While visiting in Maine where I gave a couple of presentations, I came across an interesting newspaper article in the Bangor Daily News by Meg Haskell.

The article was about Dr. Bob Lehnhard, an associate professor of exercise physiology and biomechanics at the University of Maine. It turns out my sister teaches with him and sees him on a regular basis.

Dr. Lehnhard has written a book titled “The Backside of 50.” The book is an easily-understood and easy-to-read 78 pages of common-sense fitness.

The information goes over many of the popular myths about the diet-and-exercise industry. Bob says the commercial phenomenon does more harm than good when it comes to counteracting the effects of the sedentary lifestyle Americans are following these days. The idea of counting carbs and loading up on proteins is best forgotten.

“It’s only successful if the calories consumed are less than what you expend,” Dr. Lehnhard states.

For people over 50 who want to start running in order to lose weight, he has this advice: “You’re just going to get lame. At our age, we don’t have to run. We can walk. And the cardiovascular system will adapt.”

Fitness and weight loss is a simple process; but all the information that keeps coming out is “made to appear complicated by those who stand to gain by keeping the rest of us slightly confused. Their hope is that our unsureness will make us dependent on their programs.”

In a chapter titled “Work,” Lehnhard puts forth some unwelcome news about how hard the majority of us do. Between eight hours of sitting at our desks, at the controls of our machines, and the time we spend commuting, eating, watching television, using our home computers and sleeping, he estimates that more than 22 hours of every day are spent sitting or lying down. Weekends are not much better, with much of our leisure time spent sitting on a couch watching sports or movies on TV.

Dr. Lehnhard says, “One of the biggest threats to our health ... is leisure time.”

From there he goes after a typical American diet. We tend to eat more calories than we spend moving around to burn them up. He sites an example of enjoying even a little 50 calories extra a day will lead to five pounds extra at the end of the year. Fifty calories amounts to eating an extra half slice of bread, half an apple, or a single Oreo cookie; and those small amounts all add up to extra calories we are not burning up. His mention of things like chocolate, pizza, french fries and a few drinks of alcohol go beyond that five-pound gain he mentioned earlier.

What happens to this extra food is explained from his biochemistry background. He mentions that the liver is an important organ in the processing of food; from what you put in your mouth and how it gets converted to energy — or fat — in your body. He mentions the liver responds to a long-ago biological imperative and efficiently converts unneeded sugars into fat, storing that potential energy for times when food isn’t available.

“It’s a good system; and it would keep us alive and well if we still lived in caves and were running around trying to club our next meal to death,” he said.

Now he says the fat just stays put, with new fat packing around it with every overgenerous meal and snack.

Fitness needs change with a person’s age. Younger people may seek bigger muscles and abs of steel, as well as the ability to party all night long; but older people need to focus on building cardiovascular strength through walking or jogging, and strong muscles and bones through moderate weight lifting.

He gives credit to the older generation for leaving the world a better place, and suggests the baby boom generation has the same obligation.

“There’s no telling the people and situations you will influence in the future if you’re able. People need to help themselves. It’s your own personal well-being. You can’t look to others to get it done for you,” he writes.

In the end, it’s all about commitment, consistency and perseverance.

“The Backside of 50” is available online for $14.95 from www.amazon.com, or by contacting Dr. Lehnhard by email at robert.lehnhard@umit.maine.edu.

I have my order in; and if it is as informative and interesting as Ms. Haskell wrote about, it should be a fun read. Reading a book that is 78 pages long versus a thick book full of complicated information makes it sound like a winner one way or the other.