71 Weight Loss Tips That Really Work

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71 Weight Loss Tips That Really Work Reaserch by Sadia Hanif

We suggest printing out each page and hanging them on your fridge, desk or other prominent place.  Get Moving   The tough part with exercise, of course, is getting out there and doing it. Here's how the successful get going:  1. Prioritize.   The beds might not get made, but Amy Reed, 36, still makes time for exercise. That's how she's kept off more than 80 pounds for 13 years. "I have to schedule it in and let go of other things -- like a perfectly clean house," she says.  2. Find a passion.   "I have a dance background and when I found jazzercise, I said, 'Thank God.' If somebody told me I had to go out and run five days a week, I'd still weigh 185 pounds," says Anne Geren, 41, who lost 55 pounds and has kept it off for 13 years.  3. Keep an Exercise Log.   It makes you more accountable. Norma from Dallas, TX, who hangs hers on the refrigerator, checks off six workouts a week dutifully. "If I miss one day, I make that my day off for the week."  4. Set a Goal.   Sign up for some fun runs and try to improve your times. "I went from a 5-K to a 4-miler, then a 5-miler, then a 10-K. As I was building miles and speed, I was getting fitter and losing more weight," says Therese Revitt, 42, who lost 80 pounds and recently ran a marathon.  5. Get Pumped.   "It wasn't until I put on more muscle through resistance training that I was able to keep the weight off -- almost effortlessly," says Verona Mucci-Hurlburt, 37, who went from a size 18 to an 8. The reason? Muscle burns more calories around the clock.  Eat Smart   6. Make changes for the long haul.   "I learned how to eat and live with it for the rest of my life," says Barbara Miltenberger, 42, who lost more than 40 pounds and hasn't seen any come back in three years.  7. Stop dieting.   "The best thing I did was quit dieting," says Reed. "I'd always find ways to cheat. So instead, I stopped forbidding myself certain foods and just started eating less of them."  8. Get a grip on reality.   "When I started keeping a food diary, I discovered that I was eating somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 calories a day," says Rebecca, 46, who found the number shocking.  9. Eat minimeals.   Having smaller, more frequent meals can prevent you from getting ravenously hungry and overeating. On average, weight loss winners eat five times a day.  10. Follow the 90% to 10% rule.   "If you watch what you eat 90% of the time, the other 10% is not a problem," says Mucci-Hurlburt, who learned this tip from a fitness professional.  11. Dine at the dinner table only.   If you eat in front of the TV, then every time you nestle in with the remote control, it's a cue to eat. Instead, designate an eating spot for all meals and snacks. "Even when I want potato chips, I set the table just like I was going to sit down for a full course meal," says Kathy Wilson, 47, who took off more than 100 pounds. "I put a handful of chips on the plate, put the bag away, and then sit down to eat. I never just stand at the counter and eat now."  12. Think before you bite.   Creating rituals -- like Wilson did or the old standby of waiting 10 minutes before giving into a craving -- can stop you from eating when you really aren't hungry. "Nine chances out of 10 the chips go back in the cupboard, and I just walk away," says Wilson.  13. Drink up.   "Drinking lots of water keeps me from snacking when I'm not hungry, and it gives me more energy," says Revitt. "It also stopped what I thought were hunger headaches, which were probably due to dehydration. "    Set Yourself Up for Success   14. Do it for yourself.   "My doctor told me for years that I had to take the weight off. But you've got to want it yourself," says Wilson. "As long as somebody else is pushing you, no matter what you do or what you try, it'll never work," adds Victoria Bennett, 39, who shed 60 pounds and has kept them off for five years.  15. Take it slow.   We all want to lose it yesterday, but slow is the way to go if you don't want to see those pounds again. "It took me a year to lose 100 pounds this time," says Rebecca, who's kept it off for eight years. "I had lost 100 pounds twice before, in less than six months each time, but I didn't maintain it."  16. Customize your approach.   What worked for your best friend may not work for you. And what works for you today may not work six months from now. You need to decide what you need. Mucci-Hurlburt joined a structured program for accountability. "I needed to know that I was going to get weighed each week," she says. But for others that's exactly what they don't need.  17. Learn from the past.   