Aug 8

While I have tended to use Walk Away the Pounds as a backup for those difficult times when bad weather or being tied to home for business or personal reasons has left me short of the time for an effective walk, today has started the process of more consistent and purposeful use of this wonderful walking to lose weight resource.

This is because of the use of weights and the more thorough exercise in the DVDs’ guided calorie burning approach to power walking from Leslie Sansone.

To explain more, anyone who has been following my progress with walking for weight loss on this blog will know that I love walking outdoors for this purpose. However this is a lifestyle which can be modified. That is I have changed my life in subtle ways (huge for me but not that obvious to others) to continue the process of controlling my weight and looking and feeling as good as I can. In the year that I have been writing and walking for weight loss I have lost over 20 pounds! The main weight loss tool has been the calories burned walking, starting with tracking the distance and number of steps, and finishing with a routine daily walk of one hour.

The purpose of this weight loss program has been to tame the thoughtless process of excess weight and lack of activity which has contributed to my up and down weight gains all my life-until now! This last year has provided stimulation and focus on exercise and a restricted eating and low calorie diet. Calories have not been reduced substantially, just enough fuel to both exercise comfortably and lose weight with less calories taken in and the calories burned walking, ensuring the energy to continue working, playing and exercising.

Now as I continue on this weight loss process I also want to add some upper torso work and strengthening, as well as toning of those areas which need it, such as the abs. in the past I have found a similar pattern to that of other weight loss processes when doing weights and specific exercise programs-getting totally enthusiastic and enjoying wonderfully fast results, without any long term plan for continuing a toning program to keep these muscles looking their best.

Activity based weight control requires a lifestyle change and continual change as your needs change. Progress in weight loss in particular is the best reason for making additions to the walking for weight loss formula.  Now I want to tighten and tone my muscles as well as strengthening them. This time though I am introducing weights and other exercises in a similar manner to when I re-introduced walking for weight loss. It is a lifestyle adjustment which, having allowed to build into my every day or weekly schedule, becomes a benefit in many other ways as well.

Starting weights at full pace will divert my energy away from other areas of my life and perhaps even weight loss. Additional and more intense exercise will be tiring and may result in some soreness. This can be a distraction from my goals. The easy and slow introduction of new muscle uses ensures a controllable adjustment in lifestyle which has long term benefits for ongoing weight control.

Walk Away the Pounds DVD">Walk Away the Pounds provides water-filled weights which are easy to use and a great introduction to using weights if you haven’t used them before, have had a long lay off or have hand problems. They weigh about 400 grams each so this is not a long term solution if you wish to tone your arms but are a great way to start. I use my own hand weights which are heavier and certainly most men would need to use heavier weights for effective exercise. In addition the various leg lifts and other exercises used in the 3 miles walk (and the 1 and 2 miles) are a vigorous workout- much harder than walking the equivalent distance!

So I am increasing the intensity of my exercise by making Walk Away the Pounds a standard part of my walking for weight loss.

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May 13

It’s raining too much to go comfortably walking to lose weight outside and this means walking inside because I’m also not going out to a shopping centre today. I have a few back ups for when I don’t want to walk outside but my favourite is to use Walk Away the Pounds.

I get out the Leslie Sansone’ DVD, pop it in the Mac, pull out the weights and my step, and away we go. Every time I do it again after a while away I am surprised anew how tired my body feels. It is harder than doing the equivalent time walking. Also I have added in the step when I am short of space so when she walks forward for four steps, I go up and down on the step.

When walking to lose weight there are a few additions which enhance the likelihood of doing the required walking. An essential is a way to measure your activity. Using your watch is the simplest. Eventually you need to modify this to ensure that the requisite energy is being used. Then a pedometer becomes a good companion for walking outside or counting steps. Over time as you become acquainted with how much walking is needed for you to get the results you want, you will get to know how much distance is necessary. With Leslie’s DVD the 3 programs are divided into 1,2 and 3 mile distances. This makes it easy to add in an extra mile if you need that distance to bring your step count up for the day.

There are lots of good exercise DVDs available but every one has different space, time, equipment requirements. I’ve bought and not used more than once the Billy Blanks’ and Jillian Michaels’ DVDs even though these are good. Recently Jillian was quoted as saying that the weight loss lifestyle is hard but at least “Walk your lunch hour. Do a video in your living room for 30 minutes.”

There are some special aspects of the walking series which make me return to Leslie Sansone. She makes it seem easy, to get what you need from her simple routines. If you need extra such as a competitive element, or challenge (other than losing weight) -even a mental one- than the more complex systems are probably for you. The beauty of walking to lose weight is it’s simplicity. It can genuinely add value by providing more than weight loss.

The benefits of walking for health and general well being are numerous.

Leslie is friendly, inclusive and not intimidating, for either beginner or advanced. She explains really easily what she is doing and why it helps to do it this way.

Walking is easy, everyone can do it, but there is a learning component when doing it to lose weight and once you understand the significance of some of the moves and changes she recommends it is easy to modify what you are doing when walking in general. This way you get a higher calorie burn.

Her DVDs are a good demonstration of how walking can have a significant weight loss impact.

She adds weights and other accessories which are all well designed and explained. I have hand weights which I used before I got around to filling her Walk Away Weights with water. I really like these new type of weight-they’re easy to hold but require a different action, balancing the ball and keeping the fingers outstretched rather than gripping. The disc style weights are usually too big for me to hold comfortably and gripping the handle of the dumb bells can aggravate any arthritic problems.

The Walk Away the Pounds series is a real workout without being intimidating and requiring intricate techniques. If you have a preferred weight obviously you can use that and it can be modified in any number of ways, to suit your situation, such as my addition of the step.

Lots of people use DVDs for their regular way to walk or like me, supplement their normal daily activity when necessary. Either way it is a pleasure to walk with Leslie.

Walk Away the Pounds with Leslie Sansone

NOTE: The link to Amazon is for U.S. and Canadian purchasers only, because they work with North American DVD players or multi-format players only. For International purchasers this can be determined by checking your player manual.



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