Today’s Cardio Cleaning routine is up at I Think, Therefore I Blog. Don’t forget: 45 minutes of cleaning burns just as many calories as riding your stationary bike for the same amount of time… but you get a clean house to show for it!
aSaw this video on this morning’s local Fox News, featuring my favorite Weather Dude, Don Harmon.
Now, Don’s not a wimp. He never has been. I’ve seen him do some of exercise guru Marty Tuley’s workouts and have been truly impressed.
But I foolishly decided, “Hey, this looks a bit like yoga’s Down Dog… only with a push up added in. I can do that!”
That was over 8 hours ago. My triceps are still screaming!
I’m definitely adding this move into my M-W-F upper body routine.
According to statistics, sixty-six percent of U.S. adults are currently over weight. That number is expected to increase to seventy-five percent by 2015. Those numbers remain steady across both genders and all age groups and races.
Which really means, doesn’t it, that the new “average” body is in fact fat, and that an increasingly small minority of bodies actually reflect what the rest of us look like… making “fat” the new “thin,” albeit with unhealthy consequences.
Of course, the real question is why?
Some blame the U.S. “car culture” — we drive our children to schools wheras they once walked on their own; we hop in the car to drive to grocery stores because few are located within walking distance of quiet, suburban homes; we drive to and from work, spending longer and longer commute times (and often eating greasy, fast-food meals en route to save time).
By the time adults and children arrive home — mentally drained from the day, with housekeeping and homework still waiting — they’re often too tired to go for a walk, a bike ride, or to think about using the PS2 for something as strenuous as a half-hour of Dance, Dance Revolution.
It’s interesting to consider this information in light of the “French Paradox” — a national cuisine far more liberal with its use of butter, cream, cheese and other diet-killing fats… and yet a nation which until recently could boast that only 8 percent of its adult population was overweight. (That figure has since increased to 11%… still small in comparison with U.S. rates.)
Why?
Well, one thing I do remember from the time I spent in Paris was how very small life there was, much like in the U.S. in the 1950s. Laundry, dining, movies, groceries, hair stylists, book sellers, physicians and public green spaces were all within walking distance. Few people owned cars so if they needed to go somewhere further away than the 2- or 3-mile radius around their home they took the Metro… walking both to and from stops on either end of their journey.
Here in the U.S., studies have shown that a neighborhood’s composition can dramatically affect the weight of its residents:
* 90% of participants reported not walking at all. The average person in the study spent one hour or more per day in a car (driving or riding). Some spent more than five hours.
* People who lived in neighborhoods with shops and offices within walking distance were 35% less likely to be obese than people who lived in sprawling, residential-only suburbs.
* An average white male (height 5′10″) living in a compact community with nearby shops and services weighed 10 pounds less than a similar white male living in a low-density subdivision.
* Three out of every four people using mass transit had to walk to or from a stop, and were likely to get the surgeon general’s recommended 30 minutes per day of physical activity.
* For the average study participant, each kilometer walked (that’s just over a half mile) per day translated into an almost 5% reduction in the probability of being obese.
So why don’t Americans walk more?
The indoctrinated answer is that we’re lazy.
The real answer, however, may be that we can’t. Spread out neighborhoods, zoning and busy streets make it difficult, if not downright dangerous, to run errands on foot.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, rather than spending billions on waging “a war against obesity”, we spent the money instead helping cities help their residents by creating more pedestrian-friendly, “compact communities” which made walking not merely inviting but possible?
In an earlier entry I mentioned the concept of an affordable gym for fat people only. As Eleven pointed out, though, sometimes it’s not about money, it’s about motivation.
Which, obviously, is spot on. But I can’t help wondering whether anyone’s done market research on the matter?
I, for one, have had a couple of different gym memberships which seemed a great idea at the time. I was going to get motivated. I was going to go every day! Why, I’d become the Cardio Queen, the Weight Room Wonder Woman, the lady who practically lived there when her kid was in school.
Then reality hit: a week into my membership — four days after the law allows cancellation of the contract — I showed up in yoga pants, a sweat-friendly tank top and my Titleist golf baseball hat crammed on my head. I was ready to exercise. Ready to huff and puff and work off those pounds.
Until I saw the slinky 20-somethings in their sports bras and bike shorts. Where the hell had they been when I’d checked out the place? Oh, that’s right: I signed my contract in the morning, when they were either recovering from the previous night’s frat party or sitting in their college classes… or both.
First time I heard one of those skinny girls whisper, “Talk about someone who needs to be here” as I huffed past them on the indoor track, I realized I could’ve taken out her and her little friend with one of my chubby thighs.
I didn’t go back a single time during the twelve months that I paid for that year-long membership, money I essentially threw down the drain rather than endure the pitying stares, the bitchy whispers, the constant realization that if anyone belonged there, I most certainly did but I felt wholly unwelcome.
I’d love a gym for fat people. And, frankly, if they wanted to keep my business and ensure I’d keep coming, all they’d have to do is set up shop next to a pizza joint. Talk about smart marketing!
Not content to with figures that associate being overweight with increased health problems that lead employees to miss work, Houston Chronicle editorial now says that being fat costs businesses even when employees show up for work:
But now, more Americans than ever are obese. Research increasingly shows these pounds translate directly to economic loss. Businesses, it turns out, are among the hardest hit, because they are the country’s primary source of private health insurance.
