There are many good programs. The health/sports/outdoor magazines have regular articles on the "New Best way to Fitness and Weight Lose." Sort of their version of the "10 Stocks that you have to buy Today" stories in the financial magazine. Except that IMHO the fitness articles usually have some value other than selling magazines.
Outside Magazine had a very good one a couple of years ago. It won an award of some kind. It was spread out over about six issues and each one emphasized a different aspect of fitness (endurance, strength, flexibililty, sport specific training) and built on the previous issues and then the final issue tied it all togeather. It was also on their web site so you might want to check it out to see if it is still there.
The current alpha-male surfer, the guy that gets all the credit for pioneering big wave surfing and married the "blonde goddess" pro volley ball player and is in all the commercials was featured in it. Don't remember his name but Nords or T-Al or one of the other "surfer boys
" on this site will know it.
It was oriented more towards sports fitness, i.e. getting in shape to do a tri, or ski the black diamonds or climbing a 14in'er rather than losing weight so it may not be exactly what you want.
But the best program is not the one that is the most scientific or the one that Lance endorses or the one that worked for Opra. The best one especially since you are doing this yourself is the one that you will stick with and unless your are super disciplined that means that you have to like it or at least not hate it.
I'm an endurance sports addict. I absolutely love 5 hour bike rides and two hour trail runs through the mountains. I like going to the track and doing intervals to the point that my fingers and hands go numb. I hate going more than a day without doing something. But at best I only tolerate the treadmills and the exercise bikes in the gym. After 10-15 minutes on one of these machines I'm looking at my watch figuring how much longer I have to be on this thing. The point is I have found things that I like and that is why it works for me.
My advice is:
- Find an aerobic sport or two such as running, biking, roller blading, hiking (preferably with hills), etc. that you like and do it 3-4 times a week. Cross-country skiing is great if you live in snow country. Walking is good and many will tell you that is all that you need but I like something that gets my heart rate up a bit more. To build on Wabs comments, the rule of thumb is that you burn about 100 calories/mile (this ignores the effects of individual size and exercise intensity but it is still a pretty good first approximation) and so you have to walk/run/jog 35 miles to burn a pound of fat. I can run comfortably at a 7 minute/mile pace and therefore burn about twice as many calories per unit time as someone walking at a 15 minute/mile pace. Unfortunately the human body is a very efficient energy storage machine. That is great if you are a cave man trying to survive an ice age winter but not so good for those of us in the modern world trying to lose weight.
- Supplement it with sports that you like such as tennis, down-hill skiing, golf or surfing. DS is on the JH B-ball team and DD is on the HS tennis team so I try to get out and play B-ball and tennis with them. Good exercise and fun and it also counts as family time. (Only problem is that unlike a couple of years ago I'm now starting to lose even when I don't want to
) I think they also help reduce running injuries because they work and strengthen the "go side ways and backwards muscles" that you don't work much running but help stabilize your stride.
- Add weight/resistance training 2-3 times a week. This is particularly important for those over 35-40 because at that age you start to lose muscle mass and as Wab mentioned more muscle increases you base metabolic rate. I particularly like the recent excercies where they add a balance component. Many of us have balance problems as we age and my feeling is that these excercises might retard that decline.
Good luck,
MB