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On average, women in the study did 18 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise daily, while men did 30 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise daily, according to the study.

People in the study who did not do at least 30 minutes of exercise daily were at increased risk of metabolic syndrome, which is a collection of symptoms linked with cardiovascular disease, including high blood sugar, high blood pressure and low levels of "good" cholesterol.

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The study involved a nationally representative sample of more than 1,000 U.S. men and women who participated in a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey in 2005 and 2006. Participants wore a device called an accelerometer, which keeps track of movement, around their waist for at least four days.

Overall, women in the study had healthier behavior than men, for instance, women were less likely to smoke, but the lack of physical activity still put them at risk for metabolic syndrome, said study researcher Bradley Cardinal, professor of social psychology of physical activity at Oregon State University.

The study did not address why women exercised less than men, the researchers said. However, the researchers said that patterns of activity that begin in childhood typically continue throughout adulthood.

Women also often cite a lack of time to exercise due to child-rearing, said study researcher Paul Loprinzi, also of Oregon State.

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Other work from these researchers shows that adults can enhance their health by accumulating physical activity in short periods throughout the day, such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator or pacing while talking on the phone.

The study was published in online March 12 in the journal Preventive Medicine.

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Updated April 2, 2012

Singer Carnie Wilson told TODAY's Ann Curry she has a new outlook on life after her second weight-loss surgery, "I needed to take action... This is about health, it's not about what I look like or what the scale says."

Wilson first underwent gastric bypass surgery in 1999, when the 5'3" Wilson Phillips star weighed over 300 pounds. She lost 150 pounds, and showed off her newly svelte figure in Playboy. But 12 years and two children later, the 43-year-old Wilson Phillips star had gained two-thirds of the weight back.

In January she had a second surgery, a lap-band procedure that physically limits stomach size, and she's already lost 30 pounds. Wilson is now a paid spokesperson for Allergan, the company that developed the lap-band procedure she had.

NBC Chief Medical Editor Dr. Nancy Snyderman noted that weight-loss surgery works long-term only when patients totally change their lifestyles. If you eat like you used to, the weight will come back.

"I suspect you're approaching this as more of an adult this time, as a mother of two; it's a very different psychological mindset than you had during your first surgery," Snyderman said.

"Yes, and I'm teaching my children," said Wilson, mother of Lola, 6, and Luciana, 2.  "I'm laying the groundwork for myself, for the future — for the right reasons."

Original story, published March 22, 2012:

Two weight loss surgeries? Why Carnie Wilson tried again

Danny Moloshok / AP

Singer Carnie Wilson has reportedly had a second weight-loss surgery in a dozen years. A bariatric medicine expert says that's rare.

A second weight-loss surgery for singer Carnie Wilson has raised questions about repeat procedures, but a bariatric medicine expert says though it’s rare, it’s not necessarily unwise.

“In effect, she’s added something to her first surgery,” said, Dr. Robin Blackstone, president of the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery. “It gave her enough of a boost so that she could get her weight down.”

Wilson, 43, had lap-band surgery on Jan. 18, according to People magazine, and has shed 30 pounds. Wilson previously lost 150 pounds after gastric bypass surgery 12 years ago.

"It was the right decision for me and I'm doing really well so far," Wilson told People. "It's all about taking good care of myself."

There are no statistics about the number of people who get two or more weight-loss surgeries as part of the 200,000 procedures performed annually in the U.S.

“It’s actually pretty rare,” Blackstone said.

The two procedures are very different, she noted. Gastric bypass works by reducing the size of the stomach, but also by bypassing part of the small intestine. It’s primarily a metabolic treatment, meaning it works by affecting the way the intestine signals the brain regarding hunger and fullness.

That metabolic effect may not be as strong in some people, or it can be affected by hormonal changes, such as those that occur during pregnancy and childbirth, Blackstone said. In the years since her first surgery, Wilson has had two girls, ages 6 and 2. She’s previously said that pregnancy derailed her weight-loss efforts.

The lap-band, by contrast, offers a physical limitation with a silicone band placed around the stomach to create a small pouch the size of a golf ball.

Blackstone contends that the lap-band procedure actually enhances the effects of the bypass, somewhat like adding a second blood pressure medication when a patient doesn’t respond completely to the first one.