But businesses are also among the best positioned in our society to ease the national burden.
Comptroller Susan Combs, who recently analyzed obesity’s cost in the workplace, found that businesses in Texas might pay more for poundage than those in other states. Almost 89 percent of Texas adults who have private insurance get it from their jobs. We’re also fatter: A full 27 percent of Texans in 2005 were obese, compared to the national average of 24.4 percent.
In 2005, obesity cost Texas $3 billion in health care, absenteeism, disability and “presenteeism” (showing up for work but accomplishing less, due to weight-induced problems).
“Presenteeism” — did you get that? Even if weight doesn’t trigger health problems, even if it’s not tied to sick days, employers and insurance companies are still going to an overweight employee as costing them money… just because they are fat.
I can’t see where a secretary’s weight could affect how many words per minute she types. Or how many calls an overweight customer service rep can handle. Would an overweight programmer write any less code or a fat copywriter fashion fewer ad blurbs?
Not all of our nation’s ills are attributable to weight-related issues, and both employers and insurers need to be advised of this before we begin seeing a slew of fat people fired for no other reason than their weight might affect the company’s bottom line.
If we are going to insist on referring to the number of people in this country who are over an ideal weight and call it an “epidemic,” shouldn’t we be treating that epidemic as we do other ones: look for the causes, not merely the symptoms, and eradicate them. Figure out what’s made so many people turn to emotional eating and address it. Create safer areas for people to get outside and get active. Put nutrition labels on everything: fast food wrappers, movie popcorn, recipes in magazines or on cooking shows as well as on health food menus.
And would someone — someone — please launch a line of affordable gyms for fat people only???
Considering I’ve now tripped over my own feet a half-dozen times trying to do my step aerobics, this actually looks to be about my speed.
Wyeth Pharmeceticals, makers of the 90’s diet cocktail known as Fen-Phen (a combination of fenfluramine and phentermine), apparently won a lawsuit filed against them.
Curiously, I haven’t been able to find out any of the details of this claim. Although the win was announced today — and issued by a Judge with whom I’m actually acquainted — the only thing to hit the news thus far are press releases. (I do have a call in to the Judge’s office and will let you know what, if anything, I find out.)
As a one-time user of Fen-Phen, let me just tell you that I have never — EVER — found a “magic pill” that worked like those two babies combined. I only took it for one week, and in those 7 days I lost 9 pounds. Yes, you read that right: nine. That’s one whole pants size in one week, which might make it understandable why I’m curious as to the basis for the verdict.
Fenfluramine, for those who are too young to recall the horror that manifested once physicians began prescribing the mix of both medications, was designed to increase neurotransmitter uptake of serotonin — the antithesis of modern anti-depressants. Phentermine, on the other hand, is an anorectic agent: an appetite suppresant. As most of us know, that latter part translates to “stimulant”.
The combination of the two — one a downer, one an upper — somehow “jived” to produce dramatic weight loss… and heart attacks.
Which, for you young ones, is also the reason why so many are suspicious of Alli (despite the fact that Alli only works in the GI tract — without affecting the CNS or cardio-pulmonary systems).
Once burned, twice shy as the saying goes.
After a day off due to a bad cold, it’s time to get back into exercise and other routines. Join me for Cardio Cleaning Friday to work up a sweat and get those bathroom vanities as shiny as your mirrors!
When you’re exercising to lose weight, that recommended half-hour per day simply isn’t enough. Experts want you to double that — and make it brisk — to help shed the pounds.
Between household chores, homeschooling my son and my online work, I have a hard time finding an uninterrupted half-hour to exercise, much less an entire hour. Which means, more than often, I’m often tempted to just skip the whole exercise thing. Then the scale doesn’t budge and I get depressed and, as we all know, that’s what triggers emotional eating binges.
I just lost any excuse not to fit some exercise in: the latest report encourages breaking your exercise routine into two parts.
Half-hour exercise sessions divided by a 20-minute rest period were found to lead to greater fat metabolism than single, hour-long sessions. Which is good news for Chubby Mommy, since I’ve yet to be able to get through an entire aerobics video without needing a break.
I’ll just have to make sure I’m not running off to the kitchen during that time.
Yesterday I thought my body’s aches and pains were solely due to my son’s enthusiasm over his new role as my “personal trainer” — the euphemistic way I’m referring to his constant nagging question “Mom, have you exercised today?”
As I discovered this morning, that achiness was actually a sign of a bad cold which hit me just before dawn this morning. I’ve got it all, too: congestion, runny nose, aching head, fever, chills and a room-shaking cough. Not that such things convince my son that I shouldn’t be exercising. Oh, no. Even though he has a cold now, too, he still considers it great entertainment to watch Mommy huff and puff through yet another round of aerobics or weight lifting.
I just can’t do it today. So, since he wouldn’t believe me, I hopped online to find out am I really too sick to exercise, or am I just being a wimp.
According to the Mayo Clinic, it’s possibly a little of both. Had my cold only manifested “above the neck” I wouldn’t have an excuse to get out of it. My fever and cough saved me, however. Symptoms like which appear “below the neck” are legitimate reasons not to exercise. Hallelujah!
Now if I can only find an article saying that ice cream is actually good for me, even if I don’t have a sore throat.
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