One of the frustrations for walkers or runners is that a favorite route will go off road onto paths or byways which make the distance traveled when walking to lose weight difficult to tally. While a pedometer is an obvious answer, there is also the mapping software available at Running Map and Google GMaps Pedometer which is a similar system with the extra finesse of calculating calories burned as well.

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Walking to lose weight outside offers the potential opportunity to do other exercises. Recently I was walking in a park with a friend-we were walking for weight loss as were many other people who were there-and discovered that the park had an outdoor gym with some interesting gym-type equipment. It was fun and added some more intense muscle exercises and a diversion to our walk.

When in a park or grassy area which lends itself to sport or activity it is more comfortable to do some exercises which wouldn’t look right in your suburban street. However you could do them at your house at the end of the walking for weight loss, or with the Wii.

My suggestion today is to add lunges -doing a set of 10 every half mile or 500 meters. They could be walking lunges or stationary.

Always allow your body particualry the leg muscles to warm up before lunging, and if you haven’t done them for a while or are new to them start gently and judge how your legs are coping before intensifying.

For far too many years I couldn’t ‘do’ lunges. For some reason the lunge fairy hadn’t stood on my shoulder and sprinkled the fairy dust and I reluctantly lunged. In case you had the same errors in your thinking as I did I will pass on my new way of doing lunges which now gets me rated as ‘very good’.

To lunge:

Stand with your feet slightly apart and take one leg back behind, with the heel of this foot off the ground and the toes on the ground and flexed, balancing and taking the weight.

The front knee must not come over the toes when bent so move the back leg further back if this is the case.

The ‘lunge’ is bending the front knee as the back knee moves towards the ground.

Stability comes from the placement of the back leg- not too close or they are impopssible to do, or too far back and balance is lost. Try until you can keep balanced while doing the lunge down and back up.

Don’t worry if your back knee doesn’t seem to go too far down at first. Unless you have a mirror it is hard to tell just how far you are getting that back knee down.

Walking to Lose Weight Hints:

1. The important leg in this exercise is the back one. Focus on dropping that back knee rather than bending the front one.

2. When taking the leg back, think ‘balance’ rather than taking a direct line backwards. It may be easier for you to take your back foot off line a few inches. Avoid going so far as to require your body to twist when you are lunging.

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Can using an extra 100 calories daily lose weight when we know that a pound of fat is made up of 3500 calories?

Yet it does. Over time, and more quickly than these figures suggest.

Sometimes it can be easy.

Other times it takes a combined effort of diet and extensive exercise.

There is a magical process which works to make the calories in and out equation more productive than it looks from this information.

It occurs when a number of aspects of diet and movement, metabolism and body chemistry combine in such a way that weight loss occurs quicker than the simple burning of calories suggests.

All things being equal the benefit of calories burned through exercise is more than simply a withdrawal from the fat bank account but the increased metabolic rates and standing body rates of ongoing life support.

Knowing too much can be discouraging and  irrelevant unless you are selectively using monitoring of behaviour rather than results.

The connection between food and calories made by recording food and calories eaten can be insightful and effective.

The connection to exercise is more problematic-it has more than a calories burned impact, dependng on the type of exercise it can effect metabolism as muscle uses more energy for maintenance than fat. And walking for weight loss can provide a way of feeling in control. it offers a solution after the horse has bolted i.e. having overeaten then walking can ameliorate the guilt or physical affects in addition to the calories burned walking.

Recording pedometer steps helps motivation towards achievement of a target such as 10,000 daily steps. It allows the user to become conscious of their movement and liable to add extra when possible. For eating the recording of food as it is eaten becomes a means of avoiding unconscious eating.

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By now you will have found the best way to monitor the amount of higher intensity activity you are doing while walking to lose weight.

Using a pedometer which measures this you will also get a reading on the calories this activity has used. The calorie burn is satisfyingly high for this fast paced exertion.

Alternatively you are timing various exercises or activities and checking the appropriate chart to calculate the calories burned.

In summary from the 31 Ways to Lose Weight Walking:

1. Day 1- Start from where you are, working up over time to 10,000 steps per day average and a minimum daily level of 6,000.

