A man gained weight eating ultra-processed foods he thought were healthy. Now, he's 50 pounds lighter thanks to 3 habits.
Christopher Kaufman, 60, started gaining weight in his 40s.
By his 50s, he was over 200 pounds, with a sedentary lifestyle and a diet of ultra-processed foods.
Diet tweaks, movement breaks, and regularly weighing himself helped him lose 50 pounds.
Christopher Kaufman's 50-pound weight gain didn't come all at once. If anything, it took over a decade to steadily climb.
"I was about 10-15 pounds overweight once we got into my 40s," Kaufman told Business Insider. But it was in my 50s when I said 'Oh, we've got a problem here.'"
Kaufman grew up active, feeling like he could "eat anything" and not gain weight. That changed when his mother died in 2005 and he was exposed to toxic mold when cleaning out her house.
Shortly after, blood tests found he had developed a sensitivity to gluten, dairy, and yeast. He changed his diet to gluten-free and some cow-free dairy alternatives. While they reduced his symptoms, he started gaining weight. The tapioca-flour pretzels and coconut milk products he was consuming were ultra-processed, which are often linked to weight gain.
Kaufman also didn't move much throughout the day. He spent a decade working remotely at a Fortune 100 technology firm before getting a doctorate in education, spending hours studying.
By 2022, at 57, he weighed around 208 pounds and had high blood pressure. He knew he needed to change his lifestyle. "I said, well, you know what? I've run a marathon," he said. "I can do this."
In two years, Kaufman lost 50 pounds and lowered his blood pressure through changing his eating habits and adopting a more active lifestyle — without strict diets or strenuous workouts.
"I've got the skills to look at the activities versus the calories and now I can just play around with these," he said. "It's continuous improvement."
Kaufman started focusing on whole foods and reducing his ultra-processed intake. While he didn't follow any one specific diet, his most closely resembled a Blue Zones diet, based on a study of the world's longest-living populations.
He started to examine the ratio of carbs on his plate to protein and fiber. Back when Kaufman was a runner (he ran the LA Marathon 20 years ago), he got into the habit of loading up on carbs for energy. Now, he realized, he wasn't moving enough to justify as many carbs as he ate.
"That first step of lowering the carbs so that they balance with the protein and fiber, that started the weight loss," he said.
Now, he said he adjusts his carb intake based on the day and the planned activity. He'll eat more if he plans on doing yard work for two hours and could use the energy. He also changes how much he eats based on the time of day, eating a bigger meal at breakfast or lunch depending on when he plans to exercise.
He said being mindful of what he eats — and how much of it — helps him indulge in treats. "I'm going to have salmon with steamed cabbage, but that's just zero carbs," he said. "So I can have 3 ounces of some coconut chocolate ice cream."
Kaufman, now an adjunct professor at both Westcliff University and Southern California State University, follows the pomodoro technique whenever he researches class lectures or writes his book. He works for 25-minute sprints before breaking for five minutes.
He started using those built-in breaks to get up and walk around. "I saw that when I made myself get up and walk around consistently, I lost more weight," he said.
He also works out about once a day, either swimming in his pool or walking through his hilly California neighborhood. "It's not the kind of serious swimming that I used to do when I was younger," he said. "It's just flapping around, freestyle."
The only other activity he does is house chores, like cleaning the yard or pool, building something, or carrying heavy objects in and out of the house. The small movements add up and help him burn more calories.
Kaufman read studies that found weighing yourself every day leads to higher weight loss, more than checking once a week or twice a month. "In fact, my weight loss sped up once I started doing that," he said.
However, starting the habit was "really rough."
"I'm a technical nerd, so I go, 'Is this scale broken? It can't be me, right?' So that was hard," he said. Over time, though, he said keeping up the habit changed his relationship to the scale.
"You have to let go of the scale as the enemy and learn the scale is just a feedback mechanism," he said, looking for a "rolling average" rather than fixating on one number, which could greatly vary by what he ate that day.
