Lose Weight Walking

     Can you lose weight walking?   Incredibly, yes, it's that easy!    And it's that easy NOT to do unfortunately, human nature being what it is.

      "Oh," we say to ourselves, "I don't like to walk or it won't really work or it's too simple - it can't possibly be so simple!"

     It's crazy how we can talk ourselves out of something just because it is so good. 

     The truth is calories burned walking add up significantly when you are doing a power walk and spending at least 30 minutes and better yet 45 minutes to an hour walking every day!

     We are not talking about a leisurely walk in the park,  folks. This needs to be a serious, power walk where you pick up the pace, swing your arms and focus on your stride, not on your conversation on your cell phone.

     You need a new walking habit. It doesn't matter if you are walking to work, walking to lunch, walking to pick up your kids, walking the dog, joining a new trail club, walking with your neighbor or your husband....just DO IT!!

     Brisk walking, what I call a power walk,  is considered moderate exercise and to be effective it must be done daily or at a minimum 5 times a week for at least 30 minutes.  The power walk is the center of your walking program.    It's a serious, vigorous effort that you will work up to gradually.  In the beginning you do what you can do comfortably, say 15 minutes of brisk walking.   But you will add time to it until you are finally walking up to an hour 5 times a week.

     This cannot be something you do when you have time or just whenever you happen to think about it. You cannot lose weight walking unless you are serious about it.    This must be an ingrained habit that you can't live without!

     It will take some consistent effort to get to that point of walking for an hour but it WILL happen and when it does you will not have to think about your weight anymore. You will be managing it. It's a great feeling of freedom. I know that if you are this disciplined you are eating low glycemic foods and you are losing fat, you are feeling great and you want to get out there and walk.

     You can make your walking program a 2 part plan.  The first part is establishing the power walk which may be in the beginning 10 or 15 minutes of serious walking but it is the main focus.  The other part of your walking plan is what I call "getting into motion."  This is where you are going to be really creative and think up ways you can walk instead of sit.

     You can start with just standing up from your computer or your desk every 15 minutes and walking around the room for a minute.  When you talk on the phone use a cordless phone and pace.  You increase the time you spend walking anywhere, up the stairs instead of using an elevator, leaving your car 5 blocks from work, leave your car at home.    Take the bus a few times a week so you are walking to a bus stop and walking to the office or to school.

Calories Burned Walking

Light, leisurely walking will only burn 4 calories a minute.

Moderately brisk walking will burn 7 calories a minute.

Heavy, power walking will burn 10 calories a minute!

     Start slow and walk for a mile the first week which will take you about 20 minutes and will use up about 140 calories.    Gradually increase your distance, half mile a week or more until you are walking at least 2.5 miles. This will take about 45 minutes and you will be burning 310 calories. At this point you will lose weight walking as long as you are also following your low glycemic plan.

     When you walk you are building your heart muscle and getting more blood flow to your extremities. The body's cardiovascular system improves when you get more blood to your muscles. Thirty minutes a day of brisk walking can reduce the risk of stroke by about 40%.

     It’s a fact, people who exercise regularly and walking is the most successful exercise program there is,  lose more weight and keep it off permanently than people who do not exercise.   Exercise increases the metabolic rate of the body for hours after you exercise. You will “wake up” your sluggish metabolism and burn more fat.   Exercise improves your health in every possible way from digestion and elimination to adding lean body mass while burning fat.

     Regular walking increases your endurance and energy.    Brisk walking on a regular basis lowers overall blood cholesterol while increasing the good HDL cholesterol and reducing the "bad" LDL cholesterol. 

     When you lose weight walking you are relieving stress and anxiety, you are in a better mood and you have increased your feeling of well being.   As a matter of fact, walking is medicine, and when you are serious about your health and your weight you will take your medicine every single day.

There is a way to track how well you're doing with your lose weight walking plan and in fact it will catapult you into success.      Buy yourself a pedometer and make a goal of getting 10,000 steps a day.   A 2 mile brisk walk, the power walk,  takes about 40 minutes and 4,000 steps.   You need 6,000 more steps so you will need to be active the rest of the day which is the "getting into motion" part of your plan.       When you wear a pedometer all those extra steps count for you and you will be motivated to do more of them.  You'll be amazed at how many more steps you will add just by doing the little things like getting up and moving around every 15 minutes.

     The more you walk the stronger your heart and legs become and the more addicted you will be to walking every single day.   The fat does not have a prayer if you walk 2 miles a day.   You lose weight walking and you gain fantastic health!   Combined with a low glycemic eating plan you WILL reach your ideal goal weight.   It's only a matter of time.   When the daily power walk becomes a habit you cannot live without....you are there.

    For more tips on losing fat permanently see the articles below!

Use A Pedometer

You won't believe how fun it is to use a pedometer and how much it impacts how much you move!

How Many Calories Burned?

Find out what every exercise known to man burns in calories from zumba  to playing ping pong.

Coffee and Weight Loss

Believe it or not this coffee can significantly help you burn fat.

Best Green Tea for Weight Loss

All tea can help you with appetite suppression and weight loss.

Slow Metabolism

Find out what really causes your metabolism to slow down and what you can do about it.

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