With the beginning of each new year many people resolve to change certain things in their lives.

I think the most common resolutions concern losing weight, managing finances, quitting smoking and starting a business.

Weight loss is a battle waged all year long, but the war seems to be renewed every January. I found weightloss.about.com to offer some of the best resources for both understanding and developing a viable weight loss plan. Subjects such as how to keep a diet interesting and monitoring caloric intake are explored, and there are resources to help you lose weight without losing a lot of money.

For better money management, there are many tools to help. Intuit’s QuickBooks is a homegrown favorite. Moneydance and Gnucash also offer financial programs. The major difference between them is that Gnucash is free, but they all are accounting software that allow you to track your money.

If you plan to launch a business this year or if you have recently started one, you may want to check out younoodle.com. This site has a startup predictor program it claims can predict your company’s value in three years. This can be a valuable bit of information if you want to find venture funding, plus it’s also not a bad idea to know your firm’s worth.

For those of you who want to quit smoking, go to quitnet.com. There you will find resources that will make the process a little easier – you have access to the usual literature about how to stop smoking, and you can also join a network of individuals who will be taking this journey with you. There are also counselors available to help.

For those with other plans, goal-setting programs such as those found on goalsetting1.com, and joesgoals.com should help you accomplish your resolutions.

If you don’t have a resolution, try lifetango.com. It will identify a goal for you and help you accomplish it. All of these goal-setting resources are free, which is a good way to make 2009 a little better than 2008.

Quincey Hobbs is a team member at the University of Arizona’s Center for Computing and Information Technology and an instructor at Pima Community College. Send questions to quinceyresponds@yahoo.com.

It’s a new year and time for another round of resolutions. Typically, resolutions take the form of improving personal health, and that involves being more physically active, eating right and losing body fat. Experts are expected to guide us on these issues, and they usually do so by telling us what to do and how to go about it.

As such, our resolutions take the form of “I’m going to do this or that, and here’s how I’m going to do it.” Nothing wrong with having a plan, but if you don’t firmly establish why you are doing something, the what and how won’t take you very far. In fact, not emphasizing why is a major reason most resolutions are abandoned by sundown on New Year’s Day.

Let’s examine some of the whys.

Why

An obvious why is common sense. If you are sedentary and have too much fat on your body, your health suffers in many ways.

Wrong, you say. You are sedentary and carry too much body fat, but you are healthy as a horse. You choose to believe you are the exception to a well-established rule. Maybe so, but are you sure? Or are you basing your assessment of health on the absence of symptoms? Nothing seems wrong, because there is no pain, no fever, no swelling, no shortness of breath, no skin rash.

If this sounds like you, and you are getting up there in years, your body already could be afflicted with several “silent” conditions that sooner or later very likely will rob you of the quality and/or quantity of life.

There often are no overt symptoms associated with metabolic syndrome (pre-diabetes) or full-blown type 2 diabetes, severe clogging of the arteries, high blood pressure or several forms of cancer.

Big deal, you say, we all have to die of something, so what’s the difference? The difference is a heart attack at age 52 will severely impact the quality of life that remains.

Sure, medical science can now keep us alive for decades, but wouldn’t it be better to live those decades in health rather than taking a fistful of drugs, being limited by an impaired heart and fearful of another attack?

Another why is that times are changing. The incredible economic crises we are confronting demand change, and one of the biggest may be overhauling our health-care system. A major component is likely to be more individual responsibility. In the future, I suspect distinctions will be made for those with self-imposed health risks – smoking, obesity, inactivity, excessive alcohol consumption, etc. – and such folks may not like how the new system taxes and treats them.

The biggest why is love. No matter who you are or what you’ve done, there are people who love you and depend on you in some way, and you owe it to them to be the best you can be, and to share life with them to the fullest and for as long as possible. Give them that opportunity by taking responsibility for your health and doing the right things.

This list provides some pretty compelling whys, and, hopefully, at least one of them can serve as a strong basis for your resolution. As to what and how, that’s the easy part, and there are many approaches from which to choose.

What and how

I suspect you already know what to do and how to go about it. You know how to exercise – walk out the door and keep putting one foot in front of the other. If you want something fancier, it’s easy to figure out. As a friend of mine, who is a strong critic of our soon-to-be-former president, likes to spoof and quote him as saying – “It ain’t rocket surgery.”

