The Senior Walking Fitness Blog

Hello Everybody,

The best way to lose weight may not be the fastest. You really need a lifestyle change and this begins with the right food.

Eating a more healthy diet is an essential part of losing weight. So it is interesting to know how you can substitute one food for something similar and easily reduce your calorie intake. ‘Woman’ magazine has just published an article showing how you can swap foods to something similar and reduce calories. This could well be a route to the holy grail - easy weight loss.

This is a selection from the article on healthy summer food.

Barbecues.

Swap. Beef burger and fried onions in a bun - 419cals. 24.9g fat.

For. Grilled steak and salsa in pitta bread - 252cals. 3.9 fat. Save 167 calories. 21g fat.

Picnics.

Swap. Standard-size pork pie. 500cals. 36g fat.

For. Three mini-Scotch eggs. 180cals. 14g fat. Save 320 calories. 22g fat.

Drinks.

Swap. One large glass of sangria. 155cals. 0g fat.

For. Single measure of Pimm’s with diet lemonade. 40cals. 0g fat. Save 115 calories. 0g fat.

Ice Cream.

Swap. Three scoops of vanilla ice cream. 319cals. 18g fat.

For. Three scoops of lemon sorbet. 175cals. 1g fat. Save 144 calories 17g fat

There are many more examples in the article and it shows that saving calories does not have to result in boring tasteless food. You could do this for every meal. Of course it will need a little one-off research to establish the calories in the food you are eating and in the alternatives. But once you have done it you will know the healthy and unhealthy meals and which of the healthy ones you like.

You should know that, as a rough guide, a 31-50 year old woman who is moderately active - walking for an hour a day for example - needs 2000 calories a day.

A 31-50 year old man who is moderately active needs 2500 calories a day. Information is available on the internet to give you more accurate figures depending on your age, weight and height. If you wish to lose 1 pound a week you must eat 500 calories less than you need every day.

I have said before that madness lies in obsessional calorie counting. But you are establishing your healthy eating lifestyle and once you know what you like you can forget about calorie counting altogether.

So we have the tools and we really should not lack motivation. More Americans have been killed by fast food outlets than by al Qaeda. We need to understand the extent of the obesity problem and how it cannot be solved for us. But we can solve it for ourselves. Just daily exercise and a little bit of calorie counting and anybody can achieve easy weight loss.

See you soon,

28 June 2010

Photo. Bordons (Flickr)

Technorati Tags: easy weight loss, healthy diet, heart health, how to lose weight quickly, swap meals, walking weight loss

Hello Everybody,           

There are a lot of weight loss diets out there. To make a choice you need enough information to decide what to do. You may well want to lose weight quickly. Perhaps There is a wedding or a party or an anniversary quite soon and you have just looked in the mirror and had a shock. Typically the event would be 2-4 weeks away.

It never ceases to amaze me that people can spend years getting fat and expect to get thin in a few days. But if you have 2-4 weeks to lose a lot of weight a crash diet is the only answer. You may not feel too good while you are dieting but it is your best hope. Realise there may be nasty side effects and do not expect your weight loss to continue after you stop. The reason being that when you go back to your old lifestyle it will have the same results. You will get fat.

Having lost weight and then put it on again do not yo-yo into another crash diet. Just think about what you are doing wrong and how to get off the carrousel. You will need to look at what you are eating, which is probably junk food, fats, sugars and fizzy drinks. Then you must change to a more healthy diet. This is when the image of a life spent eating celery and drinking bottled water comes to mind. But it need not be like that, there is a diet you can actually enjoy. It is one of the best around and has evolved over thousands of years. It originated in Southern Europe where people like their food and would be as horrified as you are at living on celery and bottled water. Southern Europeans are seldom overweight, they live long active lives and enjoy a healthy old age. How do they do it? By eating the Mediterranean diet.

This contains grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes, nuts, oily fish such as mackerel and lean meat. Olive oil is used instead of saturated animal fats for cooking and garnishing. Typically fish would be eaten several times a week. Red meat may be eaten occasionally. The good news is that 1-2 small glasses of red wine a day is an acceptable part of the diet.

