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LIFE/ CtiarloRt ^ot
Thursday October 20, 2005
Losing weight could
mean gaining a sex life
Your life. Your paper.
C^rlotte
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
VANCOUVER, British
Columbia —Losing a little
weight can do wonders for
your sex life.
So says Duke University
psychologist Martin Binks,
who presented a study
Monday at a meeting of The
Obesity Society showing that
shedding a few pounds can
improve things in the bed
room by making people feel
better about their bodies.
‘You reap a lot of benefit
fix)m' a moderate we^ht loss
of 10 percent,” Binks said ‘Ifs
a wonderful message. You
don’t have to reach some ideal
weight to be healthy and
happy”
It is one of the few studies to
examine the mental and emo
tional problems that obesity
can cause for intimacy not
just the physical troubles such
as hormone imbalances or
impotence.
“There has not been a lot of
research in this area,” said Dr.
Susan Yanovski, director of
obesity research at the
National Institute of Diabetes
and Digestive and Kidney
Diseases. Improving yom* sex
life “would be another good
reason to lose weight if you’re
obese.”
The study involved 161
wom^ and 26 men, average
age 45, with an average body
mass index of 41. (A score of
30 or above on this height-
and-wei^t formula is consid
ered obese).
AH were enrolled in a diet
program at the Hennepin
County Medical Center in
Minneapolis and had lost 17.5
percent of their body weight
after one year and 13 percent
after two years. (They
regained some of the poimds
they initially shed).
They answered questions
lives when the study began
and every three months
thaeafter. The most striking
improvement in attitudes was
seen at three months, when
they had lost about 12 percent
of their initial wei^t.
At the outset, 68 percent of
women said they felt sexually
unattractive. One year into
the diet, only 26 percent did.
About 63 percent originally
did not want to be seen
imdressed, but only 34 per
cent felt that way a year later.
Initially 21 percent of
women said they were not
eryoying sex; only 11 percent
said so after one year.
“The number of males in the
study does limit what we can
say about men,” but feelings
of unattractiveness and
imwillingness to be seen
naked also applied to them,
Binks said. Even wh^ many
of them wanted to have sex,
the access wei^t made it an
ordeal.
“Theyll tell us about simple
mechanical difficulty,” Binks
said.
That certainly was true of
Carlene WeUington, 62, and
her husband, Gary 63, of sub
urban Tacoma, Wash. Both
were a healthy weight when
they married 42 years ago,
until she started to “show
love” by cooking massive
amounts of food. She and her
husband ballooned to 237 and
355 pounds, respectively, and
their sex life suffered.
‘We had about 600 pounds
in our bed,” she said.
“I called it my workbench,”
because sex was so physically
difficult, he said.
Carlene Wellington was
embarrassed by her body
“I could get dressed without
showing any skin,” and had to
have the lights off when they
had sex, she said. During sex,
about the quality of their sex she often felt pressure in her
Highway widening
Continued from page 2B
U.S. college price
increases moderate,
but loans still rising
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Price increases at colleges
and universities moderated
somewhat this year, but stu
dents who need financial aid
are still relying increasingly
on loans to pay for hi^er
education, according to fig
ures released TViesday by the
College Board.
The average cost of tuition
and fees at a four-year collie
hit $5,491 this year, up 7.1
percent fi^m 2004-2005,
according to the annual sur
vey by the nonprofit group.
That was the smallest per
centage increase since 2001-
2002.
Prices at two-year public
colleges rose 5.4 pen^t to
$2,191, while at private
schools they rose 5.9 percent
to $21,235.
The increases are below lev
els seen in recent years; last
year, prices at public four-
year schools rose about 10
percent, and 13 percent the
year before that. But the cost
hikes are still well above the
general inflation rate.
And while many students
don’t pay the full “list price,”
other figures released
TViesday indicate student aid
is not keeping up with need.
Student aid fix>m the gov
ernment and other soiirces
did increase $10 billion to
$129 billion in 2004-05, the
last year for which aid figures
are available. But for the
third straight year, more of
the increase came in the form
of loans than fix)m grants,
which students do not have to
pay back
That isn’t necessarily a big
problem for many families.
Interest rates are low, and the
increased earning power of a
college degree is generally
worth the average debt for
undergraduate borroweips—
$15,500 at public universities
for a baHielor’s degree. But it
is likely to compound con-
c^ns that families on the *
margins of being able to
afford college are being priced
out.
Including charges for room
and board as well as tuition
and fees, costs at public four-
year schools rose 6.6 percent
to an average of $11,376. At
private four-year nonprofit
schools, they rose 5.7 percent
to $27,465.
However, only 12 percent of
students are enrolled in col
leges where tuition and fees
exceed $24,000.
Cl^atlotte
chest, caused by anxiety and
diead.
She now weighs 153
pounds, and hei' tall husband
a trim 235. “It’s just like being
married to a different person,
or going back 25 years,” she
said.
Her husband recalled the
day 13 years ago—after the
couple had just lost a com
bined 200 poxmds—when he
looked at wife one morning
and told her she had a cute
butt.
‘1 don’t know if she thought
I was trying to make her late
for work or not,” he said. But
he was struck by how much
he wanted to.
The Wellingtons are leaders
in their local chapter of
TOPS, or Take Off Pounds
Sensibly, an international
support group that had a dis
play at the obesity conference
in Vancouver.
The prospect of a better sex
life could motivate some over
possibility here if we work together.”
Residents will be able to discuss the history and the future of
the area at two community meetings—Nov 7 ^t Green Pond
Baptist Church and Nov. 8 at Whale Branch Middle Schools.
Please see LOSING /4B
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