Cardio is a must for a whole slew of health reasons: it’s good for your heart, increases energy, helps reduce your risk of certain conditions like osteoporosis and diabetes, helps you sleep better, and boosts your immune system, to name a few! Of course, cardio is also essential if you’re trying to fit into the jeans you wore in college. If weight loss is your main reason for doing cardio, make your exercise count; check out the chart below to find out which type of cardio burns the most calories in 30 minutes. *All calculations are based on a 130-pound woman.

A bowl of cereal makes the perfect breakfast. It’s fast, easy, and inexpensive, and the right bowl of cereal is a good source of fiber, calcium, and protein. But if you make the wrong choices, your cereal may actually be contributing to weight gain. Avoid these mistakes when it comes to your morning bowl of cereal. Your bowl is too big: Depending on the box of cereal you choose, a serving size is about three-quarters to one-and-a-quarter cups. If you use the biggest bowl you have and just mindlessly pour, you could be devouring over 400 calories instead of the usual 120 to 200 – and this is just the cereal alone! You’re a little nuts: Sliced almonds, pecans, and walnuts offer healthy fats and protein, but they’re also pretty high in calories. Two tablespoons of walnuts is almost 100, so be mindful about how nutty you get. Keep reading for more ways your cereal bowl can cause weight gain.

The second time’s a charm for Vivus’s experimental obesity drug Qnexa, at least when it comes to FDA advisory panel votes. As the WSJ reports , one of the agency’s advisory panels today backed approval of the drug by a decisive 20-2 vote. The FDA — which often but not always follows the advice of its outside panels — is due to make its decision by April 17. If the drug is approved, it would be the first new prescription weight-loss drug in over a decade. Qnexa combines low doses of two existing drugs: phentermine, which cuts appetite, and topiramate, now used to combat seizures and migraines. Back in July 2010, FDA advisors voted against approving Qnexa by a margin of 10-6. The FDA itself nixed the drug later in the year , requesting more safety information. Vivus submitted additional clinical data to the FDA in an attempt to allay its concerns. It’s not clear whether that will be enough to satisfy the agency, though. In briefing documents released ahead of today’s meeting, the FDA raised concerns about possible effects on the heart and about birth defects. But it also noted that Qnexa produced “significant” weight loss in the first year of treatment, with some regain in the second year. Qnexa wasn’t the only obesity drug to stumble with the FDA in recent years. The agency said in October 2010 that Arena’s lorcaserin couldn’t be approved without additional data. And in February 2011 the FDA said that it wouldn’t consider approving Orexigen’s Contrave without another clinical trial. (Contrave, unlike lorcaserin, had actually gotten a thumbs-up vote in its first go-round with the advisory panel.) The Health Blog wondered in September whether some of the rejected drugs might eventually rise from the ashes. Image: iStockphoto

After all the gluttonous Mardi Gras celebrations today, Lent, the Catholic season of penance, will start tomorrow. Many Catholics give up a vice during this 40-day period, and even if you don’t do it for religious reasons you may find that giving something up for Lent is a good way to start a healthy habit or lose weight. To see just how effective avoiding an unhealthy food for 40 days can be, we’ve rounded up 10 popular foods that many people choose to give up for Lent, along with the total calories you’ll save if you avoid them. Read on for the 10 foods and the calorie counts, based on typical eating habits. Source: Thinkstock View Slideshow ›

Losing weight is hard work, so it’s no wonder we’re always on the lookout for the next big thing when it comes to a magic diet pill. The time may be now; the FDA will discuss this week whether to approve a new weight-loss pill called Qnexa . Qnexa is a combination of two existing drugs: the appetite-suppressing phentermine – aka the safer half of the ’90s weight-loss phenomenon phen-fen – plus topiramate, a drug normally used to treat migraines or seizures. Drug trials have shown that obese or overweight people on Qnexa lost more than six percent of their body weight and were more likely to keep it off than those who weren’t on the drug. While it looks like the drug meets the FDA’s requirements when it comes to its effectiveness (an average loss of at least five percent of body weight), the agency already rejected Qnexa in 2010 over safety fears – including a higher risk of having a heart attack and possible birth defects if you take Qnexa while pregnant. But since the two drugs used to make Qnexa are currently FDA-approved, some doctors already prescribe the phentermine-topiramate combination to patients for weight loss. Of course, this isn’t the first time a diet pill’s safety has been called into question, but what do you think? Do the risks outweigh the benefits when it comes to weight-loss drugs, or will you be first in line if Qnexa gets approved? Qnexa Up For Approval: Would You Take a Diet Pill to Lose Weight? Yes – Sometimes diet and exercise aren’t enough. No – Scary risks just to drop pounds? No thanks!

