The Senior Walking Fitness Blog

Hello Everybody,

 You  had a few ups and downs but your weight stayed fairly steady during your 20s and 30s. Then you reached 40 and started to put on weight. You eat healthy food, you get some exercise, it worked before – what’s happened? Like most things there are reasons and solutions. Your weight gain is nothing to do with failure on your part and everything to do with how nature works. Like many people you need to know how to lose weight over 40.

As we get older our metabolic rate drops. That means our body needs to burn fewer calories to maintain its weight. If we carry on eating the same and exercising the same as we did when we were young we are going to put on weight. That is why older people have trouble with their weight and why losing it is not easy. Even if you try to keep to a healthy lifestyle it is hard to lose weight over 40.  If you are at home looking after your family you can be eating for comfort or out of boredom. Even daytime TV can become addictive and that is as good a way as any to forget your exercise program.  If you are working maybe you live on sandwiches or have regular corporate lunches and drive everywhere. The last thing you want, whatever you do, is to exercise each evening – you are too exhausted.

 You need to eat 500 calories less than you need each day to lose 1 pound a week. But you may be eating 300 calories a day more than you need already. To eat 800 less a day is a challenge and for some may not be achievable. The best thing to do is trial and error, but it will involve exercise. Try eating 500 calories less. One way of doing it is to eat smaller portions and that is achieved by using smaller plates. You can also cut out anything obvious like a mid morning latté and croissant, or eating a lot of white bread. Then you really will have to exercise. This helps burn off calories and you will not have to rely just on a reduced diet to lose weight. The easiest exercise is walking or jogging.  The reason I suggested trial and error is that you may not be eating 300 calories more than you need. So try half an hour’s brisk walking a day, which can be two 15 minute sessions morning and evening if that is more convenient. If you start losing weight that is all you need, if not increase the exercise. You will also benefit by swapping any high calorie foods you may still be eating for more healthy fruit and vegetables.

If you have been weight watching in the past you already know how to lose weight over 40. You just need to carry on, but eat less and exercise more. If you have been eating the wrong food and not getting enough exercise you must change your way of life. Eating healthy food is important and, although not everybody likes it, exercise is essential as we grow older. Not only does it burn calories but it slows the loss of muscle mass which occurs with age. There is no reason why people over 40 should not be as fit and slim as when they were younger, but it is harder work. If you are prepared to deal with this there will be no problem losing weight when you are over 40.

See you soon,

Peter Stockwell

18 May 2013

Photo. Ses7 (Flickr)

Technorati Tags: middle age weight loss, slim at 40, slim middle age, thin at 40, weight loss over 40

Hello Everybody,

 If you decide to lose weight you will find a lot of information available. There is advice in magazines and books, online, on TV and radio and most likely from friends with their very own no-fail diets. Knowledge is power, but it can also be total confusion. How do you tell good from bad, or fact from fiction? Why did you get over weight in the first place and what can you do to avoid it in the future? Not easy, especially as some popular explanations for weight gain are not correct. There are a few which have been around so long they have nearly become folk law. So what are the five top weight gain myths?

 Potatoes:  Carbohydrates make you fat and potatoes contain a lot of carbohydrates – so never eat potatoes. That seems quite straightforward, but we now know the body needs carbohydrates and they should not be cut out completely. As long as you eat high carbohydrate foods such as pasta, white rice and potatoes in moderation you will be fine. Do be careful with baked potatoes when served with cheese and a lot of butter, they will make you gain weight. But do not blame the potato.

Breakfast:  Eat breakfast and you get fat, cut out breakfast and you cut out a lot of calories. So they say. The problem is you will start the day without much energy, and then mid morning find you really must have a large latté and an almond croissant. Of course a full English breakfast will make you put on weight. There is plenty of proof of that, but we all need a light breakfast before we start the day. There are many things you can eat without building up the calories. Two meals suggested by the British National Health Service are muesli, fresh fruit and low fat yoghurt or alternatively boiled egg with wholemeal toast and low fat spread. This gives an idea of the sort of thing you should be eating. Black coffee is best, but coffee with skimmed or semi skimmed milk will do no harm.

Sausages: Never eat sausages, they contain saturated fats and preservatives and are really bad for you. That is the received wisdom and it is true that saturated fats are not as good as unsaturated fats. But research shows that saturated fats in moderate quantities can have beneficial effects. Do be careful, cook in vegetable oil and choose quality sausages with high meat content. Cheap sausages cooked in fat really are bad for you.

