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TODAY diet and nutrition editor Madelyn Fernstrom has tips to help you avoid 4 common diet mistakes that can derail your weight loss efforts.

Getting the most out of your gym workout may take a bit more effort than you would think.

Over doing cardio is the number one mistake most people make.

If you’re staying on cardio machines for too long, that may mean you’re not working hard enough. “Decreasing time and increasing resistance can shave off half of your cardio routine,” says Sara Haley, a Global Reebok master trainer and independent fitness consultant.

Also, try mixing up your routine. If you’re a die-hard treadmill jogger, Haley recommends adding high-intensity machines like the rower or the Jacob’s Ladder to your routine; these machines make cardio more efficient by working more muscle groups and burning more calories.

“Employing different planes of motion with lateral trainers like the Ultraslide and the Helix also prevent people from working the same muscles over and over,” says Haley. Diversifying your workout will ensure you give all your muscles some love.

Making sure with your physician that you are fit for exercise insures that your efforts won’t cause injury.

A recent study shows that even the smallest amount of regular exercise can help smokers kick the habit.

“Our message is to quit and exercise — to do both is the best,” says Chi Pang Wen, a professor at the National Health Research Institute and China Medical University Hospital in Taiwan, who presented the data at the World Congress of Cardiology meeting in Dubai.

“Trying to quit is a painful process,” Wen told Shots by phone from Dubai. “That painful process creates a vacuum. This substitute, which is exercise, will distract the smokers from thinking every day about the need to smoke.”

Even for smokers who can’t quit, walking just 15 minutes a day six days a week is enough to improve their health.

Anorexia and Bulimia have been brought into the public awareness by those suffering, however, a broad range of eating disorders occur within the spectrum and can be just as damaging and life threatening.

Orthorexia, Pregorexia, Binge Eating, Anorexia Athletica, and Drunkorexia are the names given to the various disorders of those struggling with body image.

Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric illness and the need to recognize illness and intervene is an important part of the cure.

A catch-all label that includes dozens of subdiagnoses, EDNOS applies to patients who don’t meet the exact criteria for anorexia or bulimia but still have very troubled relationships with food or distorted body images. Today, EDNOS diagnoses significantly outnumber anorexia and bulimia cases. “The atypical has become the typical,” says Ovidio Bermudez, M.D

Gastric bypass surgery may sound drastic but diabetes has become a serious health issue for millions of Americans.

The health care costs alone pose a threat the system not to mention the toll the disease takes on families and society at large.

Getting this epidemic under control should be a top priority, however, is life threatening surgery the answer?

Short amounts of vigorous exercise trump longer amounts of moderate exercise for health benefits.

Researchers found that the people who engaged in the most vigorous exercise reduced their risk of developing metabolic syndrome by two-thirds, compared with those who did no vigorous exercise, even when the total amount of calories per pound of body weight the participants burned while exercising was the same. Vigorous exercise includes activities such as running and jumping rope; moderate exercise might consist of walking or going for a leisurely bike ride.

The good news is that you can exercise less time and still reap the benefits of your work out as long as you kick up the intensity.

This is useful information for those who have busy schedules and little time to devote to physical activity.

The Eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables, move at least 10 minutes per day, and sleep at least 8hours per night plan offers a simple formula to heart health.

The most common weight loss mistakes go against everything we’ve learned about losing weight.

Calories in-calories out, exercise and restriction seem like perfectly reasonable ways to shed unwanted pounds; but that is not the whole story.

Running for hours on the treadmill and eating too few calories could be sabotaging your efforts.

A prolonged calorie deficit causes your metabolism to slow.

This is a survival instinct to prevent you from losing weight in times of famine.

When you do lose weight, you’ll be losing both fat and muscle.

This further slows your metabolism.

Encouraging people to exercise by offering up long term benefits to health may not be the best way to get people moving.

Highlighting the immediate perks, however, is a much more effective strategy .

A few tips to get more out of exercise.

Become a more pleasant member of your family by feeling better.
Improve your productivity at work because working out makes your mind more focused.
Relieve day-to-day stress.
Improve your mood.
Enjoy higher levels of energy and vitality.
Spend more social time with others.
Take time to enjoy the outdoors.

Lasting brain injuries in a specific part of the hypothalamus may be responsible for making it difficult to lose weight and keep it off.

“To explain a biologically elevated body weight ‘set-point’, investigators in the field have speculated about the existence of fundamental changes to brain neurocircuits that control energy balance. Our findings are the first to offer direct evidence of such a structural change, and they include evidence in humans as well as in mice and rats.”

It may make the struggle to keep off the pounds more difficult, however, any effort to lead a more healthy lifestyle is beneficial.