Walk This
7 1 ` ''' 4•'''
By Ruthan Brodsky
even years ago, Karen
Gales started walking for
exercise to lose weight.
"I was motivated to
take up walking when I
joined Facebook and was
embarrassed by photos
of myself," says Gales, a
career consultant who lives in Farm-
ington Hills. "My plan was to lose
the weight quickly with intensive
workouts and train for a marathon."
However, Gales never changed her
eating habits, which included eating
pizza and fast food, and the weight
loss attempt didn't work. She ended
up injured, stopped exercising and
put on a few pounds. She realized
that the math and science of los-
ing weight didn't accommodate her
weight-loss style.
"That's when I took up walking,"
Gales says. "I started a daily program
of walking four 15 minute miles (an
hour) with arms swinging above my
heart and joined a Weight Watch-
ers program to learn about healthy
eating. I lost 75 pounds in eight
months.
"While keeping fit and main-
taining my weight loss, I noticed
people like myself using the gym
as a garbage disposal, but making
no plans to modify their diet," she
added. "Realizing that my walking
plan, combined with a more healthy
diet, worked for me, I was inspired
to find a way I could inspire others.
Last year, I had the idea to establish
a walking club."
Word spread gradually about the
Detroit Walking Club. Today, the
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Detroit Walking Club members: Ronald Gothelf, Huntington Woods; Tracy Jacobs, Royal Oak;
Regina Pruss, Detroit; Amir Eyal, Bloomfield Hills; and club founder Karen Gales, Farmington
Hills.
club is evolving, plans for the sum-
mer are being put in place, and the
club's website is temporarily in tran-
sition reflecting the changes.
"New people joining the club
behave just as I did when I first
decided to lose weight," Gales says.
"They want to know the quickest way
to lose weight and what is the best
8-minute workout to stay in shape.
They tell me walking takes too long,
and I tell them good health is a life-
long commitment. I let them know
they open themselves to a greater
risk of injury with intense exercise
while walking has long-term benefits
and becomes a way of life.
"People my age, 37, don't think
walking is cool or sexy, but I can't
think of a better way to maintain
sociability and good health with little
cost," she adds.
Recently, while in Ann Arbor
working on her master's degree in
social work, Gales was asked to form
an Ann Arbor walking club. She's
seriously considering it.
Local Walking Trails
with looping hiking trails, popular
for walking, jogging and biking.
The 7-mile West Bloomfield Trail
works its way through West Bloom-
field Township, Orchard Lake and
Keego Harbor and eventually con-
nects to the Clinton River Trail.The
southwest endpoint is at Haggerty
Road. The western trailhead is at the
West Bloomfield Woods Nature Pre-
serve on Arrowhead Road; 162 acres
Kensington Metropark Trail is
the Milford Trail from the north.
Popular for walkers, joggers, cyclists
and inline skaters.
The Clinton River Trail starts
from Opdyke Road on the west
(just North of Square Lake Road)
and continues east to Dequindre
(9.5 miles) where it connects to the
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34 June 2014 I
RED THREAD
a paved loop around Kent Lake in
western Oakland County; it offers
hiking and equestrian trails that
branch off from the main loop. A
destination for users of three other
paved trails that feed into the park:
the Huron Valley Trail from South
Lyon, the Island Lake Pathway and
MANY HEALTH BENEFITS
Losing weight is one of the primary
reasons people take up walking,
according to Barry Franklin, Ph.D.,
director of Preventive Cardiology and
Cardiac Rehabilitation at Beaumont
Hospital in Royal Oak and profes-
sor of internal medicine at Oakland
University William Beaumont School
of Medicine.
Macomb Orchard Trail.
Carpenter Lake Nature Preserve
Walking provides
a host of amazing
benefits.
"The gross caloric cost of level
walking is approximately one-half
calorie per pound of body weight per
mile," says Franklin. "For example, a
180-pound man can expect to burn
90 calories per mile of walking, a
120-pound woman will burn 60 calo-
ries and a 240-pound man will burn
120 calories. If you want to burn
more calories, gradually add minutes,
miles and steps to your walk."
Franklin adds that walking is one
of the best ways to increase your me-
tabolism without overstressing your
body — plus the higher metabolism
rate stays with you both during and
after your exercise.
Franklin lists other benefits of
walking:
• Lowering blood pressure
• Improving blood sugar utiliza-
tion
• Lowering triglycerides
• Raising HDL — the good
cholesterol
• Improving your aerobic fitness
index ( oxygen intake)
• Strengthening bones and
muscles
• Improving social relationships
WALKERS SPEAK OUT
Miriam Silverstein of West Bloom-
field has found another benefit of
walking. One of her rules of walking
with the family is no one takes any
electronics.
"I do more running than walk-
ing, but I sometimes realize that I
need to slow down and just enjoy
being outdoors, especially with the
children," Silverstein says. "On Shab-
Southfield nature sanctuary offers 1
mile of walking trails.
Inglenook Park at 12 Mile and
Southfield roads has trails in the
back wooded area.
Heritage Park in Farmington
Hills, located on the west side of
Farmington Road between 10 and
11 Mile roads, has 4.5 miles of hik-
ing trails.
at 10 Mile and Inkster roads; the
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