If you eat, and then sit in front of the TV you will gain weight.  There is no doubt about that.  But if you eat, and do a little work before sitting down, you will not only feel better but you’ll not have any guilt that you sat down without doing some level of activity.  The cycle is easy to get into:

• Eat
• Sit on the couch in front of the TV, or on the computer or start playing video games
• Feel guilty and promise yourself you won’t do it tomorrow

Next day…

• Eat
• Sit on the couch in front of the TV, or on the computer or start playing video games
• Feel guilty and promise yourself you won’t do it tomorrow

And it repeats itself.  You need to break this cycle – nobody, not your spouse or significant other, nor your kids can break this cycle.  YOU have to do it yourself for yourself.

This is like binge eating.  You binge on anything you can find, only to feel guilty later on and rather than STOP EATING you keep going because you’ve already started so what the hell…

But once you break the cycle the first time, then the second and third, fourth, fifth… slowly it becomes habit to NOT sit and instead you will force (use the word lightly) yourself to not sit but remain active for about an hour afterwards.

Once you’ve gotten out of that rut – start walking.  Outside.  You DO NOT need a walking program, or plan.  Just walk.  Walk to the corner store and back.  Walk to the grocery store.  Walk around the block.  Walk to the park.  Walk on a trail.  Just walk.  Walking is the least expensive exercise you can do.  It doesn’t cost a lot (a good pair of walking shoes will cost you between $30 and $100) and all you need is some outdoor clothing – track pants, and a light shirt and hat.  You probably have all that at home already.

Walking gets your body moving.  It keeps your mind active.  It helps relax, and refocus.

If you’re a busy professional, walking will allow you to sort out your day and put what has happened into perspective.  Even though you may be thinking about work, it’s in a stress free environment.

You don’t need a walking program.  Just go outside, put one foot in front of the other and see where it takes you.

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Any type of sustained, and regular exercise will help you lose weight BUT that doesn’t meant that you eat 3,000 calories and expect that 20 minutes of walking will help you lose weight.  You still need to watch what you are eating.

Fact – when I lost my 100lbs all I did was walk and ride a stationary bicycle.  That’s it.  No extensive or intense physical exercise regime.

I’d walk 20-30 minutes every day at lunch time and in the evenings (if I felt like it) I would ride my stationary cycle.  Or my young son (around 1 year old at the time) would chase me around the house (or was I chasing him).

So can you lose weight by walking?  Well… the answer is up there for you to see.

Image Source: http://think.faesthetic.com/?m=200904

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Why walk to lose weight?

Walking is one of the easiest ways to be physically active. You can do it almost anywhere and at any time. Walking is also inexpensive–all you need is a pair of shoes with sturdy heel support. Walking may:

• Give you more energy and make you feel good.
• Reduce stress and help you relax.
• Tone your muscles.
• Increase the number of calories your body uses.
• Strengthen your bones and muscles.
• Improve your stamina and your fitness.
• Lower your risk of chronic diseases, such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
• Give you an opportunity to socialize actively with friends and family.

For all of these reasons, people have started walking programs.

Is it okay for me to walk if I am trying to lose weight?

Answer the following questions before you begin a walking program.

• Has your health care provider told you that you have heart trouble, diabetes, or asthma?
• When you are physically active, do you have pains in your chest, neck, shoulder, or arm?
• Do you often feel faint or have dizzy spells?
• Do you feel extremely breathless after you have been physically active?
• Has your health care provider told you that you have high blood pressure?
• Has your health care provider told you that you have bone or joint problems, such as arthritis?
• Are you over 50 years old and not used to doing any moderate physical activity?
• Are you pregnant?
• Do you smoke?
• Do you have a health problem or physical reason not mentioned here that might keep you from starting a walking program?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, please check with your health care provider before starting a walking program or other form of physical activity.

How do I start a walking program?

