By MATT FLEGENHEIMER and J. DAVID GOODMAN
As protests over the Eric Garner case course through New York and beyond, Mayor Bill de Blasio's pledge to bridge the police-community divide has become, with escalating urgency, perhaps his foremost challenge.
By KATIE HAFNER
After a fall, life is upended in an instant — a sudden loss of independence, an awkward reliance on family and friends, and a new level of fear for those who fall, and their contemporaries.
By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON and SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
Georgia and Louisiana appear most likely to have extended races, which could leave control of the Senate undetermined until next year, creating a frenzy that would make a runoff look like Iowa during a presidential campaign.
Meghan Daum, a columnist at The Los Angeles Times, wrote this week's cover story about the writer, actress, screenwriter, producer and director Lena Dunham. Daum's new book of essays, "The Unspeakable: And Other Subjects of Discussion," will be published in November by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
Lena Dunham has been a sort of cultural phenomenon for some time now. Was this the first time you met her, for this story, and if so, what surprised you about her?
Yes, it was the first time I met her. She was incredibly open and friendly and down to earth, and while I can't say that totally surprised me, I did find it rather remarkable that she was so warm and utterly without guile. There wasn't any of the stilted interviewer/subject dynamic you often get with celebrity profiles — though we both knew this was more of an essayist profile or think piece than a traditional celebrity piece. Over all, I found Lena to be a smarter, more interesting, more mature and generous version of the character she plays on "Girls." I noticed that she tends to dress very similarly to that show's characters, so she gets recognized on the street all the time. It's almost like she's walking around in costume. I think it's kind of surreal for people.
I imagine you got an advance copy of Dunham's book. Are you authorized to talk about some highlights or what you enjoyed?
In the profile, I quote from the book, so I guess I'm authorized to talk about it, though I should mention that the manuscript is embargoed and there are no stray advance copies floating around. I really enjoyed the book. As with "Girls," there were parts that were cringe-worthy in their relatability — the kind of relating that feels cathartic in a way, but where you're also thinking: I wish this story of lazy, phobic, neurotic, all-around lame adolescent behavior felt totally foreign to me, but, alas, I think I acted just like this when I was 16! That said, there are just as many moments that resonate in a way that's both positive and cathartic. There's a line where she talks about having clarity about your purpose here on earth and how threatening or alienating that can sometimes be for other people. I found that idea very moving.
Dunham's confessional style is incredibly intimate, much more so, I think, than that of Woody Allen, to whom you compare her. What do you think are the dangers of her approach?
Well, Lena may seem more confessional than Woody Allen, but I think it's worth asking why we might see it that way. Woody wrote movies that were very true to his own life experiences and relationships. He put his own girlfriends in his films, playing the girlfriends of the character he played. He wrote about his parents, his childhood, his shrink sessions, his affinity for very young women. Obviously now he's older and has made a million movies and is colored by his legacy, much of it problematic. He certainly has movies that are not autobiographical at all, movies that are very stylized and genre based. But films like "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan" and "Hannah and Her Sisters" seem deeply confessional to me. In "Husbands and Wives," you've got the Mia Farrow and Woody characters breaking up when their relationship in real life was falling apart. It seems to me that "Tiny Furniture" is very much in this vein. But because Lena is both young and a woman, I think she gets branded with the "confessor" label in a way that male artists do not. That's not to say she's not confessional. She is. But plenty of other artists are, too, and for various reasons it's not considered a weakness or the central quality of their sensibility.
As to the dangers of this approach, well, there are many and they are obvious. Eventually you run out of material — or at least it doesn't flow as quickly, because you kind of "write up to now" and then have to wait and do some more living before you can start strip-mining yourself again. There's also the fact that while a lot of audiences really love very personal work, there are always going to be those who are predisposed to hating it or who don't see that someone like Lena is actually applying craft and technique to what she's doing. She's creating characters and stories that come from her imagination as well as her life. It's not like she's dumping her diary onto the page and saying, "Here you go!"
You write that she was "perplexed" about some criticisms of the world she portrays as too all-white or idle. Did Dunham, or you, have any more thoughts on that?
My sense about this is that she feels these are important questions that she doesn't want to address on Twitter. It's frustrating because people are raising complicated issues that require nuanced thinking. However, too often they come up in social media or in comment threads of blogs or online magazines, which generally aren't conducive to nuance. But I don't want to put words in her mouth.
Dunham says she wants her book tour to be politically engaged, and her sister has lined up some Planned Parenthood connections. Do you have a sense of her politics more generally? What are some of her other political issues?
I get the sense that she is very, very committed to issues around women's reproductive health and social issues generally. Again, I don't want to speak for her, but I think that she has become more political in recent years, and I suspect she'll continue to move in that direction.
Meghan Daum, a columnist at The Los Angeles Times, wrote this week's cover story about the writer, actress, screenwriter, producer and director Lena Dunham. Daum's new book of essays, "The Unspeakable: And Other Subjects of Discussion," will be published in November by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
Lena Dunham has been a sort of cultural phenomenon for some time now. Was this the first time you met her, for this story, and if so, what surprised you about her?
Yes, it was the first time I met her. She was incredibly open and friendly and down to earth, and while I can't say that totally surprised me, I did find it rather remarkable that she was so warm and utterly without guile. There wasn't any of the stilted interviewer/subject dynamic you often get with celebrity profiles — though we both knew this was more of an essayist profile or think piece than a traditional celebrity piece. Over all, I found Lena to be a smarter, more interesting, more mature and generous version of the character she plays on "Girls." I noticed that she tends to dress very similarly to that show's characters, so she gets recognized on the street all the time. It's almost like she's walking around in costume. I think it's kind of surreal for people.
I imagine you got an advance copy of Dunham's book. Are you authorized to talk about some highlights or what you enjoyed?
In the profile, I quote from the book, so I guess I'm authorized to talk about it, though I should mention that the manuscript is embargoed and there are no stray advance copies floating around. I really enjoyed the book. As with "Girls," there were parts that were cringe-worthy in their relatability — the kind of relating that feels cathartic in a way, but where you're also thinking: I wish this story of lazy, phobic, neurotic, all-around lame adolescent behavior felt totally foreign to me, but, alas, I think I acted just like this when I was 16! That said, there are just as many moments that resonate in a way that's both positive and cathartic. There's a line where she talks about having clarity about your purpose here on earth and how threatening or alienating that can sometimes be for other people. I found that idea very moving.
Dunham's confessional style is incredibly intimate, much more so, I think, than that of Woody Allen, to whom you compare her. What do you think are the dangers of her approach?