Seeing the numbers helped him better see what was working and what wasn't. "Ok, what can we tweak here?" he said. "Oh, we can knock 100 calories off here, or we can reduce some carbs there."
Ultimately, having more data helps him keep his weight down without going to extreme measures.
"It took me almost two years to accomplish it, but now I can manage and tweak meals and mix up exercise regimes, rather than slide," he said. "It's slow, it's gradual, and it's for life."
Read the original article on Business Insider
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Insider
a day ago
- Business Insider
Cofounder of Neuralink rival Precision Neuroscience reveals what people often get wrong about brain implants
At least that's the line from Dr. Ben Rapoport, the cofounder and chief science officer of Precision Neuroscience, a brain-computer interface, or BCI, company. "Many people have the impression that the data that we care about is sort of everywhere inside this dimensional structure," Rapoport, a neurosurgeon and engineer, told Business Insider. That's a big misconception, he said. People often incorrectly assume that "you need electrodes that penetrate deep inside the brain to get that information out," he added. But brain implants don't need to be as invasive as they might sound, he said. Precision is developing a thin film that sits on the brain and records brain activity in patients with paralysis. "We implant modules of 1,024 electrodes on the brain surface in the area that controls movement, especially the hand," Rapoport said. That allows them to have cursor control, typing ability, access the internet, use PowerPoint, play games, and word process, he added. These are actions that require vision, movement, sensation, and executive function — core parts of consciousness that are concentrated in the brain's outermost layer, the cortex, Rapoport said. Deeper inside are "connections, you know, between those activities and also sort of subconscious processes, because the brain coordinates a lot of activities in the body that don't take place consciously," he added. The New York-based startup, which received FDA clearance for part of its wireless brain-computer interface in April, has raised $155 million in funding since it launched in 2021. It is one of a few companies advancing this technology as part of the Implantable BCI Collaborative Community. BCIs are largely classified into two categories: invasive and non-invasive. Non-invasive BCIs, which don't require surgery, often rely on external sensors to detect the electrical signals in the brain. BCS that are implanted record neural activity directly from the brain and are being developed to restore speech, movement, and other complex functions in people with neurological conditions. The buzziest BCI these days is Elon Musk's Neuralink, which has ambitions to create a "symbiosis" between the human brain and AI. But there are a host of other companies working on BCIs as a way to treat neurological diseases, like Precision Neuroscience. The company has tested its temporary device in over forty patients in early clinical studies. Over the next year, it will prepare for the first human studies of its permanently implanted devices. "There are certain internal validation checks and internal milestones that we need to meet for ourselves and for the FDA before we want to start implanting the permanently implanted wireless device in humans," Rapoport said. The company's ultimate goal is to help paralyzed people get "back to a level of functional capacity where they can be significantly independent, economically self-sufficient, and hold a job in the workplace," Rapoport said. Correction: June 27, 2025 — An earlier version of this story said that Dr. Ben Rapoport was the founder and CEO of Precision Neuroscience; Dr. Rapoport is the cofounder and chief science officer. An earlier version also mischaracterized the film that goes on the brain. It is not studded with electrodes; the electrodes are embedded.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
These Are The 2 Best Workouts For Longevity, According To An Exercise Physiologist
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." If you're on a mission to live longer (and stronger!), you probably know that regular exercise plays an undeniable role in longevity. Walking and strength training in particular have a ton of benefits that can help keep you movin' and groovin' for years to come—but is one of them better at adding healthy years to your lifespan? And how should you balance walking and strength training to create a holistic routine? Those questions were recently raised by Blue Zones, an organization committed to researching worldwide longevity. Via the Instagram account, the org posted about how if you want to live to 100, walking every day is better than going to the gym three or four times per week. Meet the experts: Sarah Pelc Graca, CPT, is a certified personal trainer and founder of Strong with Sarah Weight Loss Coaching. Rachelle A. Reed, PhD, ACSM-EP, is an exercise physiologist in Athens, Georgia. Natalya