AARP Bulletin - January 2012

job in Northern California, and last year he got married.

He and his wife now have a dog, and walking it twice a day for 20 to 25 minutes is part of his daily exercise routine.

He also makes sure he gets up from his computer at work several times a day and takes a brisk 30-minute walk.

Today he weighs 195, he says
proudly. “It’s been nine years and
I’ve kept it off. And walking is a
big reason why.”
Genter didn’t join a gym, hire
a trainer or buy an exercise ma-
chine. He just walked.

So how do you get started? Slowly.

“Don’t set a really large goal. Set a small one first, like walking one block, then gradually add on to that,” suggests Sharon Brang-man, M.D., chief of geriatric medicine at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, N. Y. Her patients are all over 65, many in their 80s and beyond.

“I’ve had women in their

70s who tell me they feel sluggish
and can’t lose weight even though
they eat like a bird,” she says. But
once they start walking daily,
“they sleep better, feel better and
even lose some weight. One wom-
an told me, ‘I don’t know why I
didn’t do this before.’ ”
Start with a short walk, even
five to 1 0 minutes, and gradually
increase to 30 minutes five days a
week. “And it doesn’t have to be 30
minutes continuously. You could
even split it into three 10-minute
walks during the day,” says Bush-
man, who is also editor of the new
American College of Sports Med-
icine’s Complete Guide to Fitness
and Health.

Just be sure to check with your doctor before you start any exercise program, especially if you recently have been inactive or are substantially increasing your activity level. ;