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have surgery, we're only talking about losing [or gaining] fat or muscle. [I did lose about 1/2 a pound by cutting my hair and beard recently!] So, we have to look at what we're doing to increase [not maintain] our health and lose weight as more complex than maybe we have in the past. It's not just about losing weight. Fair health can become good health which can become great health. Feeling better physically is important. That's part of our quality of life. So just losing weight is not the only goal. Here's another great fact: muscle helps us burn fat! So, when we exercise and add muscle, we increase our body's ability to burn fat. That's something that adds up over months. What if you increased your muscle by 1.5 lbs a month? That's 18 extra pounds of muscle in the next year helping you to burn fat!

What else should a beginner measure? Heart rate. Find your pulse and count the number of beats in a minute. If you have trouble with that long, do it for 12 seconds and multiply that number by five. Try to do it for one minute though, to be as accurate as possible. Average heart rate is 72 beats per minute. In the long run, we will want to get even lower than that, but for beginners it is a place to start. Why? Let's not settle for being average. Later, we will want to measure ourselves against the average person who is in great or excellent shape, not just average shape. Some will then want to go on and measure themselves against the "average" Olympic athlete. Stay encouraged. We will continue to improve as long as we continue to exercise.

Anything else? Definitely do NOT push to hard. A little bit more every day, but not radically more. Let's say the first day you walk 1/2 a mile. [Some will be surprised by that number because they think it's too small and a few because they see it as too big. Be realistic and decide for yourself what's a good, but not overly ambitious number. Remember, it's better to underestimate your ability in the beginning as long as you continue to increase every day.] The second day you can walk six tenths of a mile or three quarters of a mile. The third day between seven tenths of a mile and a full mile. The fourth day between eight tenths and and 1.2 miles. Even at the conservative end of this method, you will be near two miles on day 16 and three and a half or four miles at day 30. Once you have gotten to four miles, truly pay attention to how fast you're going. You can decide if you want to keep increasing by 1/10th of a mile a day

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