The Senior Walking Fitness Blog

Hello Everybody,

People who want successful weight loss often think about reducing the amount of food they eat. This may be good but is not necessarily the best thing to do for safe weight loss. In fact, depending on the amount you reduce your food intake, it may even be dangerous to your health. So how do you lose weight effectively and safely? Here are some points you should consider when trying to lose those extra pounds:

Most people think that trimming down the calories can alone shed off unwanted weight. Probably this is because of the fad there is in advertising about low-calorie food products and beverages. What people don’t know is that this could be dangerous, because when they decrease their calorie intake to below the required levels, the body begins to digest fat. This may sound good, but it isn’t really. Burning fat needs a lot of energy. Since there is not much energy in the body to facilitate metabolism of fat, it will run at a very slow pace resulting in fatigue, illness and a weak immune system.

A low-calorie diet is also compensated for by the body burning muscle. People on this type of diet who revert back to their old eating habits end up regaining some, if not all, the weight they have previously shed . This consists mainly of fat. And since fats have more volume per mass than muscle, they end up having the same weight as before but with more body bulk. In losing weight, you should keep in mind that you must lose excess fats only.

However, one can try eating small meals at more frequent intervals. This way the body will not think that it is being starved and will not store food as fat.

You may have considered junking the crash diet option but you should also not forget to watch what you are eating. Variety must always be considered, so that you get the necessary nutrients from your diet. It is also healthier to eat food which is roasted, steamed or broiled rather than fried. It is important to include a lot of fibre in the diet. Frequent re-hydration is also necessary.

Muscles burn calories when they work; they even do so at rest. Unlike fats which just lie around, bulge around the pants and dangle beneath the sleeves, muscles burn calories all-day round. With this fact, one can start losing weight increasing muscle mass. The more muscles, the less fat will be left. This is attainable starting with working out with resistance exercises.

Daily aerobics are not only good for the heart by increasing cardio-vascular endurance. Aerobics also help in increasing lean muscle mass while simultaneously decreasing excess body fat. Aside from these, aerobics make the metabolic process more efficient and its rate high, even after a long while. Imagine burning fat efficiently while driving along the freeway or even while watching a movie..

So if you consider all these tips you will lose weight quickly and easily, and soon be fit and active once again.

See you soon,

27 April 2007

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Hello Everybody,

I always say, you need a healthy diet to go with your fitness walking program. This should contain fruit and there are a number of fruits which can also help you lose weight.. So you could eat some of these and get even more benefit from your diet.

One fruit said to encourage weight loss is the pomegranate. It has a lot going for it. Pomegranates are nutrient rich and contain antioxidants which can slow the aging effects of free radicals. The antioxidants help stop fatty deposits building up in the arteries over time. If you are eating a moderately low fat diet anyway, this can provide more protection against blood clots, strokes and heart disease. Not only that, one pomegranate can supply up to 16% of your recommended daily intake of Vitamin C.

Eating pomegranates helps speed up the movement of food along the digestive tract, which is a good thing in avoiding the storage of fat. But a warning. Don’t eat too many or the speed of movement may mean you will have to move rather speedily yourself.

Pomegranates can fight fatigue, increase energy levels and even improve the quality of your skin. Be aware, however, that pomegranate juice is fairly high in calories, so only eat one or two a day.

For those in a hurry the benefits of pomegranates can be obtained in capsule form. The available capsules do seem to contain a lot more than extract of pomegranate. They also will not do much for movement of food along the digestive tract. I know of nothing against capsules, but in my view if you want to eat a pomegranate buy a pomegranate and eat it. The choice is yours.

So certain fruits can help your diet and your fitness walking program. In my next post I shall have a look at another fruit with remarkable properties. But don’t forget to keep up the walking. The weather’s good, the first swallows have arrived and now is the time to enjoy the countryside.

See you soon,

26 April 2006

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Joanna Hall - The most influential woman in Fitness Cosmopolitan Magazine www.joannahall.com This first video in a series demonstrates simple techniques that are a must to

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Hello Everybody, 

I was recently reading a ramblers forum. Understand that ramblers are keen. Very keen. So not everything they suggest is applicable to a more gentle walking fitness program. However there are a few points of interest to more modest walkers. It is often a good idear to take a look at the higher levels of any activity as you can learn things you might not otherwise have thought about.