There’s nothing wrong with the occasional cocktail, but if you’re watching your waistline, the wrong drink order can be detrimental to maintaining a healthy weight. Avoid making happy hour a sugar and fat festival with these two easy tips - in the end, you’ll have saved yourself almost 300 calories! Start with the right alcohol : When it comes to saving calories, stick to basic alcohol (vodka, gin, tequila, or whiskey) and avoid liqueurs since flavored spirits like Kahlua, Baileys, or Amaretto are made using additional ingredients like fruit, cream, and sugar. For comparison, a 1.5-ounce pour of vodka contains 100 calories and zero grams of sugar , compared to 147 calories and nine grams of sugar in the same amount of Baileys. When asked by the bartender, always choose a cosmopolitan over a mudslide! To save even more calories, have your cocktail made with sake, shochu, or soju; on average, these spirits run about 60 calories per 1.5-ounce pour . Mixers matter : Always go easy on the mixers. Order your spirit of choice neat or on the rocks, or opt for a zero-calorie mixer like soda water. If a cocktail without fruit juice seems a bit too much for you, ask the bartender to add just a splash. Most importantly, avoid premade mixes since they are dripping in corn syrup and additives. When made right (aka without a mix), classic cocktails like mojitos and margaritas contain under 200 calories!

You may overeat because you’re famished, bored, or just in front of something delicious, but whatever the reason, regularly eating more than you should can make you feel gross and doesn’t do great things for your waistline. Here are three quick tips to stop overeating before you reach that uncomfortable threshold. Use tricks to tell yourself you’re full: To help you stop going back for more, use a few of these tricks to listen to your body’s hunger signal when your mind is telling you to go back for seconds. Grab a mug of soothing peppermint tea or eat something a little sweet to signal the end of meal. Read more of our tips for sending yourself the “I’m full” signal . Don’t fill your plate: Chances are, it may be too big! To prevent mounding on the calories, don’t fill up a large plate with what could be more than a serving size. Or, choose a smaller plate to fill up since it’ll look like you’re getting more. Savor it: Taking time to enjoy your food and the experience of eating will help you eat less of it, according to recent studies. Besides chewing slowly, incorporate these two easy changes for better (and slower) eating to appreciate your food more.

Lisa Shives, M.D., is the founder of Northshore Sleep Medicine in Evanston, Illinois. She blogs regularly on The Chart . Read more from her at Dr. Lisa Shives’ Sleep Better Blog . The classic pediatric sleep apnea patient is a skinny 6-year-old with chronic congestion and dark circles under his eyes. We still see many kids in the sleep center who match this profile, but over the past 10 years, a new clinical picture has emerged. Coinciding with the dramatic rise in childhood obesity, there is a clear change in our younger patients. We now see many overweight children in the sleep clinic who have obstructive sleep apnea that resembles the adult version. The thin child with OSA does not usually act sleepy in the daytime. On the contrary, they often act hyperactive or inattentive. In fact, their symptoms can mimic attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Large tonsils and adenoids are the primary cause of OSA in thin children because these and surrounding tissues can relax during sleep and block the airflow to the lungs. In fact, 80 to 90% of such cases of pediatric OSA are cured by surgically removing the tonsils and adenoids. Overweight or obese children are not such an easy fix. They usually present with loud snoring and significant daytime sleepiness. In obese children, the tonsils often become enlarged due to fatty tissues in the upper airway. Fat deposits in the neck and chest also add to the collapsibility of the upper airway during sleep. Unfortunately, a tonsillectomy/adenoidectomy is curative in only about 50% of overweight kids who have OSA. The others are encouraged to try continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) which is the most common treatment for severe OSA. When adults have mild-to-moderate OSA, we offer them an alternative treatment called an oral appliance (also called a mandibular advancing device). However, we cannot use this treatment in children and teens whose mouth and jaw are still changing. The important thing for pediatricians and parents to keep in mind is that the connection between weight and sleep is a two-way street. It’s not just that excess weight increases the likelihood that kids have obstructive sleep apnea, but that having sleep apnea increases the risks of gaining weight. Sleep deprivation due to poor sleep or too little sleep can cause hormonal havoc that leads to weight gain. For example, when research subjects were allowed to sleep for only four hours per night, the hormones that control appetite got all out of whack. Leptin, which acts on the brain to make people feel full, was abnormally decreased and ghrelin, which makes people hungry, was unusually high. These hormonal changes caused the research participants to be very hungry and eat more during the day. Children and teens with sleep apnea might seem to be sleeping a lot, but their sleep is constantly disturbed by brief turbulence in their brain waves – what sleep experts call micro-arousals. In effect, these kids are as sleep deprived as people who only get four to five hours of sleep. Not only do obese kids with OSA have a similar clinical presentation as adults, they unfortunately can have the same adverse outcomes if the sleep apnea is not treated. We are seeing pre-teens who have what we use to think of as adult diseases such as high blood pressure, pulmonary hypertension, heart disease and congestive heart failure. If your child is overweight, please consult a doctor to find out if he or she has the symptoms of sleep apnea, such as snoring, rough breathing, daytime sleepiness, poor academic performance, behavior issues and depression. OSA is easy to diagnose with an overnight sleep test and as I outlined above, there is more than one treatment option. Treating sleep apnea, if present, needs to be part of the weight loss program for everyone, including kids and teens. Filed under: Children’s Health , Obesity , Sleep Tagged: Lisa Shives M.D. – sleep expert