Well, Lena may seem more confessional than Woody Allen, but I think it's worth asking why we might see it that way. Woody wrote movies that were very true to his own life experiences and relationships. He put his own girlfriends in his films, playing the girlfriends of the character he played. He wrote about his parents, his childhood, his shrink sessions, his affinity for very young women. Obviously now he's older and has made a million movies and is colored by his legacy, much of it problematic. He certainly has movies that are not autobiographical at all, movies that are very stylized and genre based. But films like "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan" and "Hannah and Her Sisters" seem deeply confessional to me. In "Husbands and Wives," you've got the Mia Farrow and Woody characters breaking up when their relationship in real life was falling apart. It seems to me that "Tiny Furniture" is very much in this vein. But because Lena is both young and a woman, I think she gets branded with the "confessor" label in a way that male artists do not. That's not to say she's not confessional. She is. But plenty of other artists are, too, and for various reasons it's not considered a weakness or the central quality of their sensibility.
As to the dangers of this approach, well, there are many and they are obvious. Eventually you run out of material — or at least it doesn't flow as quickly, because you kind of "write up to now" and then have to wait and do some more living before you can start strip-mining yourself again. There's also the fact that while a lot of audiences really love very personal work, there are always going to be those who are predisposed to hating it or who don't see that someone like Lena is actually applying craft and technique to what she's doing. She's creating characters and stories that come from her imagination as well as her life. It's not like she's dumping her diary onto the page and saying, "Here you go!"
You write that she was "perplexed" about some criticisms of the world she portrays as too all-white or idle. Did Dunham, or you, have any more thoughts on that?
My sense about this is that she feels these are important questions that she doesn't want to address on Twitter. It's frustrating because people are raising complicated issues that require nuanced thinking. However, too often they come up in social media or in comment threads of blogs or online magazines, which generally aren't conducive to nuance. But I don't want to put words in her mouth.
Dunham says she wants her book tour to be politically engaged, and her sister has lined up some Planned Parenthood connections. Do you have a sense of her politics more generally? What are some of her other political issues?
I get the sense that she is very, very committed to issues around women's reproductive health and social issues generally. Again, I don't want to speak for her, but I think that she has become more political in recent years, and I suspect she'll continue to move in that direction.
On a trip to London last spring, Mark Bittman ate at Restaurant Story, Chiltern Firehouse, Gymkhana and Barnyard
Long before most Americans knew anything about Italian wine or food, there was Chianti. We'll spend the next four weeks exploring Chianti Classico.
By DANNY HAKIM
Google has been under fire by regulators, who want the company to change its algorithm or face antitrust charges, reflecting the broader challenges facing American technology companies in Europe.
Comments
By MICHAEL R. GORDON
United States officials believe Russia may have tested a ground-launched cruise missile in violation of the 1987 Soviet-American treaty.
By PETER BAKER
President Obama has been undermined by his own statements, like the one where he said Iraq was "sovereign, stable and self-reliant" with "a representative government."
By JONATHAN WEISMAN, MARK LANDLER and JEREMY W. PETERS
President Obama on Tuesday will begin laying out his case for an expanded military campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria when he faces congressional leaders.
By ANDREW HIGGINS
More than six months after protesters drove Viktor F. Yanukovych from power, his lavish estate displays how difficult it is to bring about a real break with Ukraine's past.
Comments
By NICOLA CLARK
A preliminary report released on Tuesday supports theories that the plane was brought down over a contested part of Ukraine in July by a missile fired from the east.
By CHARLES V. BAGLI
The Genting Group's proposal for a $1.5 billion complex in Tuxedo, N.Y., is opposed by environmentalists and Catskills officials, and the company has had trouble with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.
Comments
By JULIET MACUR
Video of Ray Rice punching his then-fiancée made the assault seem worse, but the facts alone should be enough in any domestic violence case.
Comments
By FRANCES ROBLES
The City Council plans to approve several changes, including a citizen review board for the police department and a reduction in court fines that have disproportionately affected black residents.
Comments
By DAVID LEONHARDT
A new index measures which colleges have the most economically diverse student bodies.
Comments
By MICHIKO KAKUTANI
Henry Kissinger's latest book, "World Order," views history in the light of philosophy of realpolitik.
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
President Obama will have to explain how the United States can avoid entanglement in another military morass if it moves more aggressively into Syria.
Some say its role is for members only, but others take a broader view of security concerns.
Behind the scenes at The New York Times
By RONDA KAYSEN
This week's problems include a neighbor's backyard lighting; buying a home as a freelancer; and missing financial disclosure documents in a co-op building.
Comments
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS and ASHLEY PARKER
Though granting legal status to undocumented immigrants once looked like an imperative for both parties, a surge of Central American migrants into the United States has rendered the issue too toxic for President Obama.
For years, we've heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But scientific support for that idea has been surprisingly meager, and a spate of new research at several different universities — published in multiple articles in the August issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition — could change the way we think about early-hours eating.
The largest and most provocative of the studies focused on whether breakfast plays a role in weight loss. Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and other institutions recruited nearly 300 volunteers who were trying to lose weight. They randomly assigned subjects to either skip breakfast, always eat the meal or continue with their current dietary habits. (Each group contained people who habitually ate or skipped breakfast at the start, so some changed habits, and others did not.)
Sixteen weeks later, the volunteers returned to the lab to be weighed. No one had lost much, only a pound or so per person, with weight in all groups unaffected by whether someone ate breakfast or skipped it.
In another new study — this one of lean volunteers — researchers at the University of Bath determined the resting metabolic rates, cholesterol levels and blood-sugar profiles of 33 participants and randomly assigned them to eat or skip breakfast. Volunteers were then provided with activity monitors.
After six weeks, their body weights, resting metabolic rates, cholesterol and most measures of blood sugar were about the same as they had been at the start, whether people ate breakfast or not. The one difference was that the breakfast eaters seemed to move around more during the morning; their activity monitors showed that volunteers in this group burned almost 500 calories more in light-intensity movement. But by eating breakfast, they also consumed an additional 500 calories each day. Contrary to popular belief, skipping breakfast had not driven volunteers to wolf down enormous lunches and dinners — but it had made them somewhat more sluggish first thing in the morning.
Together, the new research suggests that in terms of weight loss, "breakfast may be just another meal," said Emily Dhurandhar, the assistant professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who led the study there. Skipping breakfast in these studies, she said, did not fatten people.
Each study was fairly short-term, however, and involved a limited range of volunteers. More randomized experiments are needed before we can fully understand the impact of breakfast, said James Betts, the professor who led the study of lean people. It's not yet clear, for instance, whether heavy people's bodies respond differently to morning meals than lean people's, or if the timing and makeup of breakfast matters.
