The Senior Walking Fitness Blog

Hello Everybody,

We know we should burn calories, but how many calories can you use up with various activities? On average a man needs 2500 calories a day and a woman 2000. If these calories are not all burnt off by exercise, of one sort or another, the surplus will be deposited as fat. So how much can you lose in an hour by exercising. Here are five popular calorie burners.

Skiing. There are two types of skiing - downhill and cross country. For older people cross country skiing is the best. It does need some skiing ability, but basically it is just walking on skis. Indeed the type of motion needed has been adapted to become the fast growing summer activity of Nordic pole walking. Downhill skiing is more energetic and there is a likelihood of falls and general mayhem. Best avoided if you are of an age when you may have less than perfect balance and brittle bones. But, if you are good enough and young enough, downhill skiing can be a joy.  An hour’s cross country skiing will burn 480 calories. An hour’s downhill skiing will burn 575 calories.

Cycling. Like most of these activities the amount of calories used will depend on the intensity of the exercise. Cycling can vary from a slow trundle to the shops to a flat out cross country sprint by enthusiasts embarrassingly dressed in Lycra. But if you cycle at a reasonable pace of about 12 mph you will burn 575 calories.

Tennis. This is an activity which exercises all your muscles and is by its nature a social event. A not too high powered singles game lasting an hour will burn off 400 calories.

Running. Running or jogging can get you very fit. Like walking it has the advantage of needing no equipment other than a pair of good shoes. You can burn off 1000 calories an hour running, but for most of us that level of exercise is not a good idea. Just jog at a steady 5 mph and you will lose 555 calories.

Walking. For older people this is the perfect activity. It does not exercise the upper body as well as some other types of exercise but it is easy, enjoyable and costs nothing. You can decide how fast you need to walk to burn however many calories you need to burn. An hour’s 2 mph stroll will use up 190 calories. A slightly faster 3 mph walk burns 230 calories and a brisk 4 mph walk burns 340.

So that is the five calorie burners to try outdoors. There are, of course, numerous other ways of burning calories and remember that if it is raining you can lose 280 calories an hour enjoying sex.

Of course you do not have to exercise away the 2000/2500 calories. You do not need to spend 5 hours a day playing tennis or (heaven forbid) 7 hours enjoying sex. Just have an hour’s exercise a day and your normal activities - shopping, climbing stairs, housework - will do the rest.

See you soon,

31 March 2010

Photo. Gary Hayes

Technorati Tags: burn up calories, calorie burners, calories, weight loss exercise, weight loss exercises

Hello Everybody,  

We are seeing media headlines about seaweed extract being the new wonder product to conquer obesity. Research - yes more research - tells us that alginate, a natural fibre found in seaweed, can remove fat from the food you consume. The more alginate eaten the more fat is removed from the body. Experts believe that it may be possible to make junk food, high in fat and calories, healthier by adding alginate. So the more you eat the more alginate you consume and gluttony helps weight loss.

Scientists from Newcastle University have found that alginate could be added to pies, burgers, cakes and other high fat foods. Very interesting, but this has all the hallmarks of a slow news day and a public relations exercise by a team needing more funding to carry on its research. Nothing wrong with that, but let us just look more closely.

We have a statement from team leader Dr Iain Brownlee. “Our initial findings are that alginates significantly reduce fat digestion. This suggests that if we can add the natural fibre to products commonly eaten today - such as bread, biscuits and yoghurts - up to three quarters of the fat contained in that meal could simply pass through the body. We have already added the alginate to bread and initial tests have been extremely encouraging. The next step is to carry out clinical trials to find out how effective they are when eaten as part of a normal diet.”

There you have it really. The initial trials were carried out using an artificial gut and measuring the fat absorption rate of a variety of natural fibres. Alginate came out the best. That is all Dr Brownlee knows at present. So we have a theory with no clinical trials to back it up. These trials must be carried out and I look forward to the results, but it will take time. In the meanwhile I do hope the media clams down a little and finds something else to write about.

For those who live on the coast there is a simple way to lose weight with seaweed and you can start today. Do not worry about seaweed extract. Just walk to the shore, climb down the cliff path and stroll a mile or so along the tide-line collecting seaweed in a basket as you go. Walk briskly back, climb the cliff, go home and throw the seaweed in the refuse bin. Do this every day and you will lose weight. Trust me, it works.

See you soon,

24 March 2010

Photo. Kotobuki711 (Flickr)

Technorati Tags: brown seaweed extract, fight obesity, seaweed, seaweed extract, seaweed extracts, seaweed for weight loss, walking for weight loss

Hello Everybody,

The obesity research and report industry is nearly as active as the fast weight loss industry and here we have yet another piece of research. This one is quite interesting.