Bikini season will be here before you know it, so FitSugar reader JessicaSmithTV asked an expert for the best way to start shaping up. She posted her tips in our 10 Pounds Down! community group . Well, it’s official. The release of the 2012 swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated marks the opening of bikini season! And even if you are still snuggled and warm hiding your bod in that turtleneck, the warmer weather will be here before you know it. So don’t wait until you have a beach date to start shedding any excess winter weight. These three simple tips from fitness expert Kate Conti of The Sports Club/LA will have you melting away the extra pounds without major sacrifice, so you can strut your stuff in your swimsuit on the beach this year: Number one: allow up to six to eight weeks for delivery Yes, it may still be frosty outside, but you need plenty of time to allow yourself to get results. Don’t rely on that Master Cleanse to do your dirty work the week before. Start today! “Give yourself plenty of time to get in shape,” says Conti. “If you’ve been sitting around all winter, your body is not going to just snap back into shape in a couple of weeks. Give yourself about six to eight weeks of training before you expect to see any significant results. Your body will need that time to adapt to the added stress of exercise and make the appropriate physiological changes.” Keep reading for the rest of the tips.

Your waistline has gone MIA and you’re ready to reclaim it—for health reasons, yes, but also because you want to look better (there, you said it). Happily, this is one area where vanity and wellness align. “Visceral fat, which surrounds the organs in your midsection, plays a big role in the risk of metabolic conditions like diabetes,” says Claire Wheeler, MD, an instructor at Portland State University’s School of Community Health and author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Losing Belly Fat . And contrary to what a lot of people think, the belly is not a stubborn fat zone. “Unlike fat in other places, belly fat is earmarked to provide quick energy in the event you need to fight, flee, or endure a famine,” Dr. Wheeler says. “When you engage in moderate activity (akin to fleeing or fighting) and cut calories (as in a famine), most of the fat you lose first will come from your belly.” It’s ready to come off; now give it a kick-start with these strategies. Belly busters Slipping into that waist-cinching pencil skirt (the one pushed to the back of your closet) requires exercising more and making smart food choices so that you’re burning more calories than you’re taking in—no surprise. What is surprising, though, is just how easy it is to make that happen. Try this: Every day, aim to get 30 minutes of exercise, spend no more than six hours sitting down, and keep your calorie count in the 1,500 to 2,000 range. “A woman who is moderately overweight (about 15 to 25 extra pounds) should lose 2 inches in the first two weeks—most will lose more,” says Dr. Wheeler. Also helpful: eating more of the following, which target belly flab in particular. Fiber Getting your fill helps keep your stomach sleek, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition . Compared with people who only cut calories, those who also ate four to seven daily servings of whole grains (such as a slice of whole-wheat bread or half a cup of brown rice) lost significantly more belly fat. That’s one more reason to be a (healthy) carb lover: “Not only does the fiber in whole grains help flush the digestive tract, leading to a flatter stomach due to less constipation, but it also helps you feel more satisfied,” says Tammy Lakatos Shames, RD, the author of The Secret to Skinny . Soluble fiber—the kind found in oatmeal and apples—appears to be an especially effective fat fighter. For every 10-gram increase in your daily consumption of the stuff, belly fat drops nearly 4% over five years, suggests research from Wake Forest University. “For the most benefit, get 25 to 30 grams of fiber a day,” advises Dr. Wheeler. Dairy Milk products do a belly good, helping it retain lean muscle and store less fat. Take it from the dieters in a University of Tennessee study who ate 6 ounces of fat-free yogurt with every meal and lost 81% more abdominal fat than those who cut calories alone. “Increasing calcium suppresses calcitriol, a hormone that promotes fat storage,” explains lead author Michael Zemel, PhD. Quashing calcitriol also lowers your fat tissue’s production of cortisol, the hormone known to increase visceral fat. What’s more, a recent Harvard University study makes the case for vitamin D and calcium as weight-loss