On the fourth day of Christmas my Dietitian said to me…
On the Fourth Day of Christmas my Dietitian said to me…Exercise!
Exercise has an amazing effect of “keeping a lid” on your weight. It can certainly assist weight loss but research tells us that if you exercise for 30minutes each day you will lose 1-2kg per year- so weight loss is really about food.
However, we also know that you can be overweight and fit and live longer than someone who is in the healthy weight range and unfit. So the bottom line is – if you want to live a long time you need to exercise regularly.
Whenever I see those programs of people who live the longest in the world- one of the characteristics is they keep “working”. Now work for a lot of these people is tending animals and gardens on steep slopes = exercise.
Over this holiday period try setting some goals for exercise that will keep your fitness level up and also help to maintain your weight.
Just like with food goals you need to set yourself goals for what you are going to do activity wise during your week.
For example it could be:
• Walk 2 x 30 minutes during the week & 1 longer walk on the weekend
• Go to the gym every day while I’m not at work on annual leave
• Aim to walk on the beach each day for x minutes
This will look different for each person however if you make the plan you are more likely to make it happen. Remember if you overeat regularly over this Christmas and holiday period almost no amount of exercise will compensate for that!
Check this out:
The ‘Burn It Off’ chart fact sheet
Most people are surprised to learn just how much activity is needed to burn off that extra fuel, particularly high fat and sugary foods! The following table shows the amount of activity required for an adult male to burn off the energy contained in selected foods. How much physical activity do you have to do to burn off the following?
If you eat… Burn it off by:
| If you eat | Sitting still for | Slow walk for | Brisk walk for | Jog for |
| Glass of water | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 apple | 1hr10min | 35mins | 17min | 10min |
| Glass of wine | 1hr15min | 43min | 21min | 12min |
| Full strength beer-stubbie | 1hr52min | 56min | 28min | 16min |
| Ice cream cone | 2hrs6min | 1hr3min | 32min | 18min |
| 1 can soft drink | 2hr13min | 1hr7min | 33min | 19min |
| 1 chocolate bar (60g) | 4hremin | 2hr15min | 1hr8min | 39min |
| 1 Large juice bar juice (650ml) | 4hr16min | 2hr8min | 1hr4min | 37min |
| 2 rashers of bacon and 2 poached eggs | 4hr18min | 2hr9min | 1hr5min | 37min |
| 1 meat pie(200g) | 6hr9min | 3hr5min | 1hr32min | 53min |
| 2 slices of take away pizza (240g) | 10hr6min | 6hr3min | 2hr32min | 1hr27min |
*Calculated from Food Standards Australia New Zealand food composition tables based on average energy expenditure for a 70kg, 40 year old male (Table from www.eatwellbeactive.qld.gov.au )
Enjoy your holiday but make plans for exercise!
Enjoy!
Lisa APD
