Thanks for the reference to your article. However, I would like to compare your ‘top athlete’ to a more normal person. You say:
‘The world of energy measurements tells us that a top athlete can expend at most 1750 kJ exercising for 1 ks (a quarter hour). From these numbers, the top athlete's power is 1750 kJ/ks = 1750 W. Our overeater's power would have had to be 2000 kJ/ks = 2000 W. This means that our overeater needed to exercise harder than a top athlete could to dispose of the excess food.’
But I would argue that we are discussing not a top athlete but an ordinary, slightly sedentary, and probably obese person such as myself.
In the instance below, I will use the example of a man of average height (1.75 metres) who has a body mass of 95 kilograms — that is his Body Mass Index is 31 — and he is just inside the obese range as judged by his BMI.
This man might do nothing, and, as you say, with ageing his BMI would gradually increase. However, if he found ways to go for short walks until he regularly walked briskly for 20 minutes each day, he would use an additional 450 kilojoules of energy each day that he would not otherwise have used.
Although he does not expend energy at the power rating of your ‘top athlete’ my sedentary and obese person is using more energy than previously and gaining many other benefits from his exercise. If his diet remained the same as it was then he might, at least, avoid the increase due to ageing in his Body Mass Index and might well begin to lose body mass because of the increase in muscle cells he builds up through his walking program. See:
http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Metabolism_explained?OpenDocument
for sources of data for this calculation.
I am, however, convinced that he will feel much better for the other benefits of his walking program. The real issue, worldwide, is how to encourage people to take up additional activities such as walking. My article, ‘Walking for fitness’ at http://metricationmatters.com/articles was intended to encourage others to begin a walking program in a way that was simple and approachable.
You and I both know that this is a serious matter. Only about 1 in 10 of adults in Australia or the USA have a regular exercise program of any kind, and that this issue is causing serious health issues in both of our nations, such as the heart conditions and diabetes associated with obesity.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin ASM (NSAA), LCAMS (USMA)*
PO Box 305, Belmont, Geelong, Australia
Phone 61 3 5241 2008
Pat Naughtin is the editor of the free online monthly newsletter, 'Metrication matters'.
You can subscribe by going to http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter
* Pat is the editor of the 'Numbers and measurement' chapter of the Australian Government Publishing Service 'Style manual – for writers, editors and printers', he is an Accredited Speaking Member (ASM) with the National Speakers Association of Australia, and a Lifetime Certified Advanced Metrication Specialist (LCAMS) with the United States Metric Association. For more information go to: http://metricationmatters.com
This email and its attachments are for the sole use of the addressee and may contain information that is confidential and/or legally privileged. This email and its attachments are subject to copyright and should not be partly or wholly reproduced without the consent of the copyright owner. Any unauthorised use of disclosure of this email or its attachments is prohibited. If you receive this email in error, please immediately delete it from your system and notify the sender by return email.
On 30/12/05 3:15 AM, "Stan Jakuba" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Pat provides lots of hints for a casual mass-loss. Before you get too excited about the ease, read the attached. It was published some years ago in a monthly. The manuscript is intended to just present the facts; by no means it should discourage exercise. The opposite ! - make you work harder, starve more, and be happy at it by knowing that both are necessary.
Stan Jakuba
----- Original Message -----
From: Pat Naughtin <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: U.S. Metric Association <mailto:[email protected]>
Sent: 05 Dec 28, Wednesday 21:08
Subject: [USMA:35500] New Year's Resolutions
Dear All,
As many of you will be about to commit yourselves to this year’s crop of new year’s resolutions, and I am thinking that some of these might include things like:
‘I must become fitter’ or
‘I should lose some of my body mass to get my Body Mass Index (BMI) back into the normal range’,
I have just finished writing (for myself because I need it) a metric guide to getting fit and losing body mass called:‘Walking for fitness’
I hope that you, too, might find it useful.
You can find ‘Walking for fitness’ as a pdf document at http://metricationmatters.com/articles
It is at the bottom of the page.
Cheers and best wishes for your fitter and lighter new year,
Pat Naughtin ASM (NSAA), LCAMS (USMA)*
PO Box 305, Belmont, Geelong, Australia
Phone 61 3 5241 2008
Pat Naughtin is the editor of the free online monthly newsletter, 'Metrication matters'.
You can subscribe by going to http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter
* Pat is the editor of the 'Numbers and measurement' chapter of the Australian Government Publishing Service 'Style manual – for writers, editors and printers', he is an Accredited Speaking Member (ASM) with the National Speakers Association of Australia, and a Lifetime Certified Advanced Metrication Specialist (LCAMS) with the United States Metric Association. For more information go to: http://metricationmatters.com
This email and its attachments are for the sole use of the addressee and may contain information that is confidential and/or legally privileged. This email and its attachments are subject to copyright and should not be partly or wholly reproduced without the consent of the copyright owner. Any unauthorised use of disclosure of this email or its attachments is prohibited. If you receive this email in error, please immediately delete it from your system and notify the sender by return email.
