Physical Activity-Time and Weight Loss

Most of us have gained weight with aging. We tend to attribute it to life-style, which mainly means over-eating and lack of physical activity. There is also, of course, the component of age itself, which we think has to do with the effect of aging on our genes. Those genes which were so efficient in burning our ingested calories, are now less efficient. So the calories get stored much easier. But this phenomenon of gaining weight with age, may not be as complex as we think. I started thinking about this while walking the treadmill this morning. As you know, it's snowing outside. I also decided not to turn on CNN while on the treadmill (better for your mind). So there I was doing 4 miles/hour, heading towards 400 calories after 1 hour. Weight-gain, as we all know, has to do with being fat, which means gaining fat tissue. Let's focus on fat, then. One gram of fat equals 9 calories. So dividing my 400 calories by 9 gives me 44 grams of fat, which means that in one hour of walking I may be burning approximately 40 grams of fat. Multiply by 25 translates to 1 kilogram (2.2 lbs) in 25 hours, or about 1 pound of fat in 10 hours. So, my friends, if you have gained 10 lbs, my simple math states that you have to get on that treadmill at a 4 miles/hour clip for a total of 100 hours! That's about 4 full days! Obviously, not doable, so here comes the element of time. We all gain weight over a certain time period. How does that factor in? Difficult to answer, but the longer you've been overweight, the more difficult it is to lose weight. To keep things simple, I would suggest that you do the math : 1 lb gained=10 hours on the treadmill at 4 miles/hour, and start by returning that "debt" ASAP. This may take a while, but should be completed as a first step. After that's done and you have burned off that fat, you have to know how many calories you consume daily, and be ready to "treadmill" off any extra calories that you may have consumed that day. Start a log which elaborates both calories consumed and calories burned, and try to stay ahead of the game. Don't forget to deduct for those calories that you actually utilize for daily activities. Good luck!
In normal physiology, carbohydrates are the main energy source for active muscles. As we jog or walk, they're released from the liver and delivered to muscle. Only when carbohydrate sources are depleted or cannot enter muscle cells, does the system resort to tapping fat tissue. Things change in the type 2 diabetic, where fat is released along with carbs, from liver sources. For the purpose of using the above recommendation and thereby achieving the stated goals, let's assume we have a diabetic physiology.