This video was first published on Jan. 3, 2017.

One of the most popular New Year's resolution is to lose weight. Thousands will craft diets and hit the gym this January to drop some pounds, but what are they hoping for? While many think that a skinnier body will lead to happiness, science is suggesting this may not always be true. Following is a transcript of the video.

The ugly truth about weight loss. If you're overweight, then losing some pounds is essential for getting healthy. But not everyone feels great when they lose weight, according to a growing body of research. 

One study found that participants who lost 5% of their body weight over 4 years were 52% more likely to report a depressed mood than those who stayed within 5% of their original weight over those same 4 years.

Your mood can also change depending on how you choose to lose weight. Another study compared participants (who were obese) on a low-carb vs. low-fat diet. After one year people in both groups had lost an average of 30 pounds. But those who cut down on fat reported a boost in mood whereas people who cut carbs had none.

On the flip side — another study found that people who already suffer from depression reported improvement in their symptoms after losing weight. To find out if you're a healthy weight, check out the CDC's adult BMI calculator.

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• Obesity in pets is at epidemic proportions.
• Obesity in animals can cause complications in almost every system in the body.
• Managing obesity in pets will require veterinarians, physicians and psychologists to work together. 

When I looked at my appointment book for the day, I thought something must be wrong. Someone who worked in the fitness industry was bringing his cat in to the Tufts Obesity Clinic for Animals. Did he confuse us for a different kind of weight management clinic? Is he looking to get muscle on his cat or maybe kitty protein shakes? 

I was utterly surprised when I called for my appointment in the lobby and an athletic man stood up with an almost 20-pound cat! I asked if I could speak bluntly with him. Why does someone who clearly knows a lot about keeping healthy need to bring his cat to a veterinary nutritionist? What would he say if the cat was one of the people he helps to keep fit every day? Our conversation then went something like this…

"Well, I'd tell her, suck it up, buttercup. Do some kitty pushups and no more treats!" 

"Well, I have to ask, then, what's stopping you from doing this with your cat?" 

With a worried look of guilt on his face, he replied, "Well, Dr. Linder, I mean… she meows at me…"

This was the moment I realized that I was treating pet obesity all wrong. I needed to focus less on the pet and more on the relationship between people and their pets. That's what's literally cutting the lives short of the dogs and cats we love so much. 

An obese pet isn't a happy pet

As with humans, obesity in pets is at epidemic proportions. Over half of the dogs and cats around the globe battle the bulge. 

While overweight pets may not face the same social stigma as humans, medical and emotional damage is being done all the same. Obesity in animals can cause complications in almost every system in the body, with conditions ranging from diabetes to osteoarthritis. 

Owners often say they don't care if their pet is "fat"– there's just more of them to love! It's my job to then let them know there's less time to provide that love. A landmark lifespan study showed Labradors who were 10-20 percent overweight – not even obese, which is typically defined as greater than 20 percent – lived a median 1.8 years shorter than their trim ideal weight counterparts. 

Another study shows that obesity indeed has emotional consequences for pets. Overweight pets have worse scores in vitality, quality of life, pain and emotional disturbance. However, the good news is those values can improve with weight loss.

Furthermore, humans struggle to succeed even in the best conditions – and so do pets. In one study, dogs on a weight-loss program were only successful 63 percent of the time. 

Showing love through food

So where exactly is the problem? Are foods too high in calories? Are pets not getting enough exercise? Is it genetics? Or do we just fall for those puppy dog eyes and overfeed them because they have in fact trained us (not the other way around!)? From my experience at the pet obesity clinic, I can tell you it's a bit of all of the above. 

It seems veterinarians and pet owners may be a little behind the curve compared to our human counterparts. Studies show that it doesn't really matter what approach to weight loss most humans take – as long as they stick to it. But many in veterinary medicine focus more on traditional diet and exercise plans, and less on adherence or the reason these pets may have become obese to begin with. (This should be easy, right? The dogs aren't opening the fridge door themselves!)

However, the field is starting to understand that pet obesity is much more about the human-animal bond than the food bowl. In 2014, I worked among a group of fellow pet obesity experts organized by the American Animal Hospital Association to publish new weight management guidelines, recognizing that the human-animal bond needs to be addressed. Is the pet owner ready to make changes and overcome challenges that might slow down their pet's weight loss? 

One interesting editorial review compared parenting styles to pet ownership. As pet owners, we treat our cats and dogs more like family members. There's a deeper emotional and psychological bond that was not as common when the family dog was just the family dog. If vets can spot an overindulgent pet parent, perhaps we can help them develop strategies to avoid expressing love through food. 

A healthier relationship

Managing obesity in pets will require veterinarians, physicians and psychologists to work together. 

Many veterinary schools and hospitals now employ social workers who help veterinarians understand the social aspect of the human-animal bond and how it impacts the pet's care. For example, a dog owner who has lost a spouse and shares an ice cream treat every night with their dog may be trying to replace a tradition they used to cherish with their significant other. A social worker with a psychology background could help prepare a plan that respects the owner's bond with their pet without negatively impacting the pet's health.

At our obesity clinic at Tufts, physicians, nutritionists and veterinarians are working together to develop joint pet and pet owner weight-loss programs. We want to put together a healthy physical activity program, so pet owners and their dogs can both improve their health and strengthen their bond. We also created a pet owner education website with additional strategies for weight loss and pet nutrition.

Programs that strengthen and support the human-animal bond without adding calories will be critical to preserve the loving relationship that is the reason why we adopt our pets, but also keep us from literally loving them to death by overfeeding. Hopefully, we can start to chip away at the notion that "food is love" for our pets.

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For adults, the CDC recommends at least 2 hours and 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity and two, or more, days of muscle training per week. However, not everyone meets those standards. This is what happens to your body when you go from regular exercise to none at all. Following is a transcript of the video, which is largely based on the information in this Gizmodo article.

What happens when you stop exercising? Changes happen over weeks to months. Here's a breakdown.

Week 1: You're already less fit. You've lost about 5% of your "VO2 max" which means less oxygen is available to generate energy for muscles. If you could run a 5K in 20 minutes, your time is now about 10 seconds longer. 

Weeks 2-3: You now have lost 12% of your VO2 max. There's a decrease in muscle strength and tissue. Your muscle cells have become smaller. Your fat cells are getting bigger. Your 5K time is now about 60 seconds longer. 

Weeks 4-7: 12-15% loss in VO2 max. Your muscle cells are even smaller. You might feel bloated from growing fat cells. Your 5K time is now 3 minutes longer. 

After 2 months:  26% loss in VO2 max. Just stop timing your 5K because it's depressing. 

If you keep it up, you'll also be at greater risk of high blood pressure, high levels of fat in the blood, certain cardiovascular diseases, obesity, depression, and low self-esteem.

It's important to rest after an especially hard workout or race. But instead of lounging on the couch, make your recovery an active one. If you just lay around, you'll lose that fitness faster than you think.

This video was originally published on July 17, 2017.

