Walking To Lose Weight

I’m not talking about bicycles- it’s walking cycles I’m interested in today, because it has occurred to me recently that as in life our walking patterns change as we change, whether in circumstances, or because the environment around us changes.

This time of year I will be heading indoors for a lot of my walking. Spring brings with it hotter weather, and sometimes hay fever. After this morning’s walk I looked in the mirror and my face was not only sweaty but bright red. I felt fine but all the signs are there that it is getting too hot for me to be taking long walks without temperature control. Some options I use: air conditioned environments (gym or at home with a dvd -Leslie Sansone’s Walk Away the Pounds -or even the WiiFit); coastal walks always get a breeze and generally are 2-4 degrees cooler than my local area; walking early or late- early is my preference.

At my gym the treadmills have tv attached so I can relieve the boredom to a certain extent with watching something, or listen to the gym music which tends to be good, or my own mp3 player.

I find walking to lose weight outside to be totally stimulating. Plenty to look at, think about, feel invigorated by- when it is in the cooler weather. Recently I’ve been recording my dedicated walks in the walking forum at About.com. This has added to my commitment and feels more social. The treadmill on the other hand can require ingenuity to make it more fun.

I’d love to hear suggestions from you about keeping treadmill walking interesting on a daily basis.

Technorati Tags: treadmills, walking to lose weight

How organized are you to get the best out of walking to lose weight? Because if you live a modern life and are not organized, balancing weight and exercise will be hard for you.

Once you become disciplined about making walking for weight loss a priority, it will be successful. It requires you to put your well being first. Others may not adjust as quickly as you would like to your new choices- walking to work instead of getting the bus, for instance. On the other hand some changes will actually benefit your relationships. Younger friends will appreciate your willingness to try new activities. You are more likely to get the housework done, as it qualifies as efficient exercise. You sleep better and are in a good mood more often. You are substituting newer, more beneficial, behaviors for less disciplined ones.

The best way to manage walking daily is to make it easy to do: Discover what you like about it and reinforce those opportunities. For instance, do you prefer walking outside on a naturally rough path or on an easy established path? Do you feel better doing short or long walks? Do you want to walk at lunch time or take longer weekend walks? You probably will find that you have preferred ways of walking which improve your likelihood of walking regularly.

If you’re going to walk from work, and are dressed for an office environment you may need more comfortable shoes and maybe a change of clothing, an umbrella for rain or hot weather, etc., so plan for it.

If you normally walk outside and the weather or other circumstances forces you to walk inside, find a shopping centre, or even march on the spot in front of the television, if you don’t have the space necessary to walk around.

An even better option is Leslie Sansone’s Walk Away the Pounds.

Technorati Tags: recreation, walking to lose weight

The easy part is important. Do you remember learning to walk? Probably not. Did everyone learn the same way? Not exactly. Was it a process?- yes. Once you know how to easy walk, it becomes natural, a pleasure and something you want to do every day. Because your body feels so good when it’s doing what comes naturally.

It is natural to walk a major part of the day. With some running, dancing, bending, jumping and rest as well. And you tried a lot before you became ‘natural’ at it. Your muscle development is a natural response to movement. Movement helps normalize body metabolism. Just as your body need significant rest daily, we cannot function without consistent muscle use.

So for this process to be successful it must be easy and comfortable, because that’s how you learn walking in the first place. And persistently try, taking your own pace but getting there. Do everything a happily active person might do (according to your physical ability).

This really is a step by step process of walking to lose weight requiring both your physical and mental commitment. Prepare yourself for a life change. There are 2 things to do at the same time as starting to walk.

Step 1:
Daydream about a beautiful day where you happily participate in a physically active day, feeling comfortable, easy, in control. Think only of perfection. At this point stay away from body image, concentrate on feeling good.

Step 2:
Reward yourself. Choose favorite or new diversions from eating. I find seeing a movie a good way to do this. Because walking/activity becomes daily action, your reward system must be diverse and full of lots of little pleasures.

