Feeling older and creakier this winter? Put on your walking shoes. Our Longevity Guide reports on a study that showed the anti-aging effects of walking three times a week. The study of a group of people over age 60 showed those who walked improved their aerobic capacity by 19% and their physical function scores by 25% while decreasing they disability risk by 41% Walking is an anti-aging pill you absorb through your feet!

But Wendy, you say, I'm old, isn't it too late to start? Sorry, that one doesn't play. Several studies have shown that even if you've been a couch potato most of your life, walking and exercise taken up late in life still reduce your health risks and improve your fitness, energy and vitality.

• It's Not Too Late for Senior to Start Exercising
• How Much Exercise? Guidelines for People Over Age 65
• How to Start Walking

Temperatures have dropped like a stone even as millions are heading to Washington DC for the Inauguration festivities. How do you keep from freezing when you simply must be walking or standing outside?

Layering Clothing for Cold Weather: As hikers have preached for many decades, you need to follow the layering rules. Wear a shirt next to the skin that can wick away moisture. It can be made of polypropylene, CoolMax, or any other high tech wicking fabric. Over that, you wear an insulating layer of microfleece or wool. For truly frigid weather, this might even be a down or pile vest or jacket. Then you need a windproof jacket over it all, as a penetrating wind could chill you to the bone.

Warm Head to Fingers to Toes: I start with a microfleece or wool hat that has ear protectors to keep my ears warm and prevent losing heat through the top of my head. For the chin and cheeks, I wear a Buff that can be configured into a balaclava, a neck gaiter, or any of a dozen ways. For my hands, I want mittens as that will allow my fingers to help keep each other warm. For the feet, select shoes that aren't a mesh fabric. If you find the wind still goes through your shoes, you can cheat by adding a napkin between the top of your foot and the shoe and it will provide excellent insulation. In cold weather, I wear wool socks such as Smartwool.

Cheat with Heat: When it's below freezing and I'm going to be out for a long walk or a long stand outdoors, I bring along Grabber Mycoal hand warmers and toe warmers. These little packs heat up with a shake to provide hours of gentle warmth. They can really make the difference beteen suffering and comfort.
Grabber Toe Warmer
Grabber Hand Warmers
Photo © Wendy Bumgardner 2006

How do you know how far you have walked? There are several ways to measure your walking distance, with more available than ever before thanks to GPS and computer mapping.

Map and Measure Your Walk Online: This weekend my walking club was preparing for our big walking events in April, laying out routes that were 10 kilometers, half marathon and marathon distances. Our trailmaster, Burt, used MapMyWalk online to draw the routes and get a distance reading as he drew them. MapMyWalk has both street view and satellite view, and he could zoom in on portions of the route that would use a sidewalk or path that wasn't along a street. How would these compare with other methods of measuring the distance?

GPS: Just a couple of years ago, you needed a special GPS unit to measure walking distance via GPS satellite technology. Today, you can download applications for many cell phones and simply use your cell phone as a GPS tracking device. I've been using AllSportGPS for my Blackberry cell phone since September. I simply turn it on, walk, and it continuously displays the data, and then at the end of the walk it uploads the data to view on a map online. The results over a six mile walk matched MapMyWalk.com exactly. MapMyWalk has its own application for the iPhone and may eventually have one for the Blackberry. As a walker, I need to use the Blackberry as the iPhone battery doesn't last long enough to track any walk over six miles. You can use other portable GPS devices as well, but the convenience of using the cell phone is wonderful.

Wheel It: You can drive a walking route in a car or on a bike with an odometer and measure it that way, although the distance may be off depending on whether your odometer is properly calibrated for your tire size and other factors. The "gold standard" for walking events is to use a mechanical wheel that clicks off each yard or meter. We took our mechanical wheel on the course along with my cell phone and the MapMyWalk map. All three agreed. I also drove the longer course in my car and found that my car odometer agreed very well with MapMyWalk.

Pedometer Distance: You can translate pedometer steps into distance if you know your stride length. Many pedometers ask you to measure your stride length and enter it into your user profile, then it automatically calculates distance. For this to be reliable, you need to have a very consistent stride. I use the pedometer distance reading only to get an estimate and don't rely on it as an official reading. Convert steps into miles and kilometers

• Miles and Time Calculator
• Kilometers and Time Calculator

Eating more and exercising less is pretty much guaranteed to prevent weight loss in healthy people. But another bad way to attempt weight loss is to buy natural weight loss supplements you see touted in ads everywhere. The FDA is warning about dangerous ingredients in many of these so-called natural weight loss supplements. Unfortunately, the laws have been gutted so that anything calling itself a supplement doesn't have to be scrutinized for safety. You become your own lab rat when you buy these things. Buyer beware!

Diets Don't Work
Diet programs in general have a poor long-term success rate. Why? Because a diet tends to be an "event" and once you reach your goal or get tired of it, you go back to your old eating habits, and most people end up regaining all of the lost weight - and more. A reduced-calorie eating plan needs to be a lifestyle rather than an event. You need to change your life and habits one step at a time. More on: why diets don't work.

What Works?
Eating better - fewer restaurant meals, more fresh veggies and fruits, fewer high-calorie snacks. The first step is keeping a food diary so you are aware of what you eat, when you eat, and even why you eat. Are you eating because you are bored? Are you buying a bag of potato chips from the snack machine because you don't have a healthier alternative available? The first step is awareness. I like using our Calorie Count free online diet and exercise diary at About.com. Or you can print one of my printable food diary pages to get started.

The Next Steps - Exercise
Increasing your exercise to 30-60 minutes a day is critical for both health and losing fat. That is your body's minimum daily requirement. You've come to the right place here, we can help you get started with walking and other great exercise activities. People who only diet with also exercising lose healthy muscle mass and end up increasing their health risks. Don't stop moving when you start dieting!
How to Start Walking
Free: Walk of Life 10 Week Program