Time to Get Serious About Downsizing that Ring Around your Waist

By Barbara Day, M.S., R.D.

      

It’s time to get serious about downsizing that ring around your waist. Eating better and become active every day will help you to reach your goals and you will feel better and have more energy to do all the things you want to do each day.  Knowing how many active calories you are burning each day will be helpful accomplishing your goal of waist management!

 

Calories Count

It used to be said 3500 will make a pound of fat. If you divided the week by 7 if you cut 500 food calories a day in food, you could expect to lose a pound a week. But if you added an additional 250 calories a day in activity per day, you could lose weight even faster.

Calories Burned Through Daily Activity Counts

Below is a listing of Calories Burned for an Exercise Bout by a 150 Pound Person by Time for lots of activities.  Listed are two exercise calculators for you to use.

Fitness Tracker Watches

If you have a fitness tracker watch that is another great way to keep up with your daily calorie burn. There are several great fitness tracker watches on the market today: KORETRACK Pro ($99.95- currently on sale for $49.99), Fit Bit ($149.95), Apple Watch ($449), Garmin ($249.99), Polar ($359).

Be Wise and Exercise

Research suggests regular exercise-daily activity can

  • Reduce mortality and the risk of recurrent breast cancer by 50%.
  • Lower the risk of colon cancer by over 60%.
  • Reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease by approximately 40%.
  • Reduce the incidence of heart disease and high blood pressure by approximately 40%.
  • Lower the risk of stroke by 27%.
  • Lower the risk of developing type II diabetes by 58%.
  • Be twice as effective in treating type II diabetes that the standard insulin prescription and can save $2250 per person per year when compared to the cost of standard drug therapy.
  • Can decrease depression as effectively as Prozac or behavioral therapy.
  • Research shows that a low level of physical activity exposes a patient to a greater risk of dying than does smoking, obesity, hypertension, or high cholesterol and for older men, regular exercise can decrease the risk of death by 40%.
  • Active individuals in their 80s have a lower risk of death than inactive individuals in their 60s.
  • Adults with better muscle strength have a 20% lower risk of mortality (33% lower risk of cancer specific mortality) than adults with low muscle strength.
  • A low level of fitness is a bigger risk factor for mortality than mild-moderate obesity. It is better to be fit and overweight than unfit with a lower percentage of body fat. 
  • Regular physical activity has been shown to lead to a higher SAT scores for adolescents.
  • In an elementary school setting, regular physical activity can decrease discipline incidents involving violence by 59% and decrease out of school suspensions by 67%. 

 

Exercise-daily activity prevents or can help manage many health problems 

  • Stroke
  • Metabolic Syndrome
  • High Blood pressure
  • Type 2 Diabetes
  • Depression
  • Anxiety
  • Many types of Cancer
  • Arthritis
  • Falls

For most healthy adults, the Department of Health & Human Services & American Heart Association recommends: 

 

  • At least 150 minutes a week of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes a week of vigorous activity, or a combination. 
  • Strength training exercise for all major muscle groups at least 2 times per week. Using: free weights, weight machines or doing body-weight training. 
  • If you want to lose weight, increase your moderate aerobic exercise to 300 minutes of exercise or more. 

 

Resource:

Exercise is Medicine website.  https://www.exerciseismedicine.org/.

 

 

 

Calories Burned for an Exercise Bout by a 150 Pound Person by Time*

Exercise                                              Time                      Calories Burned

Spinning

Light                                                    1 hour                    374

Moderate                                            1 hour                    476

Vigorous                                               hour                    714

 

Running

Running, Jogging                                 1 hour                    476

Water Jogging                                      1 hour                    544

Running in Place                                  30 minute              272

 

Swimming

Freestyle, Vigorous                           30 minute             340

Freestyle, Slow                                  30 minute              238

Backstroke                                         30 minute              238

Breastroke                                         30 minute              340

Butterfly                                             30 minutes             374

Sidestroke                                         30 minutes             272

Lake Swimming                                30 minutes             204

Treading, Vigorous                           30 minutes             340

Treading, Moderate                          30 minutes             136

 

Walking

Slow 2 mph                                          1 hour                    170

Moderate 3 mph                                  1 hour                    224

Brisk 4 mph                                          1 hour                    340

 

Boot Camp                                          1 hour                    476

Stair Climbing                                     1 hour                    612

 

Elliptical                              

Light                                                    1 hour                    272

Moderate                                            1 hour                    340

Vigorous                                             1 hour                    408

 

Rowing Stationery Rower            

Moderate                                             1 hour                    476

                                                            30 minutes             238

Vigorous                                              1 hour                    578

                                                            30 minutes             289

Dancing

Aerobic low impact                             1 hour                    340

Aerobic high impact                           1 hour                    476

Line Dancing                                        1 hour                    306

Video Game WII Dance                      1 hour                    306

 

Conditioning, Calisthenics

Moderate                                             30 minutes             119

Vigorous                                              30 minutes             272

 

Weight Training

Moderate                                             30 minutes             102

Vigorous                                              30 minutes             204

 

Pilates

Beginner                                              1 hour                    204

Intermediate                                       1 hour                    340

Advanced                                            1 hour                    408

 

 

Yoga

Hot Yoga                                              1 hour                    408

Ashtanga/Power                                 1 hour                    476

Hatha Yoga                                          1 hour                    170

 

Stretching                                            20 minutes             57

Basketball

Game                                                    1 hour                    544

Non-game                                            1 hour                    408

Shooting Baskets                                30 minutes          153

 

Soccer

Competitive                                         1 hour                    630

Soccer, Casual                                    1 hour                    476

 

Volleyball

Beach Volleyball                                 1 hour                    544

Competitive                                        1 hour                    544

Non-competitive                                1 hour                    204

Water Volleyball                                 1 hour                    204

 

*https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/healthtool-exercise-calculator

https://www.calculator.net/calories-burned-calculator.html

 

By Barbara Day, M.S., R.D.  is a registered dietitian with a Master’s Degree in clinical nutrition. She is the Chief Blog Organizer for www.DayByDayLiving.net   Barbara does fundraising and social media for Veterans Lodge (www.VeteransLodge.org) The former publisher of Kentuckiana HealthFitness Magazine, Kentuckiana Healthy Woman magazine and radio show host of Health News You Can Use, Barbara has over 30 years of experience in promoting healthy lifestyles to consumers. Barbara is a former runner who walks, a spinner, hiker a mother and grandmother to 13 grandchildren.