Technorati Tags: walking to lose weight

Why would anyone blog on walking for weight loss? It’s not something that whimsically amuses me to do. It has a deliberate intention. I am creating a venue for all I need to successfully lose weight and keep it off. It is the culmination of seventeen years of experience of different approaches to exercise and weight control. And during this time I have had many short term successes in this area. One of the biggest difficulties has been the lack of clarity that can descend during the process of reducing- when you stop seeing progress even though it is there.

This is my secret: Do what you know works;
Have a check list;
Work though each point, moving on as it is accomplished;
Trust the process even if your mind starts telling you not to;
Give success the time it needs;
Continue until your goal is met;
Keep on doing it.

This is my approach to anything really. When it comes to walking to lose weight, this is how it plays out.

I know exercise works. I’ve done a lot of different things over the short term, however failing to incorporate the changes into my life, just treating exercise like a cure when what I wanted is a preventative solution.

I know there are a few different aspects which have to be successfully negotiated: the exercise must be consistent, adjustable for location, weather, cost, safety, health, intensity, interest; it must be easy to do, anywhere any time; it must take priority in my schedule – which means it must be able to fit in to my timetable by double tasking (joining with other commitments).

My ’secret’ exercise is activity. That’s it, simple physical movement. But a lot more than I ever previously used daily. I am of the era of labor saving devices, routines streamlined for efficiency, etc. In other words a generation which actively discouraged physical movement. Where sitting in one place has become the norm and activity becomes a planned “event” for adults. The result has been not enough movement for many people.

Now I am putting back into my day as much walking as I can. Then I supplement that with additional exercise, often walking again. There is a self assessment level required. Walking occasionally is not enough. Walking most days is required. Additional effort is required. Use different muscles: bend, jump, skip, dance; to increase the fun and the effectiveness. Then walking/activity becomes a joy. And it leads to an amazing life. Where my energy enables me to fit more into my day than I thought possible; where illness is really rare; I can wear anything I want to; I can do just about anything I desire.

I am not extreme in any way about this- not a marathoner, gym junkie, champion dancer, etc. The most extreme thing I am doing is this blog!

Walk Away the Pounds dvd is another way of adding excitement to the walking for weight loss program-variety helps.

Technorati Tags: walking to lose weight

I have to confess that I have never been keen on walking around in some types of weather. I wrote before about the zoo walking club which challenges members to walk whatever the excuse, I mean, weather. This was something to think about for me because there are some temperatures which make spending time outside, particularly exercising, less fun for me. This is mainly rain, wind, cold, hot. That might sound like most days but it isn’t. However I have always supplemented my outdoor walking to lose weight with generous doses of indoor or sheltered activity.

Now I consider the weather more before deciding against going out and realize that rain really isn’t a problem with the right clothes etc.; the same goes for cold. I’ve added in walking on those days although I may not do as much. In summer I might still do most walking in air conditioning but I can add in evening and early morning walks which are not so appealing in winter.

It started out looking as though I might not go out on Friday. Weather was medium heavy rain with strong winds and cool temperature. Definitely not freezing but still..then I remembered that zoo advising walkers not to wimp out because of bad weather. So I went. Then the next day the weather was over the top bad – it could have been the perfect excuse but I remained committed and went to the gym. Sunday was lovely and I got some good walking done.

It was interesting to compare the pedometer results from these different exercising experiences:

I did a weight class on Saturday and when I checked the activity my pedometer recorded I was disappointed as it was quite low, although the calories burned seemed relatively high. Then I had a reasonably active Sunday including several walks. The minutes counted as activity seemed low compared to the time I spent walking e.g. a 65 minute walk counted as 35 minutes of activity. But the distance registered was high, say double the weight class, however the calories burned were similar.

My pedometer assesses the level of movement before registering this as action (step, distance, minute, calorie burned). i am beginning to be impressed. This could prove useful. The energy expended is calculated by the level of motion so although on Saturday the minutes and distance were lower than I expected, the calories burned equaled the Sunday results for a one hour walk which included hills.

The distance (or steps) target is a great motivating factor which I am enjoying. So is playing with my new pedometer and I am finding that the calories burned walking is useful to know. I don’t have to guess how many calories I’ve used up during a specific walk and this is proving to be a very good indicator of my activity level.

Technorati Tags: calories burned walking, walking to lose weight