recipes boasting about their suitability within a healthy diet. However until now, there has been no study to be carried out comparing the nutritional content of the two.

With this in mind, NHS Tees and Newcastle University teamed up to compare the nutritional content of 100 ‘own brand’ ready meals from three leading supermarket chains (Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s) and 100 recipes for main meals in bestselling books by TV chefs. Recipes were analysed from ‘30 Minute Meals’ and ‘Ministry of Food’ by Jamie Oliver, ‘Baking Made Easy’ by Lorraine Pascale, ‘Kitchen’ by Nigella Lawson and ‘River Cottage Everyday’ by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

Upon analysis, researchers discovered that recipes by TV chefs were less healthy than ready meals, comprising of ‘significantly more’ energy, protein, fat and saturated fat, and a lower total of fibre per portion than the ready meals. If this wasn’t damaging enough, it was also determined that the recipes from the TV chefs were more likely to achieve ‘red traffic light’ labels according to the Food Standards Agency criteria than ready meals. For those unaware, the traffic light system works by having a postage-stamp sized sticker that states the percentage of a person’s recommended daily allowance contained in each product – red for high, amber for medium and green for low.

It was calculated that on average, the recipes conjured up by the celebrity chefs contained 2,530 calories per portion and the ready meals fared slightly better, with 2,067 per portion. However, it was found that no meal option from either group reached the criteria set by the World Health Organisation for a ‘balanced healthy meal’. In addition, the study authors’ stress that any salt used for seasoning was not considered in their analysis.

In their report, the authors say: “This study shows that neither recipes created by popular television chefs nor ready meals produced by three leading UK supermarket chains meet national or international nutritional standards for a balanced diet. The recipes seemed to be less healthy than the ready meals on several metrics.”

They further add that good nutritional intake ‘is likely to be derived from home cooking of nutritionally balanced recipes primarily using raw ingredients, rather than relying on ready meals or recipes by television chefs’.

Concluding their findings, the authors comment: “Further reformulation of ready meals in line with international nutritional guidelines, and collaboration with television chefs to improve the nutritional quality of their recipes, may also help consumers to achieve a balanced diet.”

Overall, Medical Specialists Pharmacy would argue that not strictly following the recipes from celebrity television chefs is the way to go. Although, neither those nor ready meals appear to be meeting nutritional guidelines and could be hindering attempts to maintain a healthy weight. With Christmas around the corner and the over-indulgence that this period brings, weight concerns are at their highest now more than ever.

If you want to lose weight, this can be achieved by adopting a healthy lifestyle and diet in conjunction with a medically proven weight loss aid such as XLS-Medical, Alli, or the prescription medication Xenical.  All three weight loss aids are available today from Medical Specialists at incredibly low prices.

Green Coffee Bean Extract: Does it work? Is it safe?

Over the years we have seen dozens of ‘miracle’ weight loss supplements come and go, including bitter orange, chromium picolinate, CLA, hoodia, yerba mate, raspberry ketones, and now green coffee bean extract. Each has been touted as an effortless way to shed pounds, by either boosting metabolism, mobilizing body fat or suppressing appetite.

You may have seen green coffee extract at Starbucks, promoted as a natural energy source with no coffee flavour. It was also featured recently on The Dr. Oz Show. On his program, the doc revealed the results of his own investigation, which involved recruiting 100 women who either received a placebo or a 400 mg green coffee bean supplement.

The ladies were instructed to make no changes to their diets and after two weeks, those who had taken the green coffee bean extract lost an average of two pounds, compared to one pound for the placebo group.

So, what exactly is green coffee bean extract? Does it really work? And is it safe. Green coffee beans are actually the green seeds inside the bright red berry. Roasting them turns the seeds brown and creates the characteristic aroma and flavour that coffee gives. To create green coffee bean extract, the seeds are left unroasted. Instead they’re soaked and then concentrated to create the extract.

When coffee seeds or beans are roasted, their antioxidant levels increase, however one natural substance called chlorogenic acid decreases. This chemical is thought to block fat accumulation, boost weight loss, curb carb absorption, and help regulate post meal blood sugar levels.

In a study done at the University of Scranton in January 2012, they carried out a double blind, placebo controlled, cross over study of 16 overweight adults, between the ages of 22 and 46 that were given varying doses of Pure Green Coffee Bean Extract (700mg and 1050mg) and matching placebos over a 22 week duration. Subjects were not asked to change their diet or exercise patterns.
At the end of the 22 week study, subjects who took the Green Coffee Bean Extract lost an average of 17 pounds, which is roughly 10.5 % of their body weight and 16 % of their body fat. Of particular interest was the fact that both the low dose green coffee bean extract and high dose green coffee bean extract groups lost weight.

As to whether green coffee bean extract works, the jury still appears to be out. The study was criticized because it involved such a small number of subjects only 16 and it was funded by a green coffee bean extract manufacturer. An independent analysis of three randomized clinical trials that included a total of 142 participants concluded that the effect of green coffee extract is only moderate at best, and the studies were poorly conducted.

As regards the study carried out by Dr. Oz, the women lost 1 extra pound over those who took the placebo over a two week period, which is interesting but maybe not enough to warrant taking the pills.

The other factor to consider is how safe are they. Unfortunately there is no standardization when it comes to these supplements. In other words, manufacturers don’t have to follow a specific formula, so one green coffee extract product could be made completely differently than another. And one brand could contain significantly more caffeine than the bottle next to it. That is a concern because concentrated doses of caffeine can cause headaches, GI upset, nervousness, insomnia, anxiety, ringing in the ears, and irregular heart beat, or even more serious problems in some people.

In addition, using caffeine based weight loss supplements and then stopping them has also been associated with withdrawal symptoms including headache, fatigue, depression, trouble concentrating, nervousness, muscle tension, and a flushed face. Caffeine based supplements can also react with other prescription medications such as diabetes, blood pressure and anti-depression drugs.

Clearly, despite some positive results, the jury is still out on green coffee bean extract. However there are weight loss aids available such as the prescription only Xenical and the newly released XLS-Medical, both of which are clinically proven to aid weight loss in conjunction with a reduced fat diet and exercise.