Walking To Lose Weight – Why It’s Such A Good Idea
It would be the easiest thing in the world to dismiss walking as a method of taking exercise. After all, it’s a low impact, low injury risk and relatively low intensity way to workout. There’s no need for training or special equipment. You already know how to it – in fact, you probably do it every day.
However, you shouldn’t allow familiarity to breed contempt. There’s no need to start out on an exercise program suited to an Olympic athlete in order to achieve some very important health benefits. There are numerous benefits provided by this simple exercise technique – one of which is weight loss.
Walking can lower the risk of stroke and heart disease. It can help reduce cholesterol levels and also relieve hypertension. Because it is a weight bearing exercise, it can build muscle and increase bone density. It can help raise the efficiency of both the heart and lungs. Regular walking can also help to reduce the risk of contracting certain types of cancer. It can also help to fight anxiety and combat depression. Recently conducted research in the UK suggests that walking as little as 8 miles on a weekly basis can help to stave off Alzheimer’s disease. As mentioned previously, it can help you with weight loss, get you into generally better shape and give you more energy.
That’s an impressive list of benefits. It reads more like an advert for the latest wonder drug rather than a mundane activity that you do every day! There’s no need to get into a “no pain, no gain” mindset – or to “go for the burn”. All that you need to do is a little more walking than normal, and you need to keep doing it on a regular basis – you will be pleasantly surprised at just how quickly you begin to see results.
There are many opportunities that you can take to walk more. You can slot it into your day whenever it’s most convenient for you. One very common piece of advice is to leave your car in the garage and walk to work. However, if that isn’t workable for you then use your car anyway but park it in a remote corner of the parking lot so that you have to walk further in order to reach the entrance. If you use the subway or the bus, then get off one or two stops early and complete your journey on foot. Climb the stairs instead of using the elevator. Go for a short walk at lunchtime rather than sitting in front of your computer. Walk about whenever you are talking on your mobile phone. Opportunities to walk a little further each day abound.
It can be difficult to monitor your progress if you are fitting walking into your daily routine in a series of short bursts as described above. You might find that a pedometer is a good investment. It will track and display your results in terms of the number of calories burned, the total number of steps taken or the distance covered. This can help to keep your motivation up.
You might find an mp3 player a useful device. When you’re listening to your favorite music, the time and the miles will fly past.
Toning shoes are a recent development in the fitness footwear market, and you may be able to benefit from this. Brands like Skechers Shape Ups Shoes, Fit Flops sandals and Reebok Easy Tones all use special soles which raise the amount of work performed by your lower body muscle whilst walking. This can help to trim and tone your lower body – just by walking.
So, if you would like to lose a little weight, then walking to lose weight is the ideal option. There are numerous other health benefits – many of which are just as important as weight loss – which walking can deliver.