A dear old friend and I were discussing exercising and losing weight the other evening and she was telling me that her husband is on the treadmill every morning and goes to the gym every Saturday, but still has a pronounced belly.
I told her, in a nutshell, that unless one controls what they eat, they will not loose weight by just exercising.
She vaguely remembered my “Walking” post of April 2, 2015 and suggested that I go over the topic again.
The famous Turkish professor’s miracle formula was:
“Everyone who has a weight problem, or wants to maintain a healthy weight, should take a minimum of 5,000, an optimal of 7,500, an ideal of 10,000 steps a day. Anything less, unfortunately, will not work.”
He still keeps pushing this idea and, interestingly, there are “programs” that supposedly help you loose weight by walking being advertised and sold on the social media.
I have written about this before, but I re-emphasize:
I would have to run about 45 kilometers to burn one pound of fat.
A 10,000-step walk will take about 1.5 hours and you will expend about 350 – 400 calories. You need to expend 10 times that amount to burn one pound of fat. And, you cannot do this peace by piece; it has to be done in the same time period.
Let’s look at the eating side, or the calorie intake side of the story.
McDonalds Big Mac 550 calories
Cheddar Cheese, 128 gm 500 calories
Snicker Bar, 2 bars 500 calories
Bread, 7 slices 500 calories
As you can see, the benefits of the whole one and a half hour walk, goes down the drain this easily.
Our hunter-gatherer ancestor’s were able to survive times of famine/hunger thanks to their fat stores. If fat burning had been that easy, we Homo sapiens would not be here today.
Walking is an activity one undertakes to get from Point A to Point B; it is not a sport.
So, should we take a daily walk? DEFINITELY YES.
Please re-read my post “Your Brain After a 20-Minute Walk”, dated April 9, 2015. How this increases happiness is covered in a scientific way.
Let me cover the benefits in a less scientific way:
- If you walk alone, you also involuntarily meditate,
- Walking oxidates the body and the brain,
- You can practice Yoga breathing while you walk,
- You work the muscles in your legs, butt and arms.
These muscles will not get stronger or grow, because you are not challenging them, but YOU WILL BE USING THEM.
Why is this good? Because when you use muscles you will not be faced with sarcopenia (muscle death).
Remember, when you loose 40 % of your muscle mass, YOU DIE.
ENDING NOTE: loosing weight is 20 % exercise and 80 % diet.
Newsflash
I’d like to pass on to you something I just read in the social media related to last week’s post.
Belgium has supposedly stopped the sale of Cola in their country.
The Belgian minister of health, Luc Van Den Bossche has ordered all Cola products to be removed from the market. Emphasizing the fact people who consume Cola, are being harmed by this product, particularly children; he stated that Cola contains a compound called HEMOLYSE, which destroys red blood cells.
Misinformation??? You decide.
That’s it my friends; see you next time.
