How much should I walk to lose weight?

Start With an Easy Pace to Warm-Up

First, you want to wake up your muscles and let them know you plan to be active for awhile. Walking at an easy warm-up pace for five to 10 minutes tells your muscles they can't just sit back and burn up the available sugars, they need to call on the fat reserves.

This is why you should not start off at a high speed. When you do that, your cells don't get the signal that this is a long-term activity.

So instead of pulling fat out of storage to burn as energy, they burn up sugars only.

Speed Up to a Determined Pace to Burn Fat

The speed to walk for optimal fat-burning is a "determined" pace, or a "brisk walking pace."

• At this rate, you should be breathing noticeably but able to carry on a conversation in full sentences.
  
• Heart rate target should be 60-70% of your maximum heart rate. Target Heart Rate Calculators will tell you that a person in good health can calculate their Target Heart Rate by subtracting your age from 220. So if your 40 years old subtracted from 220, your target heart rate would be 180 BPM. If you hold the target heart rate for more then 30 minutes your body will be burning fat to supply you with energy. 

• How should it feel? It should feel as intense as when you are walking fast because you are 10 minutes late for an important appointment. That is how Marilyn L. Bach describes it in her book ""Shapewalking."
•  
• Walk at this speed for 30 minutes at a time after your warm up to ensure you are dipping into your stored fat.
   
• If you aren't already able to walk for 45 minutes at a time, use the Beginners Walking Plan to build up to that duration. Walk at a slow pace for as long as you can and then rest few minutes until you regain some energy and then walk a little more. Your goal in time would be to walk normally for one hour. After that you can decide how much faster you can walk. Eventually you can be a regular Mall Walker.
   
• Raising your Metabolism

Good work, you've tricked your body into dipping into your fat stores for energy.

You are also building muscle and raising your basal metabolic rate so you are burning more calories all day long.

But What If I Can't Walk That Much?

Start with the Beginners Walking Plan, it will get you started the right way to build up to being able to walk for 30 minutes at the fat-burning pace. It also tells when to seek medical advice and how to avoid injury. You can search on the web "Beginner's Walking Plan" for good information.

Any amount of activity over your present level will help you achieve your weight loss goals, so go slow if that is what is comfortable.

But What If I Don't Have the Time to Walk for That Long?

If you just don't have enough free time in the day to spend 45 continuous minutes walking, then make the most of the time you have. Find the time to get in two to four 15 minute walks at a brisk pace every day. You will be burning calories and building your walking speed and ability and at least achieving the minimum recommended physical activity level for health.

Walking Faster and Faster

If you are already walking 20 miles total per week and want to get more results purely from walking, then you need to build speed as well as duration. You can use good arm motion and stride to speed up or learn the race walking technique used by athletes.

Can You Think Your Way Thin?

It’s obviously not that simple, but there are little mind tricks you can use to bolster your efforts to lose weight. Try these smart ways to put your brain to work for you:

1. Imagine Yourself Fitter. You’ve undoubtedly heard about the power of visualization. And when it comes to exercise, an important part of any weight loss program, your imagination can be an effective motivational tool. One small study published in the Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology in 2010 found that adults who imagined their future selves -- either as slimmer and fitter or out-of-shape and inactive – were more apt to stick with their exercise routine. So whether it’s hope or fear, choose whichever motivates you to keep moving. 

Yes, think positive and always imagine you as a fit, healthy person who jogs or bikes with friends and having fun. This is the best way to keep motivated.

2. Tweak Your Attitude

You may occasionally catch yourself thinking things like, “There must be an easier way,” or “I wish I could have potato chips instead of carrot sticks.” When this happens, cognitive behavioral therapy expert Judith Beck, PhD, author of The Beck Diet Solution, suggests countering those thoughts with an “oh, well” attitude. In other words, say to yourself, “I may not like this, but I’ll accept it, do what I have to do and move on.” A shorter version? “I want the potato chips but I’m going to skip them. I know better now".