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• White House doctor Ronny Jackson said he did not perform a key measurement of Trump's physical fitness, despite his borderline-obese weight of 239 pounds.
• Physicians are increasingly turning to waist circumference as an important indicator of overall health.
• High amounts of abdominal fat have been linked with an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes.

At a press conference on Tuesday, White House doctor Ronny Jackson said he did not measure a key indicator of Trump's physical fitness: his waist circumference.

The President weighed in at 239 pounds, which puts him on the border of what's considered obese for his height. Jackson nonetheless described the president as in "excellent health," and said he did not feel a need to measure Trump's waist.

However, physicians are increasingly recognizing waist size as a key measure of health.

Several studies have documented a link between high amounts of abdominal fat and an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes. In a large 2012 study, researchers looked at data from more than 340,000 Europeans and found that people who were overweight and had large waists — 34.5 inches or more for women and 40 inches or more for men — had nearly the same risk of developing Type 2 diabetes as people who were clinically obese.

One of the most perilous pitfalls of BMI — another measure that Jackson said he did not calculate for Trump — is that it doesn't account for fat carried around a person's abdomen. All it measures is the ratio of height and weight, which is why some lean people with large amounts of muscle can have a BMI that would qualify as "overweight." 

Scientists still aren't sure why excess fat around our middle is connected to negative health outcomes, but they think it has to do with how fat inside the body, known as visceral fat, may interfere with the normal functioning of our internal organs.

Public-health experts have known for years that BMI isn't a perfect tool for measuring physical fitness and that an improved metric would incorporate waist circumference.

"For health, the issue is not how much you weigh, but how much abdominal fat you have," a 2005 Harvard Medical School blog post said.

Although Jackson did not account for Trump's waist measurement in his analysis, he did mention plans to help improve the president's diet and institute some kind of exercise program.

SEE ALSO: Every medication we know Trump takes, and what they're for

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• The "girther movement" has erupted on Twitter, and is claiming President Donald Trump's doctor did not give Trump's true weight.
• The movement has spawned comparisons between Trump and various athletes of similar weights and heights.
• Director James Gunn has offered Trump charity money if he agrees to weigh himself again in front of an "impartial doctor."
• At 239 pounds and a BMI of 29.9, Trump sits just below the obesity level.

People on Twitter are alleging a cover-up of President Donald Trump's true "girth."

Not long after Trump's doctor Ronny Jackson announced the president's weight at a press conference on Tuesday, Twitter erupted with a new conspiracy theory that claims the president weighs more than the 239 pounds Jackson reported. The "girther movement" is an apparent nod to the "birther movement" perpetuated by Trump himself over former President Barack Obama's birthplace.

MSNBC host Chris Hayes jumped on the "girther" conspiracy soon after Jackson's press conference. 

"Guardians of the Galaxy" director James Gunn soon joined the bandwagon as well, making Trump a generous offer in exchange for weighing himself on an "accurate" scale.

Others soon began comparing Trump to professional athletes who have similar measurements to him, but lead much different lifestyles.

Sports Illustrated even wrote a whole piece comparing Trump's size to American athletes. 

Dr. Jackson joked that Trump must have "incredible genes" that allow him to eat McDonald's and drink twelve Diet Cokes a day but still stay in great shape.

But even if the weight Jackson gave was real, it would be inaccurate to put him in the same category as athletes of similar heights and weights — at 239 pounds with a body mass index of 29.9, Trump is just one pound shy of obesity, and his weight is mostly concentrated in fat rather than muscle. Trump's ability to narrowly avoid obesity was highly suspect for many #girthers.

The conspiracy is certainly an entertaining one to enjoy — but so far, there is no solid evidence that the weight Dr. Jackson gave is inaccurate.

SEE ALSO: Trump's doctor says he 'has absolutely no cognitive or mental issues whatsoever'

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• Recent research suggests that when you eat might be just as important as what you eat.
• Late night meals appear to interfere with weight loss and may contribute to indigestion.
• One reason? Levels of a “hunger hormone” rise at night.

Here's what a typical weeknight used to look like for me:

I got home around 8 p.m., threw together some "dinner" (usually leftovers or something from the freezer), watched a few episodes of a show on Netflix, and went to bed.

For many of us, this nighttime meal is the most substantial thing we eat all day.

If recent research is any indication, that's a substantial health problem — especially if you're trying to lose weight.

In 2013 study of 420 overweight and obese people enrolled in a five-month weight-loss program found that "late eaters," people classified as eating their biggest meal after 3 p.m., lost significantly less weight — and took longer to lose it — than "early eaters," those who ate their main meal before 3 p.m.

And in a new study published last month in the International Journal of Obesity, researchers discovered a potential clue as to the reason why. For that study, researchers recruited 32 overweight people, half of whom had been diagnosed with binge eating disorder, and had them fast for eight hours, then receive a heavy liquid meal at either 9 a.m. or 4 p.m. Roughly two hours later, the scientists performed a basic stress test, drew blood to measure stress and hunger hormones, and had them rank how hungry or full they felt on a scale.

They found that levels of a "hunger hormone" called ghrelin not only climbed in the evening, but also appeared to  tick up during times of stress. At the same time, levels of a hormone linked with fullness dropped as the day went on.

"Our findings suggest that evening is a high-risk time for overeating, especially if you're stressed and already prone to binge eating,"Susan Carnell, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the lede author on the most recent study, said in a statement.

Eating late also appears to mess with digestion.

A 2005 study of the nighttime noshing habits of 350 people found that eating dinner within three hours of bedtime was positively linked with a risk of developing acid-reflux symptoms, a fairly common condition that causes everything from heartburn and indigestion to coughing, hoarseness, and asthma. (To find out if you have acid reflux, you should see a doctor. In the worst cases, acid reflux can progress into something more serious, including a rare form of cancer.) The results held steady even after controlling for smoking, BMI, and other factors that could affect heartburn.

Physician Jamie A. Koufman echoed these concerns in an op-ed for The New York Times in 2015. In it, Koufman described how late-night dining — especially when it consists of a heavy meal followed by little or no activity — can screw up the systems our bodies rely on to process food. Proper digestion is critical for absorbing the nutrients in what we eat and discarding the stuff we don't.

"The good news is that having this knowledge, people could take steps to reduce their risk of overeating by eating earlier in the day, or finding alternative ways to deal with stress," Carnell said.

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• Many of us are familiar with "stress eating."
• Our brains are wired to seek out foods that will indulge our reward systems.
• Unfortunately, this means sugary, fatty foods which are bad for our health in a number of ways.

When the pressure is on, many of us may find our hands reaching for the biscuit tin. Eating is a common reaction to stress, and a lot of people find comfort in junk food in taxing situations.

There is actually a fair bit of biological truth in the term "stress eating." In the short term, stress suppresses our hunger. The hypothalamus — part of the brain that links the nervous system to the hormone system — produces a hormone that stifles appetite.

Our adrenal glands also pump out adrenaline, which triggers the fight-or-flight response, putting us in an agitated state. If you think about it, it's unlikely your brain would be focused on nourishment when you're highly anxious or alert about something.