You know how to eat better, too. For starters, choose one of the following. Cut back on red meat and fatty dairy products; quit snacking on sugary garbage; give up soft drinks; consume more fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

The bottom line

Try something new this year. Resolve to sustain your resolution. Do that by first determining why you should make a change. Next, piece together the simplest what and how approach, one that is convenient and comfortable. If it is, you are more likely to do it consistently, and that’s the point.

Have a happy and blessed New Year!

Bryant Stamford is professor and chairman of the department of exercise science at Hanover College in Hanover, Ind. Address questions or suggestions to “The Body Shop,” The Courier-Journal, P.O. Box 740031, Louisville, Ky. 40201-7431

Anyone wishing to get motivated for a good cause can join a training group for the annual NAMIWalks, according to an announcement from the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Southern Arizona.

This year’s walk is scheduled for March 28 at Sam Lena Park, 2805 E. Ajo Way, but folks can get involved by registering for the NAMI Walk Motivators now.

The walk is five kilometers, or roughly three miles.

Join the team by visiting www.nami.org.

Okhwan Yoon, 47, of Seoul, South Korea, has been traveling around the world on his bike since 2001, averaging about 200 miles a day. The United States is the 169th country he has visited.

A big part of the news business is the search for the next story. But sometimes it rides right up to your front door.

Monday afternoon, South Korean Okhwan Yoon rode up to the entrance of the Tucson Citizen/Arizona Daily Star plant and asked to tell his story to anyone who would listen.

Yoon, 46, is traveling the world on a bicycle and arrived in the United States three months ago.

Since leaving South Korea in July 2001, he has cycled the desert paths, mountain highways and city roads of 169 countries. He lost track of the miles he’s logged but rides an average of 200 miles a day. That’s the equivalent of riding nearly two El Tour de Tucsons every day. He wants to ride for two or three more years and visit 195 countries.

During his travels, Yoon has seen the best and worst of humanity, from poor African villagers willing to share what little they had with a perfect stranger to people who would rob Yoon of what little he had.

Yoon, who speaks eight languages, making him octolingual, has experienced the food, art and music of the globe. He’s also been hit by cars seven times, requiring five operations. He was mugged by a knife-wielding attacker in Phoenix for his bike and taken captive by soldiers in the Sudan. He’s slept in any available bed . . . and awakened with fleas.

He has become that rare creature: a citizen of the world.

“When I began this journey,” Yoon said, “I didn’t know about the real importance of every single life. Nowadays, I feel every single person is my family.”

A decade ago, Yoon was a businessman with a trading company. He suffered from poor health, including asthma, hepatitis B and chronic stomach ailments.

He spent a lot of time pondering “the real meaning of love, family and peace,” and, contradictorily, watching the news of the violence taking place around the world.

As he sat by a river one day, he remembered his childhood and his love for bicycling. He took to cycling again and soon was riding across South Korea, training in different climates and terrains, preparing himself for the global odyssey that has helped him to heal both his physical and spiritual ailments.

He’s been through Asia, Africa, Europe and Central and South America. He called his arrival in the United States “the climax” of his trip because “America is on the cutting edge.”

But he was perhaps most moved and most challenged by the continent of Africa, where he made his best and worst memories.

In the small villages, the people shared their meager food supplies and refused to accept any payment from Yoon beyond his stories and songs. He recalled watching a gorgeous African sunset while African music lulled him into a trance.

But he also caught malaria and dengue in Africa and was captured by Sudanese rebels. They confiscated his passport at a checkpoint and marched him off to their campsite. Yoon said he kept an eye on the guy who took his passport and eventually bought it back with a bribe the equivalent of $5.

As night fell, the soldiers began to drink. Yoon said he waited until they were asleep and quietly slipped away with his bike and backpack.

Yoon said the accidents, the diseases, the kidnapping and the attacks all “made me stronger than before.”

During his travels, Yoon has stayed in hotels, youth hostels, village huts and under trees. He prefers not to camp outside alone because that deprives him of experiencing the culture. He has paid for his trip through his savings, donations and honorariums for speeches.

Yoon said he has come to understand that true wealth isn’t measured by the gold, silver or dollars you accumulate on life’s journey but by the people you meet along the road.

“I spent a lot of money but I feel like I’m a billionaire,” he said.

Anne T. Denogean can be reached at 573-4582 and adenogean@tucsoncitizen.com. Address letters to P.O. Box 26767, Tucson, AZ 85726-6767. Her columns run Tuesdays and Fridays.

(Second of two parts)

In my last column, I presented a case in favor of moderate exercise as an effective means to improving your health. Moderate exercise burns calories, which helps with weight management, and it especially helps reduce fat around the midsection – a prime site for health-destroying activities in the body. Moderate exercise also promotes insulin sensitivity. This counteracts insulin resistance, which leads to type 2 diabetes.