3. Focus on the Habit, Not the Calories

You’re really not hungry, but that 100-calorie snack is only … 100 calories. Will it bust your calorie count for the day? Not likely. But here’s the problem: When you cave to that urge to nosh, it doesn’t matter if it has 20 calories or 200. Eating when you’re not hungry reinforces the habit of giving in to temptations, according to Beck. Instead of focusing on calorie count, stop and think about why you’re reaching for food. Are you bored or upset? Is it time for your favorite show and you always eat in front of tube? Whatever the trigger, go for a walk, work on a hobby or call a friend --anything that distracts you from feeding a bad food habit.

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. Read some of my other blog posts.
gettingtoahealthyweight.wordpress.com
idropped40pounds.wordpress.com
howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com

blogonweight.blogspot.com

E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.

My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the smashwords' promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.

Obesity Rates in Adults Continue to Rise

Great post, read it closely, you don't want this in your future. This blog post was first on WebMD.com. Because Obesity is the source of most of our health problems, this is a most read.

Although obesity rates continued to climb among U.S. adults over the past decade, they stabilized for children and teens, federal health officials reported Thursday.

More than 36 percent of adults and 17 percent of America's kids were obese between 2011 and 2014, said researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These are the latest years for which national statistics are available.

Analyzing weight trends since 1999, researchers found the ranks of obese adults have swelled significantly in the last 10 years.

Adult obesity rates climbed from slightly over 32 percent in 2003-04 to almost 38 percent by 2013-14, said lead researcher Cynthia Ogden, an epidemiologist in the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics.

Among youths aged 2 to 19, she said, 17.2 percent of children were obese in 2014, compared with 17.1 percent in 2003. "There is basically no difference [in the obesity rate in this group]," she said.

Obesity is a major cause of chronic disease, including heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, dementia and arthritis, said Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center, in New Haven, Conn.

"Where there is a high prevalence of obesity, there are high rates of preventable chronic disease," Katz said.

Widespread efforts to encourage people to eat healthy and exercise may be having a positive effect, Katz said.

"But we will not really know if these are working until obesity rates and the rates of related diseases dip decisively," he said. "While there is some encouragement in these new data, clearly, we are not there yet."

• More women (about 38 percent) were obese than men (about 34 percent). No gender difference was observed among children and teens.
• Obesity was higher among middle-aged (about 40 percent) and older (37 percent) adults than younger adults (about 32 percent).
• More whites, blacks and Hispanics were obese than Asians.
• Nearly 9 percent of preschoolers were obese, versus more than 17 percent of kids aged 6 to 11. 
• Among teens, more than 20 percent were obese.Adult obesity was defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more. BMI is a calculation of body fat based on height and weight. For example, someone 5 feet 9 inches who weighs 203 pounds or more has a BMI of 30. Among youth, a BMI in the 95th percentile or higher for their age and sex was deemed obese, the CDC said.Katz, who is also president of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, wasn't overwhelmed youth obesity statistics. "Stable obesity rates over much of the past decade is the proverbial glass half-full or half-empty, depending on one's perspective," he said.The glass is half-full because stabilization is an improvement over obesity increases seen for decades, he said. "The glass is half-empty, because stable rates are not falling rates, and obesity prevalence remains alarmingly high," Katz said.What's unclear, Katz added, is whether stable rates mean the obesity epidemic is being treated effectively or that everyone who is vulnerable to obesity is already obese. "I suspect a bit of both [is true]," he said.
• WebMD News from HealthDay
  
  

  If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. Read some of my other blog posts.
  gettingtoahealthyweight.blog
  idropped40pounds.wordpress.com
  howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com

  blogonweight.blogspot.com

  
  

  E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.
  My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the Smashwords' promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.
  
  

The Raw Food Diet

The Promise

Your oven gets a rest on this diet. You'll mostly be eating raw fruits, vegetables, and grains.