In the long term, however, the effects are somewhat reversed. If you're stressed for a prolonged period of time, the adrenal glands start releasing cortisol, another hormone which can increase appetite. It can also increase our motivation, including the impulse to eat.

Lack of sleep can also be a factor

If stress is causing a lack of sleep, which it often does, this has been shown to increase appetites too. One study, published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that sleep-deprived people on average consume an extra 385 calories per day.

When the stressful period is over — the exam season has finished, or you've completed that big project at work — your cortisol levels should fall, and you should be able to sleep again. But if you can't shake the anxious feeling, your cortisol levels will probably stay high, leading to a cycle of more and more binge eating.

Unfortunately, we rarely crave healthy snacks like carrot sticks. Instead, we want the kind of foods that indulge our brain's reward system. Sugary snacks like cookies, cakes, and chocolate cause a dopamine response — the happy, reward hormone.

Then, next time you're feeling stressed, you'll seek out these foods because you'll remember they made you feel better.

Sugar can also reduce the cortisol response, according to a study in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. Over time, your brain might become dependent on these foods to ease your nerves.

It's also bad for our general health. If we consume a lot of sugar, but we don't actually need that energy to run away from any dangers, we need to get rid of it. The pancreas has to pump out insulin to bring down our blood sugar levels, and if this happens too much over our lifetime we can develop type 2 diabetes.

Stress eating can also make us put on weight. A study published in the journal Biological Psychiatry found that women who reported feeling stressed burned about 100 fewer calories per day, which can add up to 11 pounds of weight in a year.

Channel anxiety into something positive

Instead of turning to food to calm your nerves, there are other ways to channel anxiety into something positive. You could try meditation, exercise to clear your head, or a relaxing hobby like yoga.

At the very least you can increase your chance of getting a good night's sleep by writing down anything that's in your mind before you put your head down, avoiding screens for at least an hour before bed, and making sure you're in a dark room.

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• Alcoholic drinks can be a significant source of carbohydrates and sugar.
• A pint of cider has roughly the same number of calories and grams of carbs as a slice of cheese pizza.
• Several studies have documented a link between heavy drinking and weight gain.

Alcohol is not a low-calorie food.

It's no surprise, then, that researchers have documented links between heavy drinking and weight gain.

Aside from alcohol's high calorie count, several other factors may contribute to the tendency for people to put on weight when they drink regularly — from underestimating how much is going into a glass to eating more food while drinking.

Alcohol can also be a significant source of the carbohydrates and sugar in your diet. Scroll to find out your favorite drinks stack up:

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• A new study funded by Weight Watchers suggests that your significant other can be your strongest ally — or your worst enemy — when it comes to achieving your weight loss goals.
• The research builds on previous studies not funded by the company that came to similar conclusions.
• Amy Gorin, a professor of behavioral psychology at the University of Connecticut, says her findings represent what she calls "a ripple effect."
• Gorin's study is one of the first of its kind to use a gold standard of scientific research — a randomized, controlled design — to look at couples’ progress.

Eating healthy can feel like torture in the country that's home to the Crunchwrap Supreme.

Dieting is expensive. Working out is time consuming. On top of all that, weight loss can be somewhat of an uphill battle for people with genetic predispositions to obesity.

Yet if your social media feed is anything like mine, it's replete with inspirational images of couples teaming up to lose weight together and killing it.

Enlisting a significant other in your weight loss plans could be a great way to help ensure your success, but only if your partner is just as committed as you are, recent research suggests. Conversely, if they struggle to lose weight, your performance may take a similar dive.

Amy Gorin, a professor of behavioral psychology at the University of Connecticut and the lead author of a new study on these impacts, calls this the "ripple effect."

"When one person changes their behavior, the people around them change," Gorin said in a statement.

The study was funded by Weight Watchers, which merits some skepticism. Still, it's one of the first of its kind to use a randomized, controlled design in its study approach, which lends some heft to its findings.

It is also not the first study to come to these types of conclusions.

A 2008 study Gorin published in the International Journal of Obesity (which did not receive Weight Watchers money) reached a similar finding. That paper was actually the first to use the term "ripple effect" to describe how social networks could impact weight loss.

For her most recent study, which involved 130 overweight or obese couples age 25 or older, Gorin and her team found that when one member of a couple lost weight, it significantly raised the chances that the other partner would too — even if that partner wasn't actively participating in any weight loss program. Similarly, when one partner struggled to slim down, it made it more likely for the other person to have problems as well.

To come to these conclusions, Gorin split the couples into two groups. In one group, one partner joined Weight Watchers. For six months, they got in-person counseling and a host of online tools to help them lose weight. In the other group, one partner got only a printed handout on healthy eating, exercise, and weight-control strategies.

After six months, a third of the untreated partners in the study lost 3% or more of their initial body weight, a figure that dietitians consider a sizeable benefit. These people participated in no weight loss program at all; only their significant others did. Half of them used Weight Watchers, the other half used an approach of their own.

In other words, it didn't matter if the partner who was trying to lose weight participated in Weight Watchers or not. All that mattered was that they were trying to lose weight.

"Whether the patient works with their healthcare provider, joins a community-based, lifestyle approach like Weight Watchers, or tries to lose weight on their own, their new healthy behaviors can benefit others in their lives," Gorin said.

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• Lisa Fleming, who appeared on TLC's "My 600-Lb. Life," found maggots growing in the folds of her skin.
• Fleming said finding maggots on her body was the moment she realized that she needed help. 
• The infection she had was likely a form of wound myiasis, in which maggots can infest open wounds or sores.
• There are different forms of myiasis, with different treatments. 

At 704 pounds, Lisa Fleming knew that she needed to lose weight. But it wasn't until she found maggots in the folds of her skin that she finally sought help on the TLC show "My 600-Lb Life."

Fleming had started to feel sick and noticed that her leg had been bothering her continually. She told her daughter, who pulled open the folds of Fleming's skin to find maggots. Fleming's daughter now has to check her mother's leg every day to make sure it's healing. 

But how exactly does this condition occur?

Fleming likely experienced a form of myiasis. 

Darvin Scott Smith, a researcher in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford University, told INSIDER that Fleming likely experienced a form of wound myiasis — an infection that happens when a fly deposits its egg on a wound or open sore where it will be able to feed on human flesh and give birth to maggots. 

"In the context of an open wound, flies would land on these open sores or ulcerations in the skin and that's where they would want to lay their eggs," Smith told INSIDER. "If there are unclean surfaces inorganic material, the fly can put it's larvae there and they will thrive because there are lots of nutrients."

Fleming's intertrigo, the inflammation of skinfolds caused by skin-on-skin friction, is a common condition among severely obese individuals that can lead to infections and even myiasis. 

Although Smith did not treat Fleming, he has seen the condition in other patients. One developed myiasis as a result of storing McDonald's burgers in her fat folds to keep them warm. Another, a cancer patient, had larvae living in a wound on his scalp.

"That's exactly the setup for organic detritus to have the fly lay the egg and take root," Smith told INSIDER.

Fleming's form of myiasis is not common — but others are. 

