Walking For Weight Loss 101

0 Shares

An inactive lifestyle is the root cause of many health problems like heart disease and obesity.

One of the best ways to stay active and the easiest exercise you can do for weight loss is walking regularly.

In addition to weight loss, walking also offers many other benefits for your health. Walking is not only easy; it is also a most cost-effective exercise.

You can go for a walk outside, or if that isn’t possible for any reason, you can use a treadmill at home or at the gym. You can walk anywhere, controlling the pace and duration according to your fitness levels.

For instance, morbidly obese or severely unfit people can walk at a slow pace for a few minutes or as long as their body can, and slowly add duration and increase their pace as their fitness level improves.

If you feel that a simple walk is no longer sufficient for you, you can level up to running, or walking up a hill or incline. If you are using a treadmill, you can raise the difficulty by adding resistance or pace.

All gyms have the best treadmill for incline training, which is a great option to add resistance to your workout and hence burn more calories.

Here are some more tips and tricks that will allow you to increase the amount of fat burnt by walking.

1. Keep it Brisk

Just like other aerobic exercises like zumba, running, and swimming etc, how rapid your movements are have a direct impact on the number of calories your body burns.

Walking at a brisk pace will definitely burn more calories than a slow and leisurely stroll. Brisk walking is categorized as moderately intense aerobic activity.

The ideal pace for a brisk walk is when you raise your heart rate enough to sweat and be able to talk while walking but not sing. The sweet spot for this is usually 4.5 miles per hour.

2. Weigh yourself Down

Literally. Just add weight to your person as the more weight you have to carry around, the more calories you will burn.

This doesn’t mean you start inhaling French Fries, Candies, and soda to actually put on weight. Instead try adding arm and leg weights as you walk. You may also consider wearing a weighted vest.

Your body will need more energy to perform the same task when it is weighted down.

3. Maintain Form and Good Posture

Maintaining proper form and posture is essential for the success of any workout regime. When you walk, you should stand straight, with your shoulders back and preferably just keep your eyes on the prize.

Here is a good technique to employ for brisk walking that ensures you maintain good walking form. You should start at a slow pace and maintain the speed until your body is sufficiently warmed up.

As you walk, remember to keep your shoulders relaxed and maintain a straight back. You should also roll the foot forward from the heel as you walk.

4. Take multiple short walks instead of one long one

If your stamina cannot sustain itself during long walks, try taking shorter, accessible more frequent walks to gain some benefits.

If you are busy with work and can’t take time out for daily exercise by do shorter walks throughout the day instead of taking a much longer walk once a day.

You will burn just as many calories walking for 15 minutes four times a day as you would if you walk nonstop for a whole hour.

However, there are benefits to walking for a longer duration like improved stamina and heart health.

It’s will bring more benefits when taking a walk after each meal. Walking for even thirty minutes each day will help you improve your cardiovascular fitness, strengthen your bones, whittle down your body fat, and build up your endurance.

5. Make your walks fun and interesting

You are more likely to stick to your regular walks if you make them more interesting.

Even if you want to stay close to your house and walk in the vicinity, try choosing different routes around your neighbourhood streets.

You could also find yourself a walking buddy to make your walks more social. You could also vary the times you go out for your walks so as to enjoy the views with different perspectives.

Additionally, you could opt for driving to a prettier location further off where you can take in the sights, sounds, and scenery while you walk.

6. Get in 10 thousand steps in a day at least

While 10000 steps a day is not the magic number, it definitely is a great indicator of your daily physical activity.

Studies have shown that people who walk more are usually physically more fit and weigh less compared to people who have more sedentary lives.

Inactive people usually only average 3,000 steps or less daily. Walking 10000 steps is roughly equivalent to walking five miles.

Meeting your 10 thousand steps a day target is usually not possible with regular daily activity unless you have an active job that requires you to be on your feet all day.

To achieve the target of 10,000 steps, you should include at least 30 to 60 minutes of walking or running in your daily routine. To start off, you should determine how many steps you get in on average.

A pedometer or fitness tracker can help you there. Once you have your baseline standard determined, you should slowly increase your step count.

Don’t expect to go from a lazy 3,000 steps to an optimum 10,000 just overnight. You should ideally add 2,000 steps to your average every day.