Mediterranean food is good food. There are 22 countries bordering the Mediterranean and food varies, but Spanish, French, Italian and Greek food all contain similar basic ingredients. Recipes abound, so you will have a good choice in what you are able to eat. Losing weight can be like being on holiday.

As well as changing your diet you will need to exercise. Until recently many people living in Southern Europe were fishermen or farmers. Today most have access to the sea for swimming or sailing and cycling is a national obsession. They are healthy because of their lifestyle as well as what they eat. You may find that walking is one of the easiest ways you can get fit. Just start by walking for half an hour a day in the town, the country or around the park. That is only 15 minutes there and 15 minutes back. After two or three weeks, if you the have time, try to walk an hour a day. That is all there is to it, some mild exercise and the Mediterranean diet. You can forget the celery and bottled water, just eat well and enjoy yourself while you lose weight.

See you soon,

Photo. Tina Manthorpe

Technorati Tags: best weight loss diet, diet and exercise, fast weight loss, fat weight loss, fitness diet, mediterranean diet, quick weight loss

Hello Everybody,

Walking for weight loss in the summer can be a delight. The warm breeze, the blue sky, the flowers, the birdsong, the sunshine. Yes, the sunshine. It feels good and it is tempting to stay in it a long time. Be careful, your skin will be receiving two types of radiation - ultraviolet type A (UVA) and ultraviolet type B (UVB). UVA penetrates deep into the skin, it contributes to aging and is also the radiation that can give you cancer. UVB burns. It is the one that makes you wish you had kept your shirt on or worn a hat. Sunshine is lovely, but it can ruin a day, a holiday or a life.

Sun screen is a must and should be used liberally and renewed every few hours. You should use broad spectrum coverage for all skin types. This will protect against both UVA and UVB. You then must consider the sun protection factor (SPF). The range should be at least 15-30 for all skin colours. Use this and you will be safe.

It is not only your skin that needs to be protected from the sun. Your eyes are vitally important. It is easy enough to go into a shop and buy a pair of sunglasses. But if these are labelled ‘cosmetic’ or do not give information on UV protection you are not saving your eyes. You are just saving money. Ultra violet radiation can damage the clear outer parts of the eye and has an effect on the development of some types of cataracts. Eye protection is not a money saving option. So choose sunglasses that block at least 95 percent of UVA radiation and at least 99 percent of UVB radiation and your eyes will be well protected.

Clothing must be appropriate to the temperature and the activity. A hat should be worn and if possible you should wear clothing that wicks away moisture from your skin to the outside of the material where it evaporates. Wear loose clothing and in the heat of the day cover up as much as is comfortable.

Drink plenty of water. Everybody should do so, but if you are overweight you will sweat a lot and it is even more necessary to replace the liquid lost. An hour before you walk drink a large glass of water While walking try to drink a cup of water every mile, after an hour have a cup of a sports drink containing salts. Do not drink ‘energy’ drinks. Most are carbonated and consist of large amounts of caffeine and sugar. You should not drink them when you exercise and the sugar will do nothing for your walking for weight loss program.

Now you are prepared for your walk in the sun. The same precautions apply, of course if you taking part in activities such as swimming, cycling, riding or any other outdoor sport.

This may seem rather a lot of trouble for a couple of hour’s walking and a picnic. But sunscreen, sunglasses, water and loose clothing is not too much to remember. If you have ever had sunburn or heat exhaustion you will know a few simple precautions are well worth the trouble.

See you soon,

12 June 2010

Photo. Robert Crum

Technorati Tags: fitness walking program, heart health, nordic walking, nordic walking exercise, senior walking exercise, walking for fitness, walking for weight loss, weight loss

Hello Everybody,

It is remarkable how many of us are looking for weight loss help. In America 50 million people want to lose weight or are actively trying to do so. That is about the population of England. Out of all those people, who understand the problems of obesity and want to do something about it, only 3-4 per cent succeed in losing weight and maintaining their weight loss over a significant period of time.

America spends 33 billion dollars a year on weight loss products and services. We are close to being able to say that none of it works. Why is nothing working? Well maybe it is. What is really needed is a reality check. People who want to lose weight expect fast dramatic results. But what they expect and what they can achieve are two different things.