The good news is that wound myiasis is not common. There are several forms of myiasis, with furuncular myiasis being the most common form, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It is most likely to be found in travelers that visit tropical and subtropical countries such as Central America, South America, Africa, and the Caribbean Islands. 

Travelers at risk of furuncular myiasis can take precautions. Romain Blaizot, a doctor in the Dermatology Department at the Hôpital Andrée Rosemon, told INSIDER that travelers should wear long-sleeves shirts and use repellent such as DEET. He also suggested drying clothes indoors or ironing them, as flies may lay their eggs on clothes or sheets that have been hanged up to dry outside 

Treatment requires removal of the maggots one by one and cleaning the wound, Romain Blaizot, a doctor in the Dermatology Department at the Hôpital Andrée Rosemon in Cayenne, French Guiana, told INSIDER. Wound myiasis also relies on covering wounds and keeping them clean.

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• Body mass index is a poor way to measure your overall health.
• Measuring the circumference of your waist appears to be a better indicator, especially for women.
• This metric also has strong links to your risk of developing some diseases, and a new study suggests it may provide insight into your chances of having a heart attack.

The eyes may be the windows to the soul, but your waist may offer key insights into the health of your heart.

Physicians and researchers are increasingly recognizing waist size— as opposed to Body Mass Index or weight alone — as a key measure of health. Several studies have documented a link between high amounts of abdominal fat and an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes, for example.

Now new research suggests the method may also be a key indicator of your risk for a heart attack.

In a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, scientists found a significant link between high waist circumference and the risk of a heart attack, especially in women.

For their paper, the researchers used a large, ongoing health study to recruit nearly 500,000 adults with no risk of heart disease. All of the volunteers agreed to have their measurements taken sometime between 2006 and 2010; the study ended in 2016. Within that time, close to 6,000 of the volunteers (more than a quarter of them women) had a heart attack. The researchers then analyzed participants' waist measurements, BMI, and the ratio of their waist to hip measurements to determine if there was a connection between any of those metrics and their chances of having a heart attack.

Waist measurements were found to have the strongest ties to that outcome — and the link was stronger in women than it was in men.

”Our findings support the notion that having proportionally more fat around the abdomen (a characteristic of the apple shape) appears to be more hazardous than more visceral fat which is generally stored around the hips (i.e., the pear shape),” Sanne Peters, the study's lead author and a research fellow at the University of Oxford, said in a statement.

Why weight and BMI aren't great predictors of health 

After you hopped off the scale at your last doctor's visit, your physician might have shown you a colorful chart of your body mass index. That metric is designed to give you an idea of your body fat based on the ratio of your weight and height. BMI as a tool can be traced back to the 1830s, but despite that continued popularity, it's been revealed to be a relatively crude measure of fitness.

One of the most perilous pitfalls of BMI is that, because it merely compares your weight and height, it cannot properly assess the health of lean people with large amounts of muscle. Because of their weight, these folks are consistently placed in the "overweight" category based on to their BMI.

Measuring your weight alone won't tell you much either, an issue that some public-health experts have been raising since the 2000s.

"For health, the issue is not how much you weigh, but how much abdominal fat you have," wrote the authors of a 2005 blog post for the Harvard Medical School.

Waist measurements, on the other hand, show promise

Measuring waist circumference appears to provide uniquely accurate insight into how our bodies are faring.

Not only might the measurement help us determine our risk of a heart attack, the metric also appears to shed a bright light on our risks of developing heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. In a large 2012 study, for example, researchers found that people who were overweight and had large waists — 34.5 inches or more for women and 40 inches or more for men — had nearly the same risk of developing Type 2 diabetes as people who were clinically obese.

Just like with the most recent study, these links appear especially strong for women.

Scientists still aren't sure why these ties between large waists and negative health outcomes are so strong. But some believe it has to do with how fat inside the body, known as visceral fat, may interfere with the normal functioning of our internal organs.

Although some of us may be genetically predisposed to have more belly fat than others, there are ways to work on reducing it. As with any form of weight loss, strategies include curbing your sugar and carbohydrate intake, eating more vegetables and other fiber-rich foods, and incorporating regular cardio exercise into your life.

SEE ALSO: Trump's doctor said 'there’s not a lot of point' in doing a basic assessment of his fitness — but all it requires is a tape measure

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• Sugar lurks in dozens of unsuspecting foods, from yogurt and salad dressings to granola bars and sauces.
• Another big source of sugar in our diets is high-carbohydrate food like bagels and rice, which are quickly broken down into sugar in our bodies.
• Occasionally indulging in a sweet treat isn't a problem, but continuously eating high-sugar foods has been linked with a wide range of health issues.

Sugar lurks in dozens of unsuspecting foods, from yogurts and salad dressings to juices and sauces. Even when sucrose — the popular form of table sugar is not present in a food item, sugar's cousins fructose and dextrose can likely be found somewhere on the label.

To truly avoid sugar, you'd also have to cut out simple carbohydrates, including the ones found in bagels and white rice, since they break down quickly into sugar in the body.

Thankfully, the bulk of scientific research suggests that you don't have to go sugar-free see benefits for your brain and body. Instead, most experts simply recommend cutting back.

Still, given sugar's omnipresence in our lives, reducing your consumption can be hard work. Here are some of the problems that can result when you consistently overindulge your sweet tooth.

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Sugar is horrible for your teeth.

When bacteria in your mouth break down sugar, they produce acid, weakening the protective enamel that gives your teeth that glossy feel. If you're only eating it occasionally, that's no big deal — your teeth have a natural repair mechanism called remineralization that helps build back the enamel. 

But when you indulge your sweet tooth too often, the repeated cycle of acid attacks can break down the minerals that keep your enamel strong, eventually producing a cavity.

The link between sugar and tooth decay is especially strong when it comes to sweet drinks like soda, since the combination of bubbles and sugar appears to be lethal for your pearly whites. A 2017 study of more than 20,000 adults published in the Journal of Public Health Dentistry found that consuming sugary beverages dramatically increased participant's chances of losing between one and five teeth.

Sugar has been strongly tied to weight gain and obesity.

The authors of a review of 50 studies on diet and weight gain published in the journal Food and Nutrition Research found that, on average, the more refined carbohydrates (such as sugar) that someone ate, the more weight they tended to gain over the study period. Similarly, the researchers behind a large review of 68 studies published in the British Medical Journal found that the more sugar someone consumed, the more they weighed.

In other words, the amount of sugar in a participant's diet could be used to roughly predict their weight, the researchers found.

Eating sugar may make you crave more.

When we eat carbs or sugar, the process involves the pancreas. That small, sweet-potato-shaped organ pumps out insulin, a hormone that mops up some of the sugar floating around in our blood stream. But when we consume large quantities of sugar, the pancreas goes into overdrive and pumps out so much insulin that we wind up craving more carbs or sugar.

Edward Damiano, a diabetes researcher and professor of biomedical engineering at Boston University, calls this "the insulin effect": Ironically, you eat sugar, and then you crave more.

