Why Does My Weight Go Up And Down From Day To Day

This question ranks on the top 10 questions asked by new dieters. It's really not unusual. That's normal because each day for a person is different. Your body works in real-time which means it only burns the amount of calories you need at the moment.

Usually, this happens to you after a few months on your diet. Most of us get a little too comfortable with their weight loss and start to take it all for granted and cheat a little by skipping some of the exercises, or you're starting to eat too many calories. It may be time to start a new food log or exercise log.

Fluctuations are normal, for women more than men, but for the most part, if you're trying to lose weight and you're on a strict diet, you probably eat about the same amount of calories every day. The problem with weight fluctuation is because we don't burn the same amount of calories every day so when there's an excess of calories consumed the excess is stored as fat and the scale can increase. It's easy to add up the calories that we consume but much harder to calculate the number of calories we burn. You are burning a different amount every day. It all depends on your activity level that day. So some days we burn more than we consume and some day we burn less than we consume. If you like to weigh-in every day, check your weight start thing in the morning before you eat of drink and do the same thing every day.

If you weigh yourself every morning, you probably notice that the number on the scale can change significantly from one day to the next. Sometimes the reason for the daily weight fluctuation is obvious. Perhaps you indulged in a big meal before bedtime that resulted in weight gain or had a very sweaty workout that resulted in weight loss. But there are be other reasons that your weight fluctuates day to day.

If you are trying to lose weight or change your body composition, you might be tempted to believe that the daily weight change is due to fat loss or fat gain. And that is a possibility. But there are many other factors that affect your weight from day to day.

Daily Weight Fluctuation: What's Normal?
In a recent interview about how to lose water weight, Dr. Kathleen Wyne, a board-certified endocrinologist, said that a five-pound weight shift is typical for most people day-to-day, but that the number on the scale can change by as much as 20 pounds depending on your body size. So why the big swing? And what causes these frustrating weight fluctuations from day to day? These factors contribute to an increase or decrease on the scale.

Sodium

High salt foods can cause water retention. The extra water adds up to pounds on the scale. Some people are very sodium sensitive and may retain more water and others are less so.

So what if you don’t think you consume a lot of sodium? Many of us don’t overuse the salt shaker at mealtime. But sodium can hide in unexpected places. Cold cuts, frozen meals, and savory sauces are often high in sodium. Canned soup is another common culprit. Many varieties of low-calorie soup are very high in sodium. But even homemade soups can have a lot of added salt. If you’re a dieter who is trying to cut back on big meals, you might notice an increase in the scale when you replace a big meal with low-calorie soup—even though the weight is simply water retention.

Carbohydrates

If you love bread, pasta, rice and other starchy carbs, the weight gain you see on the scale may be related to your carb intake. For every gram of carbohydrate you consume, your body retains three grams of water in order to store the fuel source. For that reason, if you eat a very high carbohydrate meal, your body weight is likely to increase because of the water weight, not because of increased fat. In addition, many refined carbohydrate foods are also high in sodium. For example, a spaghetti and meatball meal with parmesan cheese may cause you to retain water due to the carbohydrate intake and due to the high salt content.

Food Weight

Food intake will, of course, cause your weight to increase slightly as it is processed by your body. The food you consume can weigh a few ounces per meal to a few pounds per day. The water in food can cause your weight to increase as well, and many times after you've been eating a lot this water weight is what causes the number on the scale to rise. Additionally, according to some experts, consuming two cups of water—from beverages or water in food—increases your weight by one pound.

So what happens to all of that weight? It doesn’t automatically stick to your thighs. The calories in food are either used to fuel your body’s natural processes or the energy is stored to be used later. Waste products are processed and excreted by your body in the form of urine and stool (bowel movements).

