Walk an Extra Mile

For years, we have been encouraging people to be more active. A 1996 surgeon general's report advised doing at least 30 minutes of moderately intense activity, such as walking, most days of the week. A September, 2002 report from the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine recommended that American children and adults need to do at least one hour of some type of daily physical activity -- walking, playing tag, gardening, biking -- to control their weight. Some fitness experts have suggested that people walk at least 10,000 steps a day, but many people don't even do that. The October 24, 2002 issue of USA Today reported that if people would walk another2,000 steps, or about 1 mile a day, they would stop gaining weight. And it would take only about 15 minutes. "They might not lose much weight, but at least they'd probably stop packing on pounds," says James Hill, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. On average, adults are gaining 1 to 3 pounds a year, which means they're eating an average of 10 to 30 calories a day more than they burn off, Hill says. If they walked an extra 2,000 steps a day, they would burn roughly 100 calories, which would compensate for some of the extra calories they're eating and would improve their energy level and quality of life.

The Bottom Line

What would actually happen if we truly focused our attention, based on inspiration, towards some grand purpose? Our energy would indeed expand and we would begin to attract what we wanted into our lives instead of what we do NOT want. What would happen to your health if you adopted a walking program because you wanted to gain health rather than lose weight?