Vasquez, CPT, is a certified personal trainer, health coach, and founder of On Your Terms Coaching. Even though most of us do it every day, walking is having a moment of sorts—due to the fact that it's a low-impact workout that benefits your cardiovascular system and is accessible any time, any place. But strength training is also increasingly important as you age since it preserves muscle mass, bone density, and functional strength, says Sarah Pelc Graca, CPT, a certified personal trainer and founder of Strong with Sarah Weight Loss Coaching. That just scratches the surface, though. Here's the lowdown on exactly how walking and strength training each impact longevity, and what that means for your routine, according to experts. Expert verdict: It's a tie Keeping your brain healthy is a big part of living a longer, better life. 'When your mind stays sharp, it's easier to stay independent, connected, and active,' Pelc Graca says. On the flip side, cognitive decline can lead to accidents, memory loss, and even depression, she says. Fortunately, when it comes to supporting brain health and cognitive function, walking and strength training are both amazing, but in different ways. 'Walking increases blood flow to the brain, which boosts oxygen and nutrients to the areas responsible for memory and thinking, but it also helps lower stress and improve sleep, which are two big players in cognitive health,' Pelc Graca says. In fact, aiming for around 10,000 steps a day may even be associated with a lower risk of developing dementia. A 2022 study in JAMA Neurology monitored almost 80,000 adults ages 40 to 79 over about seven years and monitored how many steps they took each day. It found that walking more was associated with a lower risk of dementia, and the optimal amount of daily steps was just under 10,000. Strength training, on the other hand, stimulates the release of growth factors (naturally occurring substances that stimulate cell growth), which supports the formation of new neurons in the brain, Pelc Graca says. Lifting weights may also improve executive function and memory, per a 2022 review in Springer Open that looked at 19 studies on the effects of resistance training on cognitive function. A combination of walking and resistance training is the ideal recipe for optimal brain health—and this finding is supported by a 2025 review in the International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology that looked at 35 randomized controlled trials to determine the effects that aerobic and resistance training have on cognitive function. 'Walking can be a great gateway to more intense exercise, and may be the best starting place for folks who haven't been active in a while, but ideally, it's best to work up to incorporating both types of exercise' for longevity, says exercise physiologist Rachelle A. Reed, PhD, ACSM-EP. Expert verdict: Strength training Strong bones are key to staying active and avoiding serious injuries as you get older, because broken bones—especially in older adults—can lead to long recovery times and even long-term health issues, Pelc Graca says. The good news? Weight-bearing movements like walking and resistance training help maintain and improve bone mineral density, the amount of bone mineral in bone tissue, so you're less likely to experience fractures and more likely to stay on your feet for the long haul. Strength training has a slight edge at this over walking. Walking slows age-related bone loss, especially in the hips and legs, since your bones work to support your body weight with each step, stimulating them to become stronger and denser, Pelc Graca says. As a result, frequent walks may reduce the risk of osteoporosis, per 2024 research in Springer. The study monitored 24,000 adults without osteoporosis over three years via questionnaires and found that those who engaged in outdoor walking regularly had a lower risk of osteoporosis. Strength training does more than just slow bone loss, though—it also stimulates new bone growth. 'Strength training puts controlled stress on bones, signaling the body to build stronger, denser bone tissue,' Pelc Graca says. You can certainly add weight to your body while walking (hello, weighted vest), but there are limitations on the range of motion and weight you can use that actually impact bone preservation and muscle growth, says Natalya Vasquez, CPT, a certified personal trainer, health coach, and founder of On Your Terms Coaching. However, the different exercises and directions your body moves weights in during resistance training also improves muscle mass, meaning better support for your skeleton, Vasquez says. This is particularly beneficial for older women and those post-menopause, since it helps counteract the bone loss that often occurs during this phase of life, according to a 2022 review in Endocrinology. Expert verdict: Walking Heart health has a huge impact on how long—and how well—you live since heart disease is the number one cause of death for women. As a result, taking care of your cardiovascular system is nonnegotiable for boosting