The Senior Walking Fitness Blog

Hello Everybody,

The real celebrity weight loss secrets are not available to most of us. Not because they are secrets - the way to lose weight is well known. It is because we cannot all afford to hire a personal trainer, have cosmetic surgery, find a ghost writer to write a book called Celebrity Weight Loss Secrets under our name and spend the proceeds on more cosmetic surgery.

If celebrities do have a secret it is motivation. Many are famous for being famous and nothing more than that. How they look is all they have to sell. Their face is their fortune and it had better stay looking good along with the rest of their body. So most have to lead a reasonably healthy lifestyle like it or not. The others become famous for self destruction and are best ignored.

So how do celebrities look good and stay looking good? We have already mentioned the personal trainer who, of course, is a motivator. He or she will provide the exercise regime and suggest a healthy diet.

But celebrities are subject to the same weight loss rules as the rest of us. Eat more calories than you need to maintain your present weight and activity level and you gain weight. Eat fewer calories than you need and you will lose weight. The calories you should be consuming depends on age, weight and activity level but women in low activity jobs aged 19-50 need about 1900 calories. Men in low activity jobs aged 19-50 need about 2500 calories. If you are more active you will need to eat more - within reason.

Daily exercise is essential. Celebrities seem to prefer a gym, probably because it gives a photo opportunity on the way there and nobody sees what they do inside. US presidents like jogging. For the rest of us a daily 30 minutes walk round the block or in the park is all we need. That, plus decreasing the calories and not eating junk food or drinking fizzy drinks should keep us fit and slim. There are plenty of diets available to help you lose a few pounds quickly if that is what you need.

Remember celebrities are motivated and dedicated. Looking good is their job and sometimes they take it to extremes. They have time and money - something most of us lack. So read books with titles like Celebrity Weight Loss Secrets, some have good advice about healthy diets. But the real secret is deciding how you want to look next month or in six months time or next year and making sure you achieve it.

See you soon,

Peter Stockwell

Cambridge UK

26 May 2011

Photo. Maxim Sergienko (Flickr)

Technorati Tags: best way to lose weight, celebrity weight loss, celebrity weight loss secrets, celebrity weight loss tips

Hello Everybody,

For anyone to say, ‘To lose weight eat all you want,’ sounds completely mad. There are those juice diets and detox diets and starvation diets and all of them tell you to eat less. You know eating all you want makes you fat. You’ve looked in the mirror. It has. There is, of course, a trick to all this. You can eat as much as you like of the right kind of food and lose weight. If you eat the wrong food you can’t - or rather it is hard work.

A study has been carried out by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville - yes another study on obesity. They looked at the Amish people living in Ontario, Canada and found they ate a diet some of which was high in fat. But they had a low rate of obesity. How did they do it? They worked the land. The men reported 10 hours of vigorous activity, 43 hours of moderate activity and 12 hours walking per week. The women reported 3 hours vigorous activity, 39 hours of moderate activity and 6 hours walking per week. That is six times the amount of exercise the average person gets. Also the diet these farmers had, although not ideal, would have been a lot more healthy than the diet most city dwelling office workers eat.

To lose weight you can eat all you want of the right food. That is fruit and vegetables, wholemeal pasta and brown rice as the basics. You may not want to eat a lot of meat, but what you do eat should be low fat meat like chicken. If you eat beef make sure it is grass fed beef from a known source. Any meat you have as part of your diet should be as low fat as possible and organically grown to avoid the chemicals used in production of intensively farmed animals. Do not try to totally eliminate fat from your diet, most meat contains some fat and it is needed, but just make sure you eat it in moderation. For those who like fish most are good for you, particularly oily fish like mackerel. Do try and avoid tuna, not for health reasons but because they are being over fished and it would be sad if we contributed to their extinction.

What you should be avoiding is white processed food like white bread, white rice and white pasta. This is all highly processed, eat it and you will pile on the pounds. Granary bread is a lot better, but even that should be eaten in moderation. One thing you really must avoid is sugar. We all know sugar puts weight on and we feel good about leaving it out of tea and coffee. But what about fizzy drinks? They are the delight of kids and teenagers and we know all about the problem of child obesity. Fizzy drinks have the same effect on adults. Fizzy drinks are packed with sugar - not only do they make you fat they rot your teeth as well. Cut out fizzy drinks and drink water instead.

As we have said, eat as much as you like of the right kind of food. You may feel this is not quite what you hoped for, but the right food can taste as good as the wrong food and you won’t get fat eating it. Just one more thing. Don’t forget those Amish farmers. To lose weight you will need exercise as well as your healthy diet. I am not suggesting you plough 100 acres with a horse drawn plough before breakfast. Leave that to the experts. You just need half an hour’s exercise each day. This can be as simple as a brisk walk round the block or cycling to work or to the shops. Gardening is exercise and so is housework. Exercise does not need to involve expensive time consuming trips to the gym.

Those who say, ‘To lose weight eat all you want’ are correct if you do it the right way. It certainly beats feeling hungry.

