Walking To Lose Weight

Are you a newbie at walking to lose weight? Well then you probably haven’t thought about etiquette!

In this case when planning to join a community or local group for walking exercise, it means taking safety, consideration, technique and goal effectiveness into account.

My top 10 walking to lose weight tips for getting the results you want while staying friends!

1. Walking a long distance or walking to lose weight alone means taking extra care about traffic, safe routes, hydration and having a cell or other back up for emergencies.
2. There is entry level walking for weight loss and fitness level walking. Make sure you and any companions are in agreement about this. Faster walkers should walk in front and make arrangements to meet up later, or agree to slow enough to keep stragglers in sight.
3. Serious walkers for weight loss will not finish the walk with chocolate thick shakes and hamburgers. Seek out or bring appropriate food.
4. Walking for weight loss can be done anytime and almost anywhere. However consider others using the venue for their own purposes. Don’t block paths. Generally have no more than two people side by side.
5. Look  like a serious walker and cars will take you more seriously. This simply means that drivers do quick assessments on distance and your determination before taking turns etc. Always take care around cars and traffic lights.
6. Walking to lose weight requires ongoing committed walkers so if forming a group make as sure as you can that the early versus late risers are in agreement.
7. A walking for weight loss group is not necessarily a walking group. Activity for fitness and weight loss is the prime purpose. Social niceties may be removed, but consideration isn’t. Talking too much, re-organizing already planned outings without agreement, complaining about walking as exercise, is out.
8. Share expenses, or pay membership fees, if required. This is only fair.
9. Each walking to lose weight group will be different. Forgive new members who need adjustment time to get to know how you like to do things. Give the benefit of the doubt to the group’ rules until you get a chance to assess them.
10. Be definite if someone is disruptive to the group’s goals. They would be happier elsewhere.

Join organized events for fun and fitness. Take the time to understand how they normally work and what is expected of you. Don’t give up if the first one or two, don’t work out for you. At the end you will know  more about what you want when walking for weight loss.

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Sometimes when we have made a clear decision about our lives such as walking to lose weight as a lifestyle which allows us to interact easily with others, it still can be derailed by interference from those same others.

What we want usually includes keeping the people we love happy to be around us. Making a short term exercise or diet change is something that most of us can accept but a lifestyle change? Can your relationships support your decision or not? Generally the answer here is ‘yes’ with the proviso that these changes are made over time and with proper preparation.

A great weight loss tip is to learn and practice graceful ways to say ‘not now’.

Walking to Lose Weight requires your full mental comittment or it is not a permanent weight maintenance strategy.

The capitals (Walking to Lose Weight) refers to the total package of options and decisions related to the lifestyle which supports your weight loss with walking. There is more involved then having the time to walk because in most instances it is a question of making the time to walk over the long term and not just before that doctor’s appointment.

A recent weekend away illustrates this point. A group of friends and I, decided to spend Easter in winery country. After the fabulous time we had I was saying that I had decided to “give up” coffee and diet sodas for this time away and drink only water, wine and tea. This was my personal and private decision to live within my new lifestyle.

Our host was frustrated: But you hardly drank any wine!

This  misses the point-by making the decision in advance, I could have drunk more wine if I had wanted.

The same friend is very easily prevented from walking, seeing obstacles in waning light etc.and challenging my decisions to do so. I did in fact not walk on one occasion purely because of the group effect. However I knew this was the reason and chose harmony over my rights. Discretion in how you undertake this new lifestyle with others is important. If you have to fight for your decisions this can be draining. However there are other ways.

In previous posts I have recommended that walking to lose weight is better as an essentially individual hobby. (Unless you live in LA.)

The comittment to walk alone releases you from most of the ‘group’ effect where the opinion leaders within this group can have a deciding influence on your decisions. Over time as you put the preparation into changing your lifesyle most of these issues will work themselves out. Not everyone ‘converts’ but are able to be friends without disruption to your best interests.

Then as with this most recent incident, I can decide to delay gratification, so to speak, to prepare for future success. A little time applied to an incident does wonders and usually it becomes easier to get the result you want in relationships as well as walking for weight loss, with a revision or two.

As your success gives you confidence in your ability to implement your decisions without rocking the boat, your ability to do it your way, increases. The great thing is that walking and weight loss both build confidence.

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The starting point is always relevant when walking to lose weight.

Your starting weight, your fitness, your current level of activity.

Since the Walking to Lose Weight blog caters for the exercise-challenged and adds calorie burning rather than focusing on decreasing calories consumed, it does not mean that diet is considered irrelevant.

Responsible eating is required for successful weight loss even with the addition of walking to lose weight on a daily or thrice weekly rate.

Initial impact from adding exercise should be the loss of weight but over time one’s body acclimatizes and uses less energy for the same workout. This then requires two changes- the walking quota must increase and the diet modified to cut out obvious excess.

