EXERCISE AND WEIGHT 14

In a Q & A after a book lecture at Dartmouth College last year the author was confronted by an ardent, but clearly clueless co-ed who accused him of being a selfish, heartless, and mean spirited conservative. She allowed as how, when she graduated, she would be helping the poor and under-nourished people of the country. It was a scene straight out of the rebellious 60’s. Unfortunately for her she seemed caught in a time warp – conditions have changed. It was as if she were volunteering to minister to injury victims of trains wrecks and ignoring the orders of magnitude more people who are hurt in automobiles crashes. There are many more people who suffer health problems and even early death owing to being overweight than by being undernourished in this country today. If one believes the statistics, and they seem indisputable, 60% of American adults are overweight; 40% of these are seriously overweight; and 20% of these are obese. If you do not believe these figures then I suggest just look around.

There has been a change in this country in the past generation or two in the percentage of people who are overweight. In a photograph of my extended family of 35 people taken in 1939 there is one woman who would be considered “fat” and two who could be called “chubby.” I doubt if a similar family group could be photographed today with the same proportions.

What are the causes of the weight problem in this country? Simple. There is too much food available and consumed, especially high calorie food, and too little physical activity. Everybody who is paying the slightest attention knows that. The answer to this problem? Also simple, but not necessarily easy for many people to correct.

On average I briskly walk 25 miles per week at a rate of 15 minutes/mile and thereby burn approx. 1800 Kcals (6 ¼ hrs. @ 288 Kcals/hr.). The classical definition of a calorie is the amount of energy it takes to heat one gram (one cubic centimeter or 1/1000 of a liter) of water one degree Celsius. The calorie associated with weight loss/gain is really 1000 calories (commonly referred to as Kcal or the amount of energy it takes to heat one kilogram (1000 cc or one liter of water one degree Celsius). There are approx. 3600 Kcals burned per pound of weight loss, therefore I lose about ½ lb. of weight for a week’s worth of walking (calories continue to be burned for a while after exercise stops so I may be understating the weight loss a bit). One could gain more weight than that just thinking of consuming a couple of Krispy Kremes so where is the gain in my exercise? Look at it in the long term. By walking 50 weeks per year at the same distance/week the weight loss would be 25 lbs. and over 5 years, everything being the same, it would amount to 125 lbs (450,000 Kcals). Of course everything would not be the same, nor would I want it to be else I would look like an inmate in the Civil War Andersonville military prison camp.

Of the people I see walking or jogging in the parks where I walk I estimate that 80% of them are not overweight and of the ones I see reasonably regularly, there are 0% who are overweight. Naturally it is not just exercise that keeps these people fit. You can be sure they follow healthy life style regimens such as not over eating. Fortunately there seems to be a recent trend in the past few years in the general population of people taking action against the excessive weight problem. This is a hopeful sign that, if true, bodes well for the future. It is a case of less is better in the sense of better health and more appealing appearance while carrying less weight.

In addition to the other demonstrated health benefits of exercise such as cardiovascular, pulmonary, muscle toning, and bone density gain, weight control is important, but doubtless not sufficient for a healthy body weight. As an undergraduate, world famous pioneer heart transplant surgeon, Dr. Denton Cooley played on the University of Texas varsity basketball team at 6 ft. 4 inch and 180 lbs. In 2005 at age 85 he still weighed 180 lbs. When asked his recommendation for not gaining weight he responded, “Don’t eat!” That is typical of the brusque personality of a surgeon. He obviously did not mean to completely give up eating which would be fatal after a period of time and therefore not good for your health, but meant not to overeat. Good advice.