See you soon,

Cambridge UK

15 May 2011

Photo. J. D. Gregory (Flickr)

Technorati Tags: eat your way to weight loss, lose weight eating, to lose weight eat, why starve to lose weight

Hello Everybody, 

We have recently heard a lot about how to lose weight in bed. There are two ways of doing so. The one which springs to mind, and has been the subject of much dedicated research, is the least efficient. If we consider sex we find that this will burn about 145 calories in 30 minutes. Like any other cardiovascular exercise the longer we do it the more calories we burn. But an hour’s sex will only burn the calories in a chocolate bar. You can get the same result by going for a brisk walk - or nearly the same result.

If you really want to lose weight in bed you should look at your sleep patterns. It has been shown that the less you sleep the more you put on weight. There are several studies which confirm this. In 2006 at the American Thoracic Society International Conference it was reported that women who slept 5 hours a night were 32 percent more likely to gain weight compared to those who slept for 7 hours a night. Women who slept for just 6 hours a night were 12 percent more likely to gain weight. Unlike some research into weight loss, which draws conclusions based on small samples and short timescales, this is good science. It is based on 70,000 middle aged women over 16 years. Why should this be happening?

The National Sleep Foundation says that inadequate sleep can cause.

High levels of glucose in the blood leading to higher insulin levels and greater body-fat storage.

Lower leptin levels, which cause the body to crave for carbohydrates.

Lower growth hormones - a protein that regulates proportions of fat and muscle.

Increased risk of diabetes, increased blood pressure and increased risk of heart attack.

So we know what goes on when we have too little sleep. But how do we get fat as a result? The answer may be quite simple. Researcher Michael Sivak of the University of Michigan suggests that, ‘By replacing one hour of being awake with sleeping we forgo a significant consumption of food because of the resulting reduction in the opportunity to eat.’ He continues, ‘A person who sleeps for 7 hours a night and consumes 2,500 calories during the remaining 17 hours of the day can cut 147 calories by simply sleeping an extra hour instead of watching TV. This could result in a body weight reduction of about 14 pounds a year.’ Sounds logical - you can’t eat and sleep at the same time.

This applies to everybody, but it may be one of the reasons for child obesity. A child, and we should annoy teenagers by including them in this category, needs sleep. But children are getting less sleep. Indulgent parents allow TVs and computers in their bedrooms and, as any teacher will tell you, children catch up on sleep at school.

We are all designed to have around 7 hours sleep a night. If we are not having it we will suffer, not only from weight problems, but from poor performance at school or work. For significant weight loss we will need a healthy diet and regular exercise or, if we just want to lose a few pounds for an occasion, a safe fast weight loss diet. But we do need sleep as well and then we really will lose weight in bed.

See you soon,

Cambridge UK

8 May 2011

Photo. MsBlueSky (Flickr)

Technorati Tags: lose weight, lose weight in bed, lose weight now, need to lose weight, ways to lose weight

Hello Everybody,

It is not always easy to lose stubborn stomach fat. A lot of people have found that out. They have lost weight and all is going really well, except in the stomach area. Worst of all they are not losing fat from the one place they need to lose it most. Not just because it looks bad and prevents them dropping a dress or trouser size, but because stomach fat is dangerous.

There are two types of stomach fat - one lies directly under the skin on top of the muscles and the other lies deeper in the abdomen. Both are bad but the second is the worse. It can result in heart disease, high blood pressure, type2 diabetes and other illnesses. You do not need stomach fat. But, as you are finding out, it is not easy to lose. One thing you should know is that you cannot target stomach fat. Crunches, toe touching, hula hoops are all good for you but will not specifically target your stomach.

You will lose your stubborn stomach fat when you have lost enough weight for it to disappear along with the rest of your fat. The way to lose weight is well known, but if you go on a crash diet you will probably not lose much stomach fat. The weight loss will come from elsewhere, which is why you may be in despair because you cannot lose weight from your stomach. It is not that you cannot do it. It is that losing stomach fat just takes a little longer. It tends to come last. So what should you do? Carry on with a normal weight loss program.

Eat healthy food. This is obvious, but do make sure you keep to fresh fruit and vegetables, lean meat, fish and wholegrain pastas. Avoid white bread, white rice, saturated fats and sugars. Do not drink fizzy drinks or energy drinks.

Eat small portions 5-6 times a day. This keeps your metabolism moving and if you eat off small plates you will eat less without even noticing. But do eat breakfast.

Drink plenty of water. This fills you up and makes you feel less hungry.

Exercise. Although you cannot target your stubborn stomach fat you do need exercise to tone muscles and burn off calories. Brisk walking, jogging, cycling, swimming or dancing are all good. Lifting light weights can also help you get fit. Whatever you do try to do it for a minimum of 30 minutes a day.

Sleep. You need sleep. People seem to think they can survive on very little sleep. We all need 8 hours a night, those who sleep less eat more.

Being unable to lose stomach fat is not unusual - it is quite common. But you are not really unable to lose it. You just need more time. You will have taken months, maybe years, to put on weight. Now all you need to do is keep going with your weight loss program and your stubborn stomach fat will start to disappear.

See you soon,

Cambridge UK

1 May 2011

Photo. Blowmi (Flickr)

Technorati Tags: best ways to lose weight, lose 10 pounds, lose fat quickly, lose stomach fat, lose stubborn belly fat