For now, the slightly unsatisfying takeaway from the new science would seem to be that if you like breakfast, fine; but if not, don't sweat it. "I almost never have breakfast," Dr. Betts said. "That was part of my motivation for conducting this research, as everybody was always telling me off and saying I should know better." Based on the results of these studies, he said his habits won't change.
Neither will those of Dr. Dhurandhar, who enjoys a morning meal. But, she said, "I guess I won't nag my husband to eat breakfast anymore."
By DENISE GRADY and SHERI FINK
The current Ebola outbreak, the largest ever, seems likely to surpass all previous known Ebola outbreaks combined, and epidemiologists predict it will take months to control.
By MARK LANDLER, ALISSA J. RUBIN, MARK MAZZETTI and HELENE COOPER
Interviews with administration officials suggest President Obama was forced by the rapid deterioration of security in Iraq to abandon his reluctance to use military force.
By ALISSA J. RUBIN, TIM ARANGO and HELENE COOPER
Defense officials expressed confidence that they could stop the advance of Sunni militants on the Kurdish capital of Erbil.
Comments
In an interview, President Obama made clear he is going to involve America more deeply in places like Iraq only to the extent that communities there agree to an inclusive politics.
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR and JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS
The president, addressing critics in both parties, asserted that the U.S. has a "strategic interest" in fighting ISIS.
By JODI RUDOREN and ISABEL KERSHNER
Israel and Palestinian militants resumed cross-border air assaults after a three-day cease-fire expired, but the renewed violence seemed less about meeting military goals than about jockeying for leverage in talks that had made little progress.
By BEN STRAUSS and MARC TRACY
A federal judge decided Friday in the so-called O'Bannon case, the most prominent lawsuit lodged against college sports' governing body, that the N.C.A.A.'s current rules violate federal antitrust law.
Comments
By MANNY FERNANDEZ
The state's reliance on a New Mexico abortion clinic is being disparaged by the law's critics in a federal lawsuit, who say that would be contrary to a recent ruling in Mississippi.
By STEPHANIE STROM
While farmers in India once left cashew apples to rot, some are now selling them as the source of what Pepsi hopes could be the next coconut water.
By JEFF SOMMER
The Treasury note fell to 2.42 percent with some analysts contending the decline was a response to current events.
By JENNIFER MEDINA
Prompted by noise complaints and safety concerns, Newport Beach, Calif., approved a moratorium on new jetpack businesses, dashing the hopes of would-be operators.
By MARC SANTORA and NATE SCHWEBER
Among the questions left unanswered when Michelle Lodzinski was charged this week with killing her son, Timothy Wiltsey, 23 years ago: What led the authorities to charge her with the boy's murder after all this time?
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
The federal government must crack down on the auto lending industry's all-too-common risky and deceptive practices.
By SERGE SCHMEMANN
Boiling points in Iraq, Gaza and Ukraine accompany the spread of a disease in West Africa.
Behind the scenes at The New York Times
French haute cuisine clashes with Indian cooking in "The Hundred-Foot Journey."
By MICHELLE HIGGINS
This week's properties include a four-bedroom in Stamford, Conn., and a six-bedroom in Sands Point, N.Y.
Most recent updates on NYTimes.com
Sleep is essential for good health, as we all know. But a new study hints that there may be an easy but unrealized way to augment its virtues: lower the thermostat. Cooler bedrooms could subtly transform a person's stores of brown fat — what has lately come to be thought of as "good fat" — and consequently alter energy expenditure and metabolic health, even into daylight hours.
Until recently, most scientists thought that adults had no brown fat. But in the past few years, scanty deposits — teaspoonfuls, really — of the tissue have been detected in the necks and upper backs in many adults. This is important because brown fat, unlike the more common white stuff, is metabolically active. Experiments with mice have shown that it takes sugar out of the bloodstream to burn calories and maintain core temperature.
A similar process seems to take place in humans. For the new study, published in June in Diabetes, researchers affiliated with the National Institutes of Health persuaded five healthy young male volunteers to sleep in climate-controlled chambers at the N.I.H. for four months. The men went about their normal lives during the days, then returned at 8 every evening. All meals, including lunch, were provided, to keep their caloric intakes constant. They slept in hospital scrubs under light sheets.
For the first month, the researchers kept the bedrooms at 75 degrees, considered a neutral temperature that would not prompt moderating responses from the body. The next month, the bedrooms were cooled to 66 degrees, a temperature that the researchers expected might stimulate brown-fat activity (but not shivering, which usually begins at more frigid temperatures). The following month, the bedrooms were reset to 75 degrees, to undo any effects from the chillier room, and for the last month, the sleeping temperature was a balmy 81 degrees. Throughout, the subjects' blood-sugar and insulin levels and daily caloric expenditures were tracked; after each month, the amount of brown fat was measured.
The cold temperatures, it turned out, changed the men's bodies noticeably. Most striking, after four weeks of sleeping at 66 degrees, the men had almost doubled their volumes of brown fat. Their insulin sensitivity, which is affected by shifts in blood sugar, improved. The changes were slight but meaningful, says Francesco S. Celi, the study's senior author and now a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. "These were all healthy young men to start with," he says, "but just by sleeping in a colder room, they gained metabolic advantages" that could, over time, he says, lessen their risk for diabetes and other metabolic problems. The men also burned a few more calories throughout the day when their bedroom was chillier (although not enough to result in weight loss after four weeks). The metabolic enhancements were undone after four weeks of sleeping at 81 degrees; in fact, the men then had less brown fat than after the first scan.
The message of these findings, Celi says, is that you can almost effortlessly tweak your metabolic health by turning down the bedroom thermostat a few degrees. His own bedroom is moderately chilled, as is his office — which has an added benefit: It "keeps meetings short."
One August morning nearly two decades ago, my mother woke me and put me in a cab. She handed me a jacket. "Baka malamig doon" were among the few words she said. ("It might be cold there.") When I arrived at the Philippines' Ninoy Aquino International Airport with her, my aunt and a family friend, I was introduced to a man I'd never seen. They told me he was my uncle. He held my hand as I boarded an airplane for the first time. It was 1993, and I was 12.
My mother wanted to give me a better life, so she sent me thousands of miles away to live with her parents in America — my grandfather (Lolo in Tagalog) and grandmother (Lola). After I arrived in Mountain View, Calif., in the San Francisco Bay Area, I entered sixth grade and quickly grew to love my new home, family and culture. I discovered a passion for language, though it was hard to learn the difference between formal English and American slang. One of my early memories is of a freckled kid in middle school asking me, "What's up?" I replied, "The sky," and he and a couple of other kids laughed. I won the eighth-grade spelling bee by memorizing words I couldn't properly pronounce. (The winning word was "indefatigable.")
