Pedometer Weight Loss Program
A few people have asked me about my walk off your weight program.
It is a simple step by step plan for losing weight by walking. A pedometer helps by measuring the number of steps you take each day – and you help yourself by gradually increasing that number 
Though the plan was kept exclusively for my private weight loss clients until very recently, I decided at the beginning of December that others might appreciate this program especially in these credit crunch times when a hefty gym membership fee might be out of reach.
Since then I’ve expanded it for general consumption and released it out into the world for those who need a low-cost way to get fit and lose weight.
You can find it on eBay U.K. just now. If you’re not in the U.K. or you’d prefer an immediate download (and no postage charges) you can also get it here.
Walking, Fitness, Weight Loss and Me
I feel that walking has had a bad press among exercisers. After all, it can’t be real exercise, can it…
- if you don’t have to get yourself to a gym
- if you don’t have to learn complicated moves with state of the art equipment
- if you don’t have to get showered immediately afterwards
- if you don’t even need to change your clothes before you begin ?
Yet regular walkers are some of the fittest and healthiest people around and they rarely suffer the injuries and set backs of runners, joggers and regular gym goers.
Usually at this time of year I am thinking about starting to run as training for an annual charity race – the Race for Life. Then as I get going I decide I hate running and never run again after the race until the same time next year.
This year I’ve decided to add a regular walk to my fitness routine instead and see how I like that as a “rest of my life” activity. It feels right as I will be following in the footsteps of my Dad who walked every day of his adult life until he died last year aged 86 – staying fit until the very end.
Walking is great for weight loss too of course. Though that’s not my primary motive in taking up this form of exercise, I have some clients who follow a weight loss walking program I put together and find this the very best way to lose weight and keep it off. It will do me no harm to join them – especially as I have eaten so much after Christmas….
Is Your Car Making You Fat?
It seems that the more time we spend in a car the fatter we become.
Over time we’ve simply got too used to driving a couple of blocks to run an errand when we could get there under our own steam.
And it’s funny, what do we do when we arrive? We drive around for 5 minutes trying to get a “decent” parking spot – the one that will mean we need the fewest steps possible to get to our destination.
We do all that – and then find we have to join a gym to keep fit and lose weight.
Now I know, some of the distances you travel are probably longer than a couple of blocks but I’m sure you get the picture. Could you do even a little more walking?
Research has shown that at least half the journeys made by car in urban areas are for 3 miles or less (and 41% are less than 2 miles).
It’s not that we can not walk – in fact going everywhere in a car is a modern phenomenon. It’s as if we can’t find our way anywhere under our own steam. It has become the default that we don’t even think to question.
Well why not question it from now on? Every time! Always ask yourself
- could I walk there (safely) or could I carry out the same errand on foot (say at my local store rather than an out of town mega huge faceless store)?
- could I park a little further away?
- could I enjoy my journey more by walking/cycling and getting in touch with what is going on in my local area?
- could walking/cycling mean that I can combine my keep fit routine with my chores today and save myself a bundle of time?
And remember if you are stuck driving in your car a lot you can still get some exercise – remember the 4 Easy Car Exercises post from a few weeks ago
Get the Truth from Body Fat Monitor Scales
I have a tyrant in my bathroom, lurking in the corner every day – a Tanita body fat monitor scale
But I’m really quite grateful to that scale.
I’ve long been an advocate for daily weighing when you want to maintain your weight and my trusty scales let me know as soon as my weight is creeping up.
If I’m 2lbs over my target weight for more than a day I am on the case. (Don’t know about you but my weight can easily fluctuate up and down by a pound or so for all manner of reasons other than pigging myself and being a lazy slob).
I’m not perfect by any means but I feel it’s an occupational responsibility to keep reasonably slim and fit otherwise what good is it me trying to tell my clients how THEY can get fit or lose weight?
To be honest, I’m always struck by the pretty sizeable men and women (even those who have lost some of their vast bulk successfully) selling diet books and programs – I have come across 3 in the past week where I thought they could be listening to their own advice a bit better first. (And no I’m not going to name names because I think that would be pretty hurtful – you can see them for yourself all around the net) I just don’t want to be one of them.
The scales I use also have an inbuilt Body Fat analysis function. I don’t use that very often – maybe once a month or so (I can never remember how to do it without getting out the instructions).
I know body fat analysis with scales is not that accurate but I think it’s worth getting that functionality if you are going to buy scales anyway. It lets you do a regular check to see if it looks like you are losing lean body mass (muscle).
If you lose weight too fast (more than one or two pounds a week after the first week or two of initial rapid water weight loss) or you don’t keep active enough, you are probably reducing the proportion of lean tissue in your body. You can tell this is the case on your scales if your weight is going down but your body fat percentage is not.
If you lose as much (or more) muscle than fat, you will pile the weight back on after you stop dieting. Muscle is active tissue which burns fat even at rest and you don’t want to lose ANY of it.
Keep up your lean body mass with exercises to tone and strengthen your muscles while you lose weight – at the very least keep as active as you can so that your body does not give up muscle tissue without a fight.
See the whole range of Tanita body fat analysis scales here.
Using Exercise to Lose Weight
You have to be pretty dedicated to lose weight through exercise alone.
I remember how astonished I was when I first worked out that at 3500 calories a pound you have to run more than a marathon to lose a single pound of fat!
That’s why going to the gym and then rewarding yourself with a snack is counter-productive – you will probably eat more calories than you use up.
Yet, exercise is still good for weight loss for many reasons :-
- every calorie counts whether it’s 10 or 1000 – better to use them than not use them
- it helps build muscle and muscles burn calories even when you are at rest – your metabolism (the rate at which you burn calories) increases
- it improves your mood and general sense of well-being – so you are better able to avoid comfort eating
- it keeps you occupied and away from the fridge
- if you exercise enough, you can eat just a little more and still lose weight. This helps to prevent a sense of deprivation
- you will keep your muscles and skin in better condition as you lose weight and are less likely to lose muscle tissue and tone
The best way to lose weight is to combine exercise with healthy eating so that you exercise a bit more (say 250 calories worth of exercise a day) and eat a bit less than you need at your normal (non-exercise) level of activity (say 250 calories) – that way you’ll steadily lose about 1lb a week without too much hardship.
Fitness Success Tip 3 : Eat to Burn Fat
If you’re exercising hard you need fuel for your workout but as many of you are hoping to lose weight and burn fat as a result of all your hard work, what do you do then? It’s no good working out at the gym and then rewarding yourself with a double cheeseburger but don’t go to the other extreme either.
You see, to burn fat you do have to have a calorie deficit – you need to use more calories than you eat.
But the important thing is not to overdo it.
If you eat too few calories your body will go into starvation mode
- your metabolism will slow down
- you will lose muscle
- you will not have the energy to exercise effectively
- you will burn fat slower
You think you are doing the right thing by eating less than you need but you are just making things harder for yourself for no reason.
The best strategy is to eat a little less and exercise a little more if you want to burn fat.
And, if you’re counting calories, never have a deficit of more than 500 calories a day if you want to keep your metabolism buzzing.
Result : A steady fat loss of 1lb a week AND a fitter, leaner, slimmer, toned healthy body without starving yourself!
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