longevity and fostering a longer, healthier lifespan, Pelc Graca says. Walking shines when it comes to supporting cardiovascular health, but strength training still plays a valuable role. Walking boosts circulation, lowers blood pressure, supports healthy cholesterol levels, and improves insulin sensitivity, which are all key factors for keeping your heart in tip top shape, Pelc Graca says. Regular exercise like walking also helps manage stress, which can decrease blood pressure and the risk for heart attack and stroke, per the American Heart Association. Plus, because walking is low-impact, accessible, and doesn't require equipment, it's easier to do regularly, which is critical for long-term heart health, says Reed. That said, strength training still plays a valuable role in cardiovascular health since it reduces body fat, improves insulin sensitivity, and lowers mortality risk, per a 2023 review in Exercise Sport and Movement that reviewed studies examining the long-term benefits of resistance training. However, during traditional strength training, you'll likely take frequent rest breaks between sets where your heart rate will slow down, whereas your heart rate won't decrease on a walk, which will make it stronger over time, Vasquez says. Expert verdict: Strength training Muscle isn't just for looking sculpted—it's key to staying strong, steady, and independent as you age. A lack of muscle is also correlated to poor balance and an increased risk of falls, in turn, upping your chances of injury, says Pelc Graca: 'Put simply, more strength equals more freedom to do the things you love for longer.' Strength training takes the cake for building muscle, but walking still supports muscle maintenance. Strength training is the most effective way to build muscle and maintain muscle mass, which both naturally decline with age, Pelc Graca says. Resistance training provides a heavy load to the muscles, which will stimulate muscle growth (hypertrophy). It also improves neuromuscular coordination, the communication between the brain and the muscles, which enables movement, Reed says. This workout also enhances joint stability, balance, and improves range of motion, allowing you to stay stronger and independent for longer, per a 2023 meta-analysis in Springer of 55 studies on the benefits of resistance training. Besides strength, training power is also imperative for being able to move well for as long as possible. 'Unlike muscular strength, which refers to how much force a muscle can exert, muscular power combines force and speed,' says Reed. So, maintaining that power is important to do functional tasks like climbing stairs, catching yourself during a fall, or quickly standing up from a chair. Incorporating power movements like medicine ball throws and kettlebell swings during strength training days can help maintain that force and speed. As for walking, Pelc Graca says regular strolls preserve lower-body strength and endurance, especially in the calves, hamstrings, glutes, and core. Walking also promotes healthy joints and balance, making it easier to move freely and confidently with age. However, because walking is a singular range of motion exercise (you only move forward and backward), it excludes other major muscle groups from activating, therefore limiting overall muscle gains and strength, Vasquez says. Expert verdict: Both! Walking and strength training both play an invaluable role in health and longevity. All three experts agree that a hybrid exercise model emphasizing aerobic movement and resistance training is your best bet for a longer, healthier life. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per week—like a brisk walk—plus a weekly minimum of two full-body strength training sessions. However, you can tailor your workout routine to your individual interests and health concerns. For instance, 'older adults may benefit more from prioritizing strength training to preserve muscle mass and prevent frailty, while individuals with cardiovascular risk factors often need more aerobic activity like walking,' Reed says. 'For those just getting started with exercise, walking is typically a more approachable and confidence-building entry point.' If you're unsure where to start, Vasquez recommends walking for 15 minutes after lunch and dinner everyday and adding three 15-minute full-body strength training sessions to your schedule throughout the week. From there, you can increase the time and intensity as your body gets stronger. Remember, as with most things in life, consistency is key for long-term success. 'Longevity isn't just about adding years to your life,' Pelc Graca says. 'It's about adding life to your years, and regular walking and strength training are two of the most accessible, effective ways to do that.' You Might Also Like Jennifer Garner Swears By This Retinol Eye Cream These New Kicks Will Help You Smash Your Cross-Training Goals
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
A man gained weight eating ultra-processed foods he thought were healthy. Now, he's 50 pounds lighter thanks to 3 habits.