Moderate exercise is more comfortable and convenient than vigorous exercise, but it takes longer to achieve similar outcomes as far as burning calories is concerned. Let’s do the math. A brisk walk will burn about 100 calories per mile for an adult male and about 80 calories for an adult female (20 percent less because females are smaller and have less muscle mass). Jogging will burn more calories per minute, because you will jog the mile more quickly and will burn about 120 calories per mile.

So the question becomes am I better off to walk three miles in one hour and burn 300 calories, or jog 2.5 miles in less than half the time and burn the same number of calories? When it comes to weight management and insulin sensitivity, it doesn’t matter, so the choice is up to you. But additional health benefits can be yours from jogging and other fitness-producing exercises.

Health advantages

If you are willing to bite the bullet and engage in fitness-producing exercise, you will achieve all of the benefits associated with moderate exercise, plus a few more. Take blood pressure, for example. Moderate exercise can help lower blood pressure indirectly by reducing body fatness and increasing insulin sensitivity. Vigorous exercise does the same, but it also has a direct effect on the vessels that control blood pressure.

This means a much greater overall impact to lower blood pressure. The same is true for raising HDL, the good cholesterol. Vigorous exercise exerts a direct effect on HDL, which is more powerful than the indirect effect of moderate exercise.

Vigorous exercise stresses the heart muscle much more and causes adaptations that do not occur with moderate exercise. There is the proliferation of stress proteins in heart muscle cells, which can lessen the severity of a heart attack. Stress proteins help protect heart cells when an artery is blocked, because they can keep heart cells alive longer even though oxygen is denied. Stress proteins also help heart and muscle cells cope with excessively high body temperatures that can occur during exercise on a hot day or as a result of an excessively high fever.

Another unique benefit of vigorous exercise is nitric oxide production in the arterial wall. Nitric oxide is a powerful vasodilator (it expands the diameter of vessels), which lets more blood flow through vessels and reach hungry tissues.

Moderate and vigorous exercise relieve stress. But vigorous exercise may be more effective in creating a physiological effect as well as a psychological effect (change of scenery, getting your mind off what’s bothering you, etc.). After a demanding workout, the muscles are more relaxed, and chemicals released into the bloodstream help promote a sense of well-being.

How much?

Research is clear about how much vigorous exercise is needed to increase fitness. Assuming the exercise involves major muscle groups in the body (principally the legs and trunk), the heart rate must be elevated into the target zone. Minimally, this is 70 percent of the maximum heart rate (220 minus your age equals your maximum heart rate). For a 20-year-old, the target zone is 140 beats per minute. Once elevated, the heart rate must be sustained at the high level for at least 20 minutes continuously, and exercise must be performed at least three times a week, and preferably four.

The bottom line

Exercise does not follow a one-size-fits-all model. On the contrary, there is an exercise strategy for everyone.

If a comfortable and convenient brisk walk fits nicely into your lifestyle, that’s fine. If you find the additional health benefits associated with vigorous exercise attractive and are willing to pay the price required by exercises like jogging, go for it.

You also could opt for something in between, like interspersing jogging intervals into your walks. This may bestow at least some of the additional health benefits associated with vigorous exercise.

Bryant Stamford is professor and chairman of the department of exercise science at Hanover College in Hanover, Ind. Address questions or suggestions to “The Body Shop,” The Courier-Journal, P.O. Box 740031, Louisville, Ky. 40201-7431.

By having healthy foods, such as bananas or yogurt, on hand you can munch on them instead of buying a fattening snack.

Steer clear of these five sneaky fat traps with FITNESS magazine’s get-the-better-of-’em guide.

The culprit: Your couch. “Our culture gives us every excuse not to move,” says Dr. Pamela Peeke, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Maryland, author of “Body for Life for Women” and a FITNESS advisory board member.

“We’re either glued to our computers, driving someplace or vegging in front of the TV.” And with every step we don’t take, we get more and more out of shape.

The fix: Work in a little exercise whenever you can – do biceps curls while reading e-mail, get in some lunges while waiting for your laundry to dry. Or do as many bent-knee push-ups as possible. You’ll strengthen five muscles at one time.

The culprit: Your snacks. With a coffee place on every corner, a burger joint on every highway and pizza just a phone call away, resisting can be tough. (Especially when those cinnamon buns at the mall smell so good!)