Fruit: All fruit is good fruit; we must eat more of it. I would agree we must eat more fruit, but make sure it is the right kind. It is easy to forget the calories in fruit and a surprise when we find out. Dates are not often included in a list of best fruits, which is a good thing as a cup of dates contains a massive 460 calories. A medium banana, which is good for you, still has 105 calories and banana lovers know how easy it is to eat a lot of bananas. Grapes can be dangerous. The 114 calories in a cup of grapes is a consideration, but non-organic grapes are high in pesticides and should be avoided. The best fruit to eat is the good old apple, small, portable and weighing in at just 50 calories, it is hard to beat.

Fast weight loss diets:  Lose weight fast and you will only put it back on again. Slow is the way to go. There is some truth in this, but it need not always be the case. If you must lose weight fast, for whatever reason, choose a fast weight loss plan which seems sensible. Keep it up for two or three weeks and then stop. You will probably have lost weight, then as predicted you will start to put weight back on again. This is nothing to do with the fast weight loss diet and everything to do with you going back to the old lifestyle which made you overweight in the first place. What you should do is go from your fast weight loss diet to a healthy diet with plenty of exercise. Your weight loss will slow down, but you will carry on losing weight until you reach your long term goal. Then you can slightly increase what you eat to maintain your weight at the desired level.

Weight loss advice changes as we learn more about how our bodies work. What was thought of as fact a while ago may not seem so certain today. It is apparent from these few popular myths that less healthy food does not do much harm if eaten in moderation. If you live on sausages you will gain weight but enjoying sausages, or one of the other less healthy foods, once a week will not be a disaster. Of course you do need to keep to a healthy diet for the other six days. Do this and not only will you lose weight, you can enjoy occasional treats as well.

See you soon,

Peter Stockwell

8 May 2013

Photo.  Michelle Middleton Photography.

Technorati Tags: myths about weight gain, weight gain myths, what causes weight gain, why i gain weight

Hello Everybody,

 If you are eating less and not losing weight you are not alone. There are many people with your problem and it is usually not hard to fix. Assuming there is no medical condition there are not many reasons why this is happening. You might just be impatient. If you have only been dieting for a short while you may not yet see the results you want. It could be you have just temporally stopped your weight decrease and have reached a plateau. Another likely reason is you are not getting enough exercise. Let us look at these possibilities.

 Disappointing weight loss:  In the first week or so you may lose several pounds. It is going really well and then you slow down. Do not worry – at first you are losing water weight and this happens with everybody. After that, if you are eating a healthy diet and getting daily exercise, your weight will reduce at a slower rate. But you may have lost weight and be not far from your goal when your weight loss stops. If you have not lost weight for three weeks or more you are on the dreaded plateau. Do not despair, a lot of people find themselves on a plateau and it is not too hard to start losing weight again.

 The plateau:  As you lose weight your metabolism slows down. You need less effort to carry less weight around and so you burn fewer calories. If you are still eating the same amount as when you started your weight loss program you are consuming what your body needs to maintain its weight, but too much for you to lose weight. This may explain why you are on a plateau. Cut down on what you eat and see if this solves the problem. Another reason may be that you are eating way too little. This can cause your body to go into starvation mode and for your metabolism to slow right down. That enables your body to maintain its weight on very few calories. If you have been starving yourself eat more and go onto a less extreme diet.

 Not enough exercise: Exercise tones the muscles and makes you feel good. It is particularly useful for older people as it slows down the natural loss of muscle mass which occurs with age. It also burns calories. You should do a minimum of 30 minutes a day of brisk walking, swimming, cycling, dancing or time in the gym. Whatever exercises you enjoy do them. Be aware you will not burn off a lot of calories without a lot of exercise. The amount of calories burnt varies with the exercise but you will need to walk for an hour to burn off a bar of chocolate. So the stroll round the park to walk off Sunday lunch will not be as effective as you might expect. Certainly the calories you burn through exercise will help you lose weight. If you are on a plateau, because you have changed your diet and cut down on calories as much as you can manage, increasing exercise can start you losing weight again.

If you are eating less but not losing weight these few tips will help.  Make sure you are eating healthy food - eating less unhealthy food is still eating unhealthy food and it may contain more calories than you think. Remember that, although fast weight loss can have its place in an emergency, slow weight loss is healthy weight loss. You can lose weight; check your calories, keep up your daily exercise, allow yourself time and you will succeed.