Everyone we talked to had tried to lose weight before. Part of their success this time was that they learned from past failures. "Before, the more I focused on weighing, measuring, and preparing food, the more I ate," says Wilson, who finally succeeded with a program that offered prepackaged foods.  18. Set small goals.   "My first goal was to lose only 10 pounds," says Rebecca. "I had very high blood pressure, and my doctor said if I would just lose 10 pounds, he believed that I could get off the pills. Every other doctor before said I had to lose 100 pounds, and I thought 'I can't do that.' But 10 pounds, I thought 'maybe I can do that.' Doing it one bite at a time made it more achievable for me."  19. Make changes you can live with.   "Before I'd go to bed I'd ask myself, 'Is what I did today something I could do for the rest of my life?' If I felt deprived, I'd do it differently tomorrow. If I thought, 'Yeah, I could do this tomorrow,' then I was on the right track," says Revitt  Control Portions   20. Go back to school.   Joining a weight loss class or working with a dietitian can help you learn proper portions, even without weighing and measuring. "If you get a half cup of cottage cheese, it should look like a tennis ball, a quarter cup should look like a Ping-Pong ball," says Wilson. "Now, I know what appropriate portions look like."  21. Don't toss those measuring cups, though.   "I usually misjudge portions of salad dressing, mayonnaise, and ice cream," says Revitt. "They're really high in fat and calories and cause the most damage if overdone. So I still measure them."  22. Cook for your family, not an army.   Even for low-fat foods like grilled chicken, Bennett stopped overfeeding her family of four. "I stopped making six or seven breasts, thinking that everybody had to have two or three," she says. "Now I make just one for each person."  Take Some Cooking Lessons   23. Plan ahead.   An empty fridge after a stressful day begs for pizza. The now-slender crew doesn't leave meals to chance. Many of them plan their menus a week or more in advance. Others even cook ahead, freezing meals for the week in individual containers.  24. A little dab will do it.   If you just can't pass on some high-fat favorites, stick to the most flavorful ones. "A single slice of bacon is enough to flavor eggs or a potato," says Helen Fitzgerald, 61, who lost about 51 pounds. Her husband's lost more than 150 pounds.  25. Fake fry.   Try"frying" with calorie-free cooking sprays instead of oil. Spray sliced potatoes and roast them in the oven for french fries that taste fried without the fat, suggests Miltenberger.  26. Stock frozen veggies.   With pasta or stir-fry sauces, they are diet saviors. "I've been known to eat a whole bag of vegetables -- and with only a quarter cup of sauce, it's only about 3 grams of fat," says Mucci-Hurlburt. "It's saved my butt many times when I was really hungry and had to eat now."  27. Flavor up.   Rice, beans, and other cooked grains are the staples of many successful dieters. For variety, Fitzgerald cooks them in different liquids -- tomato juice, apple juice, beef or chicken stock. "Rice done in pineapple juice is especially good for rice puddings and Chinese dishes," she says.  Don't Go It Alone   28. Find the right support person.   A nag won't do. Neither will a partner in crime. Look for someone who can empathize and support you in a positive way. When Reed finally succeeded in losing weight, her fiance was a big help. "We didn't focus all our socializing around food. We went bike riding a lot and played tennis instead of going for pizza."  29. Join a support group.   "Hearing someone say she lost 50 pounds would be real motivating," says Revitt. "I'd think, 'She's just a normal person like me. If she can lose 50 then I can do it too.'"  30. Create your own group.   "I started my first women's group when I first started exercising. It was just a bunch of women that got together once a week, and we would compare notes," says Debra Mazda, 44, who's 135 pounds slimmer than she was 13 years ago.  Don't Boycott Dining Out   31. Be picky.   "I'm not afraid to ask for dishes to be prepared differently," says Bennett. "My philosophy is that every restaurant has a grill and an oven. They don't have to fry everything."  32. It's not the Last Supper.   This is not your last chance in life to have a particular food. "Those french fries will be there in a half hour if I really have to have them," says Mucci-Hurlburt. Or they'll be there next week.  33. Don't wait to doggy bag.   "As soon as the waitress puts the food down in front of me I cut the whole portion in half, put it on my butter plate, and ask her to wrap it," says Revitt. If you wait until the end of your meal, oftentimes you pick at it until the waitress returns.  34. Tackle buffets.   "I get only one tablespoon of everything," says Rebecca. "Usually I don't even fill my plate, but I at least taste everything so I don't feel deprived."    Deliver Yourself from Temptation   35. Stay busy.   Do something that's not conducive to eating. The folks we talked to aren't sitting around thinking of hot fudge sundaes. They're singing in choirs, taking classes, running marathons, leading weight loss groups, and more.  36. Keep 'em out of sight.   Overwhelmingly, weight loss vets control foods like chocolate, ice cream, and potato chips by not having them around. "It's easier to fill the house with treats for my kids that I don't like such as Oreo cookies," says 30 year old Tammy Hansen, who trimmed off 60 pounds.  37. Moderation is key.   But they're not depriving themselves, either. "If I want a piece of cake, I'll have one," says Mazda. "Then I just won't have another one for a week or so. Knowing that I can eat something and no one's going to say 'you can't' works for me."  38. Indulge and enjoy!   Go for the best brand of ice cream or the best cut of steak. "If I'm going to blow 500 or 600 calories, I want to make sure that I'm enjoying it to the max," says Mucci-Hurlburt. "Often desserts look much better than they taste. If it tastes like cardboard, forget it. It's not worth it."  39. Limit portions.   "When I have to snack, I put my hand in the bag or box and whatever I can grab, that's what I eat -- only a handful," says Fitzgerald.  40. Buy individually packaged snacks.   Cookies, chips, even ice cream come in single serving sizes. "If I want some cookies or chips, I grab one little bag instead of a whole box," says Reed.  41. Keep reminders around.   A note on the refrigerator reading "Stop" kept Reed from raiding it. Underneath she listed other things to do, like "take a drink of water" and questions such as"Are you really hungry?"  42. Find alternatives.   Chocolate is still a favorite even for successful dieters. But they've found ways to enjoy it and still keep their waistlines. Bennett makes fat-free chocolate pudding with skim milk. For Sarah, who lost 40 pounds and has kept it off for two years, a cup of sugar-free hot cocoa (about 20 calories), topped with a little fat-free whipped cream does the trick.  43. Don't give in to peer pressure.   If the cookies, chips, or ice cream you buy for the rest of the family is sabotaging your efforts, stop buying it. "My daughters carried on for about a month, but after that they got used to the change," says Bennett.  Escape Emotional Eating   44. Know your triggers.   You have to know which moods send you to the cookie jar before you can do anything about it. Once you know your triggers, have a list of alternate things to do when the mood strikes. "When I get tired or discouraged, I get an 'I don't care attitude,'" says Rebecca. For those times, taking a walk or reading affirmations can help.  45. Quiz yourself.   Determine if you're really hungry or eating for other reasons. "I'll ask myself 'Do you really want this, or is it something else, like boredom or depression?' About 80% of the time it's not hunger," says Geren.  46. Call a friend.   Talking about what's eating you can keep you from eating. "I had to be willing to call my support people at 9 o'clock on a Friday night," says Barbara, 46, who's kept off 46 pounds for more than 15 years.  47. Stop worrying.   Remind yourself that you only have control over you -- not your spouse, boss, parents, or friends. If you can't do anything about it, just let it go, several people suggested.  48. Take an emotional inventory.   Ask yourself: "What do you feel guilty about? resent? fear? regret? What are you angry about?" Then deal with it, says Barbara. Confront the person involved, talk to others, or write a letter -- even if you don't send it.  49. Get spiritual.   If religion isn't for you, try yoga, meditation, or relaxation exercises. These are especially helpful if you tend to eat when you're stressed, says Barbara.  50. Challenge the power of food.   Ice cream is a poor companion if you're lonely. "If I eat the whole bag of chocolate chip cookies, am I going to be any happier? Probably not," says Wilson    Blast Off a Plateau   51. Up the ante   "I started out walking, and eventually tried running, which was the key to my success," says Revitt. "I couldn't even make it around one lap (1/26 of a mile) in the beginning, but it was just enough to make the weight loss continue."  52. Go back to basics.   "I'd go back to more strict measuring because you can sneak away from reasonable portions and start fooling yourself," says Mucci-Hurlburt.  53. Stop starving yourself.   "As soon as I saw the weight coming off, I thought, 'If it's working at this rate, I'll try eating less so I'll lose more,'" admits Miltenberger. "Then I'd stall or even put weight on because I was undereating and my metabolism slowed. I'd start losing again when I'd eat a little bit more."  54. Look how far you've come.   "By keeping a graph of my weight, I could see that the line would go up and down and up and down, but overall it was going down, so there was no reason to throw my progress away," says Rebecca.  Stay Motivated   55. Don't give up.   "There are plenty of times when I've wanted to give up, but I didn't," says Mazda. "I realized a long time ago that entrepreneurs fall and rise up every time they lose a venture, but they just keep getting up." The same is true for weight loss.  56. "You can do it.  " Repeat this to yourself. Many people post affirmations around their homes or offices as constant reminders. One dieter even programmed her computer screen to keep her on the right track.  57. Get inspired.   "I read a lot about other people who have come back from obstacles and really made it," says Mazda. Their determination can make you feel like you can succeed too.  58. Envision your svelte self.   "If you can actually visualize yourself as the person you want to be, you'll become it," says Wilson. "When I felt like I couldn't do this one more minute, I slipped in a motivational tape. Step by step, it would walk me through a visualization exercise so I could see myself as I wanted to be."  59. Find new measures of success.   When she lost some weight, trying on her old, too-big clothes further motivated Miltenberger. "I also bought myself a size below what I was wearing," she says. "I'd see if I could get the pants on, then if I could zip them, and finally when I could wear them comfortably  Feel Good About Yourself   60. Learn to like your trouble spots. Peggy Malecha, who's lost about 75 pounds, dresses in a black leotard and, standing in front of a mirror, she points out everything about herself that she doesn't like. Then she counters that. For instance, "I hate my legs, but they work," she says. "I can walk and dance. I have no control over the way they look, so it's silly to obsess over them. Don't dwell on it."  61. Pamper yourself. Take baths and get massages, facials, manicures, and pedicures. "They make me look good and feel good," says Mazda.  62. Stop negative talk. "If you make positive speech a long-term goal and stop using 'I was bad (or good) today,' you'll begin to feel better about yourself," says Mazda.  63. Don't compare yourself to others. Instead, think "I'm better or just as good as anyone else is. Once you start thinking that about yourself, believe me, you get real cocky," says Mazda.  64. Look in the mirror and say, "I look good." You may not believe it now, but you will. "When I first started this, I avoided mirrors," says Bennett. "I never wanted to go into a dressing room, so I'd get various sizes, take them home, and then try them on. If they didn't fit, then I took them back. But now I'll look in every mirror    Be Realistic 65. Stay flexible. Many people who have kept the weight off never reached their initial goal weights. Instead, they've gotten to a realistic weight that they can maintain. "In 13 years, I've never gotten down to my initial goal weight, but I'm very happy and feel very good even though I didn't reach it," says Reed.  66. Quit the numbers game. Mucci-Hurlburt is 5' 5 1/2" tall and weighs 152 pounds -- by society's standards she's heavy. However, she can slip into a size 8 thanks to the fact that most of her weight is muscle. "It doesn't matter what the scale says, it matters how I look," she says.  67. Reject others standards. "Thin is whatever you think thin is. Next to Roseanne Barr, I'm thin. Next to Twiggy, I'm fat," says Mazda.  Get Back on Track 68. Stop being a perfectionist. "Look at it like walking a tightrope," suggests Revitt. "The goal is not just to stay on without falling off. The goal is to get to the other side, and if you know that you can fall off as many times as you want as long as you get back up again, you're gonna be successful."  69. Start fresh, ASAP. If you have a slip, don't wait until Monday or even tomorrow to get back in line. Revitt uses water as a cleansing ritual to end a binge. When she realizes what's happening, she drinks a water to signal that the eating is over, and she's back on track immediately. "It's made my lapses shorter and shorter," she says.  70. Practice early detection. "I weigh myself about once a month," says Reed. "If I start inching up, I increase my exercise a little bit."  71. Enlist professional help. Many of the people we talked to used dietitians, personal trainers, and even psychologists to help them deal with problems that were hindering their efforts. If you feel like you can't do it on your own, seek help.  Courtesy: http://www.contactpakistan.com/Communitylibrary/general/health/womenhealth/71tipsforweight.htm