The fix: “Make sure you’re never starving,” Peeke says. “Keep healthy food with you at all times – in your bag and at work – so you can munch on a banana or have a yogurt instead of buying a fattening snack.”

The culprit: Your job. Most of us spend the majority of our waking hours chained to our desks and computers. We e-mail co-workers instead of getting up and talking to them.

The fix: Squeeze in a very brisk 15-minute walk during the afternoon and you’ll burn off an extra 95 calories,” Peeke says. Do that every single day for a year and you’ll lose 10 pounds.

The culprit: Your alarm clock. When life gets too busy, the first thing to go is pillow time. “But the sleepier you are, the more you’ll eat, because your body thinks the extra calories will help it overcome the exhaustion,” Peeke explains. Your willpower will also be weaker when you’re tired, making you that much more likely to chow down and less likely to go out and exercise.

The fix: Aim for seven to eight hours of shut-eye every night. “Sleep deprivation is just as bad for your body as smoking cigarettes or drinking heavily,” Peeke says. “It also puts the aging process on fast-forward. The result? You’ll not only develop wrinkles before your time, you also won’t live as long as you would if you were well rested.”

The culprit: Your bank account. Stress is another thing that makes us eat too much. And we don’t need to tell you there’s plenty of it going around these days. (Thanks, Wall Street!)

The fix: A little exercise is one of the best ways to relieve tension. Plus, getting in better shape will help you feel more empowered. “Can’t afford a gym membership? Walk or run, and do some calisthenics in front of the TV,” Peeke suggests. Or get an at-home workout DVD. “Eat as much fresh food – including lean protein like chicken – as you can, and stay away from the processed stuff.”

Copyright 2009, by Meredith Corporation. First printed in the January 2009 issue of Fitness magazine. Write to the editors of Fitness magazine: fitnessmail@fitnessmagazine.com.

(First of two parts.)

Everyone seems to accept the fact that exercise is good for you. But despite all the publicity promoting exercise and the efforts of professionals to get us all moving more, there is still confusion surrounding what exactly is meant by the word exercise.

This confusion is a carryover from the fitness craze that started in the late 1960s with publication of the book “Aerobics” by Dr. Kenneth Cooper. According to Cooper, fitness is the goal of exercise. In order to achieve fitness, exercise must be done in a certain way; otherwise it’s a waste of time. Exercise must involve major muscle groups, be rhythmic in nature, drive the heart rate to a high level and sustain it there for at least 20 minutes. Jogging is the perfect example.

Unfortunately, it also was assumed that without a fitness gain there would be no improvement in health. This elevated the status of fitness-producing exercise even further, and it became the only exercise that was appreciated and respected. Walking and other types of moderate physical activity that do not promote fitness were viewed as a waste of time.

Thankfully, in recent years we have come to appreciate that there is more than one way to exercise. Fitness professionals now recognize the value of moderate exercise, like walking, and tout its benefits. Given the fact that moderate exercise now has a place and is recognized as contributing to health, does that mean it is as good for you as jogging and other forms of vigorous exercise? That depends.

For a meaningful comparison, we must assume that you participate in each type of exercise to the same degree. That means, you would burn the same number of calories in each type of exercise each week.

Health benefits

The most important outcome from regular moderate exercise is effective weight management. Obesity, in particular abdominal obesity, is a key element that contributes to heart disease and diabetes.

A protruding midsection reduces the body’s sensitivity to insulin (known as insulin resistance). Insulin is the hormone required to move glucose (sugar) from the bloodstream into the cells. If insulin is not working well, glucose remains in the bloodstream and accumulates. Eventually, the concentration climbs and reaches the point where a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes is made.

At the same time, when insulin fails to do its job well, blood pressure is likely to increase, blood fats (triglycerides) increase in concentration, and the good type of cholesterol (HDL) decreases. These factors are important contributors to clogging of the arteries (atherosclerosis), the underlying cause of the vast majority of heart attacks.

To avoid this, keep your weight in check and reduce fat around the middle. Exercise is of prime importance, because it burns calories, which assists efforts to eat less and eat the right foods. Since burning calories is the prime concern, does it matter whether you burn the calories with moderate exercise or vigorous exercise? No. Expending 200 calories by walking through a park has the same effect on body fatness as expending 200 calories huffing and puffing and sweating bullets jogging on the treadmill.

The same is true when it comes to insulin resistance. Exercise is the perfect antidote for insulin resistance, because it increases insulin sensitivity, and moderate exercise is just as effective as vigorous exercise.

