Walking for weight-loss???

Question
QUESTION: Hi Scott,
I am 35 yrs old, 5'/11&1/2", 194 lbs. I have high cholesterol and high triglycerides. I want to take off my extra weight.

Would you recommend a weightloss/exercise program? I am willing to invest 1 to 1-1/2 hrs daily, 7 days a week. I would prefer walking or any other exercise. What should be my target weight for my height? Thanks in advance.

ANSWER: An hour of walking, with a half hour of stretching and upper body work is a sensible daily approach to weight control. If you can replace some of the walking with jogging, so much the better. Make sure you have a doctor's clearance to exercise.

Using body mass index (BMI) you are currently 26.7, placing you in the overweight category. If you lose 20-30 lbs of fat, it will bring your BMI into a good range. The combination of exercise and losing those unwanted pounds should significantly improve your cholesterol and triglyceride profiles.

The weightloss should be done slowly (no more than 1.5 lbs per week), which will help keep it off. You may need to consult a dietitian for a detailed analysis of your eating habits and guidelines for taking off the weight.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you very much, Scott.

This really helps me. Inspired by your answers to other questions on your website, I have already started walking in the morning. You are very right in terms of my BMI calculations and excess lbs that I must take off.

In your answer, you have mentioned about "upper body work". What would you recommend for that? My specific problem is - much of my unwanted fats are stored in chest, abdomen, love-handles and thighs. And so far they did not showed any interest to go away!! Compared to that, my arms and legs and pretty normal.

So, will regular daily walking say 4-5 miles or an hour daily (increased gradually) combined with stretches and upper body work (whichever you recommend) help me to take that excess fats and pouch to go away from trunk and thighs?

Once again, I highly appreciate your suggestions and help on this.
With warm regards,
SMS  

Answer
I can add a little bit to the previous answer.

I am not a strength training expert, and you can find some arm, abdomen and shoulder exercises to help you. One simple exercise for all three is push-ups. Learn to do them with correct form, then start with a few and build up the number gradually.

One principle you need to be aware of is that there is no such thing as "spot" reducing. In other words, you can't take fat off of target areas. The way it works is: as you lose weight, the fat will disappear from all parts of the body equally. The value of exercise during weight loss is to keep from losing as much muscle mass as fat.