The Senior Walking Fitness Blog

Hello Everybody,

The best weight loss system is to keep eating. Starvation diets are a really bad idea. Your body just shuts down and slows your metabolism to conserve energy. So you lose weight at first and then the weight loss slows and you are left feeling hungry and probably ill as well.. Starvation diets, fad diets and pills are all there because people want to lose weight quickly. Never mind that it took years of dedicated eating to make them over weight - they want an instant solution. Fast weight loss is a multi million dollar industry, so there are plenty of people out there who will tell you that it is possible. It is if you are desperate to lose weight for an event or a holiday.

There are diets and pills which will help you lose weight fast. You can lose 30 pounds in three weeks but be careful, particularly with pills. Find out what is in them and where they come from. Many pills contain caffeine. This may be called guarana which seems really healthy because it is not called caffeine. Guarana contains up to three times as much caffeine as coffee beans. If you do not find yourself with heightened blood pressure, heart palpitations and anxiety you are likely to suffer from insomnia. Then you may lie awake until you think a midnight feast is just the thing to cheer you up. Don’t you just love slimming pills? But not all pills are a problem. Use them for short periods and then only if you really have to. Remember, pills are not the best weight loss system.

The best way to lose weight is to just carry on eating normally. But not what you have been eating. We all know what junk food is, we buy it at fast food outlets, maybe at superstores. If you have not thought about it just stand behind an obese person in a superstore and check out what is in their basket. That’s junk food. Maybe it looks a bit like the food in your own basket. As well as cutting out junk food you must cut out snacking; crisps, cookies, sweets, chocolates all pile on the calories. Fizzy drinks contain a lot of sugar, energy drinks contain a lot of sugar and caffeine as well.

So what should you be eating? It is nearly as simple as taking away the junk food and eating what’s left. Fruit is good for you - the World Health Organisation recommends five portions a day. Vegetables, fresh or lightly cooked are good. Then you can eat whole grains, lean meat like chicken, and oily fish like mackerel. There are hundreds of recipes you can access online, some of the French and Italian dishes make losing weight a delight. There is also no problem about drinking an occasional glass of wine, or anything else you really enjoy. Just do not eat high calorie foods too often. Make sure you drink plenty of water as well, you will not want to eat as much and it helps you cut down on portion sizes.

I must mention exercise. It is needed as part of your new lifestyle - for that is what you are doing - changing your lifestyle in order to become fit and stay fit. You probably put on weight because, as well as enjoying your food, you did not much like exercise. Struggling on treadmills and lifting weights in the gym alongside people half your age is not fun. Who needs it? You don’t. Try walking or jogging instead. This will tone your muscles and get you fit. It will not burn off all the calories in a Big Mac but it will help. People have an exaggerated idea of how many calories they can burn off walking. The idea of walking off a pub lunch with a stroll round the block just will not happen. An hour’s walking at 3mph will burn off the calories in a chocolate bar. An hour’s jogging will burn off the calories in a slice of Victoria sponge cake. This sort of exercise, best done every day, helps and is good for you, but you will not lose weight unless you change your eating habits as well.

So you can change your lifestyle, eat good food, take a little exercise and lose weight. All without starving yourself. Now that has to be the best weight loss system.

See you soon,

31 October 2010

Photo. Lucas_Roberts 426 (Flickr)

Technorati Tags: best weight loss diet, best weight loss system, how to lose weight, lose weight, weight loss diet

Hello Everybody,

Healthy weight loss is easy if you eat fresh fruit. You just put an apple in your pocket and eat it when you feel hungry. That is true. But if you want to eat fruit as part of your healthy weight loss diet it is a good idea to consider it in a little more detail. The benefits of eating fruit are numerous. As well as helping you lose weight, eating fruit can give some protection against heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and cancer. Fruit is good for you, convenient and not too expensive. Where would we be without it?

I suggest that you eat organic fruit. This is something of a minefield. Fairtrade products, although they have other advantages, are not necessarily organic. The FDA allows organic farmers to use mild pesticides. Everything is not quite as it seems. To really know what you are eating you have to grow it yourself. Despite the healthy image, there is not much evidence that organic fruit is healthier than non organic fruit. It certainly tastes better and could be doing you some good - so buy it if you can afford the higher price. If nothing else you will be supporting your small local farmers.

Dried fruit is not such a good idea. This too can have a healthy image, which is not really the case. There is nothing wrong with the fruit, the problem is that dried fruit contains a lot of sugar. Avoid it and buy an apple instead.