The bottom line

Sounds like moderate exercise is just as good for you as vigorous exercise when it comes to your health. That would be true if weight management and insulin sensitivity were the only concerns. They’re not, and there is more to the story. And, as with everything else in life, there are tradeoffs.

Walking is more comfortable and more convenient, whereas jogging taxes your body and pushes it beyond its comfort zone. But in doing so, it creates additional benefits you don’t get from walking. I’ll discuss these benefits in my next column.

Bryant Stamford is professor and chairman of the department of exercise science at Hanover College in Hanover, Ind. Address questions or suggestions to “The Body Shop,” The Courier-Journal, P.O. Box 740031, Louisville, Ky. 40201-7431

Tucson Mission Manor third- through fifth-graders best Phoenix foes

Fourth-grader Carmen Martinez does push-ups, along with third-, fourth- and fifth-grade students and teachers at Mission Manor Elementary School, 600 W. Santa Rosa St., to prepare for a fitness challenge rematch between them and a Phoenix school. Mission Manor won for the second consecutive year.

Some very firm Tucson students kicked some equally firm Phoenix butt in Friday’s Operation Tone Up.

The competition, held at Castles N’ Coasters amusement park in Phoenix, pitted students from Sunnyside Unified School District’s Mission Manor Elementary against those from Phoenix’s R.E. Miller Elementary.

Tucson won with an overall score of 94-90.

“It was a fantastic event,” said Tony “Mr. Tone” Lamka, who created the program designed to increase good exercise and nutritional habits and decrease childhood obesity. He noted this year’s sponsor was the University of Phoenix.

Students started exercise training and boning up on nutritional knowledge at the beginning of the semester.

Three hundred students trained, but only 15 were randomly chosen to strut their stuff in the final showdown. Five students each were picked from the third, fourth and fifth grades.

This year’s Tucson win was its second consecutive over Phoenix. Last year, Old Pueblo won 15-14.

The competition was broken down into three categories.

Tucson beat out Phoenix in the 26 minutes of continuous exercise with a score of 78-75.

Phoenix was also felled in the nutrition question category, where Tucson ate them alive 6-5.

Both teams scored 10 points in the scenario category, where students are asked to describe how nutrition really matters in different scenarios, like taking an early-morning test.

“They worked out so hard,” said Kristi Hamblen, a fourth-grade teacher at Mission Manor, 600 W. Santa Rosa St.

Although the workouts were grueling – 30 minutes a day, four days a week – she never heard complaints.

“The only complaints were when some students were joking that now their pants were too loose,” she said. “It’s not a weight-loss program, but one that changes lifelong habits.”

Fourth-grade teacher Tina Chavez was equally impressed by Operation Tone Up’s results.

“The kids were standing so tall, so proud,” she said. “I saw a really big increase in confidence. Some of the kids got to Phoenix and said, ‘I’m not shy up here.’ That’s because they are good athletes and they’re smart.”

She noted one more benefit of the program, this one for the teachers:

“We get to work out with them.”

Jim Paczosa, principal at R.E. Miller Elementary School in Phoenix, gets dunked after Mission Manor won the competition.

Drop pounds, gain muscle, and de-stress – without leaving home – with these picks from FITNESS.

Long-and-lean routine

“10-Minute Solution: Pilates Perfect Body”

Estimated calories burned: 85 to 370*

What you’ll need: Dumbbells, a mat

Why we love it: These five intense sessions are challenging yet easy to follow.

Tester says: “It makes you feel dancerlike and fluid, even if you’re really not!” (56 minutes, $14.98, amazon.com)

Body-firming yoga

“Shiva Rea Creative Core + Lower Body”

Estimated calories burned: 135

What you’ll need: A mat

Why we love it: You flow from one pose into the next, which keeps your energy up and helps tone your abs.

Tester says: “The music and instructor really motivated me to keep moving.” (24 minutes, $9.99, acaciacatalog.com)

Calorie torcher

“Barry’s Bootcamp Hollywood Fat Blaster!”

Estimated calories burned: 200 to 548

Comes with: Three discs, two resistance bands, a stability ball

Why we love it: An on-screen countdown gets you through tough, high-energy moves.

Tester says: “It’s very hard to get bored, because you just don’t stop!” (143 minutes, $59.95, collagevideo.com)

Dance routine

“Crunch: Latin Rhythms”

Estimated calories burned: 170

Why we love it: Drums, horns and guitars set the pace for this effective dance workout.

