This article answers a few question such as:
Why you choose to walk as an exercise for weight loss?
Can you lose weight if the only exercise you are doing is walking?
Are you new to exercises or have been doing other exercises?
Do you ever think about to try walking 30 mins every day?
You might be wondering whether walking will be effective for weight loss!
If that is so, then you have landed on the right page!
In fact, according to many studies, you can lose several pounds through walking, even if it is your only exercise.
However, you will also need to eat a healthy diet to manage your weight. A combination of walking and good nutrition significantly helps you control your weight.
While some people underestimate the power of walking for weight loss, this exercise has helped many people burn calories.
The effectiveness of walking for weight loss depends on how long you do it and the way you do it.
Walking for about 30 to 40 minutes every day can help you burn more than 150 calories in a day. The more you walk, the more calories you will burn.
Can you imagine the power of walking for weight loss now?
Though some people claim that walking too fast with longer steps can help you lose more weight, there is no proof for that claim.
The best way to ensure that you benefit more from walking is to go with short steps and vary your walking speed.
This article will help you discover the powerful benefits of walking for weight loss.
The Power of Walking for Losing Weight
- The Power of Walking for Losing Weight
- Why walking is effective to loosing weight? Amazing 8 benefits!
- 1. Burn A Lot of Calories
- 2. Burn Your Belly Fat
- 3. Improve Cardiovascular Health
- 4. Improve Mental Health
- 5. Strengthen Your Bones and Tone Your Leg Muscles
- 6. Prevent Type II Diabetes
- 7. Improve Your Posture
- 8. Easing Joint Pain
- Why You Should Start Walking Today for Weight Loss
- How to Get Started
- Tips to Maximize the Benefits of Walking for Weight Loss
- 1. Choose the Right Shoes
- 2. Have a Music Playlist When Walking Alone
- 3. Find a Good Route
- 4. Walk with a Partner
- 5. Walk Before Breakfast
- 6. Walk at Varied Speeds
- 7. Incorporate Hand Weights
- 8. Drink Water or Green Tea After Walking
- 9. Set a Goal
- 10. Prepare Adequately for the Weather
- Related from urfitpal: Best treadmills for home
Health researchers have found that one of the most effective exercises for weight loss is walking.
If you can manage to spend about 30 minutes walking every day or at least four days a week, you can be sure of meeting your weight management goals very soon.
Fortunately, walking does not always need preparation. You can decide to walk when going to work or visiting a friend instead of driving.
Why walking is effective to loosing weight? Amazing 8 benefits!
Along with weight loss, walking can lead to better mental health, cardiovascular health and more.
If you make walking a habit in your lifestyle, here are the 8 benefits you will obtain from walking including weight loss:
1. Burn A Lot of Calories
If you are looking for an easy and accessible way to burn calories, try walking.
Burning calories in your bodies will help you reduce or control your weight.
Everybody knows, having too many unused calories in your body can lead to obesity. It is associated with other diseases like diabetes.
If you want to burn more calories, you should walk faster or adopt an interval walking to increase the heart rate. Walking on hilly terrains can also accelerate the rate of calorie burn.
2. Burn Your Belly Fat
You know, there are many workouts which can help in burning belly fats. But, walking is one of the best ways to shed the visceral fat (inner belly fat).
Taking a brisk walk every day will flatten your stomach even without having to start dieting.
Want to recognize the power of walking for weight loss? Then, do not wait, hit it.
3. Improve Cardiovascular Health
Our weight is related to cardiovascular complications like heart failures and hypertension. Over body-weight for anyone is not good.
Walking is a basic but very effective workout against those diseases. When you walk for some minutes, your heart rate increases. Thus, it lowers the level of bad cholesterol that could otherwise lead to heart diseases.
Thus, if you want to burn your belly fat effectively without having to diet, prepare to walk at least 30 minutes a day.
4. Improve Mental Health
Recent research reveals walking prevents mental issues like anxiety and depression. This research was conducted by the American Journal of Psychiatry. And, weight gain is related to mental health regardless of age.
If you want to guard your brain and boost your mental health, walk daily habitually..
Keep in mind that your mental health is equally important as your physical fitness for holistic wellness.
5. Strengthen Your Bones and Tone Your Leg Muscles
Obesity can lead to weak bones and flimsy leg muscles. So, you can start walking exercises to fight obesity and further strengthen your bones and tone your leg muscles.
A Journal of Bone and Mineral research indicates that physical activities like walking reduce the risks of bone fracture.
The journal also highlights that the results are even better when you regularly walk with a higher intensity.
6. Prevent Type II Diabetes
When you walk to reduce weight, you will also reduce the risk of type two diabetes and other diseases like asthma and cancers.
Experts depict that walking can reduce the risk of diabetes-2 by about 60%, since it improves glucose control in the body.
7. Improve Your Posture
When you pay a little attention to your body alignment as you walk, you will soon achieve an excellent posture.
You can try to straighten your spine and relax your shoulders as you walk to improve your body alignment.
8. Easing Joint Pain
Most people who do not engage in physical exercises like walking will often complain about hip and knee joint pain.