There's been lots of talk lately about eating raw foods. I understand and that's why most recipes don't boil foods any more. They claim all the nutrition ends up in the water you throw out. 

The idea is that heating food destroys its nutrients and natural enzymes, which is bad because enzymes boost digestion and fight chronic disease. In short: When you cook it, you kill it.

Some fans of raw food diets believe cooking makes food toxic. They claim that a raw food diet can clear up headaches and allergies, boost immunity and memory, and improve arthritis and diabetes. To take this one step further, Some believe that modern pots and pans cause a lot of our health problems. Example, cooking in Aluminum cook ware and cookware that has a coating inside.

What You Can Eat and What You Can't

Think uncooked, unprocessed, mostly organic foods. Your staples: raw fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and sprouted grains. Some eat unpasteurized dairy foods, raw eggs, meat, and fish. I will eat Sushi but I don't  know about raw meat. Meat contains chemicals like growth hormones that are feed to cattle. Your food can be cold or even a little bit warm, as long as it doesn’t go above 118 degrees.You can use blenders, food processors, and dehydrators to prepare foods.

Level of Effort: High

You may need to ramp up your kitchen skills. Eating out can be tricky, and if you go organic, you may need to go to specialty stores for a wider selection than your usual grocery store.

Cooking and shopping: Prep work can be extensive. Many raw food fans become experts at blending and dehydrating foods. Some germinate nuts and sprout seeds. I'm not that into it, but I do believe you can buy all you need in specialty stores. A raw food diet will give you a lot of fiber so You won't eat as much as you think. You want to buy foods in small amounts and shop more often. People on this diet will usually take supplements usually protein power along with others. This is for the organic crowd so you'll be drinking mostly water and maybe wine on occasion. 

Because some uncooked and unpasteurized foods are linked to food-borne illness, you’ll need to wash your food thoroughly and be extra careful with risky foods like sprouts, raspberries, unpasteurized juices, green onions, and lettuce.
This can be a very healthy way of eating, all natural a lot like farmers eat. But if your not growing your own food and raising your own chickens and catching your own fish you want to read up on this type of diet before you jump right in.

Due to the risk of food poisoning, a raw foods diet isn't recommended for pregnant women, young children, seniors, people with weak immune systems, and those with chronic medical conditions like kidney disease.

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. Read some of my other blog posts.

gettingtoahealthyweight.blog

idropped40pounds.wordpress.com

howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com

blogonweight.blogspot.com

E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of websites looking for the material you want.

My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the Smashwords' promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.

Getting Weight Loss Advice From TV

This post was on the AboutHealth website and where I think the shows have some good information, I also realize that it's a TV show that's trying to be informative but also entertaining. You can't bore people to death with all the science involved in medicine, they'd turn the channel, but you are trying to be informative and so you try and create a message that will hold the attention of the viewer. 

How many times have you saw a movie and said to yourself, "That wasn't like the book." And that happens. The story becomes condensed and changed a little to fit into the allotted time. That means things get left out, things that sometimes change the message. The doctors doing the show don't write the lines or decide on what is said. They have to follow the script.

If you are a fan of The Dr. Oz Show or The Doctors you don’t necessarily have to stop watching the shows if you are looking for weight loss advice.

