Former Fat Guy Blog

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Add Pushups And Crunches To The 10000 Steps A Day Program

timex pedometer 10000 steps a day

I went out and bought a pedometer today. I got it from Mountain Equipment Co-op as I live just 2 blocks away. I picked up the Timex Digital Pedometer for $22 Canadian. It counts steps, calories and distance in either Km or Miles. It’s a lot smaller than I had figured it would be so that’s great.I’m going to follow the format that I outlined in the for week 1 and track what I’m already doing first as I’m kinda curious. I KNOW that I am not as active in walking as I should be as I’m blogging and writing a lot, but I wanted to do the program just as others would.I remember that when I started my weight loss program back in 1990 that I wanted to do push ups and crunches but could only do 5 push ups and only a few crunches. I have decided to modify the 10000 steps a day program to include daily push ups and crunches as well. Why Not? If you’re out walking, why not begin something else new as well and do some daily body weight exercises as well. [Read more…]

10000 Steps A Day Walking Progam

10,000 steps a day is supposed to be the required amount of walking required per day to keep healthy and fit while no other exercise is required. The program was first mentioned about 40 years ago in Japan and supposedly was not based on any research, but just a number they came up with. Now it’s being promoted by many health professionals as a way to combat obesity, improve weight loss and heart health.

There is no question that walking is good for you and my earlier research showed that walking can be more beneficial than running. The idea was that our ancestor’s bodies developed a method of efficiency to use stored fuel (fat) before it used glycogen (quick fuel). It takes a long time to evolve, so there’s no reason to think that anything has changed over the past thousands of years.

My sister told me about the 10000 steps a day program just the other day. She’s a doctor working with immigration Canada and works overseas. She’s been in Vienna Austria for the past 4 years and just got a new position in Singapore. She was in Canada for a few business meetings and flew into Edmonton yesterday to visit while making her way back east and then on to Vienna.

I began my walking program at 375 pounds and walked 20 minutes a day or twice a day. I incorporated ankle weights, starting with 1 pound and then worked up to 2.5 pounds on each ankle and even started using 5 pound dumbbells as I walked my route. I walked rain or shine and one day I came back from my route during a -40 degree Celsius (-40 Fahrenheit) and my neighbor said “nothing stops you from your walk, does it?” [Read more…]