Only about 20 percent of the U.S. population engages in some type of physical activity on a regular basis, according to the Sporting Goods Manufacturer Association International (SGMA). That leaves approximately 80 percent of the U.S. population living predominantly sedentary lifestyles!

These sedentary lifestyles have produced a high number of adults who are overweight or obese. To be more precise, around 65 percent of U.S. adults weigh too much, according to the “results from the 1999-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey” conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics.

If you’re one who is sporting some extra body fat, there IS a solution! BECOME MORE PHYSICALLY ACTIVE!

In order to lose fat and pounds, you must burn more calories than you consume! Now, if you’ve never exercised, you certainly do not want to try to go out and run a marathon! But, an exercise that just about anyone can engage in…one that is relatively safe and requires no special skills…is walking!

Walking is a great way to rid your body of fat tissue and to build muscle mass. It is a low-impact exercise, with minimal risk of injury. And, when done regularly, it improves cardiovascular health, as well as endurance.

David A. Rives, in Walk Yourself Thin, is a formerly overweight individual who walked his way to a leaner, fitter body. He discovered from his own personal experience that increasing one’s level of activity to over-compensate for the number of calories consumed each day can lead to loss of excess fat.

How long and how far should you walk? Rives says that you should walk just as fast and as long as you comfortably can each day, if you’re striving to replace fat with lean, muscle tissue. As you become fitter, you’ll be able to walk faster, longer, and farther.

Treadmill Walking

Of course, where you walk is entirely up to you! However, there are many benefits to walking on a treadmill.

When you walk outdoors, you’re at the mercy of Mother Nature. Let’s face it! Sometimes, she doesn’t cooperate, and the weather conditions can be less than ideal for walking outdoors. On those days, you either brave the weather, or you simply don’t go out to walk!

If you get your daily walks done on a treadmill, however, you don’t have to miss a workout! You may walk in a comfortable, controlled environment, any time of day or night! Now, how convenient is that?

When you walk on a treadmill, you have no obstacles to watch out for, to walk around, or to trip over. Thus, your chances of injury are reduced. And, treadmill walking is relatively simple to do!

Treadmills typically have display windows that show your speed, incline level, intensity level, as well as the length of time you’ve spent on the treadmill and the distance you’ve traveled. These displays allow you to monitor your workouts more closely.

Most decent treadmills today have pre-programmed workouts, with various workout levels from which to choose. This makes the treadmill perfect for beginning walkers up to advanced walkers.

You get a more consistent, low-impact workout on a treadmill.

Conclusion…

Whether you have only a few pounds of fat to lose, or you have lots of extra fat to shed, walking is a safe, healthy way to get in shape. Treadmill walking is simple, convenient, consistent, and sensible!

Fred Waters worked in the treadmill industry for a number of year. He is author of the Treadmill Rating and Review site. Check out the latest reviews on over 75 of the most popular treadmills, and get important buying tips from the Treadmill Buyer’s Guide.

So you want to lose weight? Chances are, you’ll spend the next few days “pigging out” while in the back of your mind you resolve that …Starting Monday, no more fried foods, no more between meal snacking, no more whatever it is you think is causing you to pack on those ugly pounds. So Monday rolls around and sure, you start out strong, eat right all day. Next day same thing, maybe you’ll make it a week. Unfortunately, after a few days, you’ll probably find yourself scoffing down a double whopper somewhere, and that will be it, the diet will be over, and you’ll quickly gain back whatever weight you may have lost -plus a few extra pounds just for good measure.

Guess what, this is the way our bodies were designed to work. Evolution has taught our bodies that if our eating patterns change drastically, it means we’re having trouble finding food (a million years ago there wasn’t a Burger King every half mile). To keep us from starving, our bodies conserve energy by slowing down. So, we start to feel sluggish on top of feeling deprived and hungry.

After a while, the temptation just becomes too much. We start eating again and once we do, our bodies want to make sure we “stock up” so that we’ll be ready for the next time that food is unavailable. We usually wind up heavier then we were before we started “dieting”.

So how do we go about losing weight? The answer is simpler then many people think. Focus less on what we eat and more on getting the right exercise. The right exercise in this case is weight training. That’s right pumping iron actually helps you lose fat.

Weight Training attacks your fat stores in a couple of ways. First, the act of actually working out, as you probably expect, burns calories. However, with weight training, your body continues to burn extra calories long after the workout is complete. How? Well when you weight train, you are actually causing damage to your muscles. Your body needs to repair this damage and that burns calories. So you’re actually burning calories long after your weight training session is over. Finally, simply having muscle requires extra calories. One pound of fat burns 3 to 4 calories per day, one pound of muscle however, burns roughly 50 calories per day. Add 10 pounds of muscle to your body and you’ll be burning an extra 3,500 calories per week, even if you just sit around all day.

Now, you’ll still have to watch what you eat. But by adding weight training to your overall fitness plan, your diet can be much less restrictive —moderation is really the key. Try to eat a little better (c’mon you know what foods are bad for you) but don’t starve yourself. It’s not a race; you’re trying to get fit and stay that way.

