An Extreme Walking Schedule to Regain Health

Priscilla weighed 390 at her heaviest in June of last year. Her and her husband Morton decided to take some drastic measures to lose weight. They are undertaking an extreme walking and cycling regiment. They started on January 1st when Priscilla weighed 343 pounds and their goal is to walk and cycle across the entire perimeter of the United States.

They have completed over 1,000 miles already. In January they did over 390 miles. In February they completed 534 miles. In the first 43 days of their trip Priscilla lost 47 pounds. Her goal is to regain her health and weigh 140 pounds by mid 2008.

They are asking people along the way to help them with donations for overnight stays and free nutritious food and water. Check out their walking and weight loss progress here. See more walking weight loss success stories here.

iPod Fitness Works for Me

I bought an iPod a month ago. I'm writing to report that it's been a wonderful help to me to get me out there walking more regularly. It's the second generation iPod, much tinier and more powerful than the first ones that came out a few years ago. It costs $79. (The photo here shows that it's not much bigger than the size of a quarter.)

Before I got the iPod, I was walking an average of about 7 miles a week. I've been using it for three weeks now and I'm up to about 14 miles a week now. The goal is still to get up to over 20 miles per week and maintain that for a while.

I spend way too much time slouched over my computer. In the last few months I've really begun to feel the muscle and joint strain from this all over the right side of my body. (Especially around my right hip and right arm.) So it's really crucial I get out there and move, not just for fitness and weight loss and all the benefits associated with that, but to make sure I don't develop some long term nerve damage due to my bad computer habits.

I'm not so much into listening to music on my walks as when I was younger and jogging around with my heavy walkman. Now I prefer the fascinating podcasts that are available out there for free. There are tons of really high quality free lectures and talks on any topic you might possibly be interested in.

In summary, the iPod has been a great investment for my fitness motivation so far. Will let you know if it's still motivating me a few weeks from now.

Fruits with the Highest Fiber Content

A high fiber diet is very helpful for losing weight and improving digestion. When our intestinal tract is not functioning properly it can cause fatigue and listlessness. Legumes, vegetables, bran and oats are all high fiber foods. But some fruits are way up there as well in terms of high fiber content. What are the fruits with the highest fiber content?

A cup of raspberries has a whopping 8 grams of fiber and only 60 calories. That's almost twice as much fiber as a cup of broccoli, which is also a high fiber food. Pears have almost 4 grams of fiber. The delicious asian pears have the highest fiber content of all pears. One cup of strawberries has about 3 grams of fiber and one of the small kiwifruits has 2.5 grams of fiber.

These foods make great snacks. Get munching on some rasberries, pears, strawberries or kiwifruits today!

To lose weight without going hungry, try eating 25 grams of fiber everyday. This is the daily recommended amount but very few people get even half of this much fiber in their daily diet.

Some of these fruits can be quite expensive, especially when they are not in season. The most cost-efficient way to get a high-fiber diet is to eat lots of legumes, greens and brown rice. Legumes and greens are loaded with other vitamins and nutrients as well as fiber.