Their diet tips can be fun and are often helpful. But if you use their recommendations to slim down, there are three critical tips you should keep in mind to make sure your weight loss program is successful. TV diet tips may be unbalanced:  The British Medical Journal research points out that the medical and diet advice provided on these popular shows is often presented without the balance needed to help viewers make fully informed decisions. The researchers also point out that conflicts of interests are often ignored. What the medical journal means by balance is that your only hearing one side of the story, which often happens on TV shows because they don’t have the time to do the pros and cons on everything. As a viewer, that means that you need to take weight loss tips with a grain of salt.  Understand that you may not be getting all the facts about an exciting new treatment, diet pill or weight loss supplement and that a featured expert who is recommending the pill may also benefit financially from selling it. If you are interested in a particular weight loss product mentioned on the show, discuss it with your own doctor or registered dietitian to get a more balanced perspective. TV weight loss advice is not personalized. Many of the diet tips or lifestyle recommendations provided by Dr. Oz and The Doctors may work for some television viewers, but may not be the healthiest suggestion for you.  Remember that every dieter’s health history, goals and lifestyle is different.  A great diet tip for your friend might be the worst diet tip for you. And if your under a Doctor’s care, consult the Doctor before you eat or drink anything. Even certain kinds of food can react with your medication. If the weight loss advice you see on television contradicts the personalized advice you’ve received from your own health care team – and especially if your weight loss program is already working – be very cautious before you change your program based on the TV show advice.  The BMJ researchers suggest that you get detailed information from your personal physician about the specific benefit, potential harms and real cost or inconvenience of any treatment before you incorporate it into your program. Medical shows provide entertainment.  Ultimately, daytime television shows provide entertainment to their viewing audience.  Diet tips are presented in a way that makes the viewing experience fun and interesting.  Unfortunately that may lead to confusion or misinterpretation. For example, on a recent episode of his show, Dr Oz recommended eating pine nuts before bed at night to curb nighttime snacking.  He said that dieters should eat two tablespoons of the fatty nut to help manage cravings. But as Dr. Oz explained his diet tip, he stood in front of a large bowl of pine nuts.  It would have been reasonable for a viewer who was not paying close attention to believe that eating a larger portion of pine nuts could help them lose weight.  But since pine nuts are high in fat, eating too many of them could cause that viewer to gain weight instead.

Diet tips from Dr Oz may help you slim down, but any weight loss advice whether it comes from television, magazines or online should be evaluated with a critical eye.  If it seems too easy or too good to be true, it probably is.  Use Dr Oz’s diet tips to get ideas, then discuss the specifics with your own health care provider or registered dietitian in order to stay safe and reach your goals. Everyone will not lose weight the same way. We can take suggestions or advice from others who have been successful, but that doesn't mean you can lose weight the same way. If your under a doctors care and taking medication always see you doctor before to discuss any new weight loss plan you want to try. 

If your someone with a serious amount of fat and are not use to working out see a doctor before you start any diet or exercise program. Exercise can put strain on your heart.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans or meal plans. Look for my book. at Amazon.com, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

The reason your fat may not be sodas and junk food

When it comes to healthy eating, there is no silver bullet.

Soda, candy and fast food are often blamed for the rising rates of obesity in America and, while eating any one high-calorie or high-sugar food to excess is obviously unhealthy and will not help you lose weight, a major new study found that consumption of these foods is not related to body mass index in 95 percent of the population. The report was published by the Food & Brand Lab at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. “While a diet of chocolate bars and cheeseburgers washed down with a Coke is inadvisable from a nutritional standpoint, these foods are not likely to be a leading cause of obesity,” the study said.

Underweight Americans actually consumed more soda and sweet snacks than average-weight individuals, while overweight, obese, severely obese and morbidly obese individuals consumed less soda, sweet snacks and salty snacks than average-weight individuals. Morbidly obese people (with a BMI of 44.9 or more) ate fewer sweet snacks and salty snacks. Oddly, they did eat 50 percent more French fries than average-weight individuals. The researchers say people shouldn’t deprive themselves of their favorite food because that sacrifice is unlikely to be related to their weight — unless, that is, their favorite food is French fries.

So what’s the culprit? Calories in, calories out. The amount you eat versus the amount of exercise you get. Americans are eating over 500 calories more every day than they did four decades ago: 2,544 calories per day in 2010 versus 2,039 in 1970. And there are some other culprits — aside from French fries — but they exist across a range of meals. The number of calories consumed every day spiked for grains such as white bread (409 calories in 1970 versus 582 calories in 2010), added oil and dairy fats (346 versus 589 calories) and added sugars (333 versus 367 calories).