“We have to begin acknowledging that obesity is a chronic disease,” Blackstone said.

Wilson has a new album and new reality show coming with Wilson Phillips in April.

Related:

12 years later, Carnie Wilson has weight-loss surgery again

Pascal Le Segretain / Getty Images

Mila Kunis attends the Christian Dior Ready-To-Wear Fall/Winter 2012 show as part of Paris Fashion Week at Musee Rodin on March 2 in Paris, France.

Losing weight like a star may seem like a dream come true. With a personal trainer, personal chef, personal dietitian and personal assistant at your side, who couldn't shed 20 pounds in a few short weeks?

But a new interview with actress Mila Kunis in Harper's Bazaar indicates that fast weight loss (in this case for a role) can sometimes result in fast weight gain -- in all the wrong places.

Already lean, Kunis dropped 20 pounds in order to play Natalie Portman's ballerina frenemy in "Black Swan." At 95 pounds, Kunis says "I was muscles, like a little brick house, but skin and bones."

Unfortunately, when she gained the weight back, Kunis says it ended up in completely different places.

"All the weight that left my chest went to my side hip, my stomach," she told the magazine. 

Andrea N. Giancoli, a registered dietitian and spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, says redistributed weight isn't uncommon after drastic weight loss (and weight gain).

"What often happens with extreme weight loss and when you lose weight very quickly is that you lose muscle tissue," she says. "Unfortunately, when we gain the weight back, it comes back as fat."

And that fat tends to show up wherever you're genetically predisposed to get it.

"Some people store fat in their bellies, others in their thighs or their breasts or their buttocks," she says. "Wherever you typically store fat, you're going to see it go back there."

What's more, fast weight loss usually affects your metabolism, slowing it down so your body will burn the calories it gets more efficiently.

"You turn down the fire of your body furnace," she says. "But when you go back to eating normally again, that furnace is still turned down to low, therefore you gain weight more easily and you gain it as fat, unless you're really diligent about not overeating and exercising."

If you're dieting, Giancoli advises you shoot for losing 1-2 pounds a week, which gives your body opportunity to adapt to the weight loss and minimizes the loss of lean tissue and muscle.

As for celebrities and their weight-related ups and downs, she says they're often a perfect example of what not to do.

"Celebrities are great Petri dishes for us in a way," she says. "They demonstrate what happens with extreme weight loss. We'll hear that so-and-so lost 20 pounds in 20 days and we'll see her all thin and gorgeous. Then a few months down the line, she'll have gained all the weight back because she did it too rapidly. And we blame the celebs, not the ridiculous diets. But really, it all comes down to human physiology and biology. Your body doesn't like it when you lose weight that fast."

Have you noticed that your body behaves in weird ways after a crash diet? Tell us about your experiences on Facebook.

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On YouTube, a morbidly obese 22-year-old man named Robert has posted a desperate plea for help with weight loss. 

"This is my last chance, my last hope," Robert says, his voice shaking with emotion. "I'm really scared that I'm not going to be able to watch my niece and my nephew grow up, and I'm not going to get to have a family of my own.

"My birthday's tomorrow. I turn 23, and I've never had a life. ... I'm asking for somebody's help. That's all I can really say. I'm speaking from the heart."

Robert, who says he weighs "between 600 and 700 or more pounds," tearfully explains that he's tried losing weight on his own -- he's even been hospitalized as a result of his extreme heaviness -- but the weight always comes right back. He hopes the video will catch the eye of someone who can help him.  

The video has now been viewed nearly one million times, and among those who've seen it and want to help is TODAY's nutritionist, Joy Bauer. She has three simple, straight-forward pieces of advice for Robert -- or for anyone else whose weight loss needs are so daunting that they don't even know where to start. 

1. Start walking -- every day.

Even if it’s just to the end of your driveway and back. In the beginning, it’s not really about the distance or the calories burned -- it’s more about getting your body used to regular physical activity and feeling a sense of accomplishment. Every few days, try to increase your duration by a little bit (even if it’s only an extra minute). Gradually getting into a regular walking routine can help boost your mood and fuel your motivation to get healthy and make better food choices. 

