Walking To Lose Weight

A way to make a walking to lose weight and an exercise for fitness program work for me has been to make it an equal part of my lifestyle as other important aspects. While weight loss is often at the back of the  mind of many of us it isn’t always a part of the activity or task schedule of our daily lives. It tends to be an add-on process. It takes off at certain times and then retreats back into obscurity when other more pressing (on some scale)needs or goals take over.

One way this reveals itself as a disadvantage is when you have actually been successful. The relaxing of your desire i.e. goals around weight loss and the tasks or focus required to achieve the original goal, often means a return to the exact behavior which caused the problem in the first place, such as lack of exercise or  poor diet and food consumption habits.

It is likely that you have lost weight successfully before. Often times it is a lack of ability to continue the behavior which caused the weight loss which triggers the return of excess weight. To use a trivial example, say your house is generally comfortable but messy. Your mother-in-law is coming and you want to make a good impression so a spring clean is underway. You could even say to yourself as you appreciate how nice it feels to be in a cleaned house with the sunshine and flowers creating a cozy effect: ‘This is the way I want it to be always.’  Yet with the mother-in-law gone (and she lives far away) and the kids come home and don’t understand your new desire for order and cleanliness, soon you’ve forgotten you had any other goal then to tidy up for a particular occasion.The same applies to diet and exercise aimed at one goal-weight loss- without embedding the desire into your lifestyle.

Walking for weight  loss and activity for its own sake adds value to your life in many ways. Eating in filling yet healthy ways also adds to a sense of caring and looking after ourselves and our bodies which also feels good.

Counting calories or pedometer steps are ways to systematize a balanced diet and regular exercise into your lifestyle. Walking to lose weight is a lifestyle choice which lends itself to activity as a matter of course. While other  exercise options are still necessary because variety is important, the advantage of walking is its ability to fit into most lifestyles with ease, and making it easy is instrumental to weight loss success.

Walking to lose weight becomes an attitude pervasive enough that once established it has its own  momentum and replaces the need to consciously choose to diet or exercise.

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Every day I am aware that I want to do my walking for weight loss or pedometer steps quota and usually decide in the morning exactly how I plan to do it for this day. Sometimes though the ‘feeling’ isn’t there: I don’t want to do it, or I cannot see how to do it without stressing about conflict with other goals.

That’s when pedometer steps helps! By wearing a pedometer daily it is easy to get started. In fact the busier the day the better. Make a game out of fitting in extra steps especially when it seems difficult. Walk while waiting, fill in time with picking up toys or clothes (bend and take each item back to its spot individually), walk from the back of the house or the office instead of shouting or phoning.

Walk to the shops. Walk to the other side of the car park. Walk down the stairs instead of using the lift.

Walking for weight loss can be taken too seriously. Walking or exercise can be taken too seriously.

Make it easy on yourself.

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As silly as it may seem to some the obvious advantage of the pedometer steps system of exercising and weight loss is the ease with which compliance is made. Keep an eye on the pedometer during the day and it becomes very easy to anticipate opportunities to make extra steps.

The number one complaint of those who are willing but unable to exercise is because it is hard to fit into the busy day.

Walking for weight loss can be done in a  number of ways:

take a 10 to 20 minute walk once or twice each day;

take a longer walk of at least one hour, once, twice or three times a week;

count pedometer steps.

Each will appeal or be successful because of the circumstances and preferences of your life.

The ritual of a regular, preferably daily walking schedule can contribute to its’ success but the two or three times a week ritual can also work.

Walking for weight loss becomes  familiar and benefits many people who can fit a walk to work or walk after school, into their lifestyle. It is less easy for those with more stressful routines which generally means a lack of regular commitments which allow planning. For these people the flexibility of counting pedometer steps becomes a real advantage.

Couple this with the established incentive of having a target against which to challenge yourself.

Many programs aimed at increasing exercise or walking for weight loss include a pedometer as the main weight loss tool.

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Sometimes when walking for weight loss it can become harder to focus on maintaining the program, life just seems to get in the way. Often we talk about rest days and pauses in the exercise or even diet process for a period of regeneration of enthusiasm and commitment. This can be necessary to regain the dedication to continue what is generally a long term routine, if not a lifestyle.

At the beginning it can be a question of finding your feet. Some trial and error may be necessary when walking to lose weight or making any other health and well being changes. Avoid continued major revisions in the process, if possible, as a routine is better to develop before changing or adding to it too much. Over time of course it may change significantly but it tends to be less disruptive to the overall balance if done on a gradual basis. This can also be personality influenced as some of us are more excited by change than others.

Walking for weight loss can be the easiest way to combine exercise and calorie control as well as the best chance of losing weight. If you can keep your focus clear, and your confidence loaded for success than the gradual increases also result in weight loss.

One of the ways to continue if you have reached an interest plateau is to add in weight training. Walking to lose weight is terrific weight bearing exercise for the lower body and is great aerobic exercise if done briskly, adding in hills or using the gradient feature on a treadmill.

Counting pedometer steps even at the gym is highly recommended while walking to lose weight. These methods can work together to improve your overall results but always build up over time.

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Pilates is something which I have tried and still am left wondering what it is all about. I suspect it is the usual -that to really enjoy a process one needs to fully commit to it before the many benefits become obvious. Walking for weight loss is in this category too. Simply put to enjoy the weight loss and health results which are reliably available from walking to lose weight, you have to commit to it!

And while I know people who swear Pilates is the only thing which keeps them functioning, the same is claimed for walking from those with back problems.

It is  more likely to be that both have major benefits and are not direct substitutes for each other. Walking has weight loss and strengthening effects on the muscles of the lower body but does not do much for the shape of your bottom.

Pilates is dedicated to strengthening the core muscle groups and this is obviously a very effective when tightening and toning rather than trying to lose weight.

Each is of benefit however walking for weight loss is an every day and life time commitment. Counting pedometer steps is a very easy way to include activity of all sorts in your lifestyle!

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