I browse through a lot of health and fitness related news every day in order to try and find things that can help our readers here improve their lives. In doing so I come across a fair number of unusual topics, but more often than not most of the things I read tend to get repetitive. That’s why, when I opened up my reader this morning, I darn near spewed a mouthful of coffee all over my dual monitor setup after I saw one of the headlines.

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Dieting is a touchy subject. We all have our own ideas as to what is the “best” way to lose weight, and with very little research we can often find studies that back up our claim. What’s more, we’re all pretty defensive of our choices. Getting together in a room full of low-carb and low-fat dieters and asking them which is the better way to diet is as fraught with danger as standing in the middle of the lobby of the Marriott at Dragon*Con with a bullhorn and asking what the best Science Fiction series is.

In the spirit of full disclosure I have to admit that I am a low-fat, calorie counting dieter. That’s what Weight Watchers® really is, when you get right down to it. They just wrap it up in a convenient system and assign food point values. I’ve been on Weight Watchers for over 9 years now and while the amount of weight I have lost has varied consistently I have managed to maintain the large majority of my loss following that program. As a result, I am obviously biased toward low-fat diets and a big proponent of them. I truly believe that portion control, exercise, and healthy food choices are the key factors in losing weight and keeping it off.

A study released in the Annals of Internal Medicine seems to back me up on that.

Homer Simpson (c) Fox Media

It’s not unusual to think you’re hungry. What might be surprising is that, once you’ve begun losing weight, your brain actually responds differently to the sight of food. However, that seems to be exactly what researchers at Columbia University are finding, as NPR reported yesterday.

The complex dance of hormones and neurochemistry that controls our reaction to food, at both a cognitive and physical level, is something that can be hacked to our advantage, however. It just takes a little insight, planning, and discipline. Fortunately, most weight-loss programs, from the insanely strict to the lifestyle maintenance, consciously or unconsciously include a mechanism that allows you to out-smart your cravings. Some of them are even built around it.

Cheat codes days for the win.  It’s not God Mode, but it’s a start.

There is a communication barrier that exists between self-proclaimed geeks and your typical athlete. Someone who has never spent an entire weekend sitting around a table and rolling dice or who has actually injured something more than just their thumb playing football just doesn’t understand why anyone would want to “waste” their time playing games. In fact, more often than not, it seems like many fitness enthusiasts look upon “geeky” hobbies with nothing short of derision.

This lack of groking is one of the motivating reasons why we launched ShrinkGeek in the first place. We wanted to create a place where people who thought like us could seek out others who had the same kind of interests but who also wanted to improve their health. We firmly believe that it’s entirely possible to be geeky AND healthy, and we actively seek to promote activities that are conducive to both.

makelessnoise via Flickr

Healthy living doesn’t come easy for many people. In fact, for a large number of us I dare say it would qualify as “work.” You have to pay attention to what you eat and how much; make sure you take your vitamins; drink enough fluids; exercise; and get enough rest. If you aren’t consciously adjusting your lifestyle to fit your needs, you can be assured you’ll gain weight as you age. (Yes, even you whipper snappers who love to rub in the fact that you can eat “whatever you want” and not gain a pound). Modern living doesn’t include the kind of rigorous activity that kept many generations before us trim, and compensating for that can really start to feel like a full-time job. Which, as most people will agree, gets old.

Sometimes you just need to take a vacation from your job, and we all look forward to one day being able to retire altogether. Retirement from the weight loss and exercise job, though, would undoubtedly lead to weight gain. With obesity being the cause of any number of health problems, one would imagine that putting on the pounds during your golden years (when your health is already on the decline simply due to the aging process) would be a bad thing.

Well, maybe not so much.