Archive for the 'Weight Loss' Category

Six Sigma Applied to an Everyday Challenge

April 24th, 2010 | Category: Weight Loss

DMAIC is the Six Sigma approach to process improvement: Define -> Measure -> Analyze -> Improve -> Control. The DMAIC toolkit is made up of several techniques developed over the years, all aimed at understanding and controlling processes to achieve defect-free performance.

The DMAIC process can be a bit daunting – training times for seasoned professionals often involve two to four weeks of full time classroom work, with project work in between the classes. With this much content, it’s helpful to make sure the class understands the overall flow of DMAIC from the beginning, using a situation that most people can easily relate to. Here is such an example that has proven very popular over the years – below you will find each step in the DMAIC process applied to losing weight.

Define

First we Define what we want to achieve in measurable terms. Example: “I want to improve my health. Reaching a healthy body weight will increase my energy level and prevent a number of problems down the road. The research I have done says that I need to lose ten pounds.”

So the Define step is wrapped up with the following goal: “I want to lose ten pounds.” Wasn’t that easy?

Measure

Next we measure our baseline performance. Anyone who has spent time on the scale knows that body weight can fluctuate by a pound or more from one day to the next, so we decide to baseline our starting-weight by averaging weigh-in’s for seven days.

A gauge repeatability study could be run on our scale at this point, to ensure that our scale is not introducing too much variation. This might be important if we were trying to control our weight within a tight tolerance, let’s say one or two pounds. But changing our average body weight by ten pounds shouldn’t require a gauge repeatability study on the scale. Just to be safe, we step on the scale ten times and see that our weight repeats within a half-pound – not bad.

We wrap up the Measure phase with the following summary: “My baseline weight is 192 pounds, and my target weight is 182 pounds. The error in my measurement system (scale) is acceptable.”

Analyze

We begin the Analyze phase while we are collecting our baseline weight values during the first seven days. Knowing that calorie intake affects body weight, we create a simple food log that shows each item we eat, what time we eat it, and how many calories are contained in it. There are a number of great tools we can use in the Analyze phase, but for this project we stick with the trusty pareto chart – one of the most simple and widely used analysis tools on the planet. We make two pareto charts – one showing what time of day we take in the most calories, and the other showing what types of food make up our calorie intake.

We wrap up the Analyze phase with two important findings: we take in 24% of our daily calories with evening snacks, and another 19% by hitting the vending machine at work.

Improve

We now proceed to the Improve phase, where find ways to reduce our vending machine calories during the day and snacks at night. We decide to pack healthy snacks every day so we can satisfy our hunger without vending machine visits. We also pre-plan one evening snack and eat it at the same time each night to develop a good routine.

We have a few slip-ups, but overall we follow our routine for three months, and achieve our 182 pound goal. Fantastic!

Control

Now comes the Control phase, which poses the following question: how will we keep the weight off?

For the disciplined individual -

1. We will weigh-in once per week and track the results in a notebook.
2. If our weight creeps above 185 pounds, we will begin logging our food intake and make adjustments as needed.

For the those who love snacks, we might need to resort to some mistake-proofing methods by (1) not bringing any money to work (takes care of the vending machine problem), and (2) keeping those tempting evening snacks out of the house.

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Ideal Weight For Men

February 10th, 2010 | Category: Weight Loss

The ideal weight for men as a accountable is not as frequently heard as that of women’s. For men, accustomed weight is acquainted in oneself and perceived in others – carefully or not – as bulging strength.

Your ideal anatomy weight is area you are healthiest. Ideal weight is a medical appellation that refers to how abundant a being should counterbalance based on height, gender, and age. A person’s cartilage density, beef mass, or fat admeasurement additionally charge to be taken into account. The capital approaches are abstracts of the anatomy accumulation basis (BMI), waist circumference, and the waist-to-hip arrangement (WHR). We commonly accessory WHR with women but sorry, boys – it applies to you, too.

Body accumulation basis is a admeasurement of anatomy fat based on acme and weight that applies to both developed men and women. The accustomed BMI for a being is from 18.5 to 25. Beneath 18.5 is angular and aloft 25 is overweight. A BMI of 30 and aloft is advised obese. Several BMI calculators or archive can be begin online to actuate one’s anatomy accumulation index.

Your waist ambit indicates how abundant fat is calm about your midsection. Fat about your average is added alarming than fat in added genitalia of the body. To admeasurement your waist circumference, blanket a band admeasurement about your abdomen aloof a little aloft your abdomen button. For men, the accident of affection ache and diabetes increases if their waist altitude is added than 40 inches (102cm). Men should strive for a waist admeasurement beneath than 37 inches.

To actuate your WHR, admeasurement your hip ambit at the akin of the two awkward prominences acquainted in the advanced of your hips. Then bisect your waist ambit by your hip circumference. Men’s waist-to-hip arrangement should be beneath 1.0.

