Weight Loss News
Weight loss drug ’caused death of 500 people’
A weight loss drug that has been taken by millions of French is likely to have been the cause of death of 500 people, the country’s drug safety body announced on Tuesday, amid claims that health authorities long ignored calls for the drug to be banned.
France’s second-largest pharmaceutical group was yesterday at the heart of a spiralling health scandal over Mediator, a drug initially reserved for obese people with diabetes that became a popular appetite suppressor.
Afssaps, the drug safety body, yesterday said expert epidemiologists believed Mediator, made by Servier, had been lethal for at least 500 people and had caused 3,500 others to be admitted to hospital since its launch in 1976.
Some 300,000 people were taking the drug when Afssaps pulled it from the market last November, saying it had little effect on diabetes and might lead to a dangerous thickening of heart valves. The European Medicines Agency followed suit.
Lose weight … and save money
MONTREAL — Frances Michaelson, a pioneer in fitness for more than 30 years, is passionate about all things health.
However, she feels the fitness industry is “failing those that need us the most” – the obese.
“We keep coming up with new toys and gadgets and workouts that are actually terrifying the very people we need to encourage to get moving,” she said.
Michaelson tours the country giving lectures and workshops on living a healthy lifestyle, and she attended an industry conference in Chicago in October where she listened to Richard Simmons (yes, that Richard Simmons) address a group of fitness professionals. Simmons told the group that something is obviously wrong with the way things are: Trainers are being certified almost by the hour, and there are more gyms offering more classes and more equipment than ever before, but obesity statistics keep rising almost as fast.
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“Simmons said it’s because as trainers we are training the same fit people over and over again,” Michaelson said, “instead of targeting the overweight and out-of-shape.”
Michaelson said she came home and was sitting in her Muscle Up personal training centre in Baie d’Urfé on a recent afternoon with Simmons’s words still resonating in her head. She looked around at the near-empty space and wondered what she could do that would really make a difference.
“And this light went on,” she said. “Why don’t I let people who have significant weight to lose come in and use the facility for free? Let’s get them moving, and hopefully they’ll see results and want to continue.”
So Michaelson is opening her training centre on afternoons and evenings, absolutely free of charge, to people who have at least 50 pounds to lose and who fear the gym scene.
Those who are interested will get an assessment, an introductory nutritional and fitness program, and six weeks free of charge; after that, Michaelson will work with clients to establish a sliding scale of payment, if necessary.
“I really don’t want it to be only about the money,” she said. “Let’s see if those who are interested – and committed – start to feel better after they’ve been moving and eating better for a short while.” And they had better “use it or lose it” – she’d like to see the people who sign up come in at least three days a week.
Michaelson said they should start to feel better after three weeks, and see results after six.
“I want people to come in and really start to feel comfortable in this environment, let them see how it feels to just sit on a stability ball, or pedal on an exercise bike, to try something new.”
Many people don’t even know the basics, like breathing, Michaelson said.
“Learning how to breathe properly can make a tremendous difference in your day-to-day life,” she said.
Michaelson knows how intimidating it can be for overweight people to even begin an exercise program.
She’s been working with Mary Vipond, an obese client in her 40s, since the summer and has helped Vipond gain a better understanding of herself and her body.
“It’s a very slow process,” Michaelson said. “We want to make lifestyle changes that will stick.
“Mary called me the other night and told me she had climbed the stairs – all 11 floors of her building – something she had never before done – to me that’s progress” she said.
Vipond said she had been at a point where she didn’t even know where to start anymore.
“I knew Frances and reconnected with her through friends, but I really didn’t know when I began where it would lead.”
Interestingly, Michaelson never told Vipond what she weighed at the outset of their working together. Vipond said that seems to be working out quite well.
“What happens when you have a lot of weight to lose is we get caught up in the numbers and fixate on them” she explained. “When you don’t reach those numbers, it can have a negative impact on your weight loss and your morale and you quit.”
Vipond said Michaelson, a certified naturopath, introduced her to a new way of eating, emphasizing fruits and vegetables with lean proteins and whole grains. She said the shape of her body has changed significantly, and her energy level has increased dramatically.
“My clothes are getting way too big and my co-workers keep commenting on my weight loss, so those are all good signs,” she said with a laugh.
Man Loses Weight After Unflattering Google Maps Street View Image
(CANVAS STAFF REPORTS) – A man in need of some weight-loss inspiration found it after seeing himself on Google Maps Street View.
The Daily Mail reported that Bob Mewse, 56, weighed 296 pounds a year ago when he saw himself on the mapping service that uses a 360-degree camera to record images. The camera shot a side view of the Bristol, England man wearing a gray shirt near a filling station.
“I was horrified when I saw that photo,” he told the Telegraph . “I was massive. My belly was sticking out and I looked huge.”
He said he was also having back problems and “sky-high” blood pressure. The Daily Mail said he was driving 30 miles to find clothes to fit him.
Mewse headed to a gym and got help from a personal trainer who also helped him develop a healthy eating plan. Cakes and other desserts were replaced with fruit, salads and protein-rich foods.
CBS News said the morbidly-obese man lost 98 pounds.
“If I can do this, anybody can,” he said. “I’m just an ordinary bloke. I feel much healthier now.”
Google Street View has long contributed to interesting stories. That has been the case recently as Ubergizmo.com reported Google has been under fire by privacy advocates in Germany who believe people have a right not to have a photo of them turn up online.
A graduate student has come up with a software that will digitally remove pedestrians from Street View images. Ubergizmo, though, said this could lead to some haunting effects since what’s left behind are ghost-like shapes, sometimes still connected to shoes and feet.
Google has also lent a hand to efforts to bust crime. The New York Post reported three heroin dealers were seen in images trying to peddle drugs on a street corner. Residents had been complaining about them selling drugs in the open.
They were recently among seven dealers arrested in an undercover New York Police Department sting.
Police had used their own surveillance cameras to get proof of the actual drug transactions. Law enforcement sources, though, had said Google Street View images had captured images of them working the corner.
Gawker.com reported in October that in one image it appeared as though blurry, possibly robed figures were caught hovering above a lake in Quarten, Switzerland.
“Is it something on the camera lens?” Gawker asked. “Or is it maybe God …?”