Drink Milk & Lose Weight!

(NAPSA) Every year millions of people deprive their bodies of nutrients and calories trying to slim down but the odds say only 10% will actually lose weight and keep it off. This year, a new 12-week program, The Great American Weight Loss Challenge, is giving people the free expert help they need to lose weight in a healthful way.

The program is developed by Pam Peeke, M.D., MPH, author of the best-seller "Fight Fat After Forty" and the upcoming title "Body for Life for Women" (Rodale, April 2005). Anyone can register for the free Challenge at www. 2424milk.com and group participation is encouraged and rewarded. One lucky group will win a $10,000 cash prize for their successful completion of the 12-week program. 24 Ounces, 24 Hours-The Milk and Weight Loss Connection

This new plan invites Americans to lose weight in a healthy way by following a reduced calorie diet, increasing exercise and drinking 24 ounces of milk every 24 hours. That is the amount of milk that has been shown in multiple clinical studies to increase both weight loss and fat loss. Although calories still count, the studies have shown that overweight/obese adults who included 24 ounces of milk in a reduced-calorie diet lost significantly more weight and fat than those who drank little or no milk in a diet. Those who drank milk also maintained more muscle and burned more fat in the abdominal area.

"Another reason drinking milk works is that when your body doesn't get enough calcium, it assumes you're undernourished and releases higher amounts of a hormone that signals fat cells to make more fat and slow fat burning," Peeke explained. "When looking at the U.S. population, those people with the lowest intakes of calcium have the highest BMI, or body mass index."

Beating Belly Fat

The latest research is pointing to body shape as being just as important as the number on the scale. Pear-shaped people may have trouble losing weight from their hips and thighs but it's the apple-shaped folks, who carry excess abdominal fat, who may be at a greater risk for diabetes, heart disease, stroke and some types of cancer.

"I call it "toxic weight," Peeke said. "People with wide waistlines are more likely to have larger than normal amounts of deep-hidden belly fat around their organs."

According to Peeke, the combination of nutrients in milk appears to reduce fat accumulation in our fat cells and increase fat breakdown. "So when you drink milk and you increase your calcium intake you help improve your body's ability to burn fat," Peeke said.

Free Support and Motivation

Group motivation can play a major part in weight loss success. This 12-week program gives friends, families and neighbors a simple structure that they can follow together.

At www.2424milk.com, challengers will find step-by-step weekly instructions, customized meal templates, an online food journal, calorie calculators, localized fitness ideas, weekly motivational support and delicious ideas for getting more milk in their diets.

The program tours the country with the Milk Mustache Mobile to provide weight loss support in conjunction with Curves For Women and Ladies Home Journal. Cities that sign up the most Challenge participants will win a $25,000 grant to put towards a fitness-related improvement in the area.