2. Day 25 – earlier if possible, add in higher intensity walking/exercise to increase the regular calorie burn.

3. If higher intensity activity is not an option increase the daily steps up to 15,000. To do this use every opportunity to walk.

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Overweight can have a lot to do with eating for comfort, a habit learned in childhood, for many people.

Weight loss can be an uncomfortable process.

Immediately a tension is created.

Often your success is determined by how well the Walking to Lose Weight process can be comforting for you. There are 2 aspects to this: the physical and self image.

Your Body

Your body is not you. It is a part of who you are but is a short term representation of the total you. As you are today is temporary. The cells in our bodies constantly change having varying life spans. Our hair and fingernails grow. The way your body looks is ever changing. If for some reason you are not satisfied with you body remember that change is happening. In minute details, if not more, your body has already changed for the good.

In walking to lose weight it is far easier to get started and to have less concern about the physical aspects of the process.

It is important to have the right and comfortable attire, especially shoes, and appropriate gear for outside conditions. Often these items are already in the wardrobe.

Weather is controllable by exercising inside or in a gym or other air conditioned environment.

The warm up and slow down with walking …is walking. Easily done.

Do people look silly walking? Not often.

The pace with which you start is up to you. It is not likely to damage your body by walking slowly if you are inactive or rehabilitating, and faster if you are basically fit.

The physical discomfort exercising does bring if you push your body, as is likely, must be bearable. Only experience will tell how much extra you can ask of it without running to the chocolate. Balancing this is a fine but important task for walking for weight loss.

Self Image

Self image is a major part of the 31 Ways to Losing Weight Walking journey. Through out this process you must retain a positive view of yourself. Often our focus moves to ways for you to find emotional support in maintaining the exercise and calorie reduction necessary.

It may surprise you to realise that by putting appropriate self or body appreciation along side the walking and calorie burning, it can expedite your success.

Comfort Zone

The stress caused by going outside your comfort zone threatens to send you back towards your reliable method of de-stressing: eating.
One way of expanding your comfort zone is a non-threatening walking or exercising process at home. This is where walking DVDs and the Wii Fit can be very helpful.

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Click here to begin the 31 Ways to Lose Weight Walking.

Pedometer Usage and Questions

Wear your pedometer as long as possible each day for maximum benefit. See the following: Stanford Study Finds Pedometers Help; Pedometers Lose Weight Even Without Changes in Diet.

How many steps should I be doing?

First get your average starting point and build up from there. The Walking to Lose Weight program works on building activity onto your existing life. While we are aiming to walk for a set period each day, with regular increases in distance or intensity, for both fitness and weight loss, this also needs to be seen within the context of your normal day. For weight management after your weight loss you need plenty of daily activity and this program is helping you find ways to become an averagely active person, at a minimum. At the same time it is not designed to turn you into a long distant walker-unless you want to.

Starting Point: The average person is said to do maybe 5,000-6,000 steps a normal day. This is considered inactive. To become a minimal qualifier for the active description you would need to do 10,000 steps a day. If you have been consistently inactive doing say 5,000 steps a day, your first goal is to work your way up to that 10,000 steps a day, every day. The walks will help with that. Once you can do that you will be losing weight assuming you are not eating additional calories. If you are hungrier because of the increased exercise choose fruit, or other nutritious snacks etc. Cut down where it is obviously a good idea. (You know where!)

If your starting point was already much higher say 10,000 steps which qualifies as low activity then you will be aiming for 15,000 steps a day.

After starting there is an initial weight loss shock reaction as your body adjusts from little to regular and increasing exercise, depending on what you are doing about your energy intake, that is, calories consumed.

So the starting point determines what you have to do to trigger weight loss. An active overweight person needs to do more in both variety and quantity to lose weight, unless you have been a 6 beers a night person and you cut beer out completely.

Where should I wear the pedometer?