Members of the forum were asked what forms of exercise they took other than walking. This is a list of their response. It is based on a very small sample and is just a snapshot of what a few people do. It is also based on the activities of all ages. So do not feel too out of things if you are no longer a team player:

Running/orienteering, (I told you they were keen). 30%

Cycling, (good for hips and thighs). 21%

Racquet Sports. 12%

Team Sports. 12%

Swimming. 6%

Gym work and Yoga, (indoors, not popular). 9%

Water Sports. 9%

Winter Sports. 0%

Dancing. 0%

Riding. 0%

This probably says more about lifestyle than a relationship to your fitness walking program, but it does show the priorities of really dedicated walkers, who seem rather coy about the missing 1% in the above table. From it you may consider which of your own options for additional exercise is the most suitable.

There was advice about what snacks to take with you. These included dark chocolate (better than milk chocolate), bananas, and mixed fruit and nuts. All designed to give you a quick energy boost when needed. You must, of course, always include a bottle of water in your rucksack.

So we can learn from serious walkers and incorporate their tips in our fitness walking program, even if we are not so serious ourselves. But small beginnings can lead to greater things and maybe one day you will be running and orienteering with the best of them.

See you soon,

22 April 2009

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Hello Everybody,  

How to live longer? You need a good mental attitude, an exercise program a healthy diet and long living parents.

Let us look at mental attitude. You need to have many interests, a positive view of life and to keep active. It is no good getting up in the morning, drifting from the TV to the fridge all day and then going to bed, where you will probably not sleep anyway. You must get out and about and use your brain. If all else fails just use your brain. Steven Hawkins cannot exercise, but he spends his time working out the secret of everything on the kitchen table. The octogenarian author is not an athlete, but the books keep coming from an active brain. That is one of the secrets of a long life.

Laughter is good for us, it can positively affect diseases like high blood pressure and heart problems. It can also reduce stress and encourage relaxation. Research even suggests that laughter can boost the immune system. Sadly research does not answer the question of how some older people, hardly surviving on an inadequate pension with a hole in the roof they cannot afford to fix, can find life amusing. But it helps if they can find something to laugh about.

Pets are good. They have a calming influence and give much needed companionship. The choice is yours, but do choose an appropriate pet. Cats or dogs in small flats without a garden are stressed themselves, and they will stress you. But the right pet can do a great deal for the quality of an older person’s life.

A healthy low fat diet is, of course, essential and is one of the two cornerstones of long life. But you do not have to eat entirely low calorie food. Make your diet as varied as possible and allow for the occasional lapse from your low calorie regime.

Exercise is the other cornerstone to achieve a long active life. A fitness walking program and other gentle cardiovascular exercise will allow you to burn calories for weight loss and stay fit when you have reached your ideal weight.

Sleep is important. But many of us sleep less well as we get older. Try not eating for a couple of hours before bedtime and avoid TV in bedrooms. This may help, but then again it may not. There is nothing worse than being wide awake in the early hours of the morning and knowing that sleep is over for the night. Maybe in the end the answer is to accept that you only need a few hours sleep and arrange your day accordingly. But chronic insomnia should be discussed with your doctor.

Long living parents cannot be arranged, but it does seem that living to a great age runs in families. Whether this is due to genes or lifestyle choices is not easy to determine. But it is encouraging for people in such families to know that maybe genetics is on their side.

So there we have it.. Stay fit, stay happy and you will enjoy a long and active life.

See you soon,

19 April 2009

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Hello Everybody,

So Easter is over and you look like an Easter egg yourself. You won’t have put on an enormous amount of weight - we hope - so it won’t be too hard to get back into shape again. First of all lose any chocolate you have left, throw it away, give it to a small boy, treat the dog. The cat won’t want it, so leave him out. Be brave, you can do it.

Begin walking again, a mile or so a day won’t be too much after a short break. Then get back into your healthy diet and the job’s done.

I was reading an article this week that supports my ‘start slow’ advice regarding exercise. Yet another University, this time Leeds Metropolitan University, has looked at the effects of exercise on overweight people. It appears that the movement of their bodies during exercise can leave them more prone to joint problems such as arthritis.

Louise Sutton head of the Carnegie Centre for Sports Performance and Wellbeing says, “When the foot of a very overweight person strikes the ground during a workout the knees and hips are placed under more stress than the joints of a slim person.” I do wonder how many research assistants and how many expensive man/woman hours it took to discover the blindingly obvious. Anyway start slow and increase your exercise level as you become fitter and lighter and you should not have any problems.

If you do want to lose some weight quickly I suggest a program I have recommended in the past. The Fatloss4idiots program - how I hate that name - does work and will see you over any immediate problem. So give it a try.

Just visit the Fatloss4idiots website here and chocolate will be just a happy memory.