Tester says: “You’re not just thrown into a full combo-each one is introduced step-by-step.” (38 minutes, $14.98, amazon.com)

Tummy toner

“Denise Austin: Best Belly Fat-Blasters”

Estimated calories burned: 85 per workout

What you’ll need: A stability ball

Why we love it: Austin’s greatest moves from seven previous DVDs target your abs from every angle possible.

Tester says: “Each 10- to 15-minute workout is different, and I love them all!” (75 minutes, $14.95, collagevideo.com)

Walking workout

“Leslie Sansone Walk at Home: 5 Day Slim Down”

Estimated calories burned: 110 to 440

Why we love it: When cold winter mornings keep you inside, you can do one mile or five, each focusing on different muscles.

Tester says: “My favorite walking routine yet.” (97 minutes, $14.95, walkathome.com)

Crunch-free ab flattener

“Hemalayaa Beautiful Belly”

Estimated calories burned: 195

What you’ll need: A mat

Why we love it: Indian belly-dancing moves have you shaking like Shakira while sculpting a sari-ready tummy.

Tester says: “You feel ridiculous at first-but you quickly get used to it and have a blast!”

(42 minutes, $14.99, acaciacatalog.com)

Head-to-toe results

“The Firm: Dangerous

Curves Ahead”

Estimated calories burned: 215 to 435

Comes with: A circular resistance band

What you’ll need: Dumbbells (optional)

Why we love it: Four well-cued, mix-and-match workouts provide variety to keep you motivated long enough to see big results.

Tester says: “Do the full-length version and you will definitely sweat!” (57 minutes, $19.95, collagevideo.com)

Quickie workout

“Kathy Smith: Lift Weights to Lose Weight”

Estimated calories burned: 30 to 225 per disc

What you’ll need: Dumbbells, a stability ball

Why we love it: The two-disc set combines cardio and total-body strength training in seven 10- to 20-minute workouts.

Tester says: “This is totally going to take my training to the next level.” (120 minutes, $14.98, lionsgateshop.com)

Weight-loss workout

“Results Fitness: Boost Your Metabolism”

Estimated calories burned: 380

What you’ll need: Dumbbells

Why we love it: This cardio-strength circuit keeps your heart rate up throughout, plus it comes with a basic nutrition plan.

Tester says: “I could really feel my legs, butt, abs and arms being worked with every move.” (50 minutes, $14.98, amazon.com)

Copyright 2009, by Meredith Corporation. First printed in the January 2009 issue of Fitness magazine. Write to the editors of Fitness magazine: fitnessmail@fitnessmagazine.com

*Calorie burn based on a 140-pound woman.

Sledding's great fun and burns calories.

Americans gain an average of 1 pound between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, one study shows. Sedentary people put on 1 and one-half pounds; those who are more active lose 1 and one-half pounds.

We asked three nutritionists to tally the calories in some holiday indulgences, then calculate how much activity it takes for a 165-pound person to burn them off:

Holiday cocktail party

- Two glasses of red wine

- Five shrimp in cocktail sauce

- Six crackers topped with cheese spread

- 1 piece of fudge

Calories 630

Burn it off: Jog for at least 20 minutes three days or chase reindeer through woods for that long.

Brunch celebration

- Eggs Benedict

- Croissant

- Apple cider

Calories 890

Burn it off: Ice skate for 1 hour on two days.

Family dinner

- Two slices of ham

- Sweet-potato casserole (1 serving)

- Green beans

- 2 rolls with butter

- 1 slice pumpkin pie with whipped cream

- Mulled wine

Calories 1,320

Burn it off: Jog for 20 minutes for seven days.

Hanukkah party

- Two potato pancakes (latkes) topped sour cream and applesauce

- 1 doughnut

- 1 glass of sweet wine

Calories 750

Burn it off: Work hard for three hours – preparing and cooking food (grate potatoes, etc.), cleaning dishes, setting table, scrubbing and cleaning kitchen and dining area.

Breakfast on busy shopping day

- A bagel with cream cheese

- Large hot cocoa

Calories 750

Burn it off: Walk briskly (3.5 miles an hour) outside for at least 2 and one-half hours or jog around the neighborhood looking at holiday lights for 30 minutes on three days.

Nibbling on leftover desserts

- 1 sliver of pecan pie

- 1 piece peanut brittle

- 2 pieces of dark chocolate

- 1 cup of coffee with chocolate liqueur

Calories 450

Burn it off: Do a yoga or Pilates class or DVD for at least 50 minutes. Great for burning calories and relieving holiday stress and tension.

