Carole Carson

Trivia Question: Is Patterned Eating Wrecking Your Weight-Loss Goal?

More than half of the adults in the United States consume more calories on weekend days than they do on weekdays. How many extra calories are consumed by these weekend food warriors?

1. 84 to 411

2. 45 to 85

3. 210 to 502

The correct answer is number1: 84 to 411 calories. The extra calories consumed on holidays is even higher―340. To keep weekend and holiday eating from wrecking your weight-loss effort, try these tips:

• Wake up at your regular time on weekends and eat breakfast (instead of sleeping late and consuming a heavy brunch).

• Weigh in on Friday morning and Sunday night.

• Keep a journal and record your food intake.

• Minimize alcoholic drinks; their empty calories pack on pounds.

• Increase your exercise time on weekends.

Bathing suit season is around the corner. If you manage your eating on weekends and holidays, you’ll be ready to bare arms.

99 Ways to Get More Exercise

Americans are hard working people. We are so task oriented that we are able to transform what should be an enjoyable activity―playful exercise―into a dreary chore, yet another task on our already burdened “to do” list. Some of us also make the mistake of thinking that exercise requires a block of dedicated time rather than seeking ways to incorporate movement throughout our day.

If you’re finding exercise hard to begin or stick with, you can start by expanding your range of options. Here are 5 tips for making exercise an ongoing part of your lifestyle. You’ll find an entire list of 99 ideas when you visit www.fitnesstipsforlife.com.

1. Get off the couch and change the channel manually—or better yet, turn off the television!
2. Spend as much time outdoors as possible.

3. Always use the stairs.

4. Park the car as far away from the entrance as possible.

5. If you have access to a swimming pool, jump into water sports, particularly water walking and aerobics.

Consider sharing this list with your mate, friends, children and grandchildren so that you can surround yourself with folks who are having fun with movement. Or take the time to make up your own list. I’m fairly confident that even 99 tips don’t exhaust the ways to incorporate more exercise into our lives. What additional tips do you have?

Photo courtesy of Jenny Z.

Get Your Kids Moving!

The single most important way parents can engage their kids in physical activity is to be a role model. Both parents and children need to incorporate movement into their daily lives. Playing outdoors, weather and safety permitting, should be part of your daily routine. Community sports programs are also an excellent way to promote exercise. If your kids aren’t competitive, consider enrolling them in dance, swim, martial arts or gymnastic classes. You could also mount a basketball hoop over your garage door or plan vacations around exercise opportunities, such as camping by a lake.

Photo courtesy of Neil Gould

What’s the Link between Surplus Weight and Medical Problems?

In my role as coach for the AARP Fat 2 Fit Community Weight-Loss Challenge, I ask experts to share their insight on issues involving fitness. One such expert is Dr. Michael F. Roizen, who is regularly featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, NBC’s Today, 20/20, Good Morning America and CBS News Sunday Morning.

I asked Dr. Roizen, “What’s the link between surplus weight and medical problems?” His answer follows:

 

A large waist leads to high blood pressure, arthritis, altered body image and low self-respect. Extra belly fat also causes more inflammation than sand in your swimsuit, and that inflammation causes insulin resistance diabetes (with an average 17-year lag), heart disease and impotence (average 25-year lag) and cancer (average 35-year lag). If those health concerns weren't enough, a sizeable girth also causes problems zipping up your pants.

Dr. Roizen confirms the statistic that 80 percent of our medical problems are a function of lifestyle. The deadly quartet (heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer) is increasingly linked to unhealthy eating and exercise habits that result in obesity and a lack of fitness overall. The statistic is worrisome, but it simultaneously reassures us that we can reduce our risk by adopting a healthier lifestyle.

Michael Roizen, MD

Michael F. Roizen, MD, has written four New York Times bestsellers, including You: The Owner’s Manual, which he coauthored with Dr. Mehmet Oz. Other popular books coauthored with Dr. Oz include You: Staying Young and You: On a Diet. Michael’s writing has also appeared in numerous scientific papers, textbooks and medical books. Besides holding patents on several of his inventions and being a prolific lecturer, Michael has produced four PBS fundraising television specials. He chairs the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute. With his extensive experience in educating individuals on the care of their bodies to achieve optimum health, Michael guides and inspires individuals of all ages.

How Much Exercise Is Needed to Lose Weight?

When I first talked to my doctor about my fitness and weight-loss goal, I began by describing my exercise plan. He responded by saying “There aren’t enough hours in the day to exercise off the pounds you need to lose.”

Although his statement was blunt, a recently reported study of 34,000 women supports its accuracy. Researchers found that women who are middle-aged or older need an hour of exercise a day just to avoid gaining weight. These regularly exercising women did not, however, limit their calories in any way. What I concluded from the study (and what’s consistent with my own experience) is that even 420 minutes of exercise a week is not enough to shed pounds. Calories must also be reduced.

Notice that I said reduced calories, not less food. By choosing foods that are high in volume and nutritionally sound, women can lose weight even while increasing the amount of food eaten. For ideas on how to achieve this, you might want to check out Dr. Howard Shapiro’s book Picture Perfect Weight Loss. I’ve used his book in my fitness classes because the pictures of food dramatically demonstrate how much a person can eat and still lose weight―if the food choices are high in volume and nutrition. You can get an idea of what I am talking about at http://pictureperfectweightloss.com/demo.htm.

Exercise has wonderful benefits: our bodies were designed to move. With regular exercise, we have more energy, we sleep better, our bones and muscles are stronger, our skin and overall appearance improve, our balance and flexibility are enhanced, we are sharper mentally, we make better decisions, and our heart and other organs perform better. Exercise definitely has an essential role to play in helping us achieve fitness. But bottom line, to achieve weight loss, we must combine exercise with healthful eating.

Photo courtesy of Ove Tøpfer

Adopt Healthy Habits to Keep Your Wits About You

Want to keep your smarts? Here's yet another reason to get and stay fit: your brain will perform better. A study of 5,123 Londoners over a 17-year span found that individuals who led a sedentary lifestyle (little or no physical activity) and ate a poor diet (low fruit and vegetable consumption) were nearly three times as likely to suffer poor thinking skills and have memory problems as those with healthy lifestyles.

Researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute are also confirming that regular exercise improves both physical and mental fitness. Researcher Terrence J. Sejnowski reports this his studies support the idea “that exercise enhances the formation and survival of new nerve cells as well as the connections between nerve cells, which in turn improves long-term memory.”

Chalk up even more reasons to get moving!

Photo courtesy of Cienpies Design