A new study appearing in Clinical Cardiology examines the
average fitness level of the morbidly obese (body mass indexes
between 40.0 and 49.9). The findings show that the tested
population was sedentary for more than 99 percent of the day
and, on average, walked less than 2,500 steps per day - far
below healthy living guidelines of 10,000 steps per day. The
results provide important links between obesity, poor fitness
and cardiovascular disease. The study used a precise body sensor
to continually measure physical activity, caloric expenditure
and movement minute-by-minute over a 72-hour period within their
home environments. Following collection of the data, structured
cardiorespiratory fitness testing was performed on each subject.
Most morbidly obese participants in the study were markedly
sedentary. On average, 23 hours and 51.6 min per day were spent
sleeping or engaged in sedentary activity and the remaining 8.4
minutes were spent in moderate activity. On average, subjects
took 3,763 ± 2,223 steps. The