Second helpings

- Gin and tonic

- One-half cup mashed potatoes

- Dinner roll

- Piece of fudge

Calories 622

Burn it off: Power walk around the mall (about 4 mph) for at least 1 and one-half hours.

Santa treat

- 4 ounces eggnog

- 2 sugar cookies

- 9 Hershey kisses

Calories 487

Burn it off: Go sledding with the kids for an hour.

Couch potato snack

- 2 cans beer

- 2 ounces chips

- One-quarter cup onion dip

Calories 700

Burn it off: Play touch football for 70 minutes.

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ON THE WEB

For healthful recipes and menus, plus more advice from our bloggers, visit dietchallenge.usatoday.com

Wilson

A search warrant filed with Pima County Superior Court names William Arthur Wilson, 91, as the man sheriff’s deputies said was a “person of interest” in the Nov. 22 hit-and-run collision that injured at least five El Tour de Tucson bicyclists.

Wilson helped build America’s first atomic bomb, the one dropped on Hiroshima during World War II, according to his attorney, Michael J. Bloom, archived news stories and other records.

Bloom, a criminal defense lawyer specializing in motor vehicle incidents, said Monday evening he had no comment on the collision because the incident “is under investigation.”

Wilson has not been cited or charged in the collision and sheriff’s deputies have not publicly named him as being involved in the hit-and-run.

Deputies are completing an investigation and will send their findings to the County Attorney’s Office for review.

David Berkman, the chief criminal deputy county attorney, said through a spokeswoman late Monday that the sheriff’s investigation had not yet been received.

Sheriff’s traffic detectives had expected to get the case to prosecutors Friday, said Deputy Dawn Barkman, a sheriff’s spokeswoman. But they still have to finish some aspects of the case and schedule an appointment with a prosecutor, she said Monday.

In an affidavit filed as part of the request for a search warrant in the hit-and-run, Deputy Edward Curtin wrote that as a large group of bicyclists rode west on West Ina Road, Wilson, driving a gray, 2008 Ford Fusion east on Ina, turned left in front of the cyclists, a number of whom collided with the right side of the car.

Curtin wrote that he believed a search of the car and home in the 7500 block of North Palm Circle Drive would turn up evidence showing “that William Arthur Wilson has committed the public offense of leaving the scene of a serious injury collision.”

Search warrant documents show deputies were authorized to search Wilson’s car and home, about a quarter-mile north of the collision scene.

The search warrant documents do not show who owned the house, but Pima County Assessor’s records online name “William A. Wilson” as the home’s owner.

Wilson could not be reached for comment Monday.

Barkman said all the injured cyclist have been released from the hospital except Gary L. Stuebe, 42, of Surprise. Stuebe was transferred to a neurological institute at a Phoenix hospital.

The collision occurred at about 10:20 a.m. The motorist, described as an elderly man, stopped, got out of his car, looked at the damage it had sustained and looked at the cyclists before getting back in his car and driving away, heading north on Westward Look Drive, Barkman said witnesses told deputies.

Deputies had been unable to find the man until Nov. 24 when he made himself available through Bloom. The man also turned his car over to deputies.

In the search warrant affidavit, Curtin wrote that he expected to find rags containing blood and biological matter, human tissue and signs of damage and paint transfer.

When the Ford was turned over to investigators, Curtin wrote, it had damage consistent with the collision. The left front turn-signal lens was missing, there was a dent in the front of the hood, there was a dent in the lower right rear passenger door and about a 6-inch scratch on the hood, Curtin wrote.

“The hood appeared to have been wiped down with a rag or a towel,” Curtin wrote. He wrote that several rags were taken into evidence from the garage and bedroom.

After graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering from Case School of Applied Science in 1941, Wilson was commissioned an ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1944, according to a 2007 article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. He was ordered to Oak Ridge, Tenn., where he was assigned to work on the atomic bomb.

After the war, Wilson returned briefly to a civilian sales job before going back to his wartime specialty to help develop the hydrogen bomb, The Plain Dealer said.

He later worked for the Ford Motor Co. and eventually retired to Tucson. He co-authored a book about his life with P.E. West called, “From Bombs to Buggies: One Man’s Calling The Biography of William A. Wilson.”

Parents and kids can get a great workout at area baby boot camps.

Baby Boot Camp stroller-based fitness classes, designed specifically to help moms get fit, combine strength-training exercises with cardiovascular drills.

Pilates, yoga and abdominal exercises help improve core strength. The stroller, resistance tubes and more are used as an integral part of the workout. Enjoy the camaraderie and support of other moms as you get in shape.

