The best time I ever had with Joan Crawford was when I pushed her down the stairs in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?.
-- Bette Davis
I'm working out and eating better these days. I've lost a bit of weight, but I'm still not exactly where I want to be. It is a slow process.
Along with going to my local recreation center, I ride a little exercycle and use small weights while watching TV at home on off days. I've grown to enjoy the daily exertion and often get a bit antsy if I don't get it in.
And there are many ways to get calorie burning in daily, even if the activity doesn't closely resemble "exercise."
If you work where there's an elevator, from time to time you'll probably have had to climb the stairs if the thing quits working. For many that's a struggle. For those who already take stairs two at a time, it's just another day.
With my foot issue, I only go up the stairs when I have to. But I go down the stairs at work. It burns more calories than walking on a flat surface and a lot more than riding the elevator.
After one of my foot surgeries several years ago, the elevator was out and I had to walk down the stairs. I was wearing my big walking boot so I went down very, very slowly. Honest to goodness, my thighs and legs were sore for days. It was then that I realized that going down the stairs uses a lot of the same muscle groups as walking up, just in a different order.
Our hips, knees and ankles must engage when we walk up or down. The leg and hip muscles help move our joints through a variety of motions in our hips, knees, ankles and feet. And don't forget about the muscles in the outer thigh, our large rear-end muscle, the front of each thigh, the hamstring muscles in the back of each thigh and along the spine in the lower back, and the calf and shins.
You will burn more calories ascending the stairs than descending, but it's still calories being burned and muscles being used.
NEAT TO KNOW
In an article on the website of Everyday Health magazine (everydayhealth.com) I found an article titled "Burning Calories With Everyday Activities." Pete McCall, an exercise physiologist with the American Council on Exercise, says that people who are active can burn an extra 300 calories a day. Over 12 days, that can add up to a pound of weight lost.
McCall says that burning those extra calories can come from what is called non-exercise thermogenesis, or NEAT, which accounts for the energy that we expend when we are not sleeping, eating or doing structured physical activities such as sports or exercise.
The NEAT concept was pioneered by Dr. James Levine, who works with metabolism, nutrition and diabetes problems at the Mayo Clinic. Levine says there are two classifications for NEAT activity -- occupational and leisure.
It's pretty simple, really. If you have a more active job, you will burn more calories. If you have a more active leisure life, you will burn more calories.
NEAT activities include things such as walking or riding a bike for transportation, typing on the computer, working in the yard, cleaning house or even fidgeting.
These activities help us burn calories by increasing our basic metabolic rate. In the same article, registered dietitian Kimberly Lummus, a representative of the Texas Dietetic Association, says that in 30 minutes a person who weighs 150 pounds can burn:
• 147 calories raking leaves
• 119 calories vacuuming
• 40 calories sitting and watching TV
• 103 calories strolling
• 205 calories mowing the lawn
Those are just a few examples, but you get the drift. The activity doesn't have to be a daily mini marathon.
The bottom line is that body fat increases when the calories we take in outweigh the energy we expend to burn them.
Email me at:
rboggs@arkansasonline.com
ActiveStyle on 08/14/2017