aids. Researchers gave one group three daily glasses of orange juice containing calcium and vitamin D, while another group drank the same amount of unfortified OJ each day. After four weeks, the vitamin-D-and-calcium group lost nearly 10 times as much belly fat as those who drank regular juice. For that get-slim boost without all the calories in three glasses of OJ, supplement daily with 450 IU of vitamin D and 1,500 milligrams of calcium. Next Page:  What to eat Fruits and veggies According to a University of Florida study, people who ate more of their overall diet from plant-based foods were slimmer. “Researchers developed an index—called the phytochemical index, or PI score—that ranks the number of calories consumed from plant-based foods compared with overall daily calorie intake on a scale of zero to 100,” says Cynthia Sass, RD, a New York City–based dietitian and author of S.A.S.S. Yourself Slim: Conquer Cravings, Drop Pounds, and Lose Inches . “People of normal weight had PI scores 10.3 points higher, on average, than overweight or obese people,” she says. “And even though both groups consumed about the same number of daily calories, those with lower PI scores had larger waist circumferences.” Researchers suggest including plant-based foods—fruits, veggies, nuts—every day, ideally at the start of each meal. Healthy fats Not all fats make you fat. In fact, monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs)—found in some nuts and oils—help you stay lean. In a study published in the journal Diabetes Care , insulin-resistant people who ate a diet high in MUFAs avoided the fate of those on a high-carb diet, who saw fat mass shift toward their bellies. Include plant-based fat—like 2 tablespoons of almond butter or a quarter of an avocado—at each meal, advises Sass. Likewise, adding just under 2 teaspoons of PUFA-rich safflower oil to your diet each day—without even cutting calories—reduces abdominal fat, suggests an Ohio State University study. Linoleic acid—a polyunsaturated, omega-6 fatty acid found in safflower, sunflower, soybean, and corn oils—helps increase the fat-burning hormone adiponectin, says lead author Martha Belury, PhD. “Use safflower oil in salad dressings or baking—anything in which the oil doesn’t reach the smoking point (as in deep frying),” she suggests. “That breaks it down.” What to avoid In addition to moving more and eating waist-friendly foods, aim to limit these fat magnets: Alcohol Folks who had three-plus drinks in a day—even infrequently—had more visceral fat than those who had the same amount monthly but spaced them out, according to University at Buffalo researchers. Tempted to have more than one drink? Choose light beer, wine spritzers, or diet mixers. Trans fats The type of fat in many baked goods and salty snacks may cause belly weight gain even if you’re not consuming excess calories. Skip anything with partially hydrogenated oils, says Dr. Wheeler. They can hide out in surprising places (like some bran cereals and low-fat ice creams). Minor stress Eating triggers insulin, and stress boosts cortisol. “When elevated, these two hormones work together to store extra calories you consume in the form of belly fat,” Dr. Wheeler says. In a study at the University of California–San Francisco, stress eaters showed higher levels of insulin and cortisol—and gained more weight—than those who didn’t eat when anxious. Next time you sit down to eat, take five minutes to relax first. A good place to start: Put away your gadgets. Next Page:  Get moving All the right moves Over 40 and flirting with perimenopause? That may explain those five stubborn pounds around your middle, just under the skin (a.k.a. “subcutaneous” fat). “As ovaries slow their production of estrogen, the body compensates by making more fat cells,” says Dr. Wheeler. Subcutaneous fat isn’t as bad for you as visceral, but that doesn’t mean you have to accept it. Fight back with exercise. Burn fat Ab exercises tone, but you need cardio to torch the fat that’s hiding them.Try alternating the intensity, suggests Jessica Matthews, exercise physiologist for the American Council on Exercise. Whether you’re running or using a cardio machine, do one minute at an intensity level of 8 or 9 out of 10, followed by two minutes at 5 or 6; repeat this pattern. Build strength Research suggests the bicycle maneuver tops the list of most effective core exercises. Lying down, hands behind your head, and knees at a 45-degree angle, extend one leg then the other in a slow pedaling motion, touching your right elbow to your left knee, and vice versa. Do two to three sets of 8 to 15 reps, every other day, and you’ll be well on your way to a thinner middle.