The next class will be 9 to 10:15 a.m. Tuesday at Purple Heart Park, 10050 East Rita Road.

Cost is $3 per class, the first class is free.

For more information, e-mail alysa.bajenaru@babybootcamp.com or call 777-6958.

Rebecca Simmons takes a Zumba Fitness class.

Focus Fitness Personal Training & Wellness Studio is holding its third annual “Don’t Be a Turkey!” workout on Thanksgiving Day.

The free zumba class is 9-10 a.m. at its studio, 1116 S. Pantano Road.

For more information, call 404-2069 or go to www.focusfitnesstucson.com.

On Thanksgiving Day, Overeaters Anonymous is offering three free and open meetings.

OA helps people with any eating disorder, including binging, bulimia or and anorexia. The meetings deal with how to get through the holidays without eating compulsively.

All of Thursday’s meetings are at St. Francis in the Foothills United Methodist Church, 625 E. River Road. They start at 9 a.m. and end at noon.

For more information, call 235-9150 or visit www.oa.org.

Editor’s note: Second of two parts.

In unused muscle, proteins are broken down and muscle mass disappears. This is called sarcopenia. An example is how an arm placed in a cast for several weeks will wither substantially.

Why does this happen? Our bodies are programmed to be efficient and conserve fuel. Just as we’d like a gallon of gasoline in our automobile to produce more miles of driving, our bodies try to make our energy supplies go as far as possible.

As I emphasized last week, muscle gobbles up lots of energy even at rest. It’s high-maintenance tissue, and the body doesn’t like this. So when you don’t use muscles, your body decides that you don’t need them and sees this as an opportunity to reduce muscle mass to save fuel.

Lack of regular, vigorous exercise is the biggest factor contributing to sarcopenia in this country. In turn, this leads to needless debilitation. And even among those who exercise regularly by walking – and the fewer who jog, cycle or swim – this type of exercise does little to help retain muscle mass. You have to challenge the muscles to lift more than they are accustomed to lifting in everyday life. Resistance training with barbells, dumbbells and weight machines is what’s needed, as well as going out of your way to do such things as climbing stairs.

Unfortunately, the American lifestyle typically takes the opposite approach. When we are older, we are encouraged to do less. Those who love us step in and do things for us that we regularly did for ourselves. As we do less, we lose muscle mass and get weaker, which means that more things are likely to fall into the “can no longer do it” category. This is the downhill spiral I have discussed many times in this column.

It’s never too late

The most important time for starting a resistance-training program to avoid sarcopenia may be in the 40s for women and the 50s for men. At those ages, the body begins losing muscle mass, and strength is lost at the rate of about 12 percent per decade. That’s quite a bit and, as it accumulates, the effects can be devastating.

If you have reached that age, and certainly if you are beyond it, please consider adding resistance training to your lifestyle. It doesn’t have to be much. Just a few minutes each day with dumbbells and climbing stairs can accomplish a lot. The key is letting your muscles know that you love them and want to keep them around, and the best way to do that is to place demands on them.

Research has shown that just two months on an intensive resistance-training program can increase strength in older muscles by 40 percent. That’s a bunch, and it would go a long way to reversing the effects of decades of sedentary living.

That’s good news for those who are willing to put in the work. And even better news is that it’s never too late to start, even if you have been in the clutches of a vicious downhill spiral. However, at some point, although you still will be able to increase strength quite a bit, the ability to add muscle mass will be decreased substantially.

Poor nutrition is another lifestyle factor. As we get older we eat less, but we tend not to change our diet. This means if we follow a typical lousy American diet, but eat less of it, we run the risk of not consuming enough nutrients, and protein in particular, to cover our needs.

The only reason many of us are able to meet our nutrient needs on our American diet is because when we are younger we eat a lot, and most of us overeat. It’s like throwing mud against the wall – throw enough and some of it sticks.

The bottom line

Aging doesn’t have to be the stark downhill journey that many in our society seem to experience. Despite the tendency to lose muscle mass and strength as the years go by, if you become a demanding task master and make your muscles do more than they might care to, and if you spruce up your diet, you may be able to hold on to a significant portion of your muscle mass and strength as you age.

As with most of the chronic diseases that plague our society, avoiding sarcopenia is largely up to you.

Bryant Stamford is professor and chairman of the department of exercise science at Hanover College in Hanover, Ind. Address questions or suggestions to “The Body Shop,” The Courier-Journal, P.O. Box 740031, Louisville, Ky. 40201-7431.