Weight Loss Should Be Enjoyable, Not Painful

Are you caught up in the New Year's Resolution fad?  Gee, I hope not... such a waste.  The reality is that if it's worth doing you should start doing it immediately, rather than waiting until some designated starting point.

And what do you think one of the top resolutions is for 2012 or any other year for that matter?  Losing weight off course.  It's something everyone feels a need to do, but very few actually accomplish.  And the more someone fails at something, the more likely they are to avoid it in the future, which translates into: if I don't lose the pounds quickly and easily the first couple of times I try, I'm not going to ever try again.

I've said it a hundred times (as have many others) you have to incorporate a long term (forever) lifestyle change that you can live with, if you are serious about losing weight.  Bottom-line if you can't live happily with your program, you won't stick with it and won't be successful.  In fact, a successful weight loss plan should actually be enjoyable!

Thus, you must figure out what works for YOU.  Beware of some celebrity spokesperson pitching a commercial plan.  (Nothing wrong with a LEGITIMATE commercial plan, as long as it fits your lifestyle and delivers the results you need.)  And avoid programs that claim quick weight loss, as they are not long term solutions.

For me, as a meat-and-potatoes guy I wasn't about to give up the food I liked, though I knew that most of it wasn't all that healthy.  So I made a slow transition into eating much smaller portions and along the way I also started (gradually) eliminating some of the really bad stuff. (Much more info in my book.) Eating slowly was a huge part, as it allowed me to fill up much quicker.

Exercise was also key and I knew that a gym was NOT the right choice for ME. Nothing wrong with a gym if it works for you, it just wasn't my thing.  Plus, with all of my travel, a gym certainly wasn't practical as I needed something that could be done anywhere, anytime.  That something turned out to be walking.  I have progressed from 15 painful minutes per day on a treadmill to 60-90 minutes of enjoyable outdoor power walking.  And no matter where my journeys take me, I can find the opportunity to walk - airports are a big favorite.

But it's not about what works for me, but what works for you.  Lifestyle is the key ingredient of a successful weight loss program!  A great example of this concept was profiled in an article by Abby Ellin that focused on overweight Big Rig Drivers. 

When you take a minute to think about it, someone who makes their living driving a truck spends a good part of their life sitting behind the wheel of a vehicle, barreling down the highway.  How many calories does that burn?  Combine that with a bevy of fast food meals, and you have the makings for an extremely sedentary, overweight human being.

Driver Roy Williams 70 pound weight loss is chronicled in the article, which is a perfect example of making a beneficial lifestyle change.  Gone are the days of eating in Truck Stops and guzzling down sugary drinks and snacks, replaced with healthier meal and snack choices.  Plus he keeps a fold-up bicycle in the cab of his truck so he can get exercise during rest stops. It's the kind of story that everyone can learn from.

So, for 2012, avoid the hype, the ads, the promises and the pitches, focus on how you can increase your exercise (in a fun way) while decreasing your caloric input.  And put an emphasis on making it enjoyable, not painful which will help ensure that you can stick with it forever.

Which Is Better - Running Or Resisting?

Sounds kind of like a plot from the TV Show Cops, huh?  But in this case, I'm talking about pounds, not the police and specifically the pounds that are associated with belly fat.  Visceral fat (also called liver fat) is the nasty stuff that's deep within the abdomen, filling the spaces between internal organs.  It's considered the worst of the worst and is associated with an increased risk of diabetes, heart disease and certain forms of cancer.  Thus, it should be a prime target for focusing your fat-busting efforts.

So in choosing an exercise/lifestyle program to target belly fat, which is the best choice - aerobic (running) or resistance (weight training)?  For one thing, choosing something you can commit to forever is a prime factor in choosing any program, as there will be no benefit whatsoever you don't stick with it.

But beyond that tidbit, researchers have found that aerobic exercise beats out resistance exercise for reducing that icky belly fat.  In addition, it resulted in a significant improvement in terms of heart disease risk factors, liver enzymes and triglyceride levels.

Certainly, resistance training is not a bad thing, as it improves strength and lean body mass, but aerobic exercise burns more calories - 67 percent more.

The eight month study done by Duke University Researchers utilized 196 overweight adults, aged 18 to 70.  The participants in the aerobic group did the equivalent of 12 miles of jogging per week at 80 percent maximum heart rate, while those in the resistance group did three sets of eight to 12 repetitions three times per week.

Walk Faster - Live Longer

I'm already hooked on the benefits of walking, as it has been a key part of my weight loss.  I'm now at the point that I shoot for a minimum of 5 miles per day, though on many days I go much further.  And over the years my pace has gotten much faster, both with normal everyday walking and focused fitness walking.  I can easily sustain a speed of 4.5 mph for 90 minutes without much trouble and I routinely reach the 5.0 mph threshold.  And since I can walk anywhere, anytime, I can stick to my plan without too much trouble.  End result is 70 pounds lost and kept off for over 5 years.

Without a doubt I have seen and experienced the positive results of walking in terms of weight management.  But it turns out there are even more benefits to walking, especially fast walking.

Several recent studies have concluded that faster walking speeds are reliable indicators of longer living.  An article in USA Today by Janice Lloyd reveals that the predicted years of remaining life for people age 65 or older increased as gait-speed increased, with the most significant gains coming after the age of 75.

In addition, it was found that predicting longevity based on gait speed was as accurate as predictions based on age, sex, chronic conditions, smoking history, blood pressure, body mass index and hospitalization.

Here is a summary of the information compiled from nine different studies involving 34,000 people:

How fast a person walks is a good predictor of longevity. An 80-year-old man who clocks 1 mph has a 10% probability of reaching 90, while a woman of the same age walking at that pace has a 23% chance. The median life expectancy for the 80-year-old man is four years. For the woman it is seven.

Up that speed to 3.5 mph, and the 80-year-old man has an 84% probability of reaching 90, while a woman would have an 86% chance.That translates to a median life expectancy of 14 years for the man and 17 for the woman.

Ok, so you might be thinking "I'm not anywhere near that age, so why do I care?" Simple answer - it will be here quicker than you think, so it's never too early to start down the path towards better health and fitness.   Plus, the later in life you wait to improve your health, the harder it is to do, and if you wait too long, it might be too late...