For many people struggling with weight loss, the journey can feel insurmountable. However, for Lee Herring, a 31-year-old man from Pembroke, UK, it took one life changing experience at his workplace to inspire him into taking control of his health. Tip-ing the scale at 351 pounds and donning a 5XL shirt, Herring daily encountered people who had suffered a stroke or heart attack. Witnessing firsthand the effects it brought on due to poor health, he realized he had to move quickly before it was too late.

Within a single year, Herring shed a whopping 169 pounds—nearly as much as a washing machine weighs—on nothing but traditional diet and exercise. His story is a testament to sticking with it, being determined, and the strength of a total lifestyle transformation.

At his highest weight, Herring's diet was filled with processed foods, high sugar intake, and high-fat meals. His daily routine consisted of chocolate, sweets, cream buns, microwave dinners, and takeout. Convenience ruled his decisions, and poor habits were deeply entrenched.

"Everything was a challenge," Herring remembered. "Walking up stairs, getting into the car—it was draining. I had joint pain, tired easily, and was always winded." His restricted mobility and growing discomfort drove him further toward change.

A New Approach to Food and Fitness Helped in Transformation

Defiant to take back control of his health, Herring revamped his diet entirely. He replaced sweet cereals with oatmeal, packaged lunches with grilled chicken or protein shakes, and fast-food dinners with lean meats and vegetables. Snacks were now nutrient-dense options such as fruit and carrot sticks.

"It's not a diet—it's a food relationship re-education program," he stressed. By changing his mentality from restriction to nourishment, he was able to find healthy ways to fuel his body without losing his weight loss progress.

In addition to diet modifications, Herring added a regimen of exercise into his day. Initially, short walks even winded him. But he remained committed and soon built endurance and stamina levels. Slow walk-paced exercise alone was all that was initially tolerable. Currently, he now walks 90-minute sessions on regular cardio regimens and goes on treadmill walking routines.

"The first few months were extremely difficult, physically and mentally," Herring conceded. "I craved sweets and fatty foods intensely, and the workouts were agonizing. But I kept telling myself to keep going."

From 5XL to Medium: Source of Freedom of a New Body

Herring's hard work paid off. He now measures 177 pounds and a medium or large size, a far cry from his previous 5XL clothing. Those days of shopping for clothes in specialty stores are over. He can now go into any store, try on garments, and enjoy his newfound liberty.

"It makes me feel so much better," he told us. "Just being able to shop in normal stores—little things like that, it's huge."

Even with the massive amount of weight loss he has already experienced, Herring is eyeing his all-time goal weight of 165 pounds. Nevertheless, his number one priority is keeping up with a healthy regimen and not necessarily fixating on the number that appears on the scale.

Being Consistent Is Key In Weight Loss

After a year of steady improvement, Herring observed that his weight loss had begun to level off, but he interprets this as a good sign of equilibrium. "It has evened out over the year," he said. "Now, it's just about maintaining a healthy lifestyle."

With his base of fitness and healthy nutrition solidly established, he is now transitioning to strength training. He aims to develop muscle and firm up his body while maintaining the lean mass he fought so hard to gain.

In contrast to much of those on weight loss paths for aesthetic purposes, Herring's central motivation was always for his health. "I didn't do this for looks," he said. "I did it because I wanted to be there for my friends and family. I didn't want them to worry about me anymore.

There were times when he felt like giving up, but he stood firm. Now, looking back on his experience, he does not regret anything. "It's been so worth it," he confirmed.

Herring's Diet Before and After Weight Loss

Before Weight Loss:

• Breakfast: Granola or sweet cereal
• Lunch: Prepared sandwich or baguette with butter and cheese
• Dinner: Pizza or Chinese takeout with ice cream

After Weight Loss:

• Breakfast: Oatmeal for sustained energy
• Lunch: Grilled chicken or protein shake
• Dinner: Lean meat and sweet vegetables, like chicken
• Snacks: Carrot sticks or fruit

Herring's transformation demonstrates that radical dieting or surgery isn't always required for serious weight loss. His achievement resulted from sustainable lifestyle habits, continuous effort, and adherence to a better lifestyle. His tip for those who wish to follow a similar path? Begin small, remain consistent, and prioritize long-term health over immediate fixes.

Being the most common cause of dementia, Alzheimer’s is a brain disorder that slowly destroys memories, thinking skills and behavioral abilities. These symptoms eventually grow enough to interfere with daily tasks. According to the Alzheimer’s Association over seven million Americans live with Alzheimer’s and that number is said to increase to 13 million by 2050. Nearly 12 million Americans provide unpaid care for people with Alzheimer’s or other dementia issues.

However, are there certain places that have more people affected by Alzheimer’s? According to the South Texas Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Texas has the fourth highest number of Alzheimer’s and second highest number of deaths from Alzheimer’s in the US. The Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation states that the Starr County is where 26% of Medicare beneficiaries come from. It is a rural Hispanic centric county in the Rio Grande City.

What Causes Alzheimer’s Disease?

National Institute on Aging explains that one of the biggest risk factors for Alzheimer’s is aging, most people develop Alzheimer’s when they are 65 or older with less than 10% cases happening before this. Other things include genetics, and research has shown conditions such as heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure could also be risk factors.

Researchers do not fully understand what causes Alzheimer's. They think it's due to clumps of proteins in the brain that damage brain cells. It's likely a mix of genes, how people live, and what's around them. However, one common factor that has been observed by the researchers is that many of these families come from poor economic backgrounds.

