Lose Weight and Energize while Walking

October 25, 2007 Filed Under: Walking

A few years ago I joined a walking club. As we don’t have a dog, I found it difficult to just take a walk without having a goal and walking alone without anyone to share the experience, or to chat with on the way, didn’t appeal to me. I soon found that walking was not only getting me out and about, I was also meeting other people, and I soon found out that walking at a moderate pace for about an hour or so, I was also burning stored fat and building muscle, speeding up my metabolism and losing weight.

Walking an hour a day will help eliminate the risk of heart disease, breast cancer, colon cancer, diabetes, stroke and all kinds aches and pains. Bearing all this in mind I made up my mind to take 1-hour walks into into my everyday life.

My main reasons for walking was to wake up my metabolism as I’d been having tummy troubles after retiring. Simple enough to understand – my work load and activity level had fallen drastically and something had to be done about it. Pottering around in the garden wasn’t enough.

So when I made up my mind to walk, I had to first warm up the muscles and let them know that I was planning to be active for awhile. Then after walking at an easy warm-up pace for about 15 minutes I set the pace up to let my muscles know that they couldn’t just sit back relax but now was the time to burn up the available sugars, they needed to call on the fat reserves. My doctor had told me that this is why I shouldn’t start off at a high pace – as when doing this, your cells don’t get the signal that this is a long-term activity, so instead they only burn up sugars.

As well as setting my metabolism on the right path, I wanted to lose a few pounds into the bargain, but wasn’t sure whether ‘just’ walking could help me – I needn’t have worried. Walking actually does help to lose weight, naturally, you have to set up the pace – kind of like when you’re late for an appointment and have to walk quickly to make up for lost time – that kind of pace and it takes some practice when you’re not accustomed to it. As I got used to walking at this quick pace, I soon found out that I could have a conversation at the same time, without getting out of breath, that was good news for me. Apart from that I feel so much better and it’s so energizing.

Walking a kilometre in about 10-minutes will burn a lot of calories per km. I walk now about 25 kms a week and recommend this distance if at all possible. The great thing with walking is that you need very little extra’s, but you do need a good pair of shoes that you feel comfortable walking in. If you buy new walking shoes, you may need to break them in before using them for any distance so as to avoid blisters and aching feet in general. Naturally, wear clothes suitable for the weather and area where you’ll be walking. I recently bought a pedometer which logs to keep track of my walking, heart rate and pulse, which motivates me too.

There are many joys with walking apart from the health benefits. I’ve discovered plants, insects, places and people that I never would have met or seen had I not started walking and I have much more energy today than I had. There are a lot of rambling clubs and hiking clubs everywhere. If walking appeals to you, try looking through your local newspaper, or ask at the commune where you live the choices online are abundant. Maybe you have a friend that would like to join you – start your own walking club.

Walking as a regular workout is emphasized in countless health articles. Although many other things such as weider fitness equipment and weight training are very popular but walking exercises require the least number of accessories and can be adopted by any age group as a way of ensuring a healthy lifestyle.