L eave time in your busy schedule to follow a walking program that will work for you. Keep the following points in mind as you plan your program:

• Choose a safe place to walk. Find a partner or group of people to walk with you. Your walking partner(s) should be able to walk with you on the same schedule and at the same speed.
• Wear shoes with proper arch support, a firm heel, and thick flexible soles that will cushion your feet and absorb shock. Before you buy a new pair, be sure to walk in them in the store.
• Wear clothes that will keep you dry and comfortable. Look for synthetic fabrics that absorb sweat and remove it from your skin.
• For extra warmth in winter, wear a knit cap. To stay cool in summer, wear a baseball cap or visor.
• Think of your walk in three parts. Warm up by walking slowly for 5 minutes. Then, increase your speed and do a fast walk. Finally, cool down by walking slowly again for 5 minutes.
• Do light stretching after your warm-up and cool-down.
• Try to walk at least three times per week. Each week, add 2 or 3 minutes to your walk. If you walk less than three times per week, you may need more time to adjust before you increase the pace or frequency of your walk.
• To avoid stiff or sore muscles and joints, start gradually. Over several weeks, begin walking faster, going further, and walking for longer periods of time.
• Set goals and rewards. Examples of goals are participating in a fun walk or walking continuously for 30 minutes.
• Keep track of your progress with a walking journal or log.
• The more you walk, the better you may feel and the more calories you may burn.

Experts recommend 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity on most, if not all, days of the week. If you cannot do 30 minutes at a time, try walking for shorter amounts and gradually working up to it.

Safety Tips for your walking program

Keep safety in mind when you plan your route and the time of your walk.

• If you walk at dawn, dusk, or night, wear a reflective vest or brightly colored clothing.
• Walk in a group when possible.
• Notify your local police station of your group’s walking time and route.
• Do not wear jewelry.
• Do not wear headphones.
• Be aware of your surroundings.

How do I stretch?

S tretch gently after you warm up your muscles with an easy 5-minute walk, and again after you cool down. Try doing the stretches listed below. Do not bounce or hold your breath when you stretch. Perform slow movements and stretch only as far as you feel comfortable.

Side Reach

Reach one arm over your head and to the side. Keep your hips steady and your shoulders straight to the side. Hold for 10 seconds and repeat on the other side.

Wall Push

Lean your hands on a wall with your feet about 3 to 4 feet away from the wall. Bend one knee and point it toward the wall. Keep your back leg straight with your foot flat and your toes pointed straight ahead. Hold for 10 seconds and repeat with the other leg.

Knee Pull

Lean your back against a wall. Keep your head, hips, and feet in a straight line. Pull one knee to your chest, hold for 10 seconds, then repeat with the other leg.

Leg Curl

Pull your right foot to your buttocks with your right hand. Stand straight and keep your knee pointing straight to the ground. Hold for 10 seconds and repeat with your left foot and hand.

Hamstring

Sit on a sturdy bench or hard surface so that your left leg is stretched out on the bench with your toes pointing up. Keep your right foot flat on the floor. Straighten your back, and if you feel a stretch in the back of your thigh, hold for 10 seconds and repeat with your right leg. [If you do not yet feel a stretch, lean forward from your hips until you do feel a stretch.]

Taking the First Step

• Walking correctly is very important.
  Walk with your chin up and your shoulders held slightly back.
• Walk so that the heel of your foot touches the ground first. Roll your weight forward.
• Walk with your toes pointed forward.
• Swing your arms as you walk.

If you walk less than three times per week, give yourself more than a week before increasing your pac and frequency.

Here is to your health!

Mohamed

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Frequent long, slow walks — 45 minutes to 60 minutes a day at a moderate pace, five to six days a week — were found to burn more calories, improve cardiac function, reduce weight and body fat. The standard regimen for cardiac rehabilitation involves walking, biking or rowing for 25 minutes to 40 minutes at brisk pace three times a week.

“The benefits of weight loss in cardiac patients have not been all that clear,” said Dr. Philip A. Ades, a professor of medicine and director of cardiac rehabilitation and prevention at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and the study’s lead researcher. “And docs are usually pessimistic that their patients can accomplish weight loss.”

In fact, most cardiac rehabilitation programs have not been effective in weight loss, Ades said.

“The reason people don’t lose weight in cardiac rehab is they don’t burn enough calories with their exercise,” he said.