2. Cut your portions in half.

If you’re not ready for a diet overhaul, start by cutting portions of whatever you’re currently eating in half. You’ll instantly reduce your calorie, fat and sugar intake by 50 percent -- and that’s substantial. Instead of six pieces of pizza at lunch, eat 3. Instead of 4 cups of pasta at dinner, eat 2. Then, as the weight starts to come off, you can start to focus on eating better foods. 

3. Wipe out liquid calories.

Cut out all sugary beverages—whether it’s soda, lemonade, sweet tea, or fruit juice. You can literally save yourself hundreds if not thousands of calories per day. And, since liquid calories don’t fill you up the same way solid food does, nixing the sugary drinks won’t even leave you feeling hungry (you’ll hardly miss them). Sip on water, unsweetened tea and coffee, and naturally flavored seltzer instead.

Share your own inspirational messages or advice for Robert on our Facebook page.

By TODAY contributor Star Jones

Something didn’t feel right. I was really tired – not the “my life is so busy” tired – but the “dragging, fatigued, my body doesn’t feel healthy tired.”  I was short of breath and experiencing intense and frequent heart palpitations. The 150 extra pounds that I’d carried around for years classified me as morbidly obese, but my breathing had improved tremendously since successful weight loss surgery years ago. So, the shortness of breath and intermittent pain were not adding up. Little did I know that these symptoms were the early warning signs of heart disease.

After a few weeks of these symptoms, my significant other insisted that I go to the doctor. Extensive testing confirmed what I had hoped never to hear – I had cardiovascular disease and needed surgery.

So many things were ailing my heart: fluid buildup, a genetic abnormality, a malfunctioning aortic valve. If I didn’t have surgery immediately, I was looking at a valve replacement, and possibly even a heart transplant in the future.

I couldn’t understand why this was happening to me now. I had beaten obesity and for the first time in my life I was hitting the gym regularly and practicing portion control in my diet. And after all that, I was about to be the face of heart disease.

When my doctors told me that they were going to crack my chest and take my heart out of my body, I sincerely considered not having the surgery. Needless to say, my girlfriends, family and doctors talked some sense into me and I made the decision to move forward.

We scheduled the surgery for one week before my 48th birthday. Amazingly, even though the doctors stopped my heart for 22 minutes on the operating table, I made it through open heart surgery without any complications. As part of my recovery, I elected to do cardiac rehab and it was the second best decision of my life. The discipline necessary to strengthen your heart after open heart surgery is relentless and exhausting; but so worth it. Twenty-four sessions later, I got my graduation hat and celebrated by walking the 12 blocks back home!

Six months after open heart surgery I took on the physical and mental challenge of competing on NBC’s "The Celebrity Apprentice" on behalf of the American Heart Association, breaking fundraising records and raising awareness of the no. 1 killer of all Americans. In 2011, I was named the American Heart Association’s National Volunteer.

I’m now living my best life in great health. I'm so proud that I spent the last few years getting myself in the best physical and emotional shape I could be in. I learned late in life that my health is my greatest asset.  For as the proverb says, “she who has health has hope, and she who has hope has everything.”  Heart health has become my mission in life and my hope for tomorrow.

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Doughnuts in the office? Tell yourself you'll just have one later.

By Stephanie Pappas
LiveScience 

If a forbidden doughnut is tempting you to break your diet, tell yourself you'll have a bite later — just don't specify when.

That strategy makes it less likely you'll go on a doughnut-eating spree, according to new research presented here last week at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. Unlike simply delaying gratification ("I'll wait until dessert"), promising yourself a temptation at a nebulous later date can actually decrease the amount of your ultimate consumption of that temptation.

"It really keeps the temptation at arm's length," said study researcher Nicole Mead, a psychologist at the Catolica-Lisbon School of Business and Economics in Portugal.

In a series of experiments, Mead and her colleagues found that this postponement strategy neither encourages guilt-ridden indulgence in an unhealthy treat nor does it encourage painful abstinence (which all too often leads to later bingeing). In one experiment, the researchers provided volunteers, who were completing various tasks in the lab, with bowls of M&Ms. Some students were told to eat the M&Ms if they wanted, some were told to avoid eating them, and a third group was told that they could eat the M&Ms later, if they felt like it.

