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APRILWALKING's Recent Blog Entries
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Thursday, March 03, 2011
"If exercise could be packed in a pill, it would be the single most widely prescribed and beneficial medicine in the nation."
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
Well like I said earlier I have no choice but to lose some weight and bring all my numbers down for the doctor. I got scared and panicked and was going to start tracking my calories again but stopped myself. I know it works but my love is with my pedometer and doing steps. That is why I decided to do what I have too and that is keep doing my steps and portion control but more consistent. That is my biggest problem. I keep letting life get in the way and I can't! I need to make my steps (walking) a priority. It is soooo healthy for you! And I really do love it! So I need to just stick with what I love I feel so much more free! 
Friday, February 25, 2011
Walking: The Best-Kept Weight Loss SecretI know the title of this article raises red flags. How many times have we seen stories in the media about the latest and greatest weight loss miracle? How many people have been fooled into throwing their money away on quick-fixes that promise you will lose large amounts of weight without dieting or exercise? We all know these are scams but some of us still give in to the hype and buy the empty promises of these programs - whether they are pills, supplements, meal replacements, liquid diets, or something else. After so many failed attempts and years of yo-yo diets, it's easy to give up.
The good news is there actually is a great weight loss secret. Not only is this something that is easily accomplished, it's also free! It requires no special equipment, except for a decent pair of shoes. It is something you can easily incorporate into your day whether you are a busy executive or a soccer mom. You don't have to take any pills or force yourself to subsist on tiny portions of specially packaged diet foods. All it takes to start losing weight is to start walking.
I know you've heard this before, too. You may have even tried to incorporate some walking into your day, but were disappointed that you didn't experience the "miracle" results that supposedly come in a pill. If so, you're looking at this the wrong way.
Here are some things to keep in mind. We are living in an extremely sedentary society. We don't even leave the house to go shopping anymore, let alone get off the couch. We use our laptops, cell phones, and Blackberries to run our lives. We get our news and entertainment delivered to us through these modern technological conveniences. Don't get me wrong, these things are great. I have them and rely on them as much as the next person. The only problem is that our bodies weren't designed to spend most of our time sitting on our behinds. Just 50 or 100 years ago, people were significantly more active than we are today. They didn't set aside special time to work out. Every day was a work out. They walked to the store. They walked to work. They walked to the corner to visit friends and neighbors. Not only is exercise excluded from our daily activities, we don't walk to the corner for anything when we can drive.
Integrating walking into your day takes a little work at first. It's hard to break that "need for speed" mentality. If you plan ahead, you can walk several miles every day and make it a permanent part of your lifestyle with a little shift in your thinking.
So what happens when you walk? First of all, you burn calories. Walking 1 mile burns 60-80 calories (or more). That might not seem like much, but driving 1 mile doesn't burn any (or a minimal amount).
Burn calories walking your dog You Do the Math
We all know that weight is determined by the number of calories you consume vs. the number of calories you burn. If you burn 3500 more calories than you consume, you will lose a pound. You also have to consume 3500 more calories that you burn to gain a pound. That sounds like a lot, but we all know how quickly the pounds can pile on. They can come back off just as easily. You just have to focus on making calorie-burning activities part of your daily routine. Walking is the probably the best and easiest way to do this.
Let's say you live one mile from where you work. At a casual pace, that's about a 20-30 minute walk. That's not too big an investment time-wise, but it can make a difference in the number of calories you burn on a daily basis. Over the long term, even if you make no other changes, you will lose weight. One mile of walking burns around 60-80 calories, depending on your weight. That's about 150 calories burned each day by spending less than an hour walking. You would lose one pound every 23 days if you incorporated this walk into your day. Again, that's without making any changes to your diet or adding any other exercise.
Other simple ways to add more walking to your life include: walking your kids to school, walking your dog, walking to the store or library, or simply walking around the block after dinner every night. Doing Leslie Sansone tapes! Stepping in place watching TV.
The best thing about walking is its simplicity. You don't need to do tons of research or invest in specialized equipment. Beware of those who try to sell you things you don't need. Here are just some of the things people will try to sell you if you are thinking about starting a walking regimen. You don't need to buy any of them!
Buying these things is not going to make you lose weight. Walking is. If you do the work, the weight will come off, even without a glow-in-the-dark pedometer that calculates fat calories burned and your BMI while giving you a second-by-second update on the number of steps you've taken and how many steps it takes to burn an ounce. If you focus on these things you will most likely fail!
One investment you definitely do want to make is in a good pair of walking shoes and my favorite a pedometer. There are many brands to choose from. I suggest you shop around and find the ones that are most comfortable for you. It's well worth the investment to spend $100 dollars or more on a great pair of shoes. Not only will you enjoy walking more, but you will avoid foot problems that can be caused by wearing low quality shoes.
Don't feel overwhelmed. You can do this. Just get out there and start walking!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Do You Have Sitting Disease?
Too much time sitting down may spell bad news for your health. Here are 11 solutions.
By Lisa Fields
Chances are, you're reading this article sitting down. And if you're like most computer users, you've been in your chair for a while.