• Sustained weight loss can be a struggle, but there are practical tips that can help.
• Successful strategies include cutting back on foods and drinks that have been strongly tied to weight gain and increasing your intake of more nutrient-dense foods.
• Other approaches focus on ways you can set yourself up for long-term healthy eating in subtle, gradual steps.

In a country that eats dessert for breakfast, sustained weight loss can feel like an uphill battle.

Aside from avoiding obvious minefields like stacks of syrup-drenched pancakes and huge muffins, there are several practical guidelines to follow if you're looking to slim down. These tips can be helpful whether you're struggling to lose weight or simply aiming to reboot your eating plan with some healthier basics.

Still, if you're aiming to make big changes to your diet and to your health, it's always helpful to get help from a trained medical professional like a physician, registered dietitian, or family doctor. They'll be able to go over any questions you have about the suggestions you find here.

SEE ALSO: Weight Watchers' new program has 200 'zero-points' foods you can eat as much as you want — including eggs

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Start eating more vegetables — especially greens.

Author Michael Pollan may have condensed all the best nutrition wisdom into one line when he wrote: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants."

Dozens of scientific studies have tied diets high in vegetables— especially greens— to better health outcomes, including weight loss and a decreased risk of a handful of chronic diseases. Veggies like watercress, spinach, chives, and collard greens all rank highly on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's list of "powerhouse foods," so find a few you like, and start adding them to your plate.

But don't worry: Most of the research does not suggest a need to slash meat, dairy, or fish from your diet. In fact, the best results typically appear to come from diets that combine high amounts of vegetables with healthy sources of protein, which can include seafood, eggs, and meat. Eating plans like these include the popular Mediterranean diet and MIND diet.

Replace soda or sweet tea with sugar-free drinks.

Sweetened beverages like soda and juice can make up a surprising portion of the calories you consume each day, yet they don't fill you up the same way solid food does.

As part of an eight-year study that included nearly 50,000 women, Harvard researchers tracked what happened when people either slashed their intake of sweetened drinks or started consuming more of them. Not surprisingly, the participants who raised their sugary-drink intake gained weight and increased their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. In fact, the more people's sweet-drink intake increased, the more weight they gained and the more their disease risk went up.

Those who curbed their intake did not see those negative results.

So the next time you're looking for something other than water to drink, try seltzer or unsweetened tea. Even diet soda is probably a better choice. Every time you pick one of these over a sweetened beverage, you'll also be cutting anywhere from 150 to 400 calories.

Swap the white bread and rice in your meals for whole grains.

One of the least healthy components of most American diets appears to be refined carbohydrates, a category that includes white bread and white rice. Refined carbs can also be found in lots of other processed foods — they appear on nutrition labels as "refined flour" or just "flour."

A 2012 study published in the journal Food and Nutrition Research found strong links between diets high in refined carbohydrates and weight gain. One reason for this may be that refined grains are processed quickly and turned into sugar in the body.

Whole grains, on the other hand, get digested slowly and fill you up for hours. The key difference is that whole grains still have their nutritious, fiber-rich outer shells, such as the germ and bran. Those parts get stripped off of refined carbs in a factory before you eat them.

Roxanne B. Sukol, medical director of the Cleveland Clinic's Wellness Enterprise, said people should think of refined carbohydrates simply as "stripped carbs" and avoid them whenever possible.

• Americans' are heavier than ever — with nearly 40% of adults and 20% of teenagers falling into the categories overweight and obese.
• Lifestyle factors such as eating more and exercising less may not be entirely to blame.
• Medications and environmental changes such as pollutants, or chemicals could be contributing to our nation's struggle to maintain a healthy weight.

The last time you watched a movie from the '80s, perhaps you found yourself thinking, "Look how skinny everyone was!" In the midst of the feathered hair and neon colors, flat abs, slender arms, and itty-bitty booties fill the scenes of older films in a parade of thinness. While this may merely highlight the non-body-positive Hollywood machine of bygone days, there could be more to the story. Have people in general put on significant weight in the last 30 years or so? And if the population has steadily gotten heavier, what's behind the change?

It's true that the last three decades have seen a major increase in Americans' weight. As a nation, we are now heavier than ever. According to the CDC, as of 2017, nearly 40% of adults and 20% of teenagers fall into the categories overweight and obese. A growing public health crisis, obesity is one culprit behind rising rates of type II diabetes, death from heart disease, and even chronic pain.

These staggering numbers can make you wonder: Are adults today simply over-indulging, moving less, sitting more? Yes — partly. American calorie consumption has certainly increased dramatically since the DeLorean was cool. We took in about 450 more calories in 2010 than in 1970. Most of us don't exercise the recommended two and a half hours weekly. And the introduction of conveniences like online grocery shopping and Uber Eats — as much as we may enjoy them — haven't exactly been a boon to millennials' health. Food has become more easily accessible than ever, and often we don't even have to leave our homes to get it.

While lifestyle choices such as these do play a major role in the obesity epidemic, they're not entirely to blame for the difficulty we experience maintaining a healthy weight in the 21st century. Science indicates that other underlying physical changes may also have occurred in the last several decades.

In a study published in 2016 in the journal Obesity Research and Clinical Practice, researchers at York University in Toronto decided to dig a little deeper into this phenomenon. What would happen, they wondered, if millennials were put on a diet and exercise regimen that matched one researchers tracked in the 1980s? Would they, in fact, weigh the same as 1980s subjects? The surprising discovery: Even when taking in the same number of calories and exercising the same length of time, modern-day participants had a body mass index 2.3 points higher than their counterparts of the past. Clearly, something besides diet and exercise is involved.

Just what that something is, however, is up for debate.

"It's likely very complex, with different things contributing over time," says Dr. Jennifer Kuk, who co-authored the original study. One potential theory posits that environmental changes like pollutants or chemicals introduced since the 80s may have altered our metabolisms. Unfortunately, as Kuk points out, levels of these materials have not been monitored over time, so we can't know for certain whether they correlate with weight changes.

Other substances, like medications, could also have had an effect. With more Americans on prescription painkillers and anti-depressants than ever, it's possible that they account for some alteration in our weight. Changes to our collective microbiome present yet another potential factor. Many scientists believe we're only beginning to understand the influence of our gut flora on numerous health considerations, including obesity.

Interestingly, the metabolic differences researchers have observed over time aren't unique to Americans — or even to humans. Kuk notes that studies conducted on lab rats, monkeys in zoos, and wild animals have revealed similar results. All in all, this evidence seems to indicate that issues in our environment are part of the weight gain equation.

If diet and exercise aren't the only contributors to weight gain in today's adults, it's not an excuse to throw in the towel on these healthy practices. We know they work to keep the body well, in terms of weight and numerous other aspects of health. But these findings do signify a necessary shift in our thinking. "We need to change the way we look at someone with obesity," says Kuk. "We cannot know for certain that someone with obesity eats a lot or doesn't exercise." In fact, many people may actually be trying harder with less to show for it than ever before.