It is best to eat fruit on an empty stomach because it is digested faster than most other foods. So you should eat your fast digesting fruit an hour or so before a meal. If you eat a meal at the same time as fruit the carbohydrates in the other food will slow digestion of the fruit. This can cause indigestion, wind and bloating.

How much fruit should you be eating? The World Health Organisation and the US and UK governments suggest that we all eat five portions of fruit a day. Not being fruit bats we may consider that rather a lot, but the portions are not large. These are the recommended sizes.

Small Fruit. One portion equals two or more small fruits ( two plums, two satsumas, three apricots).

Medium Fruit. One portion equals one medium fruit (one apple, one banana, one orange).

Large Fruit. One portion equals part of a large fruit (half a grapefruit, one slice of reasonable sized melon, one large slice of pineapple).

You do have a problem if you try to avoid eating fruit with a meal. You may want to eat a healthy diet and increase the number of meals by having smaller portions. This is a good thing to do, as it speeds up your metabolism and helps you lose weight. But if you separate out the five portions to avoid eating carbohydrates and fruit together you could be eating all day. I suggest you carry a couple of apples or bananas for mid morning and mid afternoon snacks and eat the rest of your five portions when you are able. You will soon know if this approach is causing digestive problems and can stop if it does.

That is all there is to it. Eat more fruit as part of a healthy weight loss diet and lose weight. Try to exercise and make sure you are eating fresh vegetables, lean meat and oily fish as well. Some suggest an all fruit diet, but I would not recommend it - even for a short period. Leave that to the fruit bats.

See you soon,

28 October 2010

Technorati Tags: 5 portions, five portions, fruit diet, healthy weight loss, lose weight, weight loss, weight loss diet

Hello Everybody,

Walking for weight loss is good exercise for all ages. But there is more to it than exercise alone. It has been found that, as well as toning muscles and burning calories, walking may help the brain. Part of getting older is that our brains shrink as brain cells die. This can lead to loss of memory and the tragedy of Alzheimer’s disease. Recent research is said to show walking may delay this process.

Nearly 300 older adults in Pittsburgh recorded how far they walked each week. After 9 years researchers took scans to measure their brain volume. Then after another 4 years they tested for cognitive impairment or dementia. It was found that people who walked a minimum of 6 miles a week had less brain shrinkage and as a result halved their risk of developing memory problems.

This has to be good news, but we should not get over excited about it. The story reached the public domain via Reuters and is based on an article by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centre and elsewhere. This was published in the respected Neurology journal and was reported in the media as a breakthrough, without mention of some peer group doubts regarding its conclusions.

The peer group expressed concern about whether the improvement being measured was entirely due to walking and about the accuracy of the experiment. I also have a few doubts. People taking part carried on for 13 years. The dedication needed to do this must have been immense. As they grew older I wonder if there was a falling off in accuracy of the results. They would have had assistance from the researchers and probably walked in controlled conditions. But did they always show up? Did everybody always walk their minimum of 6 miles each week? We are not told. Anyway, assuming that they did, and that the results are sound, can we really halve our chances of contracting Alzheimer’s disease just be walking?

Maybe we can, if we are really able to walk six miles a week in old age. But this is the time when arthritis, hip joint and knee problems come into play. Many older people have difficulty walking 20 yards to the bus stop - nearly a mile a day is quite out of their reach. It would be interesting to know how many people were able to walk this far for the whole trial period. I suspect not many.

So am I suggesting you ignore the whole thing? Not at all. Walking for weight loss, or just for pleasure, is an excellent form of exercise. It will keep you fit and, along with a healthy diet keep you slim as well. It is good for your physical wellbeing and it can take you to beautiful and spiritually uplifting places. By joining a club you can meet more people and make new friends and all this just for the cost of a pair of boots. Whether of not walking for weight loss helps fight Alzheimer’s disease it is still part of a healthy lifestyle. We should all walk for as long as we are able. I thoroughly recommend it.

See you soon,

21 October 2010

Photo. Brllnt_harmony (Flickr)

Technorati Tags: best way to lose weight, fitness walking, walk weight loss, walking for weight loss, weight loss program

Hello Everybody,

Winter weight loss is not as easy as losing weight in the summer and for those of us in the Northern hemisphere winter is just round the corner. We are more active in good weather and unless we enjoy skiing or chasing flocks of wild geese most of us prefer to stay home in the winter. Some say putting on weight in winter is a natural phenomenon. Our hunter gatherer ancestors did well in the autumn, gathering nuts and berries and hunting young easy to kill animals. So they built up fat to see them through the lean months ahead. This may be the case, but now that we do our hunter gathering in superstores we need to keep to our weight loss program or our weight will get out of hand.