 See you soon,

Peter Stockwell

30 April 2013

Photo. Madezee (Flickr)

Technorati Tags: not losing weight, slow weight loss, speed up weight loss, weight loss plateau

Hello Everybody,

You know that exercise is good for you but, even if you do not mind doing it, somehow there are never enough hours in the day. You know that to lose weight you need to use up more calories than you take in with your food. Calories are burnt by just moving around, and even when you sleep, but exercise is needed to burn off a useful amount.  If you do not, or cannot, exercise you will have to substantially cut down on how much you eat. This is hard for anybody and may result in you being unable to lose weight. So if you want to lose weight without too much difficulty you really must find time to exercise. There are several types of exercise available and ways of doing it. Find one that suits you and do it on a daily basis. Exercise is an important part of a weight loss program. What is the best exercise that helps you lose weight?

 Walking:  This has to be the easiest way of losing weight. We do it anyway and all we need is to do it a bit more. If you walk at a moderate pace for an hour each day you will burn about 340 calories. That is well on the way to losing one pound a week. Or you will if you do not snack on the way and relax afterwards with a bottle of fizzy drink. An hour a day may sound a big commitment, but it does not have to be all at once.  You can do half an hour morning and half an hour evening or even three walks of twenty minutes each. Just make sure you walk for an hour a day, watch your calorie consumption, and you will lose weight.

 Swimming: Unless you live on a beach swimming may not be as easy to arrange as walking. But it does have the advantages of exercising most of your muscles and being particularly beneficial for older people. If you are a senior you may well have problems with knees and hips; swimming eliminates the impact of walking on painful joints. The number of calories you burn swimming depends, like walking, on how intensely you do it, but if you swim moderately for an hour you will burn about 400 calories. So an hour’s moderate swimming will burn about the same as an hour’s moderate walking or a little more. The minimum amount of time you should swim is three times a week.

 Cycling: This is good exercise and can be one of the most convenient to fit into your busy way of life. If you live within cycling distance of work your daily trip there and back could be your exercise. No more juggling time slots to fit in walking or swimming, you just cycle to work. Pedalling is low impact and does not put as much strain on joints as walking and you are burning off the calories fast. If you cycle at a moderate 12-14 mph for an hour you will burn off about 570 calories. A lot more than you would do walking or swimming.

 These are just three exercises that help you lose weight. If you enjoy exercise you may want to consider jogging or going to the gym or taking up a sport. For those who just want to get fit and lose a little weight walking, swimming or cycling are all good options. Of course you can mix and match, so long as you exercise each day it can be one or other of the three, they will all burn off the calories. Make sure you start slowly, do a maximum of half an hour for a couple of weeks and work up to the full hour. Which is best? An hour’s walking or swimming will not use up the 500 calories a day you need to lose one pound a week. You will need to eat a more healthy diet as well. You might be able to lose that pound a week just cycling each day without a change in diet so long as your weight is normally steady, although I would always recommend eating as healthy a diet as possible. Losing weight with these types of exercise is long term. If you want to lose weight fast for an event consider one of the fast food diets, do nothing extreme, avoid pills and stop after a few weeks.  But slow is best and regular exercise together with a healthy diet is the way to go.

See you soon,

Peter Stockwell

18 April 2013

Photo.Tanvir Sajib (Flickr)

Technorati Tags: best exercise, lose weight, lose weight cycling, swimming exercise, walking fitness, weight loss exercise

Hello Everybody,

  There are holidays and there are weight loss holidays. On a holiday you put on weight, unless it is the sort of activity holiday which only attracts the fit, healthy and probably young. Weight loss holidays are for people who want to lose a few pounds but find it difficult.  Maybe everybody you know is overweight, reckons it is fine, and thinks it stupid of you to want otherwise. Perhaps you live with someone who stuffs the fridge with junk food and you are tempted every time you want a fruit juice. Weight loss is all about motivation and you need to be with people who have the same problems and goals as yourself. That is where weight loss holidays can help.

So what are weight loss holidays or, as they are sometimes called, weight loss retreats?  They usually take place in accommodation near attractive countryside. You will eat healthy food and have help and guidance on diets and the right kind of exercise to suit your needs. Exercise can vary from the gentle to a more demanding boot camp type of experience, there are many weight loss holidays available and it is just a matter of choosing what appeals to you. You will be likely to meet a lot of people with varying weight loss problems and find that you do things together. For some this is supportive and part of the pleasure of a weight loss holiday, for others it may be less enjoyable. If you really dislike crowds it is worth looking for holidays with a limited number of participants.