Dr Thomas A Wadden of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine asked people averaging 220 pounds what they would consider an acceptable level of weight loss. For them a 38 percent loss would be ideal, a 32 percent loss would make them happy, a 25 percent loss was acceptable, a 17 percent loss disappointing and a 10-15 percent weight loss very disappointing.

This is probably what most people would say when asked what they would expect to achieve. But this perception is based on claims from weight loss product suppliers. A scientifically supported diet can produce a weight loss of 9-13 percent of total body weight over 52-72 weeks. Programs supported by pharmacotherapy can, at most, result in 10-15 percent weight loss long term. Many would be disappointed by this, but it would result in a significant improvement in health.

Of course it is possible to lose a lot of weight in a short time and if that is what you want there are plenty of crash diets to help you. Just be aware that quick weight loss can be dangerous. Gall bladder disease, particularly the development of gall stones, is 15-25 times higher in people experiencing rapid weight loss than in the rest of the obese population. Gall stones can be a particularly painful affliction, try to avoid crash dieting.

The reason for people staying fat is expectation. They hope they can lose a lot of weight fast. They are unhappy because only losing 10-15 percent of their body weight after a year’s weight loss program makes them think they have failed. What they should be doing is celebrating their success and moving on to losing another 10-15 pounds in the next year. This is a sustainable weight loss program and not a series of crash diets which will achieve very little.

Another problem is one of planning. In February we may not know where we are going on holiday but we do know it will be in August. We have six months to lose weight in order to look good on the beach - any beach. Or maybe to compete with the Italians in Rome, whatever we plan to do we have time to get fit to do it. So start early and there will be no problems reaching your goal, as long as it is a realistic goal.

See you soon,

9 June 2010

Technorati Tags: aids weight loss, helps weight loss, slimming help, slimming success, weight loss help, weight loss tips

Hello Everybody,

Many of us try to get fit before we go on holiday. The beach is a place where we do not want to look over weight. Keeping to a healthy weight loss program for a few weeks will certainly help you lose a few pounds before you go away. But what will you do when you get there? Is it worth trying to maintain your weight at all?

The maximum weight loss I would recommend is two pounds a week. It will take you nearly two months to lose a stone. But if you eat a high fat, high sugar, high calorie diet on holiday you can put on half a stone in a fortnight and probably will. So it really is worth doing what you can to minimise weight gain, even if you do not maintain your previous weight completely.

Here are a few tips which may help.

1. Before a big evening meal have a light meal a couple of hours earlier. Try a little cottage cheese or chicken and a small salad without mayonnaise. This will cause you to eat less high calorie food later.

2. Eat smaller portions. The size of your plate determines the size of your meal. Enjoy your food but do not have massive portions. One of the reasons the French are slim is because they eat less at a sitting.

3. Get some exercise. You should aim at two half hour periods a day. Morning and evening is best, particularly in hot climates. Walking, cycling, swimming, tennis are all good, but anything which gets you moving is worth doing. Do not think of exercise as a chore, make it part of the fun.

4. Drink plenty of water. If you are drinking water you are not drinking high sugar fizzy drinks or alcohol. In an unfamiliar country avoid tap water even if it is labelled ‘drinking water’. Bottled water is a lot safer.

5. Do not snack. It is easy to take a packet of crisps and a coke to the beach. Then have an ice cream when you get there. That is how the calories creep up on you. Take a bottle of water and some fruit. Wash or peel the fruit to avoid a major slimming experience.

6, Look in the mirror. After a week are you happy with what you see? A business man will tell you that if you keep doing the same thing you will keep getting the same results. So it may be time to make a change in what you are eating and how much exercise you are getting.

7. Be realistic. You are on holiday, not at a health club - or if you are on holiday at a health club you do not need my advice. Of course you will eat more on holiday, and you will not know the calorie value of all you eat. If you only put on a couple of pounds you have done well and can easily lose it on your return from holiday. But remember, half a stone is a lot more difficult.

That is all there is to it. No need to spoil your holiday with constant calorie counting. All you need to do is what you would do at home to maintain your weight loss program. Do not worry if you miss the target. Just be aware of pitfalls and try not to miss the target by too much.

See you soon,

4 June 2010

Photo. f_snarfet )Flickr)

Technorati Tags: best way to lose weight, holiday health, how to lose weight, keep slim, weight loss advice