In a strange twist of fate, this call to compassion may actually help people to lose weight. One study found that mindful self-compassionate meditation yielded positive health behaviors, including weight loss. With millennials' affinity for meditation, this could be a vital part of the solution to the obesity crisis.

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• The majority of obese people in the UK do not realise they have a weight problem.
• That is according to new research from Cancer Research UK and UCL.
• The best way to tell if you're a healthy weight is from you waist size, not your BMI.

The majority of obese people in Britain wouldn't describe themselves as even "very overweight," according to new research.

The study from UCL and Cancer Research UK, published in BMJ Open, found that most people who are obese are probably in denial about it, with just 10% of clinically obese people admitting they have a weight problem.

Researchers analysed survey results from 2007 to 2012, and found that out of 2,o00 adults, 11% of obese women accepted they were in fact "obese," while just 7% of men acknowledged it.

Only 10% of participants knew the BMI threshold for obesity (a BMI of over 30). Those who did were more likely to class themselves as such. The authors of the study suggest this could be because being bigger is the new "normal."

"It's a real worry that people don't recognise that their weight places them in the obese category, because it means they aren't aware they are at increased risk of a number of health problems including cancer," said Professor Jane Wardle, director of the UCL Health Behaviour Centre and coauthor of the study.

"This is despite increased media coverage of obesity, and public health campaigns aimed at improving public awareness."

She added that calling someone "obese" is often considered derogatory, causing many people to reject it.

"But we also asked people whether they felt they were 'very overweight' and the majority of those who were obese did not accept this term either," she said. "This is a real problem, as it means they are unlikely to identify with health messages on the subject of weight."

However, while the researchers used BMI as a measure for obesity, this isn't the best way to tell if you are a healthy weight.

As Business Insider's Erin Brodwin explained in a post, BMI, or body mass index, is designed to give you an idea of your body fat based on the ratio of your height and weight. But it's a fairly rudimentary measure, as it merely compares your height and weight. It can't properly assess if people with a lot of muscle are at a healthy weight. Many rugby players, for example, are classed as "obese" if you only look at their BMI.

Weight measurements give you a much better idea about how healthy you are. If your waist is large — that's over 34.5 inches for women, or 40 inches for men — then you have a higher risk of developing heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.

Regardless, the new study does show people may view themselves as healthy when that might not be the case. Excess weight has been linked to cancer of the bowel, breast, womb, oesophagus, pancreas, kidney, and gallbladder, so helping people recognise they might need to lose weight is a major focus for healthcare professionals.

"Maintaining a healthy body weight is one of the most important ways of reducing the risk of cancer, for both men and women," said Julie Sharp, Cancer Research UK's head of health information.

"It's so important that health messaging and awareness campaigns are as effective as possible in supporting people of all shapes and sizes to make healthy choices."

SEE ALSO: BMI is a bogus way to tell if you're a healthy weight — here's what you should do instead

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• The modern culture of fat-shaming is counterproductive in the fight against obesity.
• Instead, there needs to be a positive movement in society toward leading healthier, more balanced lives.
• The three steps to effective weight-loss are exercise, sleep, and mindful nutrition — as opposed to calorie counting.

Imagine that you are running a company, but you cannot get to your goal because all of your good workers keep quitting.

For 30 years, your response to this problem has been to criticize the workers and say they are stupid and weak for quitting. As a result, you never reach your goal. You don't change your formula or alter your plan, just keep blaming and shaming the workers for quitting.

If you did this, your failure rate would remain unchanged over time, of course, and you would never reach your goal.

In the same way, hundreds of thousands of people fall short of their dieting and weight loss goals every year, and the incidence of obesity continues to rise. The fitness industry's answer to this has been to continue on as planned and blame the soaring failure rates on the people themselves, creating a culture of overt and subtle fat-shaming.

Now, imagine that you do some research at your company, and you find out that folks keep quitting because the carpet smells like garbage, the office is way too hot and the desks are in disrepair. If you hope to eventually get to your goal, you would almost certainly address the factors that are leading to attrition of our workers, right?

The same thing goes for weight loss in 2018. Science has shown us why "workers" are quitting. They quit because their ability to perform exercise is limited, they don't sleep enough and they don't eat for change. Just as your company needed to stop ridiculing the workers for quitting and instead change the carpet, furnace and desks, the fitness world should resist the urge to fat-shame and instead focus on exercise capacity, sleeping and recovery.

I have studied weight loss and obesity for many years. The issue of overweight and obesity grows more pressing each year, as 84 million people are now considered pre-diabetic. While they are in a pre-diabetic condition, they can still avoid the debilitating consequences of the disease. But once they become diabetic, health problems cascade as a result of this serious disease. The same is true for heart disease, arthritis and many other obesity-related conditions.

Exercise

People must exercise enough not only to burn calories for weight loss but to keep weight off. Simply put, if a person can walk for only five minutes today, he or she cannot expect to be successful on a program that calls for four days of exercise beyond that amount each time, tomorrow. Thus, the initial goal of any intended weight loss transformation should be to first increase one's exercise capacity to a critical point, called the catching point.

Once this capacity is reached, food preferences will change, metabolic rates will increase and patients will have a real chance to follow an exercise regimen that results in a significant amount of calories burned.

An "in-shape" person is much more likely to be successful with a new diet and exercise program than a sedentary, overweight person. As a result, step one must be to increase this capacity and to get there.

The other two tenets of recovery are equally critical: sleep and diet.

Sleep

Thousands of articles and many books have been written on sleep as it relates to brain function, brain waves, thinking, memory, mood, etc. The role of sleep in physical metabolic change, though, is missing from most diet attempts.

Simply put, sleep is the time that the body changes. Structurally, our bodies are making molecules during sleep that follows exercise which will do useful things for us such as strengthen our muscles, lower blood pressure, neutralize inflammation and increase our metabolism.

Sleeping enough will also make us eat less. Functional MRI scans of the brain show that people are far more interested in eating when they are sleep-deprived. Moreover, sleep-deprived people are more driven toward unhealthy foods when given the option. They also have increased levels of gherlin, the hormone that makes us feel hungry, and decreased levels of leptin, the hormone that makes us feel full. And, in multiple studies people have been shown to actually eat more food and actually gain more weight when sleep-deprived, and population-based studies have shown increased BMIs in people with fewer sleep hours.

Eating for change

Often, people err when they try to lose weight by restricting calories at the beginning of their efforts. Restricting calories leads to a host of responses from the body that induce food-seeking behavior and cause people to "quit" their diets. A recent study of a large group of people suggests that people should not count calories at all but instead pay attention to the quality of the food they eat, refraining from sugar and processed foods and instead eating lots of fruits and vegetables.

We can't make changes in our body's structure without the appropriate nutrients on board. If, while we are sleeping, our bodies set out to make the changes we want and there are no nutrients with which to do so, there will be no transformation. The specific nutrients necessary for recovery and optimization of our microbiome have been well-described during recent years and should be added to our intake (vs. restriction) until a critical point of clean eating is reached.

In summary, the three things missing from most diet attempts are the appropriate exercise capacity, the right amount of sleep and a plan to eat for recovery and change. Implementing these elements to most plans will allow folks to stay engaged long enough for healthy habits to "catch."