Bowel Movements

You’re likely to see some fluctuations on the scale due to bowel movements. Have you ever wondered how much your stools weigh? In a research study, investigators found that you might produce 125 to almost 170 grams of stool per day. That’s less than a half pound. However, other studies report average daily stool weight to be roughly 106 grams per day—less than a quarter pound. Still, other sources report that you might poop up to one ounce per day for every 12 pounds of body weight. The bottom line? Normal bowel habits vary but you won’t see major weight fluctuations from bowel movements alone. In fact, even when you lose stool weight, there will still be digestible material in transit. Normal physiological fecal transit time is estimated to be vary between 40 and 60 hours with an optimal whole gut transit time of 24-48 hours. Transit time is improved if you consume more dietary fiber.

Exercise

Exercise can cause you to sweat and lose water weight. Exercise experts estimate that the average person loses approximately 25 to 45 ounces of fluid per hour during exercise, especially intense cardiovascular activity. But of course, that number can vary greatly based on weather conditions and other factors. And fluids lost from sweat shouldn’t make a difference on the scale. Why? Because fluids lost during exercise should be replaced. So if you notice that you lose weight consistently after exercise, you may want to come up with an improved hydration plan.

But other forms of exercise can cause daily weight fluctuations as well. Lifting weights or any form of strength training can cause your muscles to retain water. Why does this happen? When you participate in strength training, you create tiny tears in the muscle. Your muscles store and use water to repair the damage. When you create and repair these micro tears your muscles become larger and stronger.

Medication

Certain medications may cause you to gain weight. Some increase your appetite, some may cause you to retain water, and according to the Obesity Action Coalition, “others may affect how your body absorbs and stores glucose, which can lead to fat deposits in the midsection of your body.” If you are on a medication to treat conditions including diabetes, high blood pressure, mood disorders, seizures or migraines you may notice an increase of up to several pounds per month, according to OACs medical experts. “Some people may gain a few pounds throughout the course of a year, while other people can gain 10, 20 or more pounds in just a few months.”

If you notice a sudden increase on the scale after you start a new prescription, don’t stop taking the medication. Instead, talk to your doctor or pharmacist. Sometimes the weight gain is normal and to be expected, but other times it may be an indication that something is wrong.

Menstrual Cycle

Most women notice some degree of bloating from fluid retention immediately before and during their menstrual period. Studies have shown that fluid retention peaks on the first day of menstrual flow. It is lowest during the mid-follicular period (the middle phase of your cycle) and then gradually increases over the eleven days surrounding ovulation.

The authors of a broad one-year study found that the fluid retention was not linked to ovarian hormone changes. But other studies have linked fluctuations in estradiol and progesterone (your ovarian hormones) to changes in binge eating and emotional eating. So while there may not be hormonal changes that cause weight gain it might be that those cravings you get before your period may be causing you to eat more or eat different foods than you would normally eat—causing increased fluid retention and possible an increase in weight from food and water intake.

If you are trying to lose weight during your period, it's important to be aware of and manage these menstrual eating patterns. A few days of high-calorie, high-fat eating can easily undo a few week’s worth of consistent dieting.

Alcohol Intake

Alcohol is a diuretic, so it is possible that you could notice an immediate weight decrease if you end up urinating more than usual while drinking. In fact, researchers have found that alcohol can produce urine flow within 20 minutes of consumption leading to urinary fluid losses and possible fluid imbalance. But the imbalance may also cause your body to retain fluids from the beverages you consume and from food that you eat. Many drinkers eat or overeat salty foods that cause water retention. The end result is that it is very possible to see a weight increase on the scale after drinking.

When Will My Weight Go Back to Normal?

There are many reasons that daily weight fluctuations occur. Most of the changes can be linked to changes in water weight and normal bodily functions. So there really is no "normal weight." You probably don't need to worry if you see a small shift from day-to-day. You can even buy a body weight scale that measures your percent water to see how your fluid levels change throughout the month.

When should you be concerned about daily weight changes? If the number on the scale continues to increase or stays elevated for more than 5-7 days then it may be an indicator of a medical concern or simply increased body mass. But keep in mind that both muscle and fat increase your mass, so your weight gain isn’t necessarily bad.