Tips:

1. At all times the increase in walking to lose weight should not result in higher calories eaten.

2. Drinking will need to increase to balance moisture loss but should be made up of water or low calorie drinks, or vegetable juices such as carrot. Check for the calorie information. Do not assume that a flavoured drink of any kind is low in calories unless labeled as such. Fruit juice can be very high in sugars.

3.Look at your existing diet particularly what you drink. Alcohol, sodas, fruit juices, milk drinks are generally high in calories unless made with low fat dairy products, artificial sweeteners or are unsweetened. Replace with water or other low calorie drinks.

4. Balance your food intake. Avoid cutting down on food early in the day and then becoming so hungry that you eat any and all the food you can find, later in the day.

5. Unless you have the time and willingness to shop and prepare foods which are low in calorie and fats become a low calorie shopper. Look for and sample the different low calorie versions of many foods ensuring you are never without a low calorie food option when  hungry. Try to identify those items you enjoy as snacks or meal substitutes. E.g. raw carrots, low calorie yogurts, low calorie frozen meals, low fat milk.

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Regular readers of this blog know that in my world view it is mental attitude which dominates success in weight loss. Walking for weight loss is the best method to make weight control a lifestyle.  It needs to be a lifestyle change for those of us who have ongoing issues with weight and an apparent failure to correct them.

Walking for weight loss enhances your mood, and reiterating my original premise, the right mood is a must for keeping at weight loss. And this depends upon lots of things such as your metabolism. Weight bearing exercise revs up your metabolism as well as toning your body.

Tip: Try something new! Whenever the old routine is getting tired, add a small change in some way. It may be the major injection your walking to lose weight routine needed at this point.

A couple of weight loss tips:

try a new (and easy) low fat snack recipe-this dill dip appeals to me because I love dill;

go to the library or video store and borrow a Walk Away the Pounds DVD, see if you like it;

make one day a walk everywhere day.

Use your imagination, look at what others are doing and without abandoning your already established walking for weight loss process, add some spice. Try it, if you don’t like it then forget it. Alternatively you may find it works for you, so give walking for weight loss tips a chance!

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The story of this 78 year old nun who leads an extremely active lifestyle, makes me aware of the standard of well being which is acceptable for most people at 78. And it ‘s not a high level of activity. Often health is an issue, particularly aggravated by over weight and “aging” body dysfunctions. Walking to lose weight is ideal for the older person needing to lose weight, although it may require starting very slowly, and with assistance.

Over a life many of us consider the older we get the better off we will be if we decrease activity. It’s easier to get others to do the running about, and each neglected body part becomes more achy.

Generally speaking, as we age, we don’t feel older, until our bodies start feeling that way. If then we connect the two and decide that we are old because our body doesn’t work like it used to, or vice versa, we are accepting a convenient myth. It’s convenient because it saves looking for another answer but it is not an answer that I like.

It seems obvious to me that as this first generation of long lifers enjoy an unprecedented aged lifestyle, those of us coming along behind will learn from them and make the changes necessary to enjoy excellent health into our longer lives. Until we saw, en masse, the results of years of neglect of physical and mental well being, we did not make a decision to take responsibility for this side of our lives.

Madonna Buder

Previous generations enjoyed the concept of having younger generations take on the physical “burdens” of life for us, and this was seen as a reward, a respect for all that that person had contributed throughout their life. In part because the baby boomer generation is much larger in relative numbers than older generations previously, and because we demand or expect more from our lives, we want better than a slow decline.
Nun, Madonna Buder, is now 78, but is 75 year old in this photo, after winning a triathalon.

“At the age of 47, a priest suggested she try running for spiritual enrichment. At 52 she added swimming and cycling, and she hasn’t looked back since.”

Yes, she is exceptional. For right now.

A 52 year old plastic surgeon does extensive gym work for both personal health benefits and to look good. His training program is “like that of a 25-year-old who’s into bodybuilding.” Body building proponents often look exceptional into old age.

Walking to lose weight is not in this league. This is a good thing because walking is easier and the benefits add enormously to the functionality of a life, especially putting fun back into physical activity. Weight loss and physical activity, separately and combined, have significant health benefits.

Everyone has to start. Walking is a fun, easy and age-appropriate, weight bearing exercise.

Using a pedometer is great way to assess the amount of steps a person normally does. Increase by 10% each day, if possible. For some a walker or other support device may be necessary. Local shopping centres often arrange special walking times for the disabled or frail, which means they use the air conditioned environment at times when others aren’t there. Usually a health worker or volunteer will assist, if necessary.

At home, use a walking DVD. They are “adjustable” and can be used for company initially until you are comfortable doing the more vigorous movements. Always modify to your level. Start with 10 minutes of the program and see how your body responds. Add to your walking as you improve in stamina. Leslie Sansone has some suitable titles although the ones I am recommending are designed for who can do at least 3,000 steps a day, and still be comfortable.

Be part of the walking to lose weight revolution!

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