Taking short walks every day can help solve this issue as it lubricates the joints and strengthens the muscles that support them.
Bear in mind that for you to gain these walking benefits, you will have to be working at it. Don’t drive all the time whenever you need to go somewhere.
Sometimes decide to leisurely stroll or brisk pace with friends or family. It will really worth it.
Why You Should Start Walking Today for Weight Loss
Walking is an easy exercise, and it does not require much preparation or equipment, unlike other exercises.
All you have to do is to wear comfortable and light clothes and shoes and set out on the road.
You can choose to walk a hilly place or keep changing the terrain as long as the topography in your area allows you.
Unlike running, walking will not lead to painful joints, especially if you do it often.
How to Get Started
After knowing the so many benefits of walking, you probably now feel the power of walking.
It is pretty easy to start a walking routine. You just have to wear a pair of comfortable shoes, hit the road and get going.
Walking for about three miles per hour can be a good starting speed. Make sure you walk for at least 30 minutes per day in 4 to 7 days a week.
Tips to Maximize the Benefits of Walking for Weight Loss
Before you hit the road, there are certain things you need to consider. Below points are a few of them; you can adjust by your own situation.
1. Choose the Right Shoes
Comfortable shoes are essential when it comes to walking. Because we are talking about habitual walking for weight loss.
Inappropriate shoes can hurt your toes, ankle and overall posture. You need a perfect pair of shoes to achieve your goal, not to hinder.
Please do not overlook about your comfort and enjoyment.
2. Have a Music Playlist When Walking Alone
When walking alone, you may get bored easily since there is no one to talk to. You can even get tired easily and feel like going back.
Get strolling with music. Thus the walk experience will be enjoyable, and you won’t even realize how fast you walk.
3. Find a Good Route
When walking for weight loss, it is important to know your route.
Why? to avoid wasting time.
Knowing your route will also help you avoid getting lost.
Nonetheless, as you progress, it will be best if you try different terrains. Terrains, such as hilly terrains and longer routes.
4. Walk with a Partner
Walking with a partner is actually more effective in weight loss process than walking alone.
This is because when you are two, you can motivate one another to go far and faster, hence burn more calories.
It becomes more fun when your walking partner is your friend or family member. I am sure you already know what I mean by this, inspiration, fun and gossip.
5. Walk Before Breakfast
If you want to lose more weight fast, you should establish a routine. A routine like a walk in the morning before you take breakfast is a super idea.
When you wake up in the morning, the glycogen levels are usually low. As a result, our body will have to burn fats as a source of energy.
6. Walk at Varied Speeds
A study done at Ohio State University shows that more fats or calories are burned when walking speed varies.
You can begin with low speeds, then a brisk pace walks or even faster as you progress.
Interval walking may be the best for seniors who also wanted to lose weight. They can find a positive result soon and feel the power of walking for weight loss.
7. Incorporate Hand Weights
While this may not seem necessary, it may accelerate your calorie expenditure.
Weight lifts will require you to use much energy while walking, hence burn more fats.
However, you should only choose light weights for walking to avoid injuries and muscle soreness.
My experience on this is to have a simple stick in hand is a lot.
8. Drink Water or Green Tea After Walking
Sometimes physical exercise can damage your body cells due to exercise resistance.
Taking two cups of green tea will help you recover quicker, especially after walking faster.
Plain water will help you stay hydrated and recover the amount of water lost from sweating.
9. Set a Goal
Examine how far you can walk within one hour or the time you want to spend while walking.
Optimize your pace by walking 3 miles in one hour or 1.5 in 30 minutes. If you can’t maintain that pace, you can choose what you can do.
Once you know how far you can walk in a certain amount of time, make it a goal to be consistent in your walking routine. Do not forget that ultimately you are walking for weight loss. Motivation is another driving power.
10. Prepare Adequately for the Weather
Do not be surprised by the weather condition before you walk outside. You should not let windy or icy weather intimidate you from doing your walks. Think about the weather according to your health.
During cold seasons, make sure you wear accordingly before going out. Also, it is a good idea to check the weather forecasting reports. Walking under a long spell of rain in winter may not be suitable for your health.
During hot seasons, walk early in the morning before it gets too hot for you to walk outside.
As building habit is not easy, the weather adversity should not stop you. So, you must keep in mind about a treadmill in your house.
Should you know about best treadmill in a cheap price please click this below link.
Related from urfitpal: Best treadmills for home
Final Thoughts
Most people underrate walking as an exercise. Let’s try it and see the power of walking for weight loss. I am sure you will find an amazing result after a month or two.
If you are doing other workouts, still you can walk half an hour a day. It’s an efficient way to burn calories.
Once you lose the weight, don’t forget to continue walking to keep the weight off your body.
Research has revealed that habitual exercise makes people possess controlled-weight for a lifetime.
Yet, you should not overdo it as it could lead to burnout, soreness and even injuries.
Our recommendation is that we should try the interval or short 30 min to 1-hour walk sessions daily. Of course, for a healthy life, we need to eat healthy diets to manage our weight!