What this all boils down to, is that small fluctuation is normal, but by the end of the week, for me, that's Friday morning, I want to weight slightly less than the previous Friday. I weigh-in every day to remind myself that I have a weight loss goal, but all I really expect is that every Friday morning I should be a little less or at least the same as the previous Friday. You won't lose weight every week, but you can try.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my Ebooks at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet.

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 Ebook. 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 ebook is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page.

What My Website Is All About

I write about losing weight, how to lose weight, what foods to eat when you're trying to lose weight and exercise that will help you lose weight. Today I want to talk about food. 

We all know by this time that when you cut calories in your diet, you have to pack all the nutrition you can in everything you eat. You can’t waste calories on food that isn’t giving you something in return. So, in order to give me energy, I try and eat all I can of the super-foods. 

One of the new ones is Quinoa.

What is quinoa?

Well, some consider it a grain and some don't.  Either way, it's definitely in the grain/rice/cereal family, and that's a family I enjoy eating.

Even better news is that quinoa (pronounced Keen-Wah) is actually a pretty good source of protein when compared to most grains, packing in 8 grams per cup.

Even better news is that quinoa is the only grain that contains complete protein, each gram containing all 26 amino acids.

Even BETTER news is that quinoa is extremely low glycemic coming in at an extraordinarily low 35 on the scale while offering a generous 5 grams of fiber per cup.

Do you now how AMAZING quinoa is?

It's the grain of all grains.  You can mix it with beans, you can eat it by itself, you can mix it in "salads", serve it alongside steak, chicken, or fish...you can pretty much do whatever you want with it anytime you need a quality, low glycemic, high fiber, protein-packed carb source.

In case, you're not familiar with the “super foods” just do a search on the internet and there’s plenty of websites like “Health.com” that will give you a full list. Just to name a few: Blueberries, tomatoes, oats, avocados, salmon, broccoli, green tea, eggs, and almonds. There’s actually about two dozen more which gives you a big variety of choices. Try to eat some every day. 

Quinoa is a good alternative to rice or potatoes. A 4 oz. piece of meat with a cup of quinoa, vegetable and beans and you have about 40 gm of protein and every few calories.

When you're trying to lose weight and lose fat, it's important to maximize your protein. Try and eat protein at every meal, yes even breakfast. As you lose weight you want to avoid losing muscle mass and that's not easy. But eating lots of protein will help you to maintain your muscles. The challenge is to avoid red meat. Red meat has protein but also has animal fat and too much animal fat will cause you to gain fat, not lose it. Fish and poultry has protein but most of your protein should come from plant protein. If you can get about 80 gms. a day of protein, you won't get hungry. Protein at every meal will keep you feeling full.

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. 

How Many Carbs Do You Need?

That a little complicated. How much do you run? How many times a week are you in the gym pumping iron? How active are you? Do you frame houses all day or shovel concrete? I'm not a fan of cutting carbs because the average person doesn't know which carbs to cut and all carbs are not equal. Fruits and vegetables are carbs and you need all of them.

I exclude any carbs made with white flour, and I also cut out all types of sugar.  Cut any processed foods with sugar or white flour, cut any drinks with sugar or any sweetener.

Don't cut fruits and vegetables, they all have nutrients your body needs. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, about half your daily calories should come from carbohydrates. So that's quite a lot. But, there's more to it that how many carbs you need -- some sources of carbohydrates are better for you than others. What the mean by "carbs" is vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, dairy, eggs, and whole grains.

First, what are carbs? Carbohydrates are mostly found in plants where they provide energy and structure. Sugars, starches, and fibers fall into this category.

And although animals need and consume carbohydrates, you won't find any carbs in meat, fish or poultry. But you will find carbs in milk and dairy products because they contain lactose, which is also a type of sugar.

