I was reading this morning about one of the problems with childhood obesity. It related to when school lunches started and why they had so many calories. During the Depression the concern was whether children would get enough calories. Many school lunches still operate on Depression Era thinking even though the majority of children today are getting too many calories for the amount of activity they get.
My mother thought that way too. She thought a good breakfast was eggs, bacon or sausage, biscuits and gravy.
She had to work hard as a child and burned all those calories with very hard work. She weighed 98 lbs when she got married. As an adult, she no longer worked in the fields or burned that many calories, but she kept eating the way she had been taught.
I lost her last year to heart disease, brought about by obesity and lack of exercise.
You may have several patients with this Depression Era thinking, and based on my experience and families of origin, it is a hard one to break.
How can you help your patients get started exercising safely and effectively in ways that you can monitor and analyze with ease ?
Is there a straight forward and easy way to show them the amount of exercise they need, to be able to burn the calories they take in?
Yes, and it consists of a stylish watch monitor and a comfortable wearlink strap and transmitter.
I would start with a Polar Training Computer like the RS400 (pictured below). It has the Polar Fitness Test with OwnIndex.
What is the Polar Fitness Test and OwnIndex?
It is an easy to do test done during 5 minutes of rest. The Own Index is a patented - proprietary technology - that determines individual cardio fitness - and resulting heart zone - caloric expenditure - predicts VO2 Max...it is all patented Polar technology/software.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIUzzQV1zGU
Sound like something your patients would do?
Here is how it is done with the RS400.
Start with the watch on time of day. This test is best done when you wake up and should be done at rest with no distractions like TV, radio or talking. Run the Wearlink and strap under water place it around your chest with it snug and over your heart.
Press the bottom right button until the monitor reads "test".
Press the red button once and the monitor will read "test, fitness, optimizer"
The arrow should be on "fitness'.
Press the red button again. The monitor will read "Fitness test", "start", "trend"
The arrow should be on "start"
Press the red button and the monitor will countdown to the start of the test. You should be lying down and the
monitor should show your heart rate. If it doesn't-press the bottom Left button until you are back to the time of day. Adjust the Wearlink. Make sure it is snug, over your heart and start the test again.
The monitor will let you know when the test is finished.
The RS400 is one of many Polar Training Computers with the Polar Fitness Test with
Ownindex.
You can see how OwnIndex is done with the Polar FT40 in this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIUzzQV1zGU
Both training computers sync with Polar Personal Trainer.com which allows the patient to download files from the monitor. This will enable them to see their results and progress, and best of all you will be able to see and analyze it too.