When choosing your holiday it is a good idea to consider a few things. You will have a leader who will act as your teacher and guide during your stay. Find out a little about him or her, if you just want some gentle exercise you may think being led by an ex Marine is not for you. Look at the countryside; you are likely to have walks, do you enjoy mountains or would you rather walk along the seashore? Are you vegetarian or vegan? Will you get suitable meals and advice with this in mind? There is not a great deal to consider, but you need to think about these things before booking your weight loss holiday.

Do not expect too much. If you stay for one or two weeks you should lose a few pounds, but weight loss takes time. Look at it as a way of finding out what to do long term, what healthy food you enjoy and the kind of exercise you can keep up when you are back home. Make sure you are given written advice and diet sheets when you leave. With any luck you will make friends happy to keep in contact and help you on your way. Even a regular telephone call from a friend can boost motivation and cheer you up when things are not going well. To be a success a weight loss holiday will have shown you how to achieve your goal. You just need to carry on and you will succeed.

See you soon,

Peter Stockwell

12 April 2013

Photo.  Sublimis (Flickr)

Technorati Tags: healthy weight loss holidays, holiday weight loss, holidays, lose weight, weight loss, weight loss retreats

Hello Everybody,

 It may not seem like it for some of us who live north of the equator but now is the time to slim for summer. To wait until three weeks before your holiday and then decide to lose a few pounds is not the best way to go. A fast weight loss diet can work if you choose the right one, but it will not give a permanent solution to your weight problem, so start early and lose weight slowly. That way you will look even better on the beach this year than you did last year. So how do you start?

 The first thing to consider is your diet. There are many diets available – which do you choose? One of the best has been around for a long time. Nearly 2500 years ago it was not unusual for the Greeks to live well into their 80s. Today we have life-long health care, state of the art surgery and a plethora of drugs.  We are lucky if we live as long as the ancient Greeks. How did they do it? Of course we know more about the moneyed upper classes, who enjoyed abundant domestic labour, an equitable climate and a relaxing life style. But even then it was not only the upper classes that had a long and active life. Present day Greek farmers and fishermen also stay fit and young well into their senior years. The big secret of the Greeks is the Mediterranean diet.

 The Mediterranean diet is based on food eaten in Southern Italy, Greece and Spain. It consists of fresh fruit and vegetables, legumes, unrefined cereals, cheese, yoghurt, fish, poultry and a low consumption of eggs, red meat and wine. Olive oil is used for cooking and as a salad dressing. There has been a lot of research carried out into this diet and the results have always been positive.  The latest findings tell us that the Mediterranean diet can reduce the risk of stroke and other cardiovascular diseases by 30 % as well as substantially increasing lifespan. Evidence tells us that this is one of the best diets you can choose. A good thing about it is the availability of recipes, which are easy to prepare and which make your diet a pleasure to follow. With the Mediterranean diet you can enjoy moderate consumption of wine, lose weight and get fit all at the same time.

 Your diet is the first part of how to slim for summer. The second part is exercise. Those healthy Greeks, Spaniards and Italians have a good diet, but they work hard and get plenty of exercise as well. You will not have to till the land or haul fishing nets but you will have to get some exercise yourself. There are a lot of options, swimming, cycling, dancing, going to the gym, but the easiest is a brisk 30 minute walk each day. The important thing is to set aside time for daily exercise and never give up. Do this along with your diet and in just a few months your will be slim and fit for your holiday. Who knows, you may even like your diet so much you decide to holiday on the Mediterranean and enjoy the healthy food.

See you soon,

Peter Stockwell

6 April 2013

Photo. heavenuphere (Filckr)

Technorati Tags: healthy weight loss, mediterranean diet, slim for summer, slow weight loss

Hello Everybody,

 When you decide to lose weight it is good to have something to aim at. Maybe you just want to lose a few pounds and that is fine but if you are planning to lose weight long term knowing your ideal weight helps. Not only can it give you a goal, it can also show you when to stop. Of course one person’s ideal weight may be different to another’s but if you can find your healthy weight range you can decide whether to try for the upper or lower limit.

