Walk to the gym everyday and turn around before you get there.
August 11th, 2009 | Published in Most things go here
This weeks Time magazine has a feature on the lack of evidence between going to the Gym and subsequent weight loss – suggesting that Gym visits can actually work in opposite ways by creating a) hunger b) an internal reward system that results in eating foods with higher caloric content than you might have eaten had you not gone to the gym.
I tend to agree with the article – I feel there is more back-story needed – I do agree that 3 or 4 weekly sessions of an hour at a gym are likely to be of negligible use in terms of weight loss – I guess for several reasons – as disciplined as you can be – there are going to be gaps – holidays, illness, work over load – what ever – the schedule will break down at some point. So it’s unsustainable in the long-term.
So that’s one thing – a couple of other things spring to mind – traditionally the Okinawan Islanders are the longest living people on the planet – not uncommon for them to be 100 – this is due to several factors, one of which is they tend to be physically active for their entire life-time – walking, gardening, fishing etc – low level long-term physical activity a few hours a day every day is surely going to be serve you well. Low stress, Low impact and consistent.
Another thing is – as I listened to David Kessler the head of the FDA during the Clinton administration last week being interviewed about his new book, it talks about the salt,fat and sugar that’s been inserted it seems into just about everything eaten – particularly in the U.S – but I’m sure in Australia, NZ and Europe also to some extent. So the caloric intake of most westerners has really grown – read a little about David Kessler here in the Washington Post.
Anyway – it’s no surprise that in cultures where we tend to do less physical activity than we once did, eat more food with higher calorie counts that there is going to be a corresponding weight gain problem.
I know that, when I live in Thailand at the beach where I walk everyday - because there are no cars or bikes – I swim and walk and eat smaller meals and and am constantly active – my weight drops down to pretty much where I’ve been most of my life – when I’m in the west – it goes up 5 – 7 lbs or there abouts. Less activity, more food – pretty simple correlation.