But there are problems associated with the colder months. As the days get shorter there is less sunlight. Vitamin D is a well known requirement for healthy bones and general physical and mental wellbeing and is partly provided by sunlight. This lack of vitamin D may trigger the switch to winter metabolism and the deposit of fat. We are probably getting less vitamin D from sunlight today anyway, as we are encouraged to cover our bodies as much as possible during the summer. Fortunately vitamin D is also obtained from such things as omega-3 fats and oily fish. Oily fish is included in the Mediterranean diet, which I always recommend as part of a weight loss program. So make sure you top up your vitamin D level in the winter months.

One more problem is Seasonal Affective Disorder - one person in a hundred suffers from it and it is a form of depression that occurs between September and April. Do not confuse the usual winter blues with Seasonal Affective Disorder. If you spend ten minutes starting your car in the morning, skid on an icy drive and run over the cat you are unlikely to be cheerful when you get to the office. But if you have Seasonal Affective Disorder you will be too depressed to get out of bed in the first place.

It is possible that lack of light affects the brain and, as a result of this, we can feel tired depressed and hungry. So it is easy to comfort eat on high calorie, high fat, high sugar foods to cheer us up. Be aware of what may be happening and try to keep to your weight loss program.

Of course, if you have full blown Seasonal Affective Disorder and suffer from clinical depression you will need the help of your doctor, who will offer medication and maybe counselling.

Try not to stay indoors all winter. Exercise is important to keep muscles in trim. As we get older, and that means over 30 years old, our muscles begin to weaken. Without exercise this process of muscle wastage continues, our metabolism slows and we begin to deposit fat. So we need to keep up regular exercise as part of a weight loss program.

Put all this together and you stand a good chance of having increased you weight by December and we all know what happens in December. But you could lose 8-10 pounds before Christmas. You have the time. Just swap your junk food for a Mediterranean diet (Google it for recipes), spend 30 minutes a day taking a brisk walk and make sure you eat oily fish or omega-3 capsules if you don’t like oily fish. Try to avoid the winter blues if you can and, even if you don’t like skiing or wild geese, make an effort to get out more. That is all a weight loss program consists of. It’s easy, start losing weight now and you will be able to enjoy your food and still weigh less on 1 January than you do today. It must be worth a try.

See you soon,

16 October 2010

Photo. Cherington (Flickr)

Technorati Tags: best way to lose weight, healthy weight loss, lose weight, mediterranean diet, weight loss, weight loss program, winter weight loss

Hello Everyone,

There is a lot of food to avoid if you want to lose weight, most of it in fast food outlets or coffee shops. But it is useful to know some of the obvious and the less obvious food to walk away from. None of these suggestions will be harmful in moderation. By that I mean on rare occasions, not three times a week. A plate of fish and chips to celebrate losing eight pounds in four weeks will not put the eight pounds back on again. But it will if you like your celebration fish and chips so much you decide to eat it every day. So if you really want to lose weight here are five meals to think hard about before eating.

McDonald’s Quarter Pounder with Cheese. Everybody knows this one. It does contain some reasonable ingredients. The beef is said to have no additives, although lean meat would be better, and the lettuce and onions are just lettuce and onions. However after that it is not so good. The Big Mac Bun, Big Mac Sauce, Cheddar Cheese Slice and Dill Pickle Slices are a riot of additives. Then there is the size of the thing. The Mac is indeed Big. Too big. The McDonald’s website helpfully gives ‘8 Top Tips’ to eat a balanced diet, alongside the ingredients of a Big Mac. This is mostly good advice, but I note that it does not suggest you eat a Quarter Pounder.

1 burgher contains. Total fat 40%, saturated fat 8%, cholesterol 30%, calories 510.

Fish and Chips. The British National Dish, which is not unconnected with the fact that there are now very few cod left in the North sea. The British Food Standards Agency wants to increase the size and thickness of chips because they absorb less fat. The National Federation of Fish Fryers is resisting this, saying it could cause the ruination of Britain’s best loved meal and the closure of small fish and chip shops, which would have to install expensive new equipment to slice thicker chips. No doubt there will be riots in the streets, but the bottom line is eat enough fish and chips and you will get fat. If you live in the UK just take a look at the people in the queue at your local chippie. A lesson to all of us who want to lose weight.