One day when I was 16, I rode my bike to the nearby D.M.V. office to get my driver's permit. Some of my friends already had their licenses, so I figured it was time. But when I handed the clerk my green card as proof of U.S. residency, she flipped it around, examining it. "This is fake," she whispered. "Don't come back here again."
Confused and scared, I pedaled home and confronted Lolo. I remember him sitting in the garage, cutting coupons. I dropped my bike and ran over to him, showing him the green card. "Peke ba ito?" I asked in Tagalog. ("Is this fake?") My grandparents were naturalized American citizens — he worked as a security guard, she as a food server — and they had begun supporting my mother and me financially when I was 3, after my father's wandering eye and inability to properly provide for us led to my parents' separation. Lolo was a proud man, and I saw the shame on his face as he told me he purchased the card, along with other fake documents, for me. "Don't show it to other people," he warned.
I decided then that I could never give anyone reason to doubt I was an American. I convinced myself that if I worked enough, if I achieved enough, I would be rewarded with citizenship. I felt I could earn it.
I've tried. Over the past 14 years, I've graduated from high school and college and built a career as a journalist, interviewing some of the most famous people in the country. On the surface, I've created a good life. I've lived the American dream.
But I am still an undocumented immigrant. And that means living a different kind of reality. It means going about my day in fear of being found out. It means rarely trusting people, even those closest to me, with who I really am. It means keeping my family photos in a shoebox rather than displaying them on shelves in my home, so friends don't ask about them. It means reluctantly, even painfully, doing things I know are wrong and unlawful. And it has meant relying on a sort of 21st-century underground railroad of supporters, people who took an interest in my future and took risks for me.
Last year I read about four students who walked from Miami to Washington to lobby for the Dream Act, a nearly decade-old immigration bill that would provide a path to legal permanent residency for young people who have been educated in this country. At the risk of deportation — the Obama administration has deported almost 800,000 people in the last two years — they are speaking out. Their courage has inspired me.
There are believed to be 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. We're not always who you think we are. Some pick your strawberries or care for your children. Some are in high school or college. And some, it turns out, write news articles you might read. I grew up here. This is my home. Yet even though I think of myself as an American and consider America my country, my country doesn't think of me as one of its own.
My first challenge was the language. Though I learned English in the Philippines, I wanted to lose my accent. During high school, I spent hours at a time watching television (especially "Frasier," "Home Improvement" and reruns of "The Golden Girls") and movies (from "Goodfellas" to "Anne of Green Gables"), pausing the VHS to try to copy how various characters enunciated their words. At the local library, I read magazines, books and newspapers — anything to learn how to write better. Kathy Dewar, my high-school English teacher, introduced me to journalism. From the moment I wrote my first article for the student paper, I convinced myself that having my name in print — writing in English, interviewing Americans — validated my presence here.
The debates over "illegal aliens" intensified my anxieties. In 1994, only a year after my flight from the Philippines, Gov. Pete Wilson was re-elected in part because of his support for Proposition 187, which prohibited undocumented immigrants from attending public school and accessing other services. (A federal court later found the law unconstitutional.) After my encounter at the D.M.V. in 1997, I grew more aware of anti-immigrant sentiments and stereotypes: they don't want to assimilate, they are a drain on society. They're not talking about me, I would tell myself. I have something to contribute.
Jose Antonio Vargas (Jose@DefineAmerican.com) is a former reporter for The Washington Post and shared a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Virginia Tech shootings. He founded Define American, which seeks to change the conversation on immigration reform. Editor: Chris Suellentrop (C.Suellentrop-MagGroup@nytimes.com)
By MICHAEL J. DE LA MERCED and CHAD BRAY
Reynolds American agreed on Tuesday to buy its smaller rival, Lorillard, for $68.88 a share, uniting two of the biggest tobacco producers in the United States in a bet that bigger is safer in a declining industry.
By ERIC SCHMITT and MICHAEL R. GORDON
A classified assessment of Iraq's security forces concluded that many units are so deeply infiltrated by Iran-backed Shiites or Sunni extremists that Americans assigned to advise them could face heightened risks, according to U.S. officials.
Comments
By MICHAEL CORKERY
The deal, announced Monday, will settle a federal investigation into the mortgage securities the bank sold in the run-up to the financial crisis, averting a lawsuit that would have proved costly for both sides.
By ISABEL KERSHNER
The use of the drone added a new element to the week-old conflict, and the military wing of Hamas said others had been dispatched on "special missions."
By MATTHEW ROSENBERG
Nearly a decade after American officials pushed a Constitution that enshrined near-dictatorial powers for the Afghan president, a stronger parliamentary system is now seen as needed.
By GARDINER HARRIS
Many children in India are exposed to a bacterial brew from human waste that may make it impossible for food alone to cure their malnutrition.
Comments
By MICHAEL WINERIP and MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ
A Rikers study finds that over 11 months, 129 inmates were seriously injured in altercations with employees.
Comments
By JERÉ LONGMAN
Its team suffered a humiliating semifinal defeat, but Brazil is taking comfort in its success as host of the World Cup and in its archrival Argentina's loss in the final.
Comments
By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON
The suicide of a Mississippi Tea Party founder who was charged in a plot to photograph Senator Thad Cochran's wife has deepened the enmity left by a divisive Republican primary.
By RACHEL ABRAMS and JESSICA SILVER-GREENBERG
The debt settlement industry, already accused of questionable mortgage tactics, is zeroing in on those with college loans.
By CAROL VOGEL and MIKE ISAAC
Hoping to reach a huge new market, the auction house plans to announce a partnership with eBay to stream sales on the Internet shopping giant's website.
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Gov. Sam Brownback's ill-advised tax policy has contributed to the state's plummeting revenues.
To the Americans, intelligence gathering since 9/11 has been part of a war. Germans would never think that way.
Behind the scenes at The New York Times
By JOANNE KAUFMAN
To some New Yorkers, members of their building's staff — perhaps the superintendent or a doorman, or both — are more than staff. They are pals.
Comments
Most recent updates on NYTimes.com
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
After potentially serious accidents involving bird flu and live anthrax, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shut the Atlanta labs and halted shipments of infectious agents.
Comments
By JASON HOROWITZ
Democrats say the Republican Party's loss of Jewish representation is evidence of the party's increasing homogeneity, while donors are finding other candidates eager to fill the gap.
By STEVEN DAVIDOFF SOLOMON
Reynolds American and Lorillard see joining forces as a way to cope with the disruptive effect of e-cigarettes, writes the Deal Professor, Steven Davidoff Solomon.