At the end of the experiment, after the students could assume the researchers were no longer interested in them, the psychologists brought back the M&M bowls. The students who had snacked on the treats to their satisfaction earlier ate 5.19 grams of the candies (in addition to what they'd eaten already). Those who were deprived of M&Ms earlier went wild, eating 9.81 grams. In comparison, the postponement group ate 5.08 grams, the least of all three groups.

"Participants in the 'don't eat' condition ate practically double the amount of M&Ms" as those in the "wait until later" condition, Mead wrote in an email to LiveScience.

Not only that, she said, but the experiment had real-world implications right away. Participants who had been forbidden from eating chocolate at first in the experiment ate chocolate on average 4.48 times in the week following the experiment, and participants who had been able to eat M&Ms at will ate chocolate 3.18 times on average in the next week. But participants in the "wait until later" condition ate chocolate only 1.15 times, on average, over the next week.

"What this means is that postponement has real implications for everyday consumption," Mead said. "It encourages self-control."

In another experiment, the researchers extended the findings to the real world, giving potato chips to 105 students at a Netherlands high school. The students were divided into the same groups as in the M&M study. And this time, an additional group of students could choose between the three eating plans.

The researchers then tracked how many chips the students ate over the next seven days. Just as in the lab, students who put off eating the chips until later ended up eating the least, and didn't compensate by overeating other snack foods, Mead said. Best of all, the strategy worked whether chosen or assigned. [7 Diet Tricks That Really Work]

"It's a cooling-off strategy," Mead said.

Most likely, postponing a treat until an unspecified later time helps get people over the hump of strong temptation, said Florida State University psychologist Roy Baumeister, who studies willpower but was not involved in Mead's research.

"You need the resistance at the moment of peak desire, then the peak desire moment passes," Baumeister said.

It's not clear whether using the postponement strategy would work as a weight-loss method, Mead said, as focusing on the dieting aspect of postponement might, ironically, keep the temptation in your mind, where you have to fight it. (Research published in the journal Science in 2010, however, showed that fantasizing about a particular food could actually help you resist eating that food.)

But passing on the desired treat once might even revamp a person's self-image, Mead said. A person who turns down M&Ms in the moment might start to think of themselves as someone who doesn't even like M&Ms all that much. The next time the opportunity comes around, it may be easier to turn down the chocolates again.

"It seems that every time they encounter it again, they desire it less and less," she said.

The trick, Mead warned, is not to promise yourself the treat at a specific time. In one lab study with cookies as a temptation, the participants who had to put off eating the cookies until the end of the study ate just as much as those who got to give into temptation earlier.  

"If you make it specific, then you're probably going to engage in that consumption," Mead said.

Try this out sometime today. We'd love to hear how it worked. Tell us here, or on our Facebook page. 

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We attempt to lose weight for all kinds of reasons: to impress old friends at a high school reunion, to fit into a favorite pair of jeans, or simply to better our overall health. But Steve Reynolds, head pastor at Capital Baptist Church in Annandale, Va., suggests that better motivation may come from a higher power: Do it for Jesus.

At his church, Reynolds leads a weight loss competition program that has helped his congregation lose more than 12,000 pounds since 2007. Reynolds himself has lost a staggering 120 pounds. "I want to show people -- all types of people, especially Christian people -- that we're made by God, but we're also made for God, and we need to honor him with our bodies," he told TODAY.com's Kyle Miller. 

The program -- and subsequent book, with its catchy title, "Bod4God" -- bases its weight loss concept on one of the Ten Commandments: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." In contemporary Christian churches, this verse is usually interpreted to mean simply, "Put God first." Reynolds believes that some American Christians who struggle with their weight may be unwittingly valuing food over their faith. (He certainly isn't the first to recognize the link between religion and obesity: A study published last March showed that young adults who attended weekly church activities were 50 percent more likely to become obese by the time they reached middle age.) Giving junk food like cheeseburgers and fries too much power over your life undermines your relationship with God, Reynolds says, while expanding your waistline. 

Reynolds, of course, isn't the only person in the country to attempt a faith-based fitness program. There is also Christian yoga, Christian tai chi, Christian Zumba and something called Gospel Dance Aerobics. And if you'd rather run or workout at a gym, you can load your iPod with contemporary Christian albums specifically designed for workouts. 

