Can Coconut Oil Help You Lose Weight?

I've always been a fan of adding coconut oil to my diet, especially in light of my sluggish thyroid. Found this article interesting and wanted to share. As the article states, if you are going to supplement with coconut oil, be sure to swap out the calories in your day!

A. There is science to suggest that the tropical oil may cause a slight (temporary) boost in your metabolism.

Anytime you eat, the process of digesting food burns off about 10 percent of the calories you consume. For example, if you consume 500 calories in a meal, your body uses about 50 of those calories to transform food into the energy that fuels your body. But theoretically if you eat a 500-calorie meal and replace the fat from oils or butter with coconut oil, your metabolism will speed up and burn more like 15 percent, or 75 calories.

It comes down to the molecular structure of the oil and how the body digests it. The fatty acids in coconut oil (called medium-chain triacylglycerols, or MCT) are shorter and more water-soluble than those in other oils, such as olive or canola. “So they’re more directly routed to the liver, where they’re readily burned for fuel,” explains Peter Jones, Ph.D., professor of food science and nutrition at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. Therefore, they have less opportunity to be deposited in fat stores.

But there is no scientific evidence to show that consuming coconut oil helps people lose weight. There is one recent study, however, using an MCT oil, which suggests coconut oil may work in the same way. In the study, 31 overweight men and women followed a low-calorie diet that included just over a tablespoon for women and just under two tablespoons for men each day of either an MCT oil or olive oil. After four months, the MCT-oil users lost an average of 7 pounds; the olive oil group just 3 pounds. The investigators suggested that the metabolic boost produced by the MCT oil likely played a role.

Even if coconut oil does help people lose weight, few nutrition experts recommend it, since coconut oil is loaded with saturated fat: 12 grams in 1 tablespoon versus 7 grams in a tablespoon of butter.

Bottom Line: The extra calorie burn produced by coconut oil might give you a slight edge, but only if you make room by eating less of something else. A tablespoon of any oil sets you back around 120 calories.

The 5 most inneffective weight lifting exercises

With the hustle and bustle of today’s society who has time to waste on ineffective, risky exercises? Ditch these five ineffective weight lifting exercises moves that may not only fail deliver the results you want, but may also cause injury.

Lat Pull-down Behind the Head

The problem: Only people with very mobile shoulder joints can keep their spines straight enough to do this exercise properly. So the move -- done wrong -- can lead to shoulder impingement or worse, a tear in the rotator cuff. And if the bar hits the back of the neck, it could injure cervical vertebrae.

A Safer Lat Pull-down. On the pull-down machine, lean back a few degrees, use a wider-than-shoulder grip, and bring the bar down in front of your body to the breastbone, pulling shoulder blades down and together. Contract your abdominals to stabilize the body, and avoid using momentum to swing the bar up and down. The lat pull-down works the muscles of the upper back.

Upright Row

The problem: Pulling weights, a barbell, or a weighted cabled bar up under your chin is a big no-no because it can compress the nerves in the shoulder area, impinging the shoulder.

Safer Alternative to the Upright Row. Instead of doing an upright row, work your shoulders with a front or lateral shoulder raise, lifting weights out to the front or side of the body.

Military Press Behind the Head

This shoulder move, in which you lift weights or a barbell up and down behind the head, can cause the same problems as the lat pull-down behind the head.

A Safer Military Press Alternative. When doing the military press, keep the bar or dumbbells in front of your head. Stand with the weight no lower than the collarbone and keep your upper body upright. The military press exercise can also be done seated. Always sit straight against a back support, and keep the natural curve in your spine, with upper back and glutes pressed to the chair when doing any shoulder press movement.

Squats on the Smith Machine

The problem: The bar on the smith machine doesn't give, which can force the body into risky angles putting loads on weaker muscles and joints, instead of where the force should be placed (primarily the quadriceps). positions. Plus, people using the smith machine for squats tend to put their feet farther in front of their bodies when doing squats on the machine, which makes matters worse by putting too much pressure on the lower back and knees.

Squats: A Safer Alternative. Use free weights and keep good form. This means standing straight with your feet shoulder-width apart, slowly lower your body, back straight. Move the hips back as if you where going to sit in a chair. Try to maintain your weight directly over your feet, keeping heels on the floor. Lower yourself to about a 90 degree bend in the knee. Slowly return to a standing position.

Lying Leg Press with Knees Bent Too Deeply

The problem: Lying on your back with your feet on a weighted plate, you push the plate up and bring it down, with the aim of working the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes. The problem with this exercise comes when you bend your legs too far, which can hurt your lower back and knees.

Lying Leg Press: A Safer Alternative. Properly position your knees and legs so you feel the force on quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes; not the knees and lower back.

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I can't wait to see lots of posts here soon!  :)