“This means that diets and health campaigns aimed at reducing and preventing obesity may be off track if they hinge on demonizing specific foods,” says David Just, professor and director of graduate studies in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University, and co-author of the study. “If we want real change, we need to look at the overall diet, and physical activity. Narrowly targeting junk foods is not just ineffective, it may be self-defeating as it distracts from the real underlying causes of obesity.” Overall diet obviously plays a role and, according to a recent study, residents in some US states are more obese than others.

The latest Cornell University study, which was published in the October edition of the journal Obesity Science & Practice, analyzed the consumption of these foods by nearly 6,000 people from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “National Household and Nutrition Examination Survey,” and cross-referenced this data to their body mass index, used as a measure of obesity. Adults with a body mass index (which calculates weight in relation to height and gender) of 25 to 29.9 are considered overweight, while individuals with a BMI of 30 or more are considered obese.

Portion control is critical, says Julie Barnes, a New York-based clinical psychologist. And dining out (unless they are taking a doggy bag home) is one way Americans give up control over their portions. On days when people eat out, they consume an average of 200 calories more than when they eat at home, according to a study in the journal Public Health Nutrition. And butter sales in the US were up 14 percent in 2014 from a year earlier, according to a new report — “Fat: The New Health Paradigm” — by the Credit Suisse Research Institute in Switzerland.

It's a good article but I don't agree with all of it. First of all, Obese people have so much extra fat there metabolism is working very slow. They burn the very minimal amount of calories because their body is spending most of their energy trying to keep all the extra fat alive and Obese people are normally less active then other people. Also their diet consists mostly of store bought food or restaurant food which are both loaded with bad fats. It's only very recently that Trans Fats were outlawed but that doesn't mean that all restaurant can't use Trans Fats. So I believe  the only way you'll get obese people to lose weight is to get them to eat healthy.

This article originally appeared on Marketwatch.

How to Eat 5 Small Meals a Day and Why

I understand the concept: Five small meals a day takes the edge off your appetite, evens out blood sugar levels, and keeps your energy steady. But I confess: I don’t always eat this way.

Although my fitness trainer encourages me to eat healthy food every few hours, my meals usually look like this: coffee, a bit more coffee, lunch at 3 p.m., dinner at 9 p.m. I start over again the next morning.

When I decided to change this habit, I found that doing these five things helped:

1. Plan ahead. Five meals a day equals breakfast, lunch, dinner, and two snacks. To do this right, you need to plan what you’ll eat every day for each “meal.” And you need to schedule eating every 2 to 3 hours.
2. Stock up. Face it: You’re going to grab whatever food is closest. So stock up on veggies, fruit, healthy carbs, lean proteins, and low-fat dairy products such as milk, yogurt, and cottage cheese.
3. Go for taste. Choose snack foods that will sustain you and taste good. Remember, healthy food can be satisfying.
4. Whip up a smoothie. Blend fruit, milk, yogurt, and a little honey for a sweet, filling snack packed with vitamins, fiber, protein, and calcium.
5. Combine carbs and protein to stay full longer. Try whole wheat toast with peanut butter or a hard-boiled egg; whole-grain pasta with olive oil and cheese; or oatmeal with fruit, milk, and honey. Or make yourself a big pot of soup (like my Tuscan chicken soup) to heat up for lunches or snacks.

By Domenica Catelli

WebMD Magazine - Feature

Reviewed by Melinda Ratini, DO, MS

This is a great article and I copied it so you can see that I'm not the

only one that promotes the 'several small meals" concept. I prefer to 

even out the meals and avoid snacks. Actually I think that 6 small 

meals a day works best. And I try to keep each meal the same

amount of calories (300 to 400). Bigger people, say 200 pounds or 

more, will have to stay closer to 400 each meal, at the beginning 

and then over time your appetite will diminish and you'll be 

happy with 300 calories. That's 1800 a day, the proper amount of 

daily calories to lose weight. 

You can find menu ideas on the internet by searching "300 calorie 

meals".