Being poor might play a big role because people in poorer areas often have worse air, drive more instead of walking, have more stress, and don't see people as much. She also mentioned that there might be bad things in the water, like arsenic, that can hurt the brain. The very hot weather in Texas could also be a problem, adding stress to the body. Finally, she noted that the large Hispanic population in the area might be more likely to get dementia for reasons we don't yet know.

How Socioeconomic Background of People Affects Alzheimer's

To understand how financial backgrounds could affect Alzheimer's, a 2018 study done by the International Journal of Alzheimer's Disease showed that the number of people without jobs in a region didn't seem to change how much Alzheimer's affected lifespan. This study looked at different areas in Slovakia to see if things like how much money people have, how many people have jobs, and how much education people get affect how long people might live if no one ever got Alzheimer's disease.

However, they found that the amount of money a region had (GDP), the average pay people got, and how educated people were, did have an impact.

More education seemed to indirectly lead to a bigger impact from Alzheimer's on lifespan, which matches what other studies have found. Surprisingly, they also found that when wages and the overall wealth of a region were higher, Alzheimer's seemed to have a bigger effect on shortening lifespan. This is different from what other studies have suggested, where more money usually means less Alzheimer's.

John Cena, the beloved WWE wrestler and actor, has opened up about his skin cancer diagnosis. Being diagnosed with melanoma twice, he recalled getting a phone call twice as his doctors told him the biopsy for came out cancerous. The first spot had appeared on his pectoral muscle and a year later it was in a different spot on his upper trapezius muscle. He explains that this information was sobering and prompted him to change his life.

He has also now become the face of Ultra Sheer Mineral Face Liquid Sunscreen SPF 70 that moves to normalize the use of sunscreen among men. He admitted he always neglected sunscreen, but now he has added it to his daily routine. While there has been a rise in the number of cancer diagnoses, there hasn’t been a clear reason why.

Is There A Gender Gap For Sunscreen?

Cena noticed that women talk about skin care and sunscreen more openly than men. He believes it can be harder for men to start these conversations. But he thinks it shouldn't be that way. "Men are becoming more aware of taking care of themselves," he says. "We just need to make it a normal thing." Cena wants more men to use sunscreen as often as women.

Studies show that women are much more likely to use sunscreen than men. However, by the age of 50, men have a higher risk of getting melanoma, a serious type of skin cancer, than women. At any age, men are more likely to die from melanoma. According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, in 2020, only a small percentage of men (12.3%) always used sunscreen when outside in the sun for more than an hour, compared to a much larger percentage of women (29.0%). Younger men used sunscreen the least.

A recent survey done by Neutrogena also found that a third of people never go to a skin doctor for check-ups. Women were also more likely to be told to wear sunscreen every day compared to men. Cena believes that sunscreen is often linked to beauty in women's minds, which might explain why they use it more.

Why Is Melanoma Becoming An Increased Issue?

According to 2023 review published in the Cancer journal, in the US, the number of melanoma cases have increased by 40% from the years 2009 to 2019. The number of new cases that have been predicted to happen is 110,000, which is a drastic increase considering the 65,000 in the year 2011. The study says that there is a disproportionately higher risk of men developing cancer and by 2040, melanoma will be the second most common cancer overall.

Cena says he doesn't care if men use sunscreen for health reasons or to avoid wrinkles – he just wants them to use it. He compares using sunscreen to going to the gym for looks but getting healthier in the process. He says using SPF is "super easy," like brushing your teeth. His hope is that men will start keeping sunscreen next to their toothpaste and use it every day. Cena says his own life perspective changed after his cancer scares, and he wants to encourage others to be proactive about skin protection before it's too late.

Being overweight means tackling health issues like high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart diseases. However, gaining weight in certain stages of life is worse. While childhood obesity must be avoided, healthy weight gain is necessary for children’s growth, it is also not a big concern as kids who lead a generally active lifestyle.

So, are there certain ages when weight gain should be avoided or paid more attention to?

Science says yes. A recent study, showcased in the 32nd European Congress on Obesity in Malaga, found that putting on extra weight before you turn 30 could almost double your chances of dying early. Researchers looked at the health information of 620,000 adults and saw that most people gained about one pound each year between ages 17 and 60. However, becoming very overweight in your 20s had much worse health effects than gaining weight later in life.

How Gaining Weight In 20s Could Be A Health Issue

The study showed that men who became obese before they were 30 had a 79% higher chance of dying early compared to those who stayed at a healthy weight. For women who became obese before 30, this risk was even higher, at 84%. These findings are important because most people tend to gain weight when they are young adults. This often happens when people in their early 20s move out and start eating more fast food and easy, unhealthy meals.

Researchers explained that the most important takeaway from the study is that avoiding weight gain, especially when you're in your late teens and 20s, can really help your health in the long run. She said that gaining weight early in adulthood or becoming obese at a young age makes you more likely to die from many long-term illnesses later in life. The study followed men for an average of 23 years and women for an average of 12 years.

Why Young Adults Must Adopt Healthy Living

People who gained weight later in life also had a higher risk of dying early, but not as much as those who gained weight when they were young. Becoming obese between the ages of 45 and 60 increased the overall risk of early death by about one-fourth. If people became obese between 30 and 45, their risk increased by 52%. For those under 30, gaining just a little bit of weight each year (one pound) increased the risk of early death by 24% for men and 22% for women.

Experts said that the years between 17 and 30 are a very important time in life when building healthy habits can have long-lasting good effects. Experts say that even gaining a small amount of weight in your 20s can greatly increase your risk of dying early if it stays with you for many years. They emphasized that the earlier people start living healthily, the better their chances of living a long life.