Have loads of sex and it helps to keep us healthy

Not just good, but very good for you

Dear bloggers,

About a week ago, I ended up in a deep conversation with a good friend of mine, we talked about the fact why we are actually being on this planet and for what reason? We also found out that behaving agressive or getting angry is actually a silly kind of emotion. And believe me it does not help you at all.
Although it can take the pressure away when you have a burst out.
Just give up pretending that you are so special.
We will all end the same,so you better make something out of it.
Relax and take it easy.

In life there are only a few things important, a lot of people forget to enjoy themselves.
If your wife or girlfriend feels stressed, depressed, has a headache or wants to get in shape, she should simply read the following guidelines.

Not just good, but very good for you
have loads of sex and it helps to keep us healthy


I do not share all my hobbies with my friends, but at least we can approach this scientificly but behind closed doors.
I was surfing on the internet to find me some new things to explore scientific, this time it was not beer but sex another hobby of me.

Okay, so maybe there’s some wishful thinking going on — the science isn’t exactly iron-clad — but evidence is accumulating that the more sex you have, the better off you are.

Yes, boys and girls you should do these things to keep in good shape you do not only need a fitness room, but for the benefits of sex are generally thought to people in loving, monogamous relationships.
For the once flying solo, be carefull a sexually transmitted disease might kill you in the healthiest days of your life.



Risky sex with lots of partners will probably do more harm than good.
But while researchers try to nail down the impact on overall health, data is mounting when it comes to some specifics.
Here are several potential benefits:

1. Easing depression and stress



The release from orgasm does much to calm people. It helps with sleep, and that is whether we talk about solo sex or sex with a partner.
But wait, there’s more. A recent study of college students at the State University of New York in Albany suggests that semen acts as an antidepressant. Females in the study who were having sex without condoms (see safe sex caution, above) had fewer signs of depression than women who used condoms or abstained from sex.
“These data are consistent with the possibility that semen may antagonize depressive symptoms,” the authors wrote, “and evidence which shows that the vagina absorbs a number of components of semen that can be detected in the bloodstream within a few hours of administration.”
Hmm, I am not kidding you, ladies. Semen is good stuff. It gives a shot of zinc, calcium, potassium, fructose, proteins -- a veritable cornucopia of vitality!
It is as good as breakfast, with fresh squeezed orange juice (sorry I got carried away a bit)

2. Relieving pain



Orgasm is a powerful pain-killer. Oxytocin, a natural chemical in the body that surges before and during climax, gets some of the credit, along with a couple of other compounds like endorphins.
According to a study by Beverly Whipple, professor emeritus at Rutgers University and a famed sexologist and author, when women masturbated to orgasm “the pain tolerance threshold and pain detection threshold increased significantly by 74.6 percent and 106.7 percent respectively.”

3. Boosting cardio health



I can’t resist another plug for semen. It’s possible that male his little swimmers can lower your blood pressure.
Another recent study found that women who gave their men oral sex, and swallowed, had a lower risk of preeclampsia, the dangerously high blood pressure that sometimes accompanies pregnancy.
No, I’m not making this up. “The present study shows that oral sex and swallowing sperm is correlated with a diminished occurrence of preeclampsia,” said the Dutch authors.

See? We told you it was good for you.
There have been other studies showing that sex lowers blood pressure, and might even protect against strokes because of its stress-relieving ability.
But when we think of sex and the cardio system.
Is there nicer way to get "a broken heart"
Well, not only does that hardly ever happen, but sex might actually protect the heart. So let's get started with a life, that contains a weekly schedule of frequent sexual intercourse.

4. Countering prostate cancer
Over the past few years, several journals have published studies showing that the more ejaculations the better.
Now the Journal of the American Medical Association, no less, has reported that “high ejaculation frequency was related to decreased risk of total prostate cancer.” It doesn’t matter how a man climaxes -- intercourse or masturbation.
So next time he says, “Really, honey, it’s therapy,” he could be telling the truth.
And I have a different opinion about men now with well devolleped upper arms (okay, not every bodybuilder is wanker)

5. Healing wounds
Some evidence suggests sex can be rejuvenating to the point of helping wounds to heal faster. Several experiments have shown that oxytocin can help even stubborn sores, like those suffered by diabetics, to heal by regenerating certain cells.

6. Fighting aging



Maybe it’s the reverse of the aging process, maybe the happiness, maybe all of the above.
One thing’s for sure: “Use it or lose it” is literally true.
For ever young isn't that the dream of many of us?
Complications like urinary tract infections. What’s one way to prevent it? More intercourse.
Sex is a form of exercise, after all, and like all exercise, it burns calories and can help battle the onslaught of the years. In fact, nursing home experts say they wish oldsters would have more sex.
Can sex really make you live longer? Maybe.
Of course, it could be that these gents were just healthier and felt like having sex more often.

But since there’s no evidence that lots of sex is bad for you, what have you got to lose?

I just follow these lines in life:
Live life as long it is there
pray for less fights
spend your last money on a drink
and fuck if your life is depending on it

The Old Sailor,

Courtesy, Viewed on: 8-Jan-11: http://oldsailor2007.blogspot.com/2008/09/not-just-good-but-very-good-for-you.html#links

Can Good Sex Keep You Young?

Does frequent sex contribute to good health?
WebMD Feature

Nov. 13, 2000 -- When I asked my 77-year-old friend Peter Kranz of Darien, Conn., about his sex life, he was immediately forthcoming. "We make love twice a day," he said.

"You do this every day?" I asked.

"The schedule is not written in stone," Peter explained. "But we do make love every day."