So next time you’re motivated to go on a diet, why not consider adding weight training to the picture. You’ll find that weight training along with a more sensible eating will help you to lose fat quicker and help you keep it off.

David Olsen is the founder of 40Something Fitness, the website that helps you defy middle-age. Visit us for more muscle and fitness articles today.

In a previous article, I mentioned the weight loss mantra of “Eat Less… Move More” and I wrote about how to choose the diet plan that could help you eat less. In this article I will discuss the “move more” part of the equation.

Starting and maintaining an adequate exercise program really is the “magic pill’ which will jump start your weight loss program and make it easy to maintain your new weight after you reach your goal.

If you are not exercising on a regular basis, check with your Doctor first, he or she can give you guidance on what types of exercise would be safe for you to start with. Start small, doing just a little is far better that doing nothing.

Almost without fail, those who lose weight without including exercise, take a lot longer to reach their goal, they are also the ones most likely to regain all of the weight they lost and possibly even more.

What are the excuses for not exercising?

Can’t afford expensive equipment… there are many exercises that require no equipment.

Can’t afford to join health club… there are many exercises that do not require belonging to a health club.

Don’t have time…y ou can exercise in small time increments, as little as 5 minutes at a time, 5 or 6 times a day, while not the preferred method, can still be effective.

Possibly the easiest, least expensive and one of the most effective exercise programs is simply walking. Nature gave us all of the equipment we need, all you need to add is a good pair of walking shoes, and the determination to improve your health. You don’t have to start with a long walk or a fast walk. If you are not walking now, no matter how much you start with will be more than you were doing. If you are really out of shape, maybe only 5 minutes is all you can do at once, that’s okay, do 5 minutes today, 6 minutes the next day and so on.

Here are some easy ways to start walking more, without thinking about it:

Park at the back of the mall parking lot.
Park a few blocks away from work, or get off the bus a few stops early.

Use the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator.
You should shoot for 20-30 minutes as a minimum and really as long as you have time for. You should try to get up to about a mile in twenty minutes, this will be brisk enough to get you breathing faster and start burning calories. if you can’t carry on a conversation, you are walking too fast.

Here are some of the health benefits that a walking program can deliver:

Walking conditions your heart and lungs, helps your body use oxygen efficiently. Helps reduce weight by burning fat and building muscle. Burns almost as many calories as running, but is much lower impact, therefore it is much easier on muscles and joints. Helps relieve stress, contributes to better sleep and overall wellness. Boasts the lowest drop out rate of any form of exercise, you are more likely to stick with it.

If you find that you get bored with walking, make a game out of it… how far is it to the next city or town from you? Keep a mileage log, when you have walked that distance mark it off on a map, by the time you get all of the way across the your country, you will probably have reached your weight loss goal, and be much healthier to boot. Listen to music or the news as you walk. If the weather gets cold where you live you may want to invest in a tread mill.

In addition to aerobic exercise, most programs should include at least some light weight lifting. Recent tests have shown that senior citizens who participate in some type of strength training or weight lifting program, have fewer broken bone, have more flexibility, are in better overall health, and live longer, there must be a message there. If you are starting a weight lifting program or strength training, it is very important that you follow correct form find a coach, or invest in a book or video to show you the proper technique. Shop at Mega Fitness – the Exercise Equipment Superstore! for books and videos. Or for a complete web-based program for women, check out the very popular Denise Austin Fit Forever site.

For extensive information check this site:

ACE Get You Moving
The American Council on Exercise (ACE) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the benefits of physical activity and protecting consumers against unsafe and ineffective fitness products and instruction. For more information on ACE and its programs, call (800) 825-3636, or go to their Web site.

Which is best, aerobic exercise or weight training? Whether you’re trying to lose weight, get into shape, or just stay healthy, both types of exercise are important for different reasons. Aerobic, exercise conditions your heart and lungs, helps lower cholesterol and blood pressure, and improves your endurance. Weight, or strength, training helps prevent the loss of muscle, and helps build new lean muscle that burns more calories by improving and keeping your metabolism going. Loss of muscle occurs naturally as you grow older. With strength training, you’ll stay strong, and maintain good posture.

Tips for maintaining your exercise program:

Try to get in 30 minutes of aerobic exercise three to five times a week, and 20 minutes of weight lifting two or three times a week.

Set aside a convenient, consistent time. Some people prefer early morning, an added benefit of early morning workouts is they tend to burn more fat calories. Others find that evening works best.

Do exercises that you enjoy, walking, swimming, biking, weight lifting, circuit training etc. are all great for your weight loss program.

Stick with it… it takes 21 days in a row of doing something, to form a new habit.

After you’ve reached your weight loss goal, keep up the exercise program, this will enable you to easily maintain your weight loss, with the added benefit of a healthier and less stressed you.

“To Your Health”

Jim Newell

Please visit http://www.ToYourHealth101.com for current and timely health & wellness information, links to other health & wellness sites, and to subscribe to our monthly newsletter.

Jimmie Newell is the webmaster for http://www.To YourHealth101.com, a health & wellness website, featuring editorials, tips, information and links addressing many of the health issues of today.