 There is a simple way of finding your healthy weight range and that is by working out your Body Mass Index (BMI). Just Google ‘Body Mass Index’ and you will find many calculators which do the maths for you. All you need do is type your details into a box. All calculators will ask for weight and height, some will also ask for age and gender.  I prefer those asking for weight, height, age and gender as the result will be more accurate. Having typed your details you will be given a number. This is your BMI and from that you can work out your ideal weight.

 This is what the numbers mean.

 BMI below 18.5:  This shows you have little body fat and are underweight.

BMI 18.5 to 24.9:  This is the healthy amount of body fat.

BMI 25.0 to 29.9:  This is considered overweight.

BMI above 30.0:  This is considered obese.

Most of us know the dangers of being overweight. They include the possibility of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney disease. Even if you avoid those, and there are overweight people with few health problems, you may still find life difficult and uncomfortable. The dangers of being underweight are less well known. A BMI of below 18.5 can result in brittle bones, absence of periods in women and iron deficiency. Although athletes can have a low BMI and be healthy the worry for the rest of us is about slipping into anorexia. Anorexia is typically an illness of teenage girls, but it can also affect boys and adults, it is a medical problem and your doctor can help.

That is how to tell your ideal weight. Be aware that the upper limit of the healthy body fat range is not far from being over weight and do be careful about losing too much weight.  The best BMI is about 22.0 but aim for anywhere in the healthy body fat range of 18.5 to 24.9 and you will be doing well

See you soon,

Peter Stockwell

26 March 2013

Photo. JKonig (Flickr)

Hello Everybody,

 Fifty may be the new forty, but for some of us it is the time when we begin to notice we are not as fit as we were. Maybe we get out of breath climbing the stairs, or it becomes easier to drive to the post office than to walk, our clothes become a little tight, and we avoid looking in the mirror.  Does it matter? That is really up to you. There are some who love good food and fine wines, or maybe just Budweiser and pizza, enough to accept weight gain. Heart attacks, type 2 diabetes and strokes are not guaranteed. It is possible to enjoy an unhealthy lifestyle and live to a good age. The problem is many overweight unfit people do not live to a good age and nobody knows if they will be a winner or a loser. It makes sense to be as fit as you are able and you can do it without giving up all of the lifestyle you enjoy. So how do you do it?

 What you need is a balance of diet and regular exercise. Do that and you will lose weight and become more fit, which in turn is likely to give you a longer healthier life. There are only two things you have to consider, so it is easy enough to begin.

 Diet:  By diet I do not mean the fast weight loss diets you may eat to lose a few pounds for a special event. These diets can work, but results are never long term and they can cause problems if you use them too often or choose the wrong diet. You need to change your lifestyle so that meals you normally eat are low in the fats and sugars which make you put on weight. My favourite long term diet is the Mediterranean diet. This not only works but has many variations, tastes good and you can even drink the occasional glass of wine with your meal. An advantage of a change of lifestyle of this sort is that you can enjoy a celebratory meal or drink without worrying about putting weight back on again. So long as you keep to your basic healthy meals at other times all will be well.

 Exercise:  One of the problems of keeping fit as we grow older is that we lose muscle mass. So you need to build up muscle with exercise to slow the decline. This should be done in three ways. The easiest aerobic exercises are walking and jogging. A minimum of 30 minutes a day will go a long way towards keeping you fit. Strength training is useful and lifting light hand weights is a good way of toning muscles. Stretching exercises to increase bodily flexibility should also be part of an exercise program. As well as improving muscle tone you will be burning calories and you must exercise to burn more calories than you take in with your food in order to lose weight.

 That is all there is to it. Apart from balancing exercises, which may be needed as we get older, becoming fit and losing weight is much the same whatever your age. Of course older people may not be able to do as much as those half their age, but they still need to keep as active as possible. It is fine to walk or jog 30 minutes a day, but it is even better if you also climb stairs instead of using the elevator, walk your grand children to school or even get a dog. There was a time when nobody over 50 was fit. People were expected to slow down and spend the rest of their lives putting on weight. We now know this is not necessary and is a bad idea. The really good news is we know what to do about it.

See you soon,

Peter Stockwell

 14 March 2013

 Photo.  Ecumenweb (Flickr)

Technorati Tags: burn calories, fit over 50, mediterranean diet, senior fitness, senior weight loss, weight loss over 50

Hello Everybody,

Diets come and go so it is worth keeping up to date with what is available and checking out any that appear worth trying. The alkaline diet has been around long enough to have shown encouraging results and seems to work. The theory is that the body is naturally alkaline, but we eat a lot of acids. So cut down on acids and you will be healthier, feel better and lose weight.  The difficulty here is that various parts of our bodies have different alkaline/acid values, so to say we are naturally alkaline is not accurate.  The best thing to do is junk the theory and look at the diet which seems, for whatever reason, to be rather good.

