Book gives tips on how to stay fit, step by step

Walking is considered one of the safest, least expensive and easiest ways to keep in shape. A total of 10,000 steps is considered by some health experts to be a good daily goal, and steps can be tracked with a pedometer. Walking can also be part of a successful weight-loss program, according to “The Step Diet Book” (Workman Publishing, 2004).

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The Step Diet Book: Taking weight off and keeping it off don’t have to be complicated. That’s the philosophy behind this book, which uses walking combined with a sensible diet to achieve and maintain weight loss. Using a pedometer (one comes with the book), people can work to increase their daily steps and the number of calories they burn. There’s nothing new in this book, but neither are there gimmicks or complicated regimens, just basic information about achievable weight loss. Tips include cutting food portions by 25% and ways to get more activity (walk in airports while waiting for a plane, walk to the mailbox).

“I think we’ve totally confused people with all the fad diets,” says lead author Jim O. Hill, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado. “At some level you have to get back to the basics and expend more energy than you take in. The real key in long-term weight loss is reaching that balance.”

Price: $22.95 (including a pedometer); available at bookstores.

-- Jeannine Stein