Walk Off 15 lbs by July 4!

At the grocery store the other day, the cover of the latest issue of Woman’s World caught my eye. “Walk off 15 lbs by July 4!” the cover promised. My brain dismissed the hyperbole and I paid for my food.

But as I was driving home, I thought of that bold claim again. Fifteen pounds in just a few weeks? That’s insane! Under what circumstances could Woman’s World possibly promise to make this come true. I drove back to the store and bought a copy of the magazine.

The promise
So what’s the secret to walking away the pounds? The teaser at the head of the article promises: “Take some advice from a top walking expert, and you can free yourself from flab! — as much as 7 pounds a week!”

Here’s the magic formula:

For starters, you put one foot in front of the other. Dr. Stutman [a Philadelphia physician] calls for a brisk 30-minute walk six days a week; three of those days, you’ll also carry light hand weights. As far as food goes, “all you do is eat at least 30 grams of fiber and no more than 30 grams of fat each day. Follow those two rules, get your walking in, and you’ll lose weight without counting calories,” promises the author of Dr. Walk’s Power DietStep.

“That’s all there is to it,” says Woman’s World. “Get going right away, and you even have time to lose 15 pounds by Independence Day!”

The truth
That’s the promise. Let’s look at the truth. Let’s cast aside all of the article’s mumbo-jumbo and squishy math to look at what it would really take to lose fifteen pounds as quickly as Woman’s World promises.

First, let’s establish the timeline. Woman’s World is a weekly magazine. This article was published in the 22 June 2009 issue, which means it went on sale 15 June 2009. (For those who don’t understand magazine dating, the cover date generally indicates when the next issue goes on sale. With comic books, though, it’s arbitrary.)

There are 20 days between June 15th (sale date of the magazine) and July 4th (the goal date in the article). This article is promising that you can walk off 15 pounds in 20 days. What would it take to really do that?

Let’s do some fitness math:

On average, there are roughly 3500 calories in a pound. For you to lose a pound of weight, you need to burn 3500 calories. So, to lose 15 pounds, you’d need to burn 3500 x 15 = 52,500 calories. To do that in 20 days, you’d need to burn 2625 calories per day.

2625 calories per day? Are you kidding me? That’s more than my daily allowance! Basically, I’d have to starve for 20 days and do a little exercise to make this work. Or I could walk, I guess. But how much?

On average, walking one mile burns about 100 calories. (This is very rough. If you’re not very heavy, you’re going to burn fewer calories.) So, to burn 2625 calories per day, you’d have to walk 26.25 miles per day.

Yes, that’s right:

In order to achieve what this article promises, you would have to walk a marathon per day for twenty days. And that’s assuming you did not increase your calorie intake!

The bottom line
This kind of bullshit makes me angry. I’m sure that Dr. Stutman isn’t making these preposterous promises; I believe that it’s the Women’s World editorial team taking his advice and molding it into hype. I guarantee you that you cannot lose 15 pounds in 20 days by simply walking 30 minutes per day while maximizing fiber and minimizing fat. Not going to happen. Not on this planet, anyway.