See you soon,

14 April 2009                                  http://technorati.com/claim/vtq9aqmncw“

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Hello Everybody,

As we get older we can feel isolated and alone. Everybody has the ‘blues’ sometimes, but depression is a different thing. You can find difficulty in sleeping, or doing your job, you can feel anxious or maybe can’t concentrate. Anyone with these symptoms could have depression. This is a common condition, one in seven people have a period of depression serious enough to need treatment some time in their lives. You must do something about it. Just trying to carry on in the hope that it will go away should not be your only option.

But what to do about it? First of all see your doctor, he may prescribe anti depressants or counselling. He could well also suggest exercise, for it has been found that exercise helps a lot. You feel better, you look better, you get out and about and your self esteem rises. A fitness walking program and gentle cardiovascular program can have great benefits.

The British Journal of Sports Medicine tells us that as little as twenty minutes exercise a week can improve our mental health. Any type of exercise can do it from a fitness walking program to cardiovascular exercises or even gardening and housework. I would hope that we are able to take more than twenty minutes exercise a week. It does appear that the more exercise we take the less depressive illness we have. But, of course this must depend on age and general level of fitness to begin with. Always start slow with any exercise regime.

When you start exercising you must do four things:

Decide which exercise you like doing.

Be Positive - exercise will help your depression, so you are going to do it.

Set reasonable goals - if you only feel like exercising for ten minutes, exercise for ten minutes. Don’t set yourself half an hour, give up at twenty minutes and feel a failure.

Rejoice - celebrate when you have finished. You have achieved something, congratulate yourself.

If you decide that a fitness walking program is the way to go I would advise walking in the country. Take one or two friends if possible. There is always something to look at and enjoy and you will, for a while at least, forget the troubles which are causing your depression.

City walking is different, it can itself be a stressful activity. Crowds, traffic, shop assistants, can all cause stress and often do. But a change of scene, a day out in an unfamiliar town will make you feel more alert and, by overcoming the inevitable problems, more confident.

Exercise will not cure your depression. You will have to look at the cause and address that to begin a cure. But it will help you on the road to a brighter future.

See you soon,

Peter Stockwell  

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Hello Everybody,

When we say we want to be fit we usually mean we want to lose weight. A fitness walking program will do both, but you can accelerate weight loss by doing an exercise program as well.

Seniors who take part in endurance exercise such as a fitness walking program should also consider resistance exercise. This can be callisthenics or weight training. I am not suggesting that the average Senior trots down to the local gym and starts a major weight training program. Although weight training is fine, if properly carried out, I have always preferred callisthenics. If combined with fitness walking this will greatly improve your overall health.

Use the good old callisthenics we all know well. Push ups, sit ups, toe touching. Do them a minimum of two or three times a week. Do each exercise eight to fifteen times, relax and do it again. You will already be exercising the lower body if you do a fitness walking program, now you are exercising the upper body.

If you do decide to use weights use light weights and start slow. Do not hold your breath during exercise as this may increase blood pressure, Use slow steady movements and breath out as you lift. You can then breath in as you relax. Slight muscle soreness, particularly at first, is normal. But don’t give yourself muscle pulls or work until you find it difficult and exhausting.

Another way of increasing fitness is by Power Walking. This is just fitness walking done quicker, but it can have a dramatic effect on weight loss as is shown in this article from the Discovery Channel.

“Power walking strengthens your whole body and is a particularly effective form of exercise as it raises the heart rate and gives a moderate cardiovascular workout - it also improves general fitness levels and helps build stronger bones.

Power walking is one of the easiest and safest ways for people to get fit and lose weight. Power walking is basically just fast walking but combines all the benefits of ordinary walking - low impact exercise with little risk of injury - with many of the more energetic aspects of aerobic activities such as running or cycling, providing a good workout for the heart and lungs.

Power walking burns up calories, helping you to maintain a healthy weight - which can help reduce the risk of diabetes and heart disease.

Power walking strengthens your whole body and is a particularly effective form of exercise as it raises the heart rate and gives a moderate cardiovascular workout. It also improves general fitness levels and helps build stronger bones without putting too much stress on the joints.

Power walking for 30 minutes four or five times a week enables you to burn up to a pound of body fat every couple of weeks.

You should warm up and cool down before and after any exercise, even walking. Don’t stretch before you start, warm up by walking slowly at first, walk for around ten minutes and then stretch out the calves, hamstrings and thighs. Stretching before warming up can cause torn muscles. When you get to the end of your walk allow five minutes to slow down and let your heart rate return to normal.

If you are focusing on speed walking or high mileage, buy a shoe with a little more cushioning in the mid-sole, the area between the tread and the inside of the shoe.”

 The fact is you don’t need to lose strength just because you are old. Anybody whatever their age loses muscle and becomes weaker if they do not exercise. So strength and exercise go together and if you keep your strength you keep your independence.   

See you soon,

Peter Stockwell

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