How Many Carbs Do You Need?

Your carbohydrate need can be based on your caloric intake. If you know how many calories you need each day, you can figure out how many grams of carbs you need:

Start by determining your daily calorie need and divide that number in half. That's how many calories should come from carbohydrates.
Each gram of carbohydrate has four calories. Divide the number you got from the first step by four.
The final number is equal to the amount of carbohydrates in grams you need each day.
For example, a person who eats approximately 2,000 calories per day should take in about 250 grams of carbohydrates (2,000 divided by 2 = 1,000 and 1,000 divided by 4 = 250). That's not much. Eating fruits and vegetables every day would be enough. Most of us could probably lose weight on a low-carb diet simply by cutting out processed foods, dairy products and stop drinking calories. Over a few months you'll see a difference.

So what's processed foods? Anything in a box or bag or can or plastic container with a label that lists all the ingredients. Most restaurant foods are processed. Made in a food factory and shipped to the retailer or restaurant and then prepared for serving. Remember that restaurant food is made to taste good, not good for you. 

Tracking Your Carbohydrate Intake

Find the carbohydrate grams on the Nutrition Facts labels on packaged foods. You'll find calorie information there too, but be sure to double-check the serving size and number of servings per package.
Use the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference to calculate carbohydrate amounts for fresh foods. It's a large database that's regularly updated.
Keep a food diary to track your information. You can print out your own pages and keep them in a notebook.
Join Calorie Count to track calories, carbohydrates, and all the other nutrients, plus you'll find suggestions for a healthy diet. They also have a great smart-phone app so you can track your calories when you're away from your computer.

Which Carbs are Best

Carbohydrates include complex carbohydrates, like starches, and simple sugars such as white sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and honey. As far as plant-based carbs go, choose 100-percent whole grains, and fruits and vegetables for most of your carbohydrates. The standard tip is to 'make half of your grains whole.' That way, as long as you eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables, you'll add a substantial amount of fiber to your diet.

Of course, you don't want to consume carbs only. You need protein and fat, just not as much. Balance your carbohydrate choices with protein sources such as lean meat, poultry, eggs, or fish, and some healthy fat such as olive oil, avocado or nuts, and seeds. Protein combined with high-fiber carbs helps keep you feel full between meals. The protein that is recommended by most professionals is seafood and poultry. The fat in these two food groups won't contain any animal fats.

Watch Out for Sugars

The worst carbohydrates sources may be sugary foods, including things made with sugar, honey, corn syrup or maple syrup. These foods usually have too many calories and little or no nutritional value.

Avoid sugary snacks, pastries, sugar-sweetened soft drinks, candy, and cookies. Watch out for heavily processed foods that often contain added sugars, even those that don't taste sweet. A good rule-of-thumb is "don't drink your calories".

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.

Calories In, Calories Out; How Many To Lose Weight

This was originally a post on the WebMd site. They are correct about consuming less calories than you burn, but it's very hard to determine those two numbers. Anyway, there's more to it than just eat less calories. When you want to lose fat, a lot depends on the type of calories your eating. You gain the extra fat because of the bad calories your eating. Eating less bad calories won't help you lose weight if you're still eating bad calories. So as you read the post below, remember that to lose fat you have to eat healthy calories and not just calories.

Some calorie calculators help you find out how many calories you need to maintain your current weight. But what if you want to slim down? Then, what you really want to know is how many calories to lose weight?

It's an easy process to get the right number. Just follow three simple steps. Then, you'll know how many calories to eat each day and how many calories you need to burn for weight loss.

Step 1: Use a Weight Loss Calculator

To get the best weight loss numbers, you should use a calorie calculator or a simple weight loss calculator.

My favorite is the weight loss calculator at "Calorie Count". It's simple and easy to use.