You're probably inactive for more of your day than you realize. Do you sit in your car while commuting to an eight-hour-a-day desk job, then unwind in front of the television all evening? Do you depend on email, direct-deposit paychecks, and online shopping to accomplish tasks that would have required you to run errands 10 or 20 years ago?
If so, then you may have "sitting disease." That's the new buzzword for a sedentary lifestyle, which may put your health at risk.
A growing body of research shows that long periods of physical inactivity raise your risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and obesity. In January 2010, British experts linked prolonged periods of sitting to a greater likelihood of disease. And that same month, Australian researchers reported that each hour spent watching TV is linked to an 18% increase in the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease, perhaps because that time is spent sitting down.
You're Meant to Move
"Human beings are a walking entity, exploring the world on our feet," says James Levine, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and author of Move a Little, Lose a Lot.
"The strangest thing in the world is that people spend all day scrunched in a chair. It's a form of physical entrapment," says Levine, who walks his talk. He strolled on a treadmill in his office at a 1 mile-per-hour pace while being interviewed for this article.
Levine's advice: Fight sitting disease by taking steps to become more physically active. But how do you actually do that when you're locked into a lot of sitting time at work and getting around town?
Beat Sitting Disease: 11 Simple Solutions
It's possible to drastically revamp your life to become more physically active – adding an expensive treadmill to your office or home, placing a new exercise bike in front of the television, hiring a personal trainer. But there are also simpler, less costly solutions.
Get NEAT. Levine recommends studding your day with nonexercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT), which includes stretching, turning, and bending. Aim for 10 minutes of NEAT each hour. "When I speak to the patient who is battling with [a sedentary lifestyle],'I can't afford the gym' is no longer a barrier," Levine says. "What I'm asking you to do doesn't cost anything. You integrate activity into your day, whether pacing around on the telephone, not using email, or taking the kids for a walk in the mall."
Think beyond your workout. Even if you exercise at lunch, you may still be sitting too much. "Getting one hour of exercise in the middle of the day is obviously going to be better than not doing anything, but that still leaves approximately seven hours of predominantly sitting during the workday," David Dunstan, PhD, tells WebMD in an email. "We have to have a whole-day approach to physical activity promotion," says Dunstan, who heads the physical activity laboratory in the division of metabolism and obesity at Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, Australia. He led the study on TV time and the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.
Mix standing and sitting. Sitting constantly is unhealthy, but standing still for long stretches of time can cause problems, too, such as bad backs or sore feet. It's better to frequently shift between sitting and standing, Dunstan notes.
Take regular breaks. "Most people know that if they don't exercise, they'll gain weight, but they aren't motivated to become more active," says exercise physiologist Fabio Comana, spokesman for the American Council on Exercise in San Diego. Get yourself moving more often with small goals, he says. "Stretch out your entire body, all the muscles that are cramped. If you do it five or six times a day, you'll start to notice a difference."
Pretend it's 1985. Have a question for your co-worker down the hall? Don't shoot him an e-mail; walk to his cubicle and ask him face to face. Some companies have instituted email-free Fridays to get employees out of their chairs more often, Levine says.
Adopt new habits. Standing uses more muscles and burns more calories than sitting, so train yourself to stand whenever you talk on the telephone. Pace during staff meetings, if your boss will allow it. Ask friends to go for a walk during lunch instead of chatting in the break room. Use the stairs instead of the elevator.
Rearrange the office. Help your company encourage its employees to be more physically active without suggesting that they install treadmills at every workstation, Levine says. Start having walk-and-talk meetings with your co-workers, rather than conference room meetings. Move trash cans out of cubicles to make people walk to throw out garbage. Relocate water coolers by windows, where people will want to congregate.
Embrace new technology. Telecommute from a park on a sunny day, or walk around outside while participating in a conference call. "Instead of tying people to their desks, technology is starting to release people from their desks," Levine says, noting the widespread use of text messaging, laptops, and cell phones with wireless Internet access. "The evolution of technology allows people to be far more mobile."
End your workday with a bang, not a whimper. Prolonged sitting at work can tire you out, making you zone out as 5 p.m. approaches, Comana says. "But if you take a brisk, 15-minute walk in the afternoon, you'll be far more productive in your last two hours. If you're worried that you don't have time for a walk, you may be surprised that you get your work done more quickly afterwards."
Rethink your commute. It's dangerous to try to exercise while you're driving, but if you take a bus or train to work, you can stand, clench, and relax your muscles or get off a stop early and walk several blocks. If mass transit isn't an option, find a distant parking spot so you walk for a few minutes before and after work, Dunstan says.
Watch more television. That is, if you vow to be active when you watch. "It is not our objective at all to discourage people from watching TV," Levine says. Pull your dust-covered treadmill out of retirement, place it in front of the television and only allow yourself to watch when you're walking. No exercise equipment? March in place or tidy the room while watching. Just don't be a couch potato: Research shows that the longer you sit watching television, the greater your waist circumference, and the higher your risk is of dying from cardiovascular disease, Dunstan says.
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Member Comments About This Blog Post:
I'm with you! 
Ya!! 
Renae
