Here's how you can lose weight walking without losing time.
You’ve heard it said before, and you will hear it said again. But no matter how many times it is said, the fact remains, walking is THE best and easiest way to lose weight.
Consider this; by walking at a moderate pace for an extra sixty minutes every day, it is perfectly possible to burn 3,500 calories a week.
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That’s a pound of fat lost every week just by walking an extra sixty minutes a day or thirty pounds lost in just over seven months ! Ah, but that is the key, isn’t it ? Where are you going to come up with that extra sixty minutes a day ?
Time is by far the biggest problem most people run into when starting an exercise program.
They simply can’t see their way clear to freeing up 30-60 minutes a day to dedicate to exercising on a daily basis.
It doesn’t help that time is one of the things absolutely necessary to a successful weight-loss program.
What Special Equipment is needed to Lose Weight Walking ? One of the best things about adopting walking as your weight loss method is that it requires no special tools or equipment to implement.
In fact, there are exactly three things you absolutely have to have in order to begin, and one that is optional,
though highly recommended):
- Time
- Commitment
- A pair of good-fitting walking or running shoes
- A Pedometer (optional but highly recommende
Even though a pedometer is listed as optional, it can be a key to making a walking program work for you. While a pair of good-fitting walking shoes can be found at any department store, time and commitment are hard items to track down, especially in this age of multi-tasking and instant everything.
The most amazing thing is, while it is true that a continuous sixty minutes of walking is recommended for total fitness (given that it elevates the heart rate, speeds up metabolism and builds muscle mass) you can add those extra sixty minutes of walking at any time and point of your day and still reap the rewards of extra calories burned. This is where the pedometer comes in handy.
Track Your Steps While You Lose Weight Walking
A pedometer is a nifty gadget that can measure not only steps taken, but distance, calories burned, speed, elapsed time, steps per minute, as well as functioning as an alarm and stopwatch.
By using a pedometer for at least two-three days, you will be able to effectively gauge how much time you already spend walking. Just strap it on and go about your daily business, don’t do anything differently !
At the end of the day you will be able to see how many steps you took in your day, and how many steps per minute, which you can then use to calculate just how many minutes you spent walking.
Now, the goal is, to find ways to add to your total. Example: did you spend three minutes walking from your parking space to the grocery store ? Park at the end of the lot and you’ve just added 2-3 minutes to your walking total for the day.
Soon you’ll find that you’re looking for ways to add steps to your total, going down the long hallway at work instead of taking the shortcut, walking back out to your mailbox instead of stopping in your car on the way home. The possibilities are endless.
Of course this method is not perfect, the goal should be to eventually be able to dedicate a full sixty continuous minutes per day to walking in order to reap all the rewards that walking has for you, but by adding sixty minutes to your total walking time per day, you’ve taken your first steps to
lose weight walking and to discovering a slimmer and
healthier you.