Michael Roizen, MD, would say that sex is keeping Kranz young. In his best-selling book, RealAge -- Are You as Young as You Can Be?, Roizen makes the case for the antiaging effects of sex after surveying the available literature. "Having sex at least twice a week can make your RealAge 1.6 years younger than if you had sex only once a week," Roizen says. He defines 'real age' as "an estimation of your age in biologic terms, not chronologic years."

Although Roizen's statistics are sketchy, he derives his figures primarily from a study done in Caerphilly, Wales, and published in the December 1997 British Medical Journal under the title, "Sex and Death: Are They Related?" One of the few efforts to examine the relationship between sex and mortality, the study found that men who reported at least two orgasms a week at the time of the study had less than half the risk of dying from various causes over 10 years of follow-up than those with a lower frequency of orgasm. Drawing on the researchers' remark that the evidence suggested a dose-response relationship -- meaning in this case that the more orgasms a man had, the longer he lived -- Roizen concluded that someone like my friend Peter, who has sex every day, could have a Real Age as much as 8 years younger.

At first blush (and Peter's candor did make me blush), my friend is a convincing example of Roizen's argument. He is youthful-looking, energetic, and actively involved in many interests. Peter still works as a developer of computer systems. He has had a steady, positive relationship with his wife who, at 77 also, still commutes to Manhattan for her own job at a major nonprofit institution.

But although Peter enjoys his sexual interludes immensely, he also does many other things to remain youthful. He watches his weight and caloric intake very closely and makes sure he stays slim. Over the last decades, he has been involved in strenuous earth and rock-moving activities in his own backyard; and he also splits wood when it is needed. He has exercised steadily and intensely over the years.

So does sex itself really extend our lives or prevent heart attacks? This claim is difficult to prove. Yes, sex and good health are usually linked -- in most of the studies and our observations -- but which one is the chicken and which the egg? Does sex contribute to good health or does good health make regular sex possible?

How Sex May Keep You Young

One of the first longitudinal studies of aging begun at Duke University in the '50s and reported in the December 1982 journal Gerontologist found that the frequency of sexual intercourse (for men) and the enjoyment of sex (for women) predicted longevity. Other studies have found that sexual dissatisfaction was a predictor of the onset of cardiovascular disease. A study published in the November-December 1976 journal Psychosomatic Medicine compared 100 women with heart disease (acute myocardial infarction) with a control group and found sexual frigidity and dissatisfaction among 65% of the coronary patients but only 24% of the controls. In these studies, though correlations were found between the frequency and/or enjoyment of sex and longevity or other outcomes, they do not answer the "chicken and egg" question.

In a long-term study published in book form as Secrets of the Superyoung, David Weeks, MD, head of old age psychology at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital in Scotland, found that "the key ingredients for looking younger are staying active ... and maintaining a good sex life." In a study of 3,500 people, ages 30 to 101, Weeks found that "sex helps you look between four and seven years younger," according to impartial ratings of the subjects' photos. Theorizing on his findings, Weeks, a clinical neuropsychologist, attributed this to significant reductions in stress, greater contentment, [and] better sleep.

Michael Roizen's reading of the research and his clinical work have led him to believe that sex keeps us younger because it "decreases stress, relaxes us, enhances intimacy, and helps ... personal relationships." Although no study has yet proven a cause-and-effect relationship between good sex and longevity, there seems to be a beneficial system at work here -- a sort of virtuous cycle of sex and health reinforcing one another.

Sex and Seniors

Although it may gross out 20-year-olds to hear it (especially about their parents), older people do continue to have sex, according to the MacArthur Foundation report "Successful Aging" by John W. Rowe, MD, and Robert L. Kahn, PhD. They cite a Duke University study published in the November 1974 Journal of the American Geriatrics Society that found that "at age 68, about 70% of men were sexually active on a regular basis" but that this number dropped to 25% by age 78.

A more recent study, published in the January 1990 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, reported that nearly 74% of married men over 60 remain sexually active, as do 56% of married women. And an April 1988 study on "Sexual Interest and Behavior in Healthy 80 to 102-year-olds" published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior found that 63% of men and 30% of women were still having sexual intercourse. "Given that by the age of 80 or older there are 39 men for every 100 women, lack of oppportunity may well account for a large portion of such gender differences," says Cindy M. Meston, PhD, in her paper on "Aging and Sexuality," published in the October 1997 issue of the Western Journal of Medicine.