In the US and UK researchers looked at whether a drug that lowers blood pressure, or a drug that lowers blood sugar, could stop the onset of type 2 diabetes in high risk patients. There were 9000 people in the trial, all of whom had ‘impaired glucose tolerance’. That means that they had high blood sugar and were heading towards type 2 diabetes, a condition particularly associated with obesity.

The results of the trial showed that there was little difference in how many people carried on to get diabetes when given either drug or when given a dummy pill.

That, no doubt, cheered up the people on the dummy pill enormously, as they had not missed out on anything. But for everybody it was bad news, as it showed that at present there is no drug based prevention of type 2 diabetes.

Professor Rury Holman, Director of the Diabetes Trials Unit at the University of Oxford, said that drug based treatments worked when someone already had diabetes. However, what was needed were drugs to stop the disease developing in the first place. At present these do not exist. The Professor said, “The most successful treatment for someone at high risk of diabetes is diet and exercise”.

Of course it would be good to have alternative methods of controlling the early stages of diabetes. Not everybody is able to exercise and drugs are needed for them. But I can see no reason why everybody cannot eat a healthy diet. For the moment diet and exercise is the answer and, where appropriate, I would have thought it should always be the answer. Why take drugs if you can avoid them and often enjoy yourself at the same time?

If you have not started already this is a really good time to begin a walking fitness program. It has taken too long, but spring is finally in the air. Buds are budding and it is a pleasure to walk in the sunshine. So go for a walk, look at your diet and cut out most sugars, animal fats , carbohydrates and alcohol and you will begin losing weight. Losing just 5% of your body weight can decrease diabetes risk dramatically. It depends on your size but most people could do this in two months quite easily.

The best thing about walking for weight loss is that you can just do it. Of course it is a lot of fun in the country, but most cities have parks and a few circuits of the park should give you the minimum 30 minutes daily exercise you need. If there is no park just walk round the block - or several blocks. You really can avoid type 2 diabetes by enjoying yourself. Try it, you will not be disappointed.

See you soon,

Peter Stockwell

18 March 2010

Technorati Tags: type 2 diabetes, type 2 diabetes exercise, type 2 diabetes research, walking for exercise, walking for weight loss

Hello Everybody,

You may look a little pear shaped but you’ll lose that fat one day. No rush you think, it’s not doing much harm. Well maybe there is a rush.

A report from GlaxoSmithKline says that nearly nine out of ten people in Europe are unaware of the risks of carrying extra weight around their waistline. The report shows that belly fat also causes a dangerous build-up of fat around the internal organs. This ‘visceral fat’ can result in type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Now we should be aware that GlaxoSmithKline just happen to manufacture the weight loss drug Alli. So I am sure a little minor panic over excess weight will do them no harm in the market place.

As drug companies tend to, they have used well known people to carry out their research. Dr Terry Maguire is Honorary Senior Lecturer at Belfast University. He is also the proprietor of Maguire Pharmacy in Belfast. So he will know a lot about weight loss and weight loss products.

The report is co-authored by the well respected Professor David Haslam, who is President and past Chairman of the College of General Practitioners.

Of course the connection between obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease is well known. The report points out that the danger of visceral fat is due to the release of proteins and hormones which can cause inflammation and damage to arteries and the liver. This in turn affects how the body breaks down sugars and fats.

Another study, this time by physiologists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, showed that 80 minutes a week aerobic or resistance training helps not only to prevent weight gain but also to inhibit a regain of visceral fat one year after weight loss. If you have achieved weight loss through a weight loss program you must work to stop it coming back.. But a little over ten minutes exercise a day is not much to do for a longer life.

The good news is that when people lose weight the visceral fat disappears quickly. So if you do not want visceral fat and all the problems it brings you will need to change your lifestyle. East less sugars and saturated fats and get more exercise. That’s all there is to it really, but whatever weight loss program you adopt keep it up. Crash diets are short term and when you stop - as you will - visceral fat will soon return.

Being obese is a bad thing. It is bad for individuals because they are degrading the quality and shortening the length of their lives. It is bad for their children because obesity runs in families who share a high sugar, high fat, low exercise lifestyle. It is bad for nations because health services must pay for self imposed illnesses. It does look like visceral fat is dangerous and you should consider losing weight as soon as you can.

See you soon,

11 March 2010

Photo. Maccatree (Flickr)

Technorati Tags: abdominal fat, belly fat, belly fat diet, fat weight loss, how to lose visceral fat, visceral fat

Hello Everybody,

Quick weight loss can be safe, but you must know what you are doing. Look carefully at any quick weight loss plans you are considering and see what they ask you to do.