By STEVEN ERLANGER
Airstrikes have stirred anxiety, but beyond the conflict with Israel, Gazans face economic stress as well, making this Ramadan a difficult one.
By ANDREW POLLACK
Fertility clinics are using new chromosomal tests to help identify embryos that will give a woman the best shot at a successful pregnancy.
By MICHAEL POWELL
LeBron James's rather stunning display of soul-baring made his return from South Beach to the city by Lake Erie more mysterious, and moving, than you might have guessed.
Comments
By RAVI SOMAIYA and CHRISTINE HAUGHNEY
Mr. Clooney's blistering attack on The Daily Mail and its reporting practices comes as the paper's website continues its aggressive expansion in the United States.
Comments
By KENNETH CHANG
A review of earlier studies found higher levels of antioxidants and fewer pesticides in organic produce.
Comments
By VICTOR MATHER
After falling in the semifinals, the Netherlands and Brazil will play on Saturday, continuing the odd and often scorned sports tradition of third-place games.
Comments
By ALESSANDRA STANLEY
"Masters of Sex," the Showtime drama that begins a second season on Sunday, uses erotica as a way to get into the psyches of its characters in the prefeminist days of the 1950s.
By THE EDITORIAL BOARD
President Obama should resist pressure to weaken a promised executive order to bar federal contractors from discriminating against gay men, lesbians and transgender people.
Behind the scenes at The New York Times
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY
Hired to document subway construction (and possibly prevent lawsuits), photographers also captured city life.
Most recent updates on NYTimes.com
Before the World Cup began, Christoph Niemann visited Brazil, where he learned of the loss that has haunted Brazilians for more than 60 years and met the curse that hangs over their country. After Brazil's 7-1 loss to Germany in the semifinals on Tuesday, it seems that a new curse has been born.
I watched the Brazil vs. Germany game at home in Berlin with friends. I am a devoted fan of the German national team, but also a realist. I figured we had, at best, a 50 percent shot at victory.
After Germany's first two goals, I was nervously jubilant. But that joy quickly turned to bewildered embarrassment. Watching the rest of the game felt like trying to enjoy a jumbo pack of my favorite chips while attending a funeral. How can you revel in something great in the midst of such somberness?
But there is a crucial difference. The 1950 home team soared through the competition with justifiable confidence, only to be brought down by cockiness at the finish line.
This year's Seleção was doomed from the beginning by a formidable opponent: not Germany or Chile or Mexico, but the suffocating pressure to win it all.
The curse of Maracanã may have lifted, but a new curse has risen: His name is Mineirão, and I hope his life is short.
The Camaro Z/28, a model reincarnated from the heyday of pony cars, is all beefcake, powered by the 505-horsepower 7-liter V8 last seen in the Corvette Z06.
Find the best job in the New York metro area and beyond.
The restaurateur John Seymour is committed to city life, even if these days he finds the vibe he loves in Brooklyn rather than his native Yorkville.
The Zero SR is a pumped-up version of the company's Zero S and a promising indicator that electric motorcycles are closing in on daily-use practicality.
Find the best job in the New York metro area and beyond.
Does our completely random location in the universe mean that it wasn't intentionally made for us?
South Carolina once sent a 14-year-old to the electric chair after a hasty prosecution that was riddled with misconduct.
Room for Debate asks what the United States and other countries can do to help the besieged country.
The frumpy Honda Fit has exceeded customer expectations for a budget-friendly subcompact, and the company has kept it that way with the redesigned 2015 model.
Find the best job in the New York metro area and beyond.
As voters chose Saturday between Ashraf Ghani, an ex-finance minister, and Abdullah Abdullah, an opposition politician, in the presidential runoff, the Taliban appeared not to have launched any major attacks.
This article appeared in the June 8, 2014 issue of The New York Times Magazine.
Talent and tactics aside, the 2014 World Cup could be won or lost by hamstrings, those long, stringy muscles and tendons that run along the backs of the thigh from the hip to the knee. The most common injury in soccer, hamstring strains and tears democratically strike high-school players, adult-league hobbyists and such luminaries as Argentina's Lionel Messi and Spain's Diego Costa. Anyone, in fact, participating in a sport involving high-speed striding — whether track and field, football, ultimate Frisbee, basketball, dance, baseball, marathons or even brisk walking — is at risk of a hamstring injury. The hamstrings decelerate the leg as it swings forward. So, near the end of each running stride, especially during sprints, they are under considerable strain, and if insufficiently strong, may rip.
Enter the Nordic hamstring exercise. According to at least half a dozen recent studies, almost two-thirds of hamstring injuries might be prevented by practicing its simple steps: After warming up, kneel on the ground, with a spotter securing your ankles. Then, as slowly and smoothly as possible, lean forward so that your chest approaches the ground. Use your hamstrings to put the brakes on your forward momentum until you can no longer resist gravity. Put out your arms at that point to stop your fall. Allow your chest to touch the ground, then push yourself upright to repeat the exercise.
In a 2011 study, 942 Danish soccer players were randomly assigned to either an off-season program of the Nordic exercise or normal training. In the subsequent season, those following the Nordic exercise program experienced 70 percent fewer injuries than the control-group athletes. Players who had previously suffered hamstring damage saw 85 percent fewer injuries.
The Nordic exercise works, the study researchers conclude, because of its eccentricity. Eccentric muscle contractions occur when a muscle extends as it contracts. Lower a weight during a biceps curl, for instance, and your forearm muscles lengthen at the same time as they clench. Raise that same weight upward, and the contractions become concentric, shortening as they contract. In general, eccentric contractions result in more force moving through the muscle than occurs during concentric ones. If you run hills, it's the downhill portion of the workout that leaves your muscles twinging the next day, not the ascents. But, once those muscles heal, usually within a few days, they become stronger than before. Eccentric exercises also seem to spark changes in the nervous system that result in improved coordination between brain and muscles.
Some physical therapists have expressed concern that the Nordic exercise, if practiced without adequate healing time between sessions, could weaken tissue and lead to a hamstring tear. But researchers at the Sports Orthopedic Research Center in Copenhagen, who led the 2011 study, documented no related injuries. It is important, though, to ease in, said Dr. Jesper Petersen, the study's lead author. One weekly session is plenty at first; you might easily complete it during the United States vs. Ghana halftime break.
The Program
Week 1: 1 session; 10 repetitions
Week 2: 2 sessions; 12 repetitions each
Week 3: 3 sessions; 18 to 24 repetitions each
Week 4: 3 sessions; 24 to 30 repetitions each
Weeks 5: 10 – 3 sessions; 30 repetitions each (divided into 3 sets of 12, then 10, then 8 repetitions)
After 10 weeks, try to perform one weekly maintenance session of 30 repetitions.