Walking can burn more calories than biking or swimming, Ades explained, because walkers support their total body weight by themselves, rather than having a bike or water support their weight. People have to bike or swim a lot more, he said, to gain the same calorie-burning effect as walking.

The report is published in the May 11 online edition of Circulation.

The study involved 74 overweight people with coronary heart disease, also called coronary artery disease, who were enrolled in a cardiac rehabilitation program. They were randomly assigned to an exercise regimen designed to burn 3,000 to 3,500 calories a week or to a standard rehab exercise program designed to burn 700 to 800 calories a week.

The high-calorie expenditure program was based on exercise that was not more intensive than standard rehabilitation but was done more often (five to seven times a week, rather than three) and longer (45 minutes to 60 minutes a session, rather than 25 to 40), according to the study. Participants did not begin walking for an hour each session but gradually built up their ability, Ades said.

Exercise for the standard rehabilitation group included a combination of walking and biking or rowing.

Being overweight increases the risk of heart attacks and increases other risks factors, including cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes, the researchers noted.

After five months, people in the high-calorie-burning group — those taking the longer, slower, more frequent walks — had greater improvement in insulin sensitivity, cholesterol, blood pressure and cardio and respiratory fitness than did people in the standard exercise group, the researchers found.

In addition, the long, slow walkers lost an average of 18 pounds, compared with 8 pounds among those in the standard rehabilitation group, and they lost more body fat (13 pounds versus 6) and inches from their waistlines (2.7 versus 2 inches) than the others.

A year after the study ended, people in the high-calorie-burning group had regained an average of 2.9 pounds and those in the standard treatment group had regained about two pounds. Weight and body fat remained lower in both groups than it had been when they started, the researchers said.

“However you lose weight is good for heart patients and should reduce their risk,” Ades said. “But don’t forget the exercise. It’s a big part of how to lose weight. Walking daily, walking far, really made a big difference in reducing cardiac risk.”

Dr. Gregg C. Fonarow, a cardiology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said he thinks the regimen from the study would be worth trying in people in cardiac rehabilitation programs.

“There is an ever-increasing proportion of individuals who are overweight or obese,” Fonarow said. “Achieving a healthy body weight is a challenge, even among patients who are referred to formal cardiac rehabilitation programs.”

The study demonstrated that a new exercise protocol aimed at maximizing exercise-related calorie expenditures was more effective in achieving weight loss than a standard cardiac rehabilitation exercise regimen, Fonarow said. “There was also improved insulin sensitivity, lipid levels and inflammatory markers with the high-calorie expenditure regimen,” he said.

“This new high-calorie expenditure protocol should be considered for overweight and obese patients referred to cardiac rehabilitation who are eligible for a five-to-six-times-a-week exercise regimen,” he said.

SOURCES: Philip A. Ades, M.D., professor of medicine, director of cardiac rehabilitation and prevention, University of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, Vt.; Gregg C. Fonarow, M.D., professor, cardiology, University of California, Los Angeles; May 11, 2009, Circulation, online

Source: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_84104.html

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There are many strategies that you can undertake to help your weight loss – but in the end they all end up following a very simple formula:

• Calories Burned LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO Calories In RESULTS IN maintain your weight
• Calories Burned LESS THAN Calories In RESULTS IN promote weight loss

What are some strategies you can use, today – RIGHT NOW.

1. Weight Loss Strategy #1Eat LESS!  This is the easiest thing to do.  Just cut back by 50% what you’re eating.  For example, if you have 6 slices of regular cut toast in the morning – CUT BACK to 2 slices OR buy thin sliced bread – two slices are the equivalent to one slice of regular cut bread.  You could (technically) still have 6 slices but are only eating the calories for 3.  Instead what you should do is cut back – eat the thin sliced bread and have two slices instead.
2. Weight Loss Strategy #2Walk a lot.  Walking is great exercise, it is easy and you don’t need to buy any specialized fitness equipment to walk.  You may want to buy a pedometer – but it’s not necessary.  Just go out for a walk.  When I lost my initial 100lbs I went for walks daily.  During lunch I’d go out for 30 minute walk.  After work, I’d take the long way to my car and in fact parked several blocks from work — not only did it save me money but I got exercise!  Walking to lose weight is a strategy that will help you work towards weight loss and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Those are just two weight loss strategies that will help you lose weight, and feel great!

