Hiking and walking are excellent ways to get fit, stay fit AND enjoy the great outdoors while you’re at it.
As a whole, we’re a pretty funny lot, aren’t we? We frequent McDonald’s, Burger King, Sonic and Arby’s – we spend hours in front of the computer and television – we drink Coke after Coke after Coke….then we have the audacity to wonder why our clothes are shrinking in the closet.
When the exercise gurus tell us we need to eat less and do more, we decide to give it a try. Sooo, on the next trip to Mickey D’s, we get a Filet O’ Fish instead of a Quarter Pounder, and we even go for a 10 minute walk around the neighborhood. We think we’ve made some pretty radical strides, but a week later those Levi’s aren’t any loser. The dramatic ones in our crowd, at this point, look heavenward and wail, “I’m doing all I can!”
Oh, but we’re not. Not even close.
Let’s break this down with the good the bad and the ugly. The above? That was the ugly. Trying to motor around in tight jeans – it doesn’t get much uglier.
Now, let’s get the bad out of the way. To lose weight, you have to abide by the numbers. You have to play the numbers game and… well, no one ever said it was easy.
Here are the Numbers:
- 2 – the number of pounds experts tell us that we can safely lose a week. Doing anything unsafely is foolish, so don’t even think about aiming for more than 2.
- 7,000 – the number of calories it takes to make up those 2 pounds.
- 1,000 – the number of calories that must be dealt with (on average) each day to achieve the 2 pound a week weight loss.
- 500 – the number of calories you need to cut out of each day to lose 1 pound a week.
So, going by the information above, we can deduce that in order to lose 1 pound a week, we need to simply cut out 500 extra calories from our daily eating. (When eating out, substituting a salad for a large sandwich and fries would care of this particular deficit.)
OR, we could increase our activity and try to burn 500 extra calories a day. That’s pretty tough to do if your days are as busy as most people – but it can be done.
Of course, if one’s aiming at the 2 pound a week loss, they’d have to do each (cutting back 500 calories and burning off 500 calories daily.)
Below are a few activities along with the number of calories they burn for 30 minutes. Double each to see what an hour will get you. They’re based on a 150 calorie person – if you weigh more, you’ll burn more and if you weigh less, you’ll burn less.
Calisthenics (sit ups, push ups, pull ups, leg lifts, etc.) – 272
Walking Briskly (3 mph) – 112
Working out on the Treadmill – 204
Cleaning House (moderate effort) – 119
Cooking – 85
Bowling – 102
Golfing – 153
Tennis (singles) – 272
Tennis (doubles) – 204
Mix and match and see what combinations you could fit into your day(s). It’ll be a lot easier when winter finally makes way for spring. I’m beginning to stare longingly at the tennis courts when I drive by them…. That’s a great sport for fitness, one hour certainly meets the goals, and it’s so much freakin’ fun. The calorie count is actually higher for tennis players like me – you know, the ones that end up chasing a lot of balls.
Have a great weekend – if you’re lucky enough to have warm weather, get out there and enjoy it enough for the rest of us.
Come on, Spring.
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