1 serving - 290g contains. Total fat 22%, saturated fat 8%, cholesterol 33%, calories 410.

Coffee and Almond Croissant. I put these together because we tend to eat and drink them together. The problem is that coffee and croissant can become a morning ritual - and very civilised it is too. Except that it is not very good for you. There are a lot of calories involved in your Starbucks morning snack. An almond croissant is around the same calories as a plain croissant, a butter croissant is more. If you just cannot survive without your morning civilisation try to drink black coffee and avoid butter croissants. That way you will keep the calories and cholesterol lower, although not exactly low.

Starbucks tall café au lait - whole milk - contains. Total fat 8%, saturated fat 20%, cholesterol 8%, calories 108

Starbucks Almond filled croissant. Total fat 28%, saturated fat 35%, cholesterol 10%, calories 330.

Egg, Cheese and Bacon Sandwich. Beloved of construction workers the bacon sandwich, together with over enthusiastic alcohol consumption, is the cause of the builder’s belly we know so well. Proof that hard exercise does not always cancel out a calorie rich diet. Beware of the bacon sandwich and its parent the full English breakfast. The origin of the expression ‘A heart attack on a plate.’

Steak n Shake Egg, cheese and bacon sandwich contains. Total fat 46%, saturated fat 50%, cholesterol 81%, calories 476.

These are just some of the high calorie, high cholesterol foods to avoid if you want to lose weight. You do not have to give them up completely, although in some cases it would be a good idea. An occasional plate of fish and chips or coffee and croissant with milk will do no harm. Just be aware of what you are eating. If you are not sure what is in your meal check the calories and fat. The Calorie Count website is a good source of information, but do not get obsessive about calories. Sensible eating is the way to go and, of course regular exercise helps control your weight. So long as you avoid the bacon sandwiches.

See you soon,

Photo. Virgin suicide (Flickr)

Technorati Tags: best way to lose weight, food to avoid, healthy food, healthy weight loss, lose weight, weight loss, weight loss diet

You may be considering how to lose weight. Perhaps you have been doing so for a while. You are overweight and have decided to do something about it. You will start on Monday. But suddenly it’s Tuesday and you had decided to start on Monday. So you’ll start next Monday. This can go on for a long time.

Motivation is a problem many people have. They know they are overweight. They know they look awful and if they stay overweight it will shorten their life. But they still put off trying to lose weight. It is all about motivation - or rather lack of it. So how can you get motivated?

First of all decide what you want. Do you really want to be slim? For yourself. Or are you just telling people you are going on a diet to avoid them thinking you are a fat, lazy, slob? If deep down you love pizza and fries, and don’t care if you get heart problems and type2 diabetes as a result, that is your decision. You can carry on as you are and forget all about weight loss motivation. Problem solved. But if you decide you really want to be slim you have defined your goal and now you can start to lose weight.

Do some research. Read about other people’s success and failure. Feel that you are part of a group with a worthwhile aim and think yourself slim. Visualise yourself wearing new clothes, bounding upstairs, running for a bus. Mentally take your clothes off - yours, not that 20 year olds in the street! Think how good you will look. How amazed and complimentary your friends will be.

Think what you have to do. It’s not a lot, just eating better and walking round the block every day. It’s not rocket science, you can do it.

Set yourself short term goals. Lose one pound a week. Nothing to it, just eat 500 calories less every day. That is a cup of coffee and a croissant in your favourite coffee shop. You don’t need it anyway, but if you are desperate for coffee drink it black.

Tell your friends you will be four pounds lighter this time next month. If you are you’ll go to a show together. Book the tickets. Do it again the month after and the months after that.

Before you start to lose weight take some photos of yourself. That is so you can take more photos in a year’s time when you have reached your final goal. Then send them to the local newspaper. You will be a star.

That’s how you get motivated. Start on Monday and really mean it. You don’t know how to lose weight? Just throw away the junk food and fizzy drink and eat plenty of fresh fruits, salads, vegetables, whole grains, lean meat and oily fish like mackerel. Exercise by taking half an hour’s brisk walk every day - longer if you have the time. That’s it. No detoxification, no rare berries picked by bushmen at dawn in the Kalahari desert, no pills. Just healthy food, not very arduous exercise and you’re on your way. As my Australian friends would say - ‘No Worries.’

See you soon,

6 October 2010

Photo. Wanderer and Wonderer (Flickr)

Technorati Tags: best way to lose weight, how to lose weight, weight loss, weight loss motivation, weight loss plan, weight loss program