SEE ALSO: How to get more work done every day and still have energy, according to an early investor in Uber and Airbnb

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• Trader Joe's former president Doug Rauch helped create the store's cult-like following during his 31-year career with the company.
• After leaving Trader Joe's in 2008, Rauch turned his attention to helping solve the hunger crisis in America.
• He has since launched an even cheaper grocery store — called Daily Table— with an innovative approach to making food affordable. 

Former president of Trader Joe's Doug Rauch has had a lasting impact on the lives of the famous grocery store chain's customers.

Hired in 1977 by the company's founder, Joe Coulombe, Rauch was tasked with developing the company's private food label — a main factor in why the store's prices are so low. Later, he oversaw the store's expansion throughout the US through 2008.

After helping create the cult-like following for the grocery retailer, Rauch moved on from Trader Joe's, becoming a Harvard Leadership Fellow. He began looking into why hunger in America is still an issue for 41 million people.

What he learned was surprising.

"Hunger in America isn't like hunger throughout all the history of mankind. Obesity is the face of hunger in America," he told Business Insider during the James Beard Leadership awards in May.

"We have one in six Americans that are hungry, and we're one of the richest nations in the history of the world in food," he said. "Meanwhile, somewhere between 30% and 40% of the food we grow is just going to waste — it's not being consumed," he said. And the food that is available and affordable is what Rauch calls "empty calories" and "less nutritious." 

"It's not a shortage of calories, it's a shortage of nutrients," he said.

According to Rauch, 38% of Americans who qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — formerly referred to as the Food Stamp Program — were not enrolling because "they were ashamed, and embarrassed. They feel somehow lessened [by using them]."

With these key findings, Rauch decided to bring his retail chops into the non-profit world.

In 2012 he founded Daily Table— a not-for-profit retail store that sells food such as produce, meat, and prepared meals to its customers.

Daily Table keeps its costs down by stocking shelves with food that would have otherwise gone to waste because it's nearing its expiration date and isn't considered suitable by other grocery stores.

"We don't sell anything past its code date, so the customer is getting everything in front of its code date, but they're getting it at phenomenally cheap prices," he said.

With two locations, one in Dorchester, Massachusetts and another in Roxbury, Daily Table uses the power of the marketplace to provide low-cost, nutritious food to its customers.

"People don't want a handout. They want to feel they're providing for their family," said Rauch. By using the retail model, Rauch has given the power of choice to his customers. "In retail you flip the power differential so instead of me being the giver and you the receiver, I've got to earn your patronage every single day," he said.

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• Coca-Cola is making some big changes to its ingredient list after 28 countries and seven large cities are moving to tax sugary drinks.
• Coca-Cola has been releasing products with less sugar since 2015, but it's still too much.
• Even a single can of the new Coca-Cola with Stevia has 37% of the World Health Organisation’s recommended maximum daily intake of sugar for an adult.

At last count, 28 countries and seven large cities in the USA had moved to introduce a tax on sugary drinks. Potential benefits are clear and include reducing costs from obesity and health-care spending, as well as the potential to increase a healthy life. Health groups in Australia have long called for the same to be done here.

When Britain legislated for a sugary drink tax, graded according to the quantity of sugar used, some manufacturers significantly reduced the amount of sugar in their drinks before the law even came into practice.

Echoing the tactic of some British companies, Coca-Cola in Australia is claiming it has taken action by "reducing sugar in 22 of our drinks since 2015", and is committing to "make all our new Coca-Cola flavours either reduced or no sugar". Their aim is for a 10% reduction across their range by 2020.

Coca-Cola's products with less sugar include:

• Coca-Cola have said they're committed to more sugar-free or reduced sugar drinks
• Coca-Cola with Stevia: 19g of sugar per 375mL, compared with the classic product with 40g per 375mL
• Kirks reduced sugar drinks: now 38g sugar per 375 mL (4-5% reduction)
• Sprite, sugar reduced with added Stevia: 40g sugar per 375 mL (14% reduction)
• Raspberry Fanta, sugar reduced with added Stevia: 36g sugar per 375 mL (19% reduction)
• Lift hard hitting lemon, sugar reduced: 31.5g sugar per 375 mL (23% reduction)
• Deep spring mineral waters, three orange-based flavours sugar reduced: 28g sugar per 375 mL (26% reduction).

No nutritionist is going to knock reductions in sugar content, but even a single can of the new Coca-Cola with Stevia has 37% of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recommended maximum daily intake of sugar for an adult. The other products listed still have 55-78% of the WHO maximum recommendation.

Smaller pack sizes are being introduced and will help. And no-sugar versions of their major products are available, sweetened with intense (artificial) sweeteners such as stevia, acesulphame K, sucralose and aspartame.

Sugar alternatives

Stevia can be made from the leaves of the Stevia rebaudiana plant which contain a variety of steviol compounds. These bypass digestion in the small intestine and are broken down by bacteria in the colon.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand has approved the use of a wide range of different steviol compounds. Labelled either by its name or "additive 960", Stevia is marketed by some as a "natural" product. Although what is added to drinks and other foods is a highly purified extract, often blended with a sugar alcohol (usually erythritol) or complex carbohydrates called oligosaccharides.

In its favour, Stevia has virtually no kilojoules, and can be used by those with diabetes. But its effect on "good" bacteria in the colon may be undesirable.

Arguments continue to rage over whether intense sweeteners are beneficial or not. Some studies claim they help with weight loss. Others say they may increase the risk of excess weight and some associated health problems. Their effect on the "good" gut bacteria also needs careful evaluation.

The real problem is that sweet drinks maintain a taste for sweet drinks.

Nor does the dental disaster associated with soft drinks disappear with low or no sugar varieties. This is because much of the damage to dental enamel comes from their inherent acidity. The solution is to confine drinks to water or milk.

Sugar coating

Those marketing sugary products cannot ignore the public outcry against sugar. But nor can their business stand too strong an anti-sugar movement. The "less sugar" move may be an attempt to tone down the criticism.

How do we define moderation? It's an issue that has dogged those formulating dietary guidelines. In 1979, one of Australia's dietary goals was to "decrease refined sugar consumption". Two years later, the first guidelines included advice to "avoid eating too much sugar".

Sugar sales fell, moving the sugar industry to mount a massive seven-year PR and advertising campaign to influence health professionals, the population, health ministers and food companies that sugar was "a natural part of life".

With every subsequent revision of the guidelines, the food industry has campaigned strongly for the sugar guideline to be dropped. They succeeded in so far as the wording was changed to "eat only a moderate amount of sugars and foods containing added sugars". Sales steadied.

A review for the 2013 guidelines showed even stronger evidence that all added sugars should be limited, especially sugar sweetened soft drinks and cordials, fruit drinks, vitamin waters, energy and sports drinks.

Confectionery, cakes, biscuits and pastries were also specifically added to the list along with advice that for many Australians there was no room in the diet for any of these foods. "Only moderate" amounts may be comfortable for the industry but it was way too vague to fit the evidence.