Use the Calorie Count Calculator

The calculator will ask you a few questions about your activity habits and your goal weight in order to calculate the most accurate number. Be honest about your exercise and realistic about your weight. If you fudge the numbers, you won't get an accurate result. It sounds easy, right? The first thing you should know is that all calories aren't equal.

It sounds easy, right? The first thing you should know is that all calories aren't equal. Calories you get from eating protein burn the best. In other words, your body has to burn calories to keep the body functioning. Your body will burn about 30% protein, 30% fats, and 40% carbs. Every gram of protein burned generates 9 calories, a gram of carbs is only about 6 calories and fats is about 4 calories. As much research that been done on burning calories, science doesn't really understand why there's a big difference from one person to the next.

step 2: Find Out How Many Calories to Lose Weight

The calorie calculator will provide you with the number of calories you need each day to lose weight. You'll also find out how long it will take you to reach your goal weight if you eat that number of calories each day. And that's just a big guess, all they can do is use an average. It's up to you to come up with the number yourself and you can't do that until you stop eat the foods you eat now and stop drinking anything with calories. Start eating fresh, clean foods. If you don't understand what that means, google "fresh, clean foods".

Step 3: Reach Your Calorie Deficit

A calorie deficit is simply an energy shortfall. When you create a calorie deficit, you cut calories (or energy) and deprive your body of the fuel it needs to function. So your body burns stored fat for fuel, instead. How many calories do you need to cut for weight loss?

 That's the wrong way to look at weight loss. It's not weight loss that you really want. You want to lose body fat. If you lose the extra fat, you will be thinner, slim and fit with more energy.

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. 

If Your Having Trouble Losing Weight

I write about this very thing every week because I get so much mail on this very subject. Most people, who aren't real fanatics on weight loss, don't always take the problem seriously. They cut back a little on the food they eat by using a type of portion control but then cheat on calories by eating one of their favorite high calorie foods.

That's one type of dieter and then there's another type that exercises and never changes their diet. He might workout, and this is typical of men, burns 200 calories but then goes home and drinks a couple beers. Women are almost as bad drinking wine. Cutting back on portions and then drinking your calories won't help you lose weight.

Losing weight is about losing body fat and you can't lose fat if you continue to drink calories. Most dieters think they can cut calories in their plate but never think about all the calories their drinking. "But I use artifical sweetner and I drink diet drinks. Ok, except that artifical sweetners actually make you crave sweets.

If you want to lose fat you have to get your body to burn body fat instead of the food your eating. Your body has to burn some fat every day to protect your moving parts. Your joints and heart are continually moving causing the protective layer of tissue to ware down and the fat your body burn every dayhelps replace those protective layers. But the body can't burn all fat, it haought frozens to burn some protein and some carbs, because your body is complicated and the protein is needed to repair muscle tissue and carbs are needed for energy.

Now if your not consuming enough fat to repair the joints, your body will use stored fat and thats how I reduced my body fat. I stopped eating animal fat by eating seafood instead, and I stopped drinking calories. By doing that and changing to whole foods and not processed foods you cut out a lot of artifically made carbs and this will also cut your calories.

So I don't cut back on food, I just change what I'm eating. Whole foods are best, never been frozen or refrigerated, but because some fresh foods are seasonal fruits and vegetables can be bought frozen like berries, peas, and other vegetables, and even some seafood is okay to buy frozen. Search the internet for low-mercury seafood.



You don't have to starve to lose body fat, you just change what your eating.
If you want to know more about losing 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.

Radio Resting Heart Rate Tighted To Early Death

This is a rough time of the year for anyone trying to lose weight. Back in the days when I was 50 pounds heavier, I would always gain about 10 pounds around vacation time. The big problem though was after summer. I became accustom to overeating and the rest of the year I couldn't stop indulging in comfort food. The winter was always my favorite time of the year because I loved all the food that you only see in the cold months, but the summer is barbaque season, vacations, lawn parties, etc.