Christopher Kaufman, 60, started gaining weight in his 40s. By his 50s, he was over 200 pounds, with a sedentary lifestyle and a diet of ultra-processed foods. Diet tweaks, movement breaks, and regularly weighing himself helped him lose 50 pounds. Christopher Kaufman's 50-pound weight gain didn't come all at once. If anything, it took over a decade to steadily climb. "I was about 10-15 pounds overweight once we got into my 40s," Kaufman told Business Insider. But it was in my 50s when I said 'Oh, we've got a problem here.'" Kaufman grew up active, feeling like he could "eat anything" and not gain weight. That changed when his mother died in 2005 and he was exposed to toxic mold when cleaning out her house. Shortly after, blood tests found he had developed a sensitivity to gluten, dairy, and yeast. He changed his diet to gluten-free and some cow-free dairy alternatives. While they reduced his symptoms, he started gaining weight. The tapioca-flour pretzels and coconut milk products he was consuming were ultra-processed, which are often linked to weight gain. Kaufman also didn't move much throughout the day. He spent a decade working remotely at a Fortune 100 technology firm before getting a doctorate in education, spending hours studying. By 2022, at 57, he weighed around 208 pounds and had high blood pressure. He knew he needed to change his lifestyle. "I said, well, you know what? I've run a marathon," he said. "I can do this." In two years, Kaufman lost 50 pounds and lowered his blood pressure through changing his eating habits and adopting a more active lifestyle — without strict diets or strenuous workouts. "I've got the skills to look at the activities versus the calories and now I can just play around with these," he said. "It's continuous improvement." Kaufman started focusing on whole foods and reducing his ultra-processed intake. While he didn't follow any one specific diet, his most closely resembled a Blue Zones diet, based on a study of the world's longest-living populations. He started to examine the ratio of carbs on his plate to protein and fiber. Back when Kaufman was a runner (he ran the LA Marathon 20 years ago), he got into the habit of loading up on carbs for energy. Now, he realized, he wasn't moving enough to justify as many carbs as he ate. "That first step of lowering the carbs so that they balance with the protein and fiber, that started the weight loss," he said. Now, he said he adjusts his carb intake based on the day and the planned activity. He'll eat more if he plans on doing yard work for two hours and could use the energy. He also changes how much he eats based on the time of day, eating a bigger meal at breakfast or lunch depending on when he plans to exercise. He said being mindful of what he eats — and how much of it — helps him indulge in treats. "I'm going to have salmon with steamed cabbage, but that's just zero carbs," he said. "So I can have 3 ounces of some coconut chocolate ice cream." Kaufman, now an adjunct professor at both Westcliff University and Southern California State University, follows the pomodoro technique whenever he researches class lectures or writes his book. He works for 25-minute sprints before breaking for five minutes. He started using those built-in breaks to get up and walk around. "I saw that when I made myself get up and walk around consistently, I lost more weight," he said. He also works out about once a day, either swimming in his pool or walking through his hilly California neighborhood. "It's not the kind of serious swimming that I used to do when I was younger," he said. "It's just flapping around, freestyle." The only other activity he does is house chores, like cleaning the yard or pool, building something, or carrying heavy objects in and out of the house. The small movements add up and help him burn more calories. Kaufman read studies that found weighing yourself every day leads to higher weight loss, more than checking once a week or twice a month. "In fact, my weight loss sped up once I started doing that," he said. However, starting the habit was "really rough." "I'm a technical nerd, so I go, 'Is this scale broken? It can't be me, right?' So that was hard," he said. Over time, though, he said keeping up the habit changed his relationship to the scale. "You have to let go of the scale as the enemy and learn the scale is just a feedback mechanism," he said, looking for a "rolling average" rather than fixating on one number, which could greatly vary by what he ate that day. Seeing the numbers helped him better see what was working and what wasn't. "Ok, what can we tweak here?" he said. "Oh, we can knock 100 calories off here, or we can reduce some carbs there." Ultimately, having more data helps him keep his weight down without going to extreme measures. "It took me almost two years to accomplish it, but now I can manage and tweak meals and mix up exercise regimes, rather than slide," he said. "It's slow, it's gradual, and it's for life." Read the original article on Business Insider