 The alkaline diet proposes that 70 % of what you eat is fresh fruit, vegetables, oily fish like mackerel or salmon, wholegrain pasta, brown rice, brown bread, seeds and nuts (excluding peanuts, pistachios and cashew nuts). The remaining 30 % of your diet can be red meat, chicken, turkey, coffee, alcohol, cheese, cream, eggs, and seafood other than oily fish.  Avoid fizzy drinks, biscuits, sweets, cakes, chocolate and other sugary food. You can have the occasional treat so long as you stick to the alkaline diet long term. This diet is a lifestyle change and should not be confused with fast weight loss diets, which can be useful to lose weight for a special occasion but are not effective in maintaining weight loss.

 One or two things mentioned in the alkali diet are worth being careful about. Try to make sure beef is from grass fed animals and that eggs and chicken comes from free range birds. That way you will avoid the dangers of factory farmed produce. Limit your daily alcohol intake to one medium glass of wine or its equivalent for women and two for men. It is best to drink coffee black or with skimmed milk and to have a daily maximum of four cups.

 Those of you who have looked at other diets may find this familiar. The preferred ingredients are very similar to the Mediterranean diet. That is good news because the Mediterranean diet is one of the best available. There is more and more research proving just how effective it is. A recent study on 7500 people in Spain has shown that the Mediterranean diet can cut the risk of a heart attack as effectively as taking statins without the side effects. So whether you call your new lifestyle choice the alkaline diet or the Mediterranean diet it will do you good. You will be healthier and you will lose weight slowly and safely. This is one new diet which is as good as it says it is.

See you soon,

 Peter Stockwell

27 February 2013

Photo.  VisitBatonRouge (Flickr)

Technorati Tags: alkaline diet, celebrity diets, mediterranean diet, safe diet, safe weight loss

Hello Everybody,

 Walking to lose weight is one of the best ways of getting fit and losing pounds while enjoying easy exercise. You can walk anywhere and for as long as you like, in town, in the park, in the country on a beach.  All you need is a good pair of boots and clothes suitable for the weather. It is great exercise for the family, all ages can walk, just match distance to capacity and everybody will be happy. Single walkers can enjoy their own company, if that is what they prefer, or join a group and make new friends. Walking is for everyone.

 Will you lose weight? You will if you do it right. Walking to lose weight works, but you need to do enough of it. Half an hour’s stroll round the block will burn off the calories in half a chocolate bar, which is not very much. To burn off a reasonable amount of weight you need a minimum of 30 minutes brisk walking each day and preferably an hour, which can be split into 30 minutes morning and 30 minutes evening if that is more convenient. Interval walking in which you walk five minutes fast, five minutes slow and so on is a good way of walking to lose weight.

 Remember you are trying to burn off calories. If you carry a fizzy drink and a bar of chocolate you will, by the end of your walk, have consumed as many or more calories as you burnt off. That is a good way of convincing yourself that walking to lose weight is impossible. Swap your fizzy drink for a bottle of water and your chocolate for an apple and your weight will go down.

 Walking is good for you whether you are eating a healthy diet or not. But if you are serious about walking to lose weight you must make sure you are not putting it on as fast as you are taking it off. That means a healthy diet. We have mentioned fizzy drinks and chocolate, but most snacks and fast food is bad for you. Eat more natural food, such as the Mediterranean diet, and you will be helping your walking for weight loss program. Losing 1-2 pounds a week is easy without much effort.  More may be harder, so be happy with moderate safe weight loss. You will lose more than you expect over a few months. If you really must lose weight quickly, for an event or a holiday, two or three weeks on a sensible fast weight loss diet will do no harm. After this you can go onto your long term healthy diet to maintain your new weight or carry on losing pounds slowly. Never have a fast weight loss diet and go back to your old ways, you will just put on weight again. Just take it slowly, keeping to your walking for weight loss program; you will lose as much weight as you want and enjoy the pleasure of walking as well.

 See you soon,

Peter Stockwell

15 February 2013

Photo. American Nordic Walking System (Flickr).

Technorati Tags: lose weight walking, walk fit, walk to lose weight, walking fitness, walking for weight loss