Here is to your health!

Mohamed

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Next I took up walking.  It was easy, and fun and could be done with a friend or two.

I got fresh air when I went on my walks, met my neighbors and felt refreshed and invigorated by the end of the walk.  You are supposed to walk 10,000 steps per day – but to start it’s going to be tough.  Here is the advice that I had followed to reach the goal of 10,000 steps per day:

Week 1 – Wear your pedometer for a week and don’t change your normal routine. Log your steps daily. At the end of the week you will be able to see how many steps you have taken in your day to day living.

Weeks 2-3 – Take the highest step count from week one and make that your daily goal for the next two weeks, or make it your daily goal three times per week for week two, then each day for week three. For example, if your steps varied from 800 to 2,000 steps per day in the first week, make your new daily goal 2,000 steps. You can increase gradually to build up your steps to the new goal.

Weeks 4-5 – It is now time to increase your daily steps. Start with a 500 step increase per day in week four and increase that by another 500 by week five. If you walked 2,000 steps in weeks two and three, you should be walking approximately 3,000 steps per day in week five.

Week 6 onwards – Continue to increase your daily steps on a weekly basis. Try to add 2,000 steps per day (about 20 minutes) but ultimately, increase as much as you feel comfortable, until you reach the ultimate goal of 10,000 steps per day.

Working into a 10,000 step program slowly will help you to avoid injury. Once you’ve reached your 10,000 step goal, maintaining this will be your biggest challenge. Celebrate your success and reward yourself for doing 10,000 steps a day! Consider walking with others to socially reinforce and support your hard work. Aim to maintain for six months and this should help establish the behaviour as part of your lifestyle!

Now you need a pedometer in order to accurately count the number of steps you are taking per day.  Previously we did offer a free pedometer program in which they were scooped up pretty quickly – we didn’t even charge for shipping!  However with a kid to support I can no longer offer you a free pedometer.  I am working with several fitness equipment companies to get huge discounts on high-quality pedometers that I will be selling through the site AT MY COST you pay only the cost of the pedometer plus shipping + handline (typically not more than $10.00) and we supply you with a pedometer plus a walking program.

This will take a few months to work out, so please bear with me.

I am also working with several wholesalers to bulk buy other types of fitness equipment — nothing fancy, but little things that will help you loose weight, again all will be offered at my cost + shipping and handling.

Here is to your health!

Mohamed

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I’d like to let update folks about a few things:

FREE PEDOMETER – WOW!  I can’t believe how popular this was, unfortunately I don’t have a bottomless pit of money, nor do I have an inside track with any manufacturer so my stash os pedometers was given away looong ago.  I am considering offering this again, but it wouldn’t be free – but definately something affordable; that said – check out your local department store as you should be able to purchase a pedometer for under $10.00 for something very basis.  You can spend a lot more, but not sure if you need all the features others may offer.  Remember using a PEDOMETER is only one way to help you stick to a walking plan by encouraging you to walk 10,000 steps per day!

MY OWN WEIGHT LOSS – well for almost 2-3 years there I wasn’t loosing anything.  The initial weight loss that I had has stayed off; but over the last 3-4 months I’ve started watching my meals again and am doing some exercise (nothing strenuous) to aid in weight loss.  I’m happy to report that I’ve come down almost 15 lbs over the last 4-months!!  In terms of sizes, here is what’s happened:

Jeans – from a size 50-52 to about 48-50

Dress Pants – from a size 52 to about 48 (depending on the mfg’er)

Dress Shirts – from a 4x to 3x (I can probably fit into a 2x but I don’t like wearing tight clothes)

Undies – 2x (from 3x – 4x … I’m sure you wanted to know that!!!) LOL!

Seriously though, as I’ve dropped another 15lbs I do feel much better and actually feel like doing things with my son instead of sitting inside all the time (FYI – my kid is a skinny, skinny bean pole!  He doesn’t seem to gain any weight except for what is appropriate for his age.  Lucky!).

What have I been doing?  Well you’ll just have to keep visiting to find out, and I promise to post more regularly!

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