"Less" sugar in sugary drinks is also too vague. Even for those who are not overweight, these drinks remain a hazard for our teeth. The only solution is to stop drinking them.

SEE ALSO: Coca-Cola says millennials are decimating sales of Diet Coke — and now it's going to war

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• Trucking isn't just dangerous because you're out on the open road, controlling an 80,000-pound vehicle.
• It's also hazardous because of long-term health effects that arise from sitting all day and poor food options at trucking stops.
• While trucking is being championed as a well-paid job that doesn't require a college degree, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said truck drivers face "a constellation of chronic disease risk factors." 

George Wilson misses his eight-foot-by-eight-foot home.

It had two beds, two dogs, and a little kitchen. Without a stove, he cooked hot dogs for himself and his wife in the microwave. His German Shepard Toby Won Kenobi, named after the Star Wars character, liked to lie on the ground.

Wilson was a long-haul truck driver for ten years and, like most truckers, he lived where he worked — in this case, in the cabin of a 50-foot truck. 

But he had to leave the industry in 2016. He went from weighing less than 300 pounds to nearly 470 pounds over the course of his driving career and developed diabetes and serious breathing problems.

"It's just not healthy whatsoever, the truck driver lifestyle," Wilson told Business Insider. 

Truck driving and other driving jobs have the seventh-highest work injury fatality rate in the country. In 2016, the latest year for which data is available, 660 large truck occupants died in crashes involving a large truck. 

But when it comes to what's really discouraging drivers from staying in the industry, University of Pennsylvania professor Steve Viscelli, who studies labor markets and automation, pointed to the health risks involving a sedentary lifestyle and poor food availability.

"The salaries are not high enough to justify the number of hours worked and the health, family, and social consequences of this work," Viscelli told Business Insider. 

The majority of truck drivers are obese and smoke

Long-haul truck drivers face "a constellation of chronic disease risk factors,"the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wrote in 2014.

Truck stops, the only places drivers can efficiently park and eat while on the road, are more likely to stock cheeseburgers and Salisbury steaks than salads or fresh fruit. Truck stops offer no gyms. One is seated for up to 11 hours a day, and there's clearly no standing desk options for truck drivers. 

"The drivers like me, they want to make money. They're just sitting there driving all day long. You want the quickest, easiest food, because if the truck's not moving, you're not making money," Wilson said.

Nearly seven in 10 truck drivers were obese and 17% were morbidly obese, which is defined as 100 pounds over your ideal weight, according to CDC research. Among all working American adults, one-third are obese and 7% are morbidly obese. 

"We need decent restaurants or food that is something beside stinking McDonald's or Subway and things like that," 51-year-old Steve Manley, who has been driving for more than 20 years, told Business Insider. "Trucking will leave you with a messed up back and many other problems if you are not very careful."

Truck driving is marked with other risky health behaviors, according to the CDC study. More than half of truckers are currently cigarette smokers, compared to 19% of the general population.

And nearly two-third of long-haul drivers reported having one of the following risk factors: hypertension, obesity, smoking, high cholesterol, no physical activity, and six or fewer hours of sleep per 24‐hr period.

Wilson hasn't driven for two years, and he's happy to report he has lost more than 100 pounds. 

"Thank God I'm back down to 350, but I still need to lose more," Wilson said. "I kind of have a hard time losing it."

Afflicted by sleep apnea, Wilson still needs an breathing machine to sleep and says his diabetes is "out of control."

"Truck driving really changed me and my health," Wilson told Business Insider. "It's easy to understand why the industry is going to fail."

SEE ALSO: Truck drivers say the latest measure to keep roads safe has left them 'chained up,' 'more reckless than ever,' and unable to support their families

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• Measuring belly fat is emerging as a superior way to assess overall health.
• Waist measurements of more than 34.5 inches for women and more than 40 inches for men have been linked with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and heart attack.
• Other measurements like BMI and weight are losing their utility, according to several large, peer-reviewed studies.

Sometime during your last doctor's visit, your physician probably had you hop on a scale. After weighing and measuring you, she might have shown you a colorful body mass index (BMI) chart with rows of boxes in shades of green, yellow, orange, and red. If your BMI is in the green, you may have been told, you're considered to be at a healthy weight.

But the rough calculations used to place you in one of these boxes are just that — rough. They're not a great measure of your health.

A growing body of evidence suggests that a superior metric to determine a healthy weight is the perimeter of your belly, also known as your waist circumference.

Not only is measuring your tummy incredibly simple, that figure is also strongly linked to your risk of developing diseases like diabetes, your chances of suffering a heart attack, and your overall risk of death from any cause.

Why BMI is not a good measure 

The body mass index was invented in the 1830s by a Belgian researcher looking to create a simple and easy way to size up the health of a large group of people based on two easy-to-attain measurements. It was never meant to be used on individuals. When it is, problems arise.

BMI doesn't take take into account your body fat or muscle composition, which means that it'll give wildly incorrect feedback based solely on things like gender or lifestyle habits. If you're an athlete, for example, you're more likely to get slotted into an orange or red BMI box simply because you're carrying around more muscle than the average person.

Public-health experts have known about these issues for some time, and many suggest that belly measurements could be the solution.

"For health, the issue is not how much you weigh, but how much abdominal fat you have," wrote the authors of a 2005 blog post for the Harvard Medical School.

Measure your belly instead to get a better picture of your health

Instead of estimating your BMI, pick up a tape measure. Breathing normally, wrap it around the part of your belly that's roughly two inches above your hips. That's your waist circumference.

In general if you're a woman, you want a measurement that's less than 34.5 inches. If you're a man, a number below 40 inches is ideal.

A measurement that's higher than those isn't a death sentence, but it has been strongly linked with a higher risk of several serious diseases including type 2 diabetes. A study published in March in the Journal of the American Heart Association suggested that a high waist circumference may also be linked to your risk of heart attack.

As part of a large 2012 study, researchers looked at data from more than 340,000 people from eight European countries. They found that overweight people with large waists — more than 34.5 inches for women or 40 inches for men — were at a similar risk of developing diabetes as people who were clinically obese. The link was the strongest in female participants.

For the study published in March on waist measurements and heart health, researchers used a large, ongoing health study to recruit nearly 500,000 adults with no risk of heart disease. The researchers analyzed participants' waist circumferences, BMI, and the ratio of their waist and hip measurements to determine if there was a connection between any of those metrics and a person's chances of having a heart attack.

The results suggested that participants with high waist measurements were significantly more likely to have a heart attack during the study period, which lasted six to 10 years depending on the participant. Similar to the research on diabetes and waist circumference, the link was stronger in women than it was in men.

Scientists still aren't sure why these ties between large waists and negative health outcomes are so strong. Some believe it has to do with how fat inside the body, known as visceral fat, may interfere with the normal functioning of our internal organs.

If you're wondering how to get rid of belly fat, strategies include curbing your sugar and carbohydrate intake, eating more vegetables and fiber-rich foods, and incorporating regular cardio and strength-training exercise into your life.

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