The Times provides complete coverage of the World Cup.
This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: June 9, 2014
An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated stated that in general, eccentric contractions require more energy than concentric ones. The article has been revised to say that in general, eccentric contractions result in more force moving through the muscle than occurs during concentric ones.
A version of this article appears in print on 06/08/2014, on page MM18 of the NewYork edition with the headline: The Great Hamstring Saver.This article appeared in the June 8, 2014 issue of The New York Times Magazine.
Talent and tactics aside, the 2014 World Cup could be won or lost by hamstrings, those long, stringy muscles and tendons that run along the backs of the thigh from the hip to the knee. The most common injury in soccer, hamstring strains and tears democratically strike high-school players, adult-league hobbyists and such luminaries as Argentina's Lionel Messi and Spain's Diego Costa. Anyone, in fact, participating in a sport involving high-speed striding — whether track and field, football, ultimate Frisbee, basketball, dance, baseball, marathons or even brisk walking — is at risk of a hamstring injury. The hamstrings decelerate the leg as it swings forward. So, near the end of each running stride, especially during sprints, they are under considerable strain, and if insufficiently strong, may rip.
Enter the Nordic hamstring exercise. According to at least half a dozen recent studies, almost two-thirds of hamstring injuries might be prevented by practicing its simple steps: After warming up, kneel on the ground, with a spotter securing your ankles. Then, as slowly and smoothly as possible, lean forward so that your chest approaches the ground. Use your hamstrings to put the brakes on your forward momentum until you can no longer resist gravity. Put out your arms at that point to stop your fall. Allow your chest to touch the ground, then push yourself upright to repeat the exercise.
In a 2011 study, 942 Danish soccer players were randomly assigned to either an off-season program of the Nordic exercise or normal training. In the subsequent season, those following the Nordic exercise program experienced 70 percent fewer injuries than the control-group athletes. Players who had previously suffered hamstring damage saw 85 percent fewer injuries.
The Nordic exercise works, the study researchers conclude, because of its eccentricity. Eccentric muscle contractions occur when a muscle extends as it contracts. Lower a weight during a biceps curl, for instance, and your forearm muscles lengthen at the same time as they clench. Raise that same weight upward, and the contractions become concentric, shortening as they contract. In general, eccentric contractions require more energy than concentric ones. If you run hills, it's the downhill portion of the workout that leaves your muscles twinging the next day, not the ascents. But, once those muscles heal, usually within a few days, they become stronger than before. Eccentric exercises also seem to spark changes in the nervous system that result in improved coordination between brain and muscles.
Some physical therapists have expressed concern that the Nordic exercise, if practiced without adequate healing time between sessions, could weaken tissue and lead to a hamstring tear. But researchers at the Sports Orthopedic Research Center in Copenhagen, who led the 2011 study, documented no related injuries. It is important, though, to ease in, said Dr. Jesper Petersen, the study's lead author. One weekly session is plenty at first; you might easily complete it during the United States vs. Ghana halftime break.
The Program
Week 1: 1 session; 10 repetitions
Week 2: 2 sessions; 12 repetitions each
Week 3: 3 sessions; 18 to 24 repetitions each
Week 4: 3 sessions; 24 to 30 repetitions each
Weeks 5: 10 – 3 sessions; 30 repetitions each (divided into 3 sets of 12, then 10, then 8 repetitions)
After 10 weeks, try to perform one weekly maintenance session of 30 repetitions.
The Times provides complete coverage of the World Cup.
This article appeared in the June 8, 2014 issue of The New York Times Magazine.
Talent and tactics aside, the 2014 World Cup could be won or lost by hamstrings, those long, stringy muscles and tendons that run along the backs of the thigh from the hip to the knee. The most common injury in soccer, hamstring strains and tears democratically strike high-school players, adult-league hobbyists and such luminaries as Argentina's Lionel Messi and Spain's Diego Costa. Anyone, in fact, participating in a sport involving high-speed striding — whether track and field, football, ultimate Frisbee, basketball, dance, baseball, marathons or even brisk walking — is at risk of a hamstring injury. The hamstrings decelerate the leg as it swings forward. So, near the end of each running stride, especially during sprints, they are under considerable strain, and if insufficiently strong, may rip.
Enter the Nordic hamstring exercise. According to at least half a dozen recent studies, almost two-thirds of hamstring injuries might be prevented by practicing its simple steps: After warming up, kneel on the ground, with a spotter securing your ankles. Then, as slowly and smoothly as possible, lean forward so that your chest approaches the ground. Use your hamstrings to put the brakes on your forward momentum until you can no longer resist gravity. Put out your arms at that point to stop your fall. Allow your chest to touch the ground, then push yourself upright to repeat the exercise.
In a 2011 study, 942 Danish soccer players were randomly assigned to either an off-season program of the Nordic exercise or normal training. In the subsequent season, those following the Nordic exercise program experienced 70 percent fewer injuries than the control-group athletes. Players who had previously suffered hamstring damage saw 85 percent fewer injuries.
The Nordic exercise works, the study researchers conclude, because of its eccentricity. Eccentric muscle contractions occur when a muscle extends as it contracts. Lower a weight during a biceps curl, for instance, and your forearm muscles lengthen at the same time as they clench. Raise that same weight upward, and the contractions become concentric, shortening as they contract. In general, eccentric contractions require more energy than concentric ones. If you run hills, it's the downhill portion of the workout that leaves your muscles twinging the next day, not the ascents. But, once those muscles heal, usually within a few days, they become stronger than before. Eccentric exercises also seem to spark changes in the nervous system that result in improved coordination between brain and muscles.
Some physical therapists have expressed concern that the Nordic exercise, if practiced without adequate healing time between sessions, could weaken tissue and lead to a hamstring tear. But researchers at the Sports Orthopedic Research Center in Copenhagen, who led the 2011 study, documented no related injuries. It is important, though, to ease in, said Dr. Jesper Petersen, the study's lead author. One weekly session is plenty at first; you might easily complete it during the United States vs. Ghana halftime break.
The Program
Week 1: 1 session; 10 repetitions
Week 2: 2 sessions; 12 repetitions each
Week 3: 3 sessions; 18 to 24 repetitions each
Week 4: 3 sessions; 24 to 30 repetitions each
Weeks 5: 10 – 3 sessions; 30 repetitions each (divided into 3 sets of 12, then 10, then 8 repetitions)
After 10 weeks, try to perform one weekly maintenance session of 30 repetitions.
The Times provides complete coverage of the World Cup.
This article appeared in the June 8, 2014 issue of The New York Times Magazine.