Starvation diets, in which you drastically cut down on calories, are bad for you. After 24 hours the body goes into starvation mode and slows down its metabolic rate. It protects vital organs by making the most of the calories it can obtain. The body adsorbs lean tissue and muscle to maintain the calorie level it needs to continue functioning. You are losing muscle, and muscle is the tissue which normally burns most calories. So, although you may lose weight quickly at first, the weight loss will slow down quite soon.

Trying to slim really quickly for a special event may well succeed but, if you start eating again as you did before, the weight will return as fat because you have slowed your metabolic weight and lost muscle. You will then have to exercise to regain the muscle you have lost. So, I hope you will agree that starvation diets are not a good idea. Do not persist with one. If a starvation diet becomes an obsession it can very soon become an eating disorder.

There are a lot of weight loss pills available over the counter. They are not all effective and some are possibly unsafe. In the USA the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) monitors the safety of drugs available on the open market. So do some research and check the FDA website before buying.

What is a safe way of losing weight quickly? First of all let us define ‘quickly’. Two or three pounds a week is fairly fast. Anything more is quick. To achieve quick weight loss drink a lot of water, eat lean meat and fresh fruit and vegetables. Fats should be from oily fish, olive oil, flax seeds or flax oil. Cut out animal fats, sugar, fizzy drinks and alcohol. Decrease the size of portions on your plate. You will need to exercise - remember what happens in a starvation diet. You will need to walk, swim, cycle or go to the gym for a minimum of half an hour a day. As long as you keep to a healthy diet the more you exercise the more you will lose.

Keep it up, persistence is the only way to lose weight. This kind of quick weight loss plan can be hard work and is not as quick as some, but it is the only way of losing weight and staying that way.

See you soon,

Peter Stockwell

5 March 2010

Photo. Women’s Education Center.

Technorati Tags: how to lose weight, quick healthy weight loss, quick weight loss plan, quick weight loss program

Hello Everybody,

It is nor difficult for older people to become fit, lose some weight and maintain their weight loss. The principles are similar to how young people achieve the same thing. They just need a fitness exercise program and a little time to do it every day.

Senior people need to look at balance, flexibility, muscular strength and cardiovascular endurance. That may be a list to make some of them want to lie down after reading it, but do not worry. First check with your doctor that you have no problems which may be affected by a fitness program. If he approves just do it, you will find getting fit easier than you thought. Let us look at the items on our list.

Balance: As people get older they tend to have problems with balance. This causes falls and falls cause broken bones. So looking at ways of improving balance is high on the priority list. All that is needed is to stand on one leg, count slowly up to 30 and then stand on the other leg for the same length of time. Do this each morning. Make sure you have something to grab hold of in case you find it more difficult than you expected. When you get good at standing on one leg do it on a cushion and when you get good at that do it with your eyes shut.

That is how to improve your balance. A minute a day to avoid breaking a collar bone is not a bad investment of time.

Flexibility: To keep the body flexible do toe touching exercises for five minutes a day. Try to touch both toes with both hands and then touch left toe with right hand and right toe with left hand. After that stand with your right arm at your side, hand on the outside of your leg and stretch downwards a dozen times, do the same the other side.

Muscular strength: You obtain muscular strength by pushing against a resistance. Cup your fist in your hand in front of you and push as hard as you can. Do this a few times and change hands. You can also lift light weights, push against a wall or do press ups if you are able. This type of exercise, if done regularly, will reduce the muscle wastage that occurs in old age.

Cardiovascular Endurance: If you do the three elements above it will take you about half an hour a day. Cardio exercises like walking, swimming, cycling, jogging or raking up leaves in the garden can take longer. But I think of them as the best bits of keeping fit and losing weight. I would recommend 30 minutes walking a day as being the minimum. You can, of course, carry on as long as you like. If the weather is good enjoy yourself and get fit at the same time.

That list is not as scary as perhaps it looked at first. If you need the motivation to begin a fitness exercise program you will find that most towns have groups of older people who exercise together and socialise at the same time. There are plenty of walking, jogging or swimming clubs to choose from. They all welcome new members and along with the benefits of getting fit and losing weight you will make new friends. Or if you prefer your own company just put on your walking boots and go. Either way you will get fit and have fun as well.

See you soon,

3 March 2010

Photo. Hygiene Matters (Flickr)

Technorati Tags: fitness exercise program, fitness tips, fitness walking, heart health, over fifties, senior walking, walk fit, walking exercise, walking fitness, weightloss