While men may experience a gradual decline in sexual libido as their testosterone levels slowly diminish, women experience a wider range of effects as a result of the more complex hormonal changes that occur with menopause. Some, like Eileen Smith, 70, a nurse in Laguna Beach, Calif., experience no decrease in sexual desire through the years, although she attributes that to the fact that she began hormone replacement therapy at the first sign of hot flashes. "In my own case, intensity of desire was not tied to menopause," she says, "but rather to the quality of the relationships I was having at different times in my life." The mother of two and grandmother of four, she said that years after her divorce, when she was "crazy in love" at age 60, she experienced sexuality "as hot as ever."

Other women may respond to the lower testosterone levels that sometimes occur after menopause with a decrease in desire. Judith Gerberg, MA, a career counselor and president of the Career Counselors' Consortium in New York, found that a hysterectomy 10 years ago left her totally depressed and disinterested in sex or anything else. Despite treatment with estrogen, her apathy continued. She did not give up on finding a solution and kept consulting physicians until she found one who was an early proponent of the use of small doses of testosterone to restore sexuality in middle-aged women.

When she began taking Estratest, a combination of estrogen and testosterone, all aspects of her sexual functioning returned. "I was sexy as ever," she says. "Joy returned. I was energized. I stopped worrying all the time." In her work as a career counselor, she now advocates that women suffering similar problems explore hormone therapy with their gynecologists.

Use It or Lose It

For both men and women, the best way to maintain sexuality in later years is never to stop making love. "The vagina is one organ where use makes a difference," says Susan Love, MD, in Dr. Susan Love's Hormone Book. "Sexual exercise -- either masturbating or having sex with a partner -- will increase your natural lubrication." Men, too, may find that arousal comes more easily when sexual activity is maintained regularly, although the normal sexual diminution that comes in their 70s and beyond may require some adjustment and variation.

My friend Peter Kranz explains his method. "We make love twice every day, but I don't finish twice a day, just once. We go to bed around 11 p.m. After a few hours sleep, I wake my wife up, and we have intercourse for 20 or 30 minutes. Then we go back to sleep till the alarm goes off in the morning. We make love again upon awakening, and then I generally do finish off."

And one of Roizen's enthusiastic correspondents, 87-year-old Joe, who had sex regularly until his wife died at age 83, gives his sexual recipe. "This year I met a 56-year-old lady full of energy who had never married," he says. "Since I lost my erection in my 70s, I am able to excite her with my hand and by oral sex." Joe adds that until her relationship with him, she had been in a physical "cocoon," due to lack of sex. But after two months, "She came out of the cocoon ... and her juices started flowing."

Jeffrey Blum, PhD, is a psychotherapist in private practice in New Canaan, Conn., who treats individuals, couples, and families. He is the author of Nothing Left to Lose: Studies of Street People and Living with Spirit in a Material World as well as numerous magazine articles.

 

Related WebMD Information

What Men Can Do to Prevent Impotence

Sex After 60 -- Why Not?

Great Sex After 70

Older Adults and Sex

 

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Last Editorial Review: 1/30/2005 11:33:45 PM

Courtesy, Viewed on 7-Jan-11: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=51501

Sex For The Obese

I'm pretty obsessed with early fat liberation writing and activism, especially stuff that was published in the early 1970s. It's amazing how prescient this work is, and how it is both relevant to debates going on about fat today, and also brilliantly weird and dated.

I recently got my paws on a copy of Abraham Friedman's book Fat Can Be Beautiful: Stop Dieting, Start Living, from 1974. The tentativeness of the 'can be' in the title cracks me up.

According to the dust jacket, the author is a doctor who specialises in "the treatment of obesity and metabolic disorders". It's not surprising then that this is a book that offers self-acceptance as a means to losing weight. It's actually not a million miles from Susie Orbach. So the emphasis is on an idea of 'natural weight', which is thin, of course, although the author has a category of people he calls 'True-obese'. Don't get me started on the unquestioned assumptions about fatties that underscore these ideas, I'm just not going to go there today.

Friedman is also the author of "the bestselling How Sex Can Keep You Slim," haha! Perhaps consequently, Fat Can Be Beautiful has some quite racy passages in it. I was drawn to 'Chapter XVI For Men Only,' but this is about Type II Diabetes, rather than a discussion of secret facts available only to fat men.

Chapter XVII is better, it's called 'Sex For The Obese' and I have to say that the linguistic certainty in that medicalised language of expertise is already getting me a bit hot under the collar. Let's dig in!