Talent and tactics aside, the 2014 World Cup could be won or lost by hamstrings, those long, stringy muscles and tendons that run along the backs of the thigh from the hip to the knee. The most common injury in soccer, hamstring strains and tears democratically strike high-school players, adult-league hobbyists and such luminaries as Argentina's Lionel Messi and Spain's Diego Costa. Anyone, in fact, participating in a sport involving high-speed striding — whether track and field, football, ultimate Frisbee, basketball, dance, baseball, marathons or even brisk walking — is at risk of a hamstring injury. The hamstrings decelerate the leg as it swings forward. So, near the end of each running stride, especially during sprints, they are under considerable strain, and if insufficiently strong, may rip.
Enter the Nordic hamstring exercise. According to at least half a dozen recent studies, almost two-thirds of hamstring injuries might be prevented by practicing its simple steps: After warming up, kneel on the ground, with a spotter securing your ankles. Then, as slowly and smoothly as possible, lean forward so that your chest approaches the ground. Use your hamstrings to put the brakes on your forward momentum until you can no longer resist gravity. Put out your arms at that point to stop your fall. Allow your chest to touch the ground, then push yourself upright to repeat the exercise.
In a 2011 study, 942 Danish soccer players were randomly assigned to either an off-season program of the Nordic exercise or normal training. In the subsequent season, those following the Nordic exercise program experienced 70 percent fewer injuries than the control-group athletes. Players who had previously suffered hamstring damage saw 85 percent fewer injuries.
The Nordic exercise works, the study researchers conclude, because of its eccentricity. Eccentric muscle contractions occur when a muscle extends as it contracts. Lower a weight during a biceps curl, for instance, and your forearm muscles lengthen at the same time as they clench. Raise that same weight upward, and the contractions become concentric, shortening as they contract. In general, eccentric contractions require more energy than concentric ones. If you run hills, it's the downhill portion of the workout that leaves your muscles twinging the next day, not the ascents. But, once those muscles heal, usually within a few days, they become stronger than before. Eccentric exercises also seem to spark changes in the nervous system that result in improved coordination between brain and muscles.
Some physical therapists have expressed concern that the Nordic exercise, if practiced without adequate healing time between sessions, could weaken tissue and lead to a hamstring tear. But researchers at the Sports Orthopedic Research Center in Copenhagen, who led the 2011 study, documented no related injuries. It is important, though, to ease in, said Dr. Jesper Petersen, the study's lead author. One weekly session is plenty at first; you might easily complete it during the United States vs. Ghana halftime break.
The Program
Week 1: 1 session; 10 repetitions
Week 2: 2 sessions; 12 repetitions each
Week 3: 3 sessions; 18 to 24 repetitions each
Week 4: 3 sessions; 24 to 30 repetitions each
Weeks 5: 10 – 3 sessions; 30 repetitions each (divided into 3 sets of 12, then 10, then 8 repetitions)
After 10 weeks, try to perform one weekly maintenance session of 30 repetitions.
The Times provides complete coverage of the World Cup.
This article appeared in the June 8, 2014 issue of The New York Times Magazine.
Talent and tactics aside, the 2014 World Cup could be won or lost by hamstrings, those long, stringy muscles and tendons that run along the backs of the thigh from the hip to the knee. The most common injury in soccer, hamstring strains and tears democratically strike high-school players, adult-league hobbyists and such luminaries as Argentina's Lionel Messi and Spain's Diego Costa. Anyone, in fact, participating in a sport involving high-speed striding — whether track and field, football, ultimate Frisbee, basketball, dance, baseball, marathons or even brisk walking — is at risk of a hamstring injury. The hamstrings decelerate the leg as it swings forward. So, near the end of each running stride, especially during sprints, they are under considerable strain, and if insufficiently strong, may rip.
Enter the Nordic hamstring exercise. According to at least half a dozen recent studies, almost two-thirds of hamstring injuries might be prevented by practicing its simple steps: After warming up, kneel on the ground, with a spotter securing your ankles. Then, as slowly and smoothly as possible, lean forward so that your chest approaches the ground. Use your hamstrings to put the brakes on your forward momentum until you can no longer resist gravity. Put out your arms at that point to stop your fall. Allow your chest to touch the ground, then push yourself upright to repeat the exercise.
In a 2011 study, 942 Danish soccer players were randomly assigned to either an off-season program of the Nordic exercise or normal training. In the subsequent season, those following the Nordic exercise program experienced 70 percent fewer injuries than the control-group athletes. Players who had previously suffered hamstring damage saw 85 percent fewer injuries.
The Nordic exercise works, the study researchers conclude, because of its eccentricity. Eccentric muscle contractions occur when a muscle extends as it contracts. Lower a weight during a biceps curl, for instance, and your forearm muscles lengthen at the same time as they clench. Raise that same weight upward, and the contractions become concentric, shortening as they contract. In general, eccentric contractions require more energy than concentric ones. If you run hills, it's the downhill portion of the workout that leaves your muscles twinging the next day, not the ascents. But, once those muscles heal, usually within a few days, they become stronger than before. Eccentric exercises also seem to spark changes in the nervous system that result in improved coordination between brain and muscles.
Some physical therapists have expressed concern that the Nordic exercise, if practiced without adequate healing time between sessions, could weaken tissue and lead to a hamstring tear. But researchers at the Sports Orthopedic Research Center in Copenhagen, who led the 2011 study, documented no related injuries. It is important, though, to ease in, said Dr. Jesper Petersen, the study's lead author. One weekly session is plenty at first; you might easily complete it during the United States vs. Ghana halftime break.
The Program
Week 1: 1 session; 10 repetitions
Week 2: 2 sessions; 12 repetitions each
Week 3: 3 sessions; 18 to 24 repetitions each
Week 4: 3 sessions; 24 to 30 repetitions each
Weeks 5: 10 – 3 sessions; 30 repetitions each (divided into 3 sets of 12, then 10, then 8 repetitions)
After 10 weeks, try to perform one weekly maintenance session of 30 repetitions.
This article appeared in the May 25, 2014 issue of The New York Times Magazine.
Losing weight is simple: Ingest fewer calories than your body burns. But how best to do that is unclear. Most experts advise small reductions in calories or increases in exercise to remove weight slowly and sensibly, but many people quit that type of program in the face of glacial progress. A new study, published in March in The Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, suggests that minimal calories and maximal exercise can significantly reduce body fat in just four days — and the loss lasts for months. The catch, of course, is that those four days are pretty grueling.
Researchers in Spain and Sweden had 15 healthy but overweight Swedish men restrict their calories to about 360 a day, a reduction of approximately 1,800 calories. What calories they did ingest came in liquid form: Some men drank mostly sugary carbohydrates, others a high-protein drink. The men also exercised — a lot. Their days began with 45 minutes of cranking an arm-pedaling machine for an upper-body workout. Then, as a group, the men strolled for eight hours across the Swedish countryside, with only a 10-minute break every hour. They were allowed as much of a low-calorie, sports-type beverage as they wanted during their walks.
