Walking To Lose Weight

Spring time and walking go together! What happens when the summer heat kicks in when walking to lose weight?

Summer is the only time I enjoy using a gym. It is a fantastic back up for when I don’t feel cool enough to vigorously exercise. The best walking for weight loss in summer is my favourite DVD in the air conditioning at home.

Some tips for walking to lose weight when the weather is hot or humid:

Hydrate carefully. Too much is not a good thing either but do make sure you’re sipping small amounts regularly. If you do vigorous exercise in the heat try the old trick of weighing yourself before and after, replacing the difference in your weight with its equivalent in water.

Avoid the heat of midday for exercising outside. Use sunscreen. Wear a hat and cover up in light weight clothing appropriate for exercise.

Even when exercising in air conditioning, if the temperature or humidity generally is high, your body temperature will go up more quickly than it would in winter. This is because your body is already working harder to keep your median temperature low.

It may be that the same amount of exercise you always do is actually more tiring at this time of year.

It is important to get your heated body back to normal as quickly as possible if you have done too much. Use a towel or washer wrung out in iced water on the top of the head. Repeat until a lower or normal temperature is achieved. Or tip a bottle of water over your head.

Dehydration means thicker blood, which requires the heart to work harder to push it around your body. Keep the water up!

Try some strengthening exercises to insure against injury if you’ve just sat through winter and spring. Walking is the best way to start back into exercise without over doing it but even then some parts of your body may need some special attention.

E.g.

ankles-use a step to stretch the tendons by standing with your toes on the step and allowing your heels to go back over and down below the step a few inches. Hold for 10. Repeat 10 times. Stand normally then rise onto your toes for a count of 10. Repeat.

toes- pick up marbles or other small objects with your bare toes to strengthen them.

calves -stretches will alleviate tightness.

thighs- these muscles can be strengthened by lifting the knee towards the chest while standing. In the meantime try walking up steep steps slowly.

Walking to lose weight in summer is cool!

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Interval training is a popular concept for increasing the fat burning of regular exercise say walking, jogging or running. It’s very popular on the treadmill particularly when walking to lose weight, because it works really well with the ease of buttons to press which alter speed or gradient, and you can measure heart rate for hitting specific target rates.

It is effective for toning or adding aerobic levels of exercise when a routine is not having the muscle and heart training effect. Once a body has adjusted to a level or type of exercise it works less at it, meaning less energy (calories) is required and it’s fat burning decreases but all that has to be done to re-stimulate the calorie burning is to shock the body into working again by changing or increasing the intensity of what you are doing.

It works brilliantly on a treadmill, or in an exercise class or with a personal trainer. Walking or exercise dvds should have higher fat burning options.

An easier way to add intensity to a regular walking to lose weight routine other than increasing the pace is by varying the terrain. In some way increase the energy used during a normal route by walking off the path, on gravel, or grass and an uneven surface. Anything which makes you lift your feet higher or sidestep, alter pace etc. will require more energy e.g. walk up that hill you normally avoid.
I also find that varying the walking surface for one walk a week to a “harder” one then normal also has an effect. This could mean walking on the beach or on a bush track instead of a treadmill or concrete path.

This increased intensity also works to stimulate renewed interest for you in what you are doing. The same routine can become comfortable but ‘phoned in’. Your body needs to know it is working! And to get the natural high which results from pushing just a little harder.

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This is one way of getting some extra leg exercise, and as usual, let your imagination help you by participating in the walking to lose weight virtual walk, the details of which will be in the next post.

Beach Walking to Lose Weight is going to strain the back of your thighs and can be uncomfortable. If it is hot then do the obvious- wear sun glasses, sun screen and preferably walk in the shade. The beach can also be windy, wet and cold. This is when doing a virtual exercise is a benefit! Walking barefoot is practical and can be a mini massage, as long as the sand is not too hot. Shoes and boots may fill with dirt/sand and be uncomfortable. Sandals could be an option. If it’s cold…

Walking practice for the beach requires a sort of stretch stepping motion. In practical terms try to put lots of steps, two at a time, into your routine. Lift your leg high when walking. Another characteristic of walking on beaches is that once you’ve started you have to finish. As you are walking from point A to point B, generally there is only a go back or continue option. So put yourself in a situation where at some point you’ll want to give up but can’t..

It’s romantic to walk in sand but let’s be clear – this is dry sand! Not damp solid sand at the edge of the waves which is easy walking on the beach. Or the pebbly beaches where it requires shoes otherwise it’s like a painful reflexology treatment. (Walking in the shallows is easier because of the firm ground but does require a high step out of the water. Use Walk Away the Pounds for practice.)

As a preview to this week’s virtual walking exercise on sand, a little preparation helps make it all the more effective so join in real life by increasing the effort and type of exercise you’re doing.

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