Successful church-based programs may work, at least in part, because we generally have more success exercising together than we do on our own. A fascinating 2009 study on Oxford University rowers found that the athletes were able to push themselves through more pain when the team exercised together than when the individuals exercised alone. 

In another recent report, researchers used Biblical passages to develop a 12-week lifestyle program for diabetes prevention, and found that nearly half of the overweight and obese African-American participants dropped at least 5 percent of their body weight -- what's more, they successfully kept the pounds off for six months. Parishioners' close ties with each other, combined with a belief that they're losing this weight for a purpose greater than themselves, may explain the program's success. (An added benefit: a church-based weight loss program may reach people who wouldn't seek such a program out on their own.) 

"It gives you power to know that you're never alone, that God is with you," Reynolds says. "And that he gives you that motivation and that willpower that you need."

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TGIF … the weekend is just around the corner! Strategize a battle plan for the weekends so your healthy habits don't unravel.

It’s great to relax on the weekends, but the lack of structure and plethora of delicious temptations at happy hour, parties, and restaurants can spell trouble for dieters.

So, today and in the weeks to come, head into your weekend with a premedidated schedule. Set aside time for exercise, and avoid lots of downtime at home.

Make an ambitious to-do list and plan events and activities to keep you busy so you’re not lounging around at home all day surrounded by food. Avoid grazing: stick to your usual breakfast-lunch-snack-dinner routine, and make sure you plate your food and sit down to regular meals, just like on weekdays.

For slimming recipes, menus and health tips, visit joybauer.com and follow Joy on Facebook and Twitter.

What do you think of today's Challenge tip? Still sticking to your New Year's Resolution? Share with us on TODAY Health's Facebook page. And record your progress on the new Twitter hashtag #TODAYHealth!

Read yesterday's tip from Joy:
150-calorie snacks to stomp the afternoon slump

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Cage Fitness class participants perform a 'knee on 12 punch' move at the Leading Edge Martial Arts school in Allentown, Penn. The classes, which provide a quick, intense workout modeled after a championship mixed martial arts bout, have proven very popular at the school.

When Dan Evans was sent home from “The Biggest Loser” last spring, he’d lost just 15 pounds. A year later, he’s down over 100 pounds more, thanks to a combination of diet, treadmill running and something called Cage Fitness, a fast-and-furious workout routine based on mixed martial arts.

Mixed martial arts, also known as ultimate fighting, is one of the world’s fastest-growing combat sports. Bouts are fought in an octagon-shaped ring called a cage, and fighters use moves and techniques from various fighting disciplines, including karate, Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai and boxing. It’s quick, it’s brutal and it’s incredibly popular.

Cage Fitness workouts mimic the structure of a championship MMA bout -- minus the injury. Created by Matt Hughes, a nine-time world welterweight champion, Cage Fitness workouts are just 30 minutes, with five, five-minute “rounds,” followed by a minute of rest. It’s high-intensity interval training, using familiar moves like squats, MMA-specific techniques like Kimura crunches, and a weighted fitness dummy for added resistance.

Cage isn’t the only MMA-based fitness class -- martial arts studios across the country are adding programs that promise to get students into fighting shape, without the impact. Team Lloyd Irvin Martial Arts and Fitness, in Arlington, Va., offers a ladies-only Ultimate Fitness Kickboxing class alongside its judo and boxing classes. And the MMA Fitness Drill class at Houston’s Paradigm Training Center promises to get students into “octagon shape.”

It took Vanessa Yanez, of San Mateo, Calif., awhile to work up the nerve to try the Cage classes at Gold Medal Martial Arts.  Yanez, a 40-year-old mother of two, had seen the sessions, which started before her cardio fitness class. And they looked pretty intense.

“While at first the class looked a little scary with the heavy bag and all, I found that I really liked the 30-minute aspect of it,” Yanez wrote in an e-mail. It was short enough, she added, where she wasn’t looking at the clock all the time. And: “The exercises end … unlike machine work or long-distance running, there is a reward every five minutes: Rest.” 

Each Cage workout starts with a warm up, and then moves quickly to an upper body round, a lower body round, a “combo” round, and then a cool-down, with core work.

