How to Burn More Calories After 40

I’m not quite there yet…just over a year before I turn the big 4-0. But because I had a hysterectomy at 36 as part of my ovarian cancer treatment I had what is called surgical menopause, which basically means that I went into surgery well before my menopausal years and came out of it post-menopausal. So how’s that for a body adjustment?

I find that it now takes more work to keep those pounds off and to keep the arms and shoulders looking lean and mean. Now I know we all wish we could have arms like Madonna at 50 but let’s face it…most of us cannot afford a personal trainer and devote a good portion of our days to working out. So I went to the books for tips on how to get the most out of my workouts and how to burn more calories while I am working out and also just at home. Here is what I found:

Swing Your Arms While You Walk: If you bend your elbows at a 90 degree angle and pump your arms while you walk you will burn up to 15% more calories every time you work out. (forget about how you might look - swing 'em hard)

Work Out with Music: It can help you to go up to 20% longer to burn more calories. SometimesI am just about to call it quits and a great tune will rev up my run or make me walk that extra block or two.

Take it Outside: Exercisers burn 10% more calories when walking or running outdoors than they do on a treadmill at the same speed. Even pushing more against the wind or other elements burns more calories too!

Move More all Day: Pace around while you talk on the phone, walk instead of drive, go up and down your stairs, get up and walk around the house a few times between emails. You could burn up to 350 extra calories a day!

**Some information from an article in the March 2009 Prevention Magazine**

** Picture from inmagine.com**