The Latest Fat Blasters

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The fastest way to lose weight—including fat—is through diet, but here’s the hitch: The faster you shed pounds, the more lean body mass you lose. “That’s why it’s best to lose one to two pounds a week,” says Donald K. Layman, PhD, professor emeritus at the University of Illinois Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition.

According to his research, the diet you choose matters, too. In general, in a high-carb diet, about 70% of the weight you lose is fat and 30% is lean muscle. With a moderate-protein diet, the ratio is 80-to-20 or better—but adding 30 minutes of exercise each day (walk five days a week; do Pilates or yoga, or lift weights on the two other days) will help you lose almost all fat and very little lean muscle, Layman’s research shows. “That’s the winning combination,” he says. Here’s what else is in the news.

Bariatric surgery
For those who are severely overweight (typically having a BMI of 40 or greater, or 35 or higher with health problems), gastric bypass and banding procedures have been shown to improve—and even cure—type 2 diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, and sleep apnea, says Jeffrey Tice, MD, assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

Gastric bypass reroutes the digestive system to bypass much of the stomach and the first section of the small intestine, decreasing the absorption of calories. Banding involves wrapping a small beltlike device around the top of the stomach to limit food intake. Note: There are risks involved with any surgery.

The reason these surgeries are so effective: Patients typically lose about half of their excess weight. A recent study found that obese women who had lost weight with bariatric surgery also reduced their risk of pregnancy-related complications like gestational diabetes and high blood pressure.

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