Took a quick hike on the Clear Creek Trail this afternoon. Last week, my step counter logged about 5 miles or so when I walked out to the mall. I paid dearly for that; I could barely limp around the house for a day and a half. Today, I got about 7,500 steps which now gives me an average of about 10,850 steps over the last week. But I burned only 30 calories per day over the last month. Walking 10,000 steps usually burns 300-500 calories.
Not good if I’m going to get rid of a belly which could threaten to qualify me to play Santa Claus at the mall—eventually (I’m exaggerating—a little). The web tells me I have to burn 3,500 calories by exercise to lose a pound or 500 calories per day over a week.
One incentive to walk more frequently (at least until the snow flies) is to walk where I can see interesting scenes in nature, like today. I’m pretty sure I saw a downy woodpecker because it was pretty small, which distinguishes it from a hairy woodpecker—otherwise they look a lot alike. And I caught a chipmunk trying to hide from me.
On the other hand, I saw an article indicating that you could get good results from working out 2 days a week. They always quote a study, which in this case was published in the open access journal Obesity. It says that a weekend warrior can get the same results at losing belly fat as those slogging away every day. Maybe.
I’m not a weekend warrior. In fact, lately I’m a peacenik when it comes to exercise. I’d rather sit on a bench than bench press.
Go Retire Psychiatrist 