Each round of Cage ends with a 'ground and pound,' where members punch and elbow their fitness dummy for 30 seconds. It's a great way to work on endurance -- and it's also a great stress reliever. The Leading Edge Martial Arts school, where the photo was taken, is in Allentown, Penn.

And every round wraps up with “ground and pound,” a 30-second flurry of punches into your fitness dummy. 

“No matter how tired people are, they always get a huge burst of energy for the ‘ground and pound,’” said Jessy Norton, who helped design the Cage workout with Hughes.

Cage and KiDo, a martial-arts-inspired cardio workout, helped Yanez lose 40 pounds. “More importantly, I've increased my endurance and muscle tone to where instead of someone who just works out, I feel like an athlete,” she said.

Since its inception almost two years ago, Cage Fitness has expanded to over 280 martial arts schools, gyms, military bases and police academies. There’s also a home kit, which includes a weighted fitness dummy, gloves a training manual and seven DVDs for $349.  It’s what  Dan Evans, who’s now a certified Cage instructor, uses when he can’t get to a scheduled class.

"Cage is a huge part of my weight loss regimen," he said.  "There’s only so much you can run on the treadmill."

What's the most unusual fitness class you've ever tried? Tell us about your experiences with the class -- and the results it produced -- on Facebook. 

Related: 

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Slash your dinner calories by up to 20 percent by beginning dinner with a non-starchy veggie course—a bowl of broth-based vegetable soup, a large tossed salad with low-cal dressing, or something as simple as a sliced cucumber or handful of baby carrots.

All of these vegetable options are high in volume and loaded with fiber and water, so they fill up your belly and immediately start to curb your appetite. That means you’ll likely eat less of your main entrée and end up saving yourself major calories at dinner.

For the perfect pre-meal soup, get the recipe for Joy’s Skinny Veggie Soup.

For slimming recipes, menus and health tips, visit joybauer.com and follow Joy on Facebook and twitter.

What do you think of today's Challenge tip? Still sticking to your New Year's Resolution? Share with us on TODAY Health's Facebook page. And record your progress on the new hashtag #TODAYHealth!

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Rather than focus on the total amount of weight you need to lose, which can be very overwhelming, establish short-term, manageable “mini-goals" to keep you going strong.  Today, and every Sunday to follow, set 1 or 2 definitive objectives for the week ahead. These can either be pound goals, like “lose 2 pounds this week”, or other weight loss goals such as “don’t snack after dinner this week” or “cook two new healthy recipes this week.” The key is to make your targets very concrete and measurable. When you accomplish one of your goals, treat yourself to a non-food reward, such as a manicure, 10-minute massage, new book, or movie night with a friend.

Achieving these mini-goals will constantly remind you that hard work does pay off … and refresh your motivation so you don’t abandon your resolution.

For slimming recipes, menus and health tips, visit joybauer.com and follow Joy on Facebook and twitter.

What do you think of today's Challenge tip? Still sticking to your New Year's Resolution? Share with us on TODAY Health's Facebook page.

Research shows that starting your day with a high-protein breakfast can enhance weight loss by curbing your appetite at later meals. Including protein with your AM meal also helps you stay alert and energized throughout the morning and keeps blood sugars on an even keel. To reap these benefits, incorporate a protein-rich food—think nonfat yogurt, eggs, reduced-fat cheese, turkey sausage, lean bacon (turkey or Canadian), or nuts/nut butter—at breakfast every day. To keep total daily calories in check, plan a morning meal with 250 calories or less.

A few all-star breakfast options that fit the bill:

• Nonfat Greek yogurt (6-ounce container, plain or flavored) with a banana, apple, orange, or grapefruit
• Scrambled eggs: 1 whole egg and 3 whites scrambled with ¼ cup shredded reduced-fat cheese and your choice of mushrooms, onions, peppers, tomatoes, and spinach)
• Breakfast sandwich: whole-grain English muffin with 2-3 slices lean Canadian or turkey bacon, lettuce, tomato, and 1-2 teaspoons low-fat mayo

For slimming recipes, menus and health tips, visit joybauer.com and follow Joy on Facebook and twitter.

What do you think of today's Challenge tip? Still sticking to your New Year's Resolution? Share with us on TODAY Health's Facebook page.