Position the pedometer as comfortably as you can on the waistband of pants, skirt etc. The safety clip can be uncomfortable against bare skin so put the flat side towards the skin. It will stay on better if put slightly to one side, not centred at the front where it can be knocked more easily. If you are wearing a dress see if you can wear heavy underwear or leggings which will hold the pedometer. The safety clip will help hold it on. Alternatively wear it on a belt underneath or tie a scarf around the waist or hips.

There are some clothes which will look silly with a pedometer. Occasionally not wearing it is OK as you’re working out the average daily figure.

How can I fix my pedometer which shows too many /little steps and it doesn’t measure distance?

If you have doubts about the recorded number of steps you can do a quick check by resetting the counter shaking the pedometer for 5-10 times and check the resultant number. There will be an adjustment switch (either + or -) to increase or decrease the count. Check again. Usually this is fixed easily. If not it may be that some steps below a certain level aren’t registered. My pedometer is set to count only moderate and higher intensity movement. This means I know how much real action I’ve taken that day. I can get a count of fat burning minutes and a realistic calorie count. It is surprising how few minutes activity a 10,000 step day registers but the calories usage adds up very satisfactorily with intense activity.

If for some reason you cannot get your pedometer to register exactly the steps you are taking, it is still useful information. As previously pointed out the object at this time is to increase the steps taken in one day. Whatever your initial result the object is to get the steps you do every day up to probably about double. The figure needn’t be exact, you will still know if you are increasing your steps.

Also if your pedometer doesn’t give you a distance measurement, this can be calculated by multiplying the length of the average distance between your steps, and the number of steps done. To calculate the average, simply make a mark (with chalk, place a stick or walk on water!) at the beginning point and end of 10 steps. Measure this and divide by 10.

Hopefully you are enjoying wearing the pedometer and finding out how many steps your regular activities clock up. You will notice the benefit from taking a walk as the steps rapidly increase during this activity. As you get some idea of how many steps you need to have by a certain time of day to get those 10,000+ steps, it becomes easy. Now doing an extra trip to the shops, that walking DVD or getting up during the ads will seem worthwhile.

Some activities do not register as much as you might expect. Exercise which counts on the slow movement of the body such as weight lifting do not register many steps. Don’t worry your body still benefits! If you are a beginner this is something you will understand after a bit of experience – that no one measure of activity gives you exactly what you need. It is also very personal. Your body will tell you by giving you the results you want. Then you know you have the right collection of walking and other activities for you.

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Often we try to isolate change-I’ll just make this change over here and get that specific result and it will be something I do only related to that goal.

For example, when Christmas is coming: for eleven months you don’t have to think about it or alter your behavior in any way. During the month of December much thought is required to be ready and also to make it a happy day for yourself and your family or friends. The rest of the year your attitude to Christmas is not relevant and doesn’t affect your behavior. (I hope!)

The gifts received at Christmas will bless our lives but it’s the joyous approach to shopping, festivities, decorating which give us a very special feeling, which isn’t the same when it’s not Christmas.

Similarly a diet or exercise program done with short term thinking will bring success which will be wonderful until the strong reason for it is gone and so is the weight loss. How serious are you about losing weight? Serious enough to alter your life?

Starting just to get started, is part of the learning process which ultimately delivers what you want. Changes can be made to the steps over time until the resulting process is one you like and enjoy, and is effective.

Even the exact nature of the attitude required is specific to the individual. What motivates one person may not encourage another at all. Our bodies are an intimate part of ourselves which we cannot separate from for the purposes of adopting a one size fits all approach. We may try to do what has worked for someone else but often it doesn’t feel right, or have the same affect. Effective weight loss and maintenance requires paying attention to your body without becoming a critic.

The ‘average’ number of steps per day of most people, i.e. 5000-6000, would be a busy day for some. There is a reason for this inactivity whether job, family or lifestyle related, and often some believe that they are active in the sense of ‘busy’ walking, during their normal day-until they start counting daily steps with a pedometer. This average figure of 6000 steps is considered a low activity lifestyle. A person who does 10000 steps a day is considered active.

I have had a time during my life where doing 2000-3000 steps a day, was a good day. If you have ever been through this you will know that to start a program of walking from this point is a major change.

In this case, yes, every step is important.

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