Also, aim for a anatomy fat allotment goal. An ideal anatomy fat allotment for men would be 10% to 14%. According to the Anatomy Fat Rating Scale, for men accepting 6%-10% anatomy fat is Exceptionally Lean; 11%-14% is Very Lean; 15%-18% is Lean; 19%-24% is Moderate; and 25% or over is Overfat. Men are advised ambiguous at 25% anatomy fat and clinically adipose at 30%.

All these factors should be advised to actuate the ideal weight for men.

All admonition on this webpage is for advisory purposes only. It is not advised to diagnose, treat, cure, or anticipate any bloom botheration – nor is it advised to alter the admonition of a able medical practitioner, bloom practitioner, or fettle professional. No activity should be taken alone on the capacity of this website. Always argue your physician or able bloom able on any affairs apropos your bloom or on any opinions bidding aural this website.

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Lose Weight With a Personal Trainer

December 09th, 2009 | Category: Weight Loss

Personal training is accretion in acceptance anniversary day and the acumen is that it is the alone effective, advantageous and safe way in which bodies can accomplish their bloom and fettle accompanying goals. The bloom and fettle accompanying goals of bodies about abide of accident weight, accepting in shape, accepting fit, convalescent their affection of activity and architecture muscles. If you are additionally attractive for able methods to ability one these goals, again a claimed fettle trainer is the appropriate best for you.

When you get yourself a claimed trainer, you can either alternation with him in his claimed training studio, fettle center, his home or at your home. Moreover, you can additionally accept to alternation in groups area you will see bodies who accept agnate goals alive out and aggravating to accomplish their goals. Any advantage of training you choose, you will absolutely account with a claimed fettle trainer.

You charge never balloon that a claimed trainer is an able in the acreage of fettle training, diet and so on and he knows altogether what will admonition you break your problem. When you accept discussed your weight botheration with him, he will appraise your bloom conditions, fettle conditions, your fettle accomplishments and the depending on the admonition he gets, he will devise a training affairs abnormally acceptable for your needs.

His affairs will accommodate fettle training, weight training, cardio training, and backbone training with diet information. He will accommodate admonition on what affectionate of aliment you are appropriate to booty during your fettle advance with him. Incorporating advantageous counterbalanced diets with fettle training will admonition you to ability your goals abundant faster.

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Eat More of the Right Food and Lose Weight

December 09th, 2009 | Category: Weight Loss

Most of us are astute abundant to apperceive that it is not acceptable to be too attenuate or too heavy. We additionally apperceive that all added things actuality equal, if addition smokes or if they accept a abiding ache such as diabetes, their bloom is activity to be compromised.

There was a abstraction in 2006 and addition added contempo Canadian abstraction that appear ample bodies lived best than bodies who are accustomed weight. The added contempo abstraction was appear online June 18 in the journal, Obesity.The responses to this abstraction are the aforementioned as for the one 3 years ago. Abstraction co-author Mark Kaplan, a assistant of association bloom at Portland State University, says it best:

It may be that a few added pounds adequate earlier bodies as their bloom declines, but that does not beggarly that bodies in the accustomed ambit should try to put on a few pounds.

In 2006 the advisers backed off afterwards acceptance that the after-effects may accept been skewed by including earlier bodies with abiding diseases who tend to counterbalance beneath but die early. On the added hand, the contempo abstraction did appearance that acute blubber or weight accident did access the accident of dying. Also, the abstraction aloof batten about mortality, not about the affection of activity because there are so abounding abrogating bloom after-effects associated with actuality ample such as aerial claret pressure, aerial cholesterol and diabetes.

What you charge to apperceive is that best of what you apprehend about bloom issues is not atramentous or white. There are usually extenuating affairs that baffle with the abstraction or there are exceptions to the rule. Apprehend the analysis address and attending for comments about the allegation afore you act on any of the findings. Then use your accepted sense.

There is additionally analysis that says you can absolutely lose weight by bistro added aliment yet absorb beneath calories while still accepting affluence of key nutrients. Low activity body foods accomplish all this possible. These foods, such as fruits, vegetables and aerial cilia grains, accept greater aggregate so they tend to ample you up more. However, they accommodate beneath calories per ounce than bathetic or blubbery foods such as candy or colas.A additional account of bistro the low activity body foods is that you absorb added fiber, and accept college than accustomed assimilation of important micronutrients including vitamins A, C and B6, folate, iron, calcium, and potassium.

Unfortunately our bodies are not like gas tanks. They do not acquaint us to stop bistro already we ability 400 calories. Bistro is generally beneath bent by analysis than by psychology. For instance, the admeasurement of the portions you eat and with whom you eat generally actuate how abundant you eat. Analysis shows, for example, that if you are served beyond portions, you will acceptable accomplishment them. Presentation of the aliment additionally impacts how abundant you eat. Aloof appointment any cafe and you will see abundant beyond portions put on a bowl than if those aforementioned bodies were served by a waiter.

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