When it comes to weight loss, there is a simple formula that most people know will work. Make healthy food choices, eat less and move more. When the results we want don’t come as soon as we want, supplements can help safely accelerate the process.
For 12 weeks, Polish researchers followed 100 participants who they separated into two groups. One group took placebo tablets; the other group took a tablet made of extracts of green tea, black tea, bean pods and other botanicals one hour before meals. They took another tablet comprised of extracts of bean pods and Garcinia cambogia, and chromium half an hour after meals. Both groups participated in measured physical activity. Researchers reported that those who took the supplement experienced a significant decrease in body fat, but they did not experience significant decreases in hip-to-waist ratio, weight or body mass index (BMI).
What this means is that participants were able to decrease the amount of fat and increase the amount of muscle mass that made up their bodies. Lean muscle burns more calories at rest than fat tissue does. So while they didn't lose weight on the scale, the health benefits were significant, and more importantly likely to be longer term.
Trading even slight amounts of body fat for lean muscle for can have healthful benefits. This is because having large amounts of body fat has been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases and even cancer, especially when that fat is located in your abdominal area. Having a large waist is considered a health risk, according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health.
If you’re a woman and your waist measures more than 35 inches, you are at a high risk for disease. For men, the high-risk cutoff is a waist larger than 40 inches. Doctors can use waist measurement paired with BMI to determine risk for disease. For instance, if your waist measurement is in the high-risk zone and your BMI is above 25, you are at a higher risk for disease. (A BMI of 25-30 is considered overweight, higher than 30 is considered obese.)
An even better indicator of health could be the ratio of measurements the circumference of your hips to that of your waist. According to a 2005 study published in The Lancet, McMaster University researchers found that the risk of heart attack rose progressively as the ratio of waist size increased in proportion to hip circumference. For instance, a favorable hip-to-waist ratio would be a 30:36 inches, a favorable 83%. Inverted, that ratio would be an unfavorable 1.2%.
So what does this all mean? All weight loss isn’t the same; the numbers on the scale could say one thing, but it doesn’t mean that you’re healthier. The healthiest form of weight loss is fat loss with the preservation of or increase in lean muscle mass. This kind of weight loss can be achieved with exercise, healthy food choices and sometimes a little help from supplements.
Related Article: Fat Loss vs. Weight Loss: An Important Concept by Dr. Harry Preuss
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Sources:
Opala T, Rzymski P, Pischel I, Wilczak M, Wozniak J. Efficacy of 12 weeks supplementation of a botanical extract-based weight loss formula on body weight, body composition and blood chemistry in healthy, overweight subjects--a randomised double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial. Eur J Med Res. 11(8):343-50, 2006.
Yusuf S, Hawken S, Ounpuu S, Bautista L, Franzosi MG, Commerford P, Lang CC, Rumboldt Z, Onen CL, Lisheng L, Tanomsup S, Wangai P Jr, Razak F, Sharma AM, Anand SS; INTERHEART Study Investigators. Obesity and the risk of myocardial infarction in 27,000 participants from 52 countries: a case-control study. The Lancet. 366(9497):1640-9, 2005.
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