The chapter starts by commiserating that fat women often struggle to get any sex and turn to food even though there are men 'out there' who prefer a 'buxom figure.' Facts such as these are obviously why feminism happened. Friedman suggests that sex is a good way of burning calories, which is tragic, and opines with carefree expert ignorance that fat women are into more sex than thinner women because of: "their desire to prove to themselves and their mates that they are just as sensuous as the thinner women. Or else they have a deep-seated hunger for food and sex simultaneously". This sounds a lot like the expert statements in The Owl Was A Baker's Daughter that I posted a while back.

The main part of this chapter consists of an annotated list of positions for cock-cunt fucking, divided into three categories:

A. If the woman is obese and the man is not
B. If the man is obese and the woman is not
C. If both partners are obese

If you get off on strangely impassive and authoritarian descriptions of joyless, mechanical, heteronormative sex, then this is truly the one-handed read you've been looking for. Friedman calls one move the "Gynaecological position" – eurgh! Another position, "Sims," is "named after a famous surgeon" and "makes the vagina readily accessible from slightly above and behind". Is this supposed to get you in the mood? I'm grossed out by the brisk, no-nonsense descriptions of sex, in a puerile daze, and yet completely enthralled. The advice is pretty crap, but also without fat-shame, which is not bad, it's just the language and approach that is all wrong. How about: "If there is much abdominal fat, he can lift it up with both hands, as the woman straddles over him with her knees bent, facing him. She can thus easily slide his erect penis into her vagina and start her pelvic thrusts either alone or in conjunction with his." Or " The woman then stands astride him close to the edge of the bed, and thus is able to make contact with his erect penis." Make contact! Finally, there's a position in which "the partner's abdomens are not in juxtaposition, but sufficiently removed from each other to permit proper sexual thrusting and satisfactory consummation of the sex act." What can I say? It's dizzyingly dirty.

PS. If you're looking for information about sex and fat, you'd be much better off with Hanne Blank's Big Big Love.

Blank, H. (2000) Big Big Love: A Sourcebook on Sex for People of Size, Emeryville, CA: The Greenery Press.

Friedman, A. I. (1974) Fat Can Be Beautiful: Stop Dieting, Start Living, Berekeley, CA: Berekeley Publishing Corporation.
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Coutyesy: Viewed on 7-Jan-10: http://obesitytimebomb.blogspot.com/2010/04/sex-for-obese.html 

How sex helps in weight loss?

Sex helps in weight loss, as sexual relationships involve a complex combination of muscle movements and aerobic activities which allow large amounts of calories burned with consequent weight loss.

Science has estimated that intercourse and foreplay of 20 minutes consumes about 150 calories and works well like brisk walking or climbing stairs. Therefore, sex can be considered a charitable activity to lose weight moderately.
In order to achieve maximum weight loss while doing sex, a person should improve his/her sexual performance and to improve performance before, during and after every sexual activity, it is necessary to devote time and apply creativity.
Where do I get the creativity?
To get creativity, a person can read the famous Kamasutra book having very didactic printed versions with photos and graphics, which are not merely the old editions. In Kamasutra, a person can find details of sexual positions, movements and practices for giving and receiving pleasure and applying these creative ideas in sex thereby losing weight. This book illustrates the level of the best erotic-didactic imagination and motivates a person to perform better.
As the sexual encounters are not gender exclusive, versions are also available for Kamasutra gay guys who like other boys and enjoy man on man sex and of course the Lesbian Kamasutra for women who give pleasure to other women.
For more open minded people, combinations of suggestions of these three books will delight not only in bed or in the shower or on the dinner table, but anywhere in the site where they are while burning massive amounts of calories getting and giving pleasure at the same time.
The bias created by centuries of old taboos and repression arising from childhood and adolescence are a natural outlet and uninhibited in these pages, that addresses all those sexual practices that no one dares to tell for fear of what people say, but which many enjoy secretly.
Gay Kamasutra Book
The author of Gay Kamasutra dedicates this brave new book to that group of men who love their body and want to enhance their erotic enjoyment.
This book includes Gay Kamasutra postures, techniques and all types of information illustrated with nearly fifty drawings.
Lesbian Kamasutra Book
Kamasutra Lesbian practical handbook is made for all those women who want to enjoy 100% of their partners in the most intimate moments. In Lesbian Kamasutra, they learn to know their bodies, the most sensitive and erotic postures and games to excite their sensual girl thereby burning calories.
These three books will make you enjoy sex more while you lose weight safely in a fun and enjoying way and it will also knock out the stresses of your daily routine.

Just do not forget to use protection, health first.....