The best way that I know to recover from thoses binges is first take those leftovers and put them in the freezer. You don't want to look at them for at least one week. Next for three days double up on water. Just plain water, about 8- 12oz. bottles a day. I know that sounds like a lot but this is the best way to flush your system. Drink one bottle every two hours. Today especially stick to salads, no carbs and no meat. You did too much of that yesterday. Saturday and Sunday stick to veggie and some meat, but no dark turkey meat for several days. Dark meat has lots of cholesterol and you probably had enough of that on Thursday.

Next week just try and go lite on the carbs until you feel normal again. I wouldn't weigh myself until next Friday morning. If you still feel bloated you'll have to keep drinking water until that feeling goes away. Don't skip any meals, just go easy, you could even eat RAW for a few days. Remember to do something about the weight gain if you gain 5 pounds. That's the time to start cutting back on the calories.

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. 

Brisk Walking Will Help You Stay Thin

Which exercise is best for keeping off weight? A long term study found that people who enjoyed a 30-minute brisk walk most days had the smallest waists and lowest body mass indexes. Brisk walking beat gym exercise and sports for staying slim. Brisk walking was associated with being thinner, especially for women, and people over age 50.

Does Brisk Walking Beat Other Physical Activity for Staying Thin?

In Britain as well as the US and many other countries, health authorities recommend 30 minutes or more per day of moderately intense physical activity for health and weight management.

The researchers wanted to find out which activity was most effective, and the data showed that brisk walking was the winner.

What is Brisk Walking?

Brisk or fast walking is at a pace where you are breathing heavier than normal and the heart rate is elevated. To be in the moderately-intense activity zone, you should have a heart rate of 50% to 70% of your maximum heart rate. Use our heart rate calculator to find this number for your age.

The study focused on brisk walking rather than strolling at an easy pace and lower heart rate, in order to compare it to jogging, gym exercise and sports.

The subjects of the study determined for themselves whether they were brisk/fast walking.

Study Finds Brisk Walking Associated with Lower Fatness Measures

The study looked at data collected in the annual Health Survey for England (HSE) from 1999 to 2012. Over 68,000 respondants reported on how many days in the past month they engaged in 30 minutes or more of moderately intense activities.

The categories were:

• walking at a fast or brisk pace
• sports or exercise including swimming, cycling, gym workouts, dancing, running/jogging, football, tennis and other racquet sports.
• heavy housework
• heavy manual activities

Measurements were made of body mass index, which uses the ratio of height to weight, and measurement of waist circumference. A wider waist shows central obesity, which is associated with developing health problems independently of BMI.

The exciting results were that brisk walking beats the other activities for predicting who has a lower BMI and smaller waist. The graphs of the data show a consistent downward trend in these fatness measures with the number of days of brisk walking each month. Brisk walking five or more days per week was a good target, consistent with the health recommendations for physical activity.

Who Benefits the Most from Brisk Walking?

The good news is that brisk walking worked best for populations who may be less inclined to join in sports or didn't have access to recreational facilities.

• People over age 50 regardless of gender
• People who are pressed for time. 
• People who are unable to do conventional exercise

There is no monetary cost to walking so it is very likely that the benefits will outweigh the costs. A simple policy that 'every step counts' may be a step towards curbing the upward trend in obesity rates and beneficial for other health conditions.”

Why would walking be found to be more effective than spending the same amount of time in the gym? Walkers may be more faithful to their regimen over time. It can also be harder to know how much of your time spent in the gym is in moderately-intense exercise and whether you are performing the exercises correctly. Walking is much easier to get right and to know when you are breathing harder and working up a sweat.

How to Start Brisk Walking

People who enjoy walking at an easy pace can take steps to walk faster and raise the heart rate and breathing rate into the moderately-intense zone. Walking with good posture and arm motion can speed up the feet.

People who have difficulty in walking faster due to arthritis or other conditions can add walking poles or small hand weights to their walking workouts. Using walking poles can raise the heart rate while walking at your usual pace.

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.