Most of the men "were surprised that it was easier than they thought it would be," says José Calbet, a professor at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in Spain; he and his colleague Hans-Christer Holmberg, a professor at Mid Sweden University in Ostersund, led the study. Some of the subjects experienced "minor problems with pain in the joints" and blisters on their feet, according to Calbet, but none dropped out or complained of hunger.
After four days, the men had each lost almost 11 pounds, with nearly half of that coming from body fat; the rest of the loss came primarily from muscle mass. The researchers had anticipated that the high-protein drink would protect people against muscle-mass loss. In fact, the losses were the same, whether the men had been given sugar or protein.
More surprising, the men did not immediately put the weight back on after the study ended. "We thought they would overeat and regain the weight lost," Dr. Calbet says. Instead, when the volunteers returned a month later, most had lost another two pounds of fat. And a year after the experiment, they were still down five pounds, mostly in lost body fat.
Dr. Calbet and his colleagues hope to study whether women respond similarly to men and whether repeated bouts of such a program might affect muscular health and appetite hormones.
But given the doleful statistics on weight loss — most people regain everything they lose dieting and more — these results are startling. They also, at the moment, are inexplicable. "The only explanation we can offer" for the sustained loss, Dr. Calbet says, is that the men were inspired by their hypercompressed success to change their lifestyles. The men moved more and ate less than before.
A version of this article appears in print on 05/25/2014, on page MM16 of the NewYork edition with the headline: 4 Days, 11 Pounds.
This article appeared in the May 25, 2014 issue of The New York Times Magazine.
Losing weight is simple: Ingest fewer calories than your body burns. But how best to do that is unclear. Most experts advise small reductions in calories or increases in exercise to remove weight slowly and sensibly, but many people quit that type of program in the face of glacial progress. A new study, published in March in The Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, suggests that minimal calories and maximal exercise can significantly reduce body fat in just four days — and the loss lasts for months. The catch, of course, is that those four days are pretty grueling.
Researchers in Spain and Sweden had 15 healthy but overweight Swedish men restrict their calories to about 360 a day, a reduction of approximately 1,800 calories. What calories they did ingest came in liquid form: Some men drank mostly sugary carbohydrates, others a high-protein drink. The men also exercised — a lot. Their days began with 45 minutes of cranking an arm-pedaling machine for an upper-body workout. Then, as a group, the men strolled for eight hours across the Swedish countryside, with only a 10-minute break every hour. They were allowed as much of a low-calorie, sports-type beverage as they wanted during their walks.
Most of the men "were surprised that it was easier than they thought it would be," says José Calbet, a professor at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in Spain; he and his colleague Hans-Christer Holmberg, a professor at Mid Sweden University in Ostersund, led the study. Some of the subjects experienced "minor problems with pain in the joints" and blisters on their feet, according to Calbet, but none dropped out or complained of hunger.
After four days, the men had each lost almost 11 pounds, with nearly half of that coming from body fat; the rest of the loss came primarily from muscle mass. The researchers had anticipated that the high-protein drink would protect people against muscle-mass loss. In fact, the losses were the same, whether the men had been given sugar or protein.
More surprising, the men did not immediately put the weight back on after the study ended. "We thought they would overeat and regain the weight lost," Dr. Calbet says. Instead, when the volunteers returned a month later, most had lost another two pounds of fat. And a year after the experiment, they were still down five pounds, mostly in lost body fat.
Dr. Calbet and his colleagues hope to study whether women respond similarly to men and whether repeated bouts of such a program might affect muscular health and appetite hormones.
But given the doleful statistics on weight loss — most people regain everything they lose dieting and more — these results are startling. They also, at the moment, are inexplicable. "The only explanation we can offer" for the sustained loss, Dr. Calbet says, is that the men were inspired by their hypercompressed success to change their lifestyles. The men moved more and ate less than before.
A version of this article appears in print on 05/25/2014, on page MM16 of the NewYork edition with the headline: 4 Days, 11 Pounds.
This article appeared in the May 25, 2014 issue of The New York Times Magazine.
Losing weight is simple: Ingest fewer calories than your body burns. But how best to do that is unclear. Most experts advise small reductions in calories or increases in exercise to remove weight slowly and sensibly, but many people quit that type of program in the face of glacial progress. A new study, published in March in The Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, suggests that minimal calories and maximal exercise can significantly reduce body fat in just four days — and the loss lasts for months. The catch, of course, is that those four days are pretty grueling.
Researchers in Spain and Sweden had 15 healthy but overweight Swedish men restrict their calories to about 360 a day, a reduction of approximately 1,800 calories. What calories they did ingest came in liquid form: Some men drank mostly sugary carbohydrates, others a high-protein drink. The men also exercised — a lot. Their days began with 45 minutes of cranking an arm-pedaling machine for an upper-body workout. Then, as a group, the men strolled for eight hours across the Swedish countryside, with only a 10-minute break every hour. They were allowed as much of a low-calorie, sports-type beverage as they wanted during their walks.
Most of the men "were surprised that it was easier than they thought it would be," says José Calbet, a professor at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in Spain; he and his colleague Hans-Christer Holmberg, a professor at Mid Sweden University in Ostersund, led the study. Some of the subjects experienced "minor problems with pain in the joints" and blisters on their feet, according to Calbet, but none dropped out or complained of hunger.
After four days, the men had each lost almost 11 pounds, with nearly half of that coming from body fat; the rest of the loss came primarily from muscle mass. The researchers had anticipated that the high-protein drink would protect people against muscle-mass loss. In fact, the losses were the same, whether the men had been given sugar or protein.
More surprising, the men did not immediately put the weight back on after the study ended. "We thought they would overeat and regain the weight lost," Dr. Calbet says. Instead, when the volunteers returned a month later, most had lost another two pounds of fat. And a year after the experiment, they were still down five pounds, mostly in lost body fat.
Dr. Calbet and his colleagues hope to study whether women respond similarly to men and whether repeated bouts of such a program might affect muscular health and appetite hormones.
But given the doleful statistics on weight loss — most people regain everything they lose dieting and more — these results are startling. They also, at the moment, are inexplicable. "The only explanation we can offer" for the sustained loss, Dr. Calbet says, is that the men were inspired by their hypercompressed success to change their lifestyles. The men moved more and ate less than before.
A version of this article appears in print on 05/25/2014, on page MM16 of the NewYork edition with the headline: 4 Days, 11 Pounds.
