Walking To Lose Weight

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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An Overview of the Wii Fit.

It’s a discovery that is exciting me. I seem to have found the key for Wii Fit, walking to lose weight and me. Regular readers of this blog will know how I like to avoid weight monitoring and prefer checking out the clothes and how they fit. I do however have the occasional weigh in for confirmation purposes. This I have taken to doing on the Wii Fit. It is a fantastic mechanism for the detail work- weight, BMI, goals, time frame. The introductory trailer above isn’t working properly but this link to it shows some Wii Fit features for measuring progress.

I’m doing brisk walking of at least an hour daily, and my clothes are getting looser.

But today with the weather not so good, and feeling frustrated with my work/life balance I woke up feeling more reluctant than usual. Inspiration hit, perfect timing to get out the Wii Fit. Now generally if I want to walk inside than I get out the Walk Away the Pounds DVD, I use it a lot. I am definitely a fan of Wii Fit but ever since I changed my walking program to one hour I haven’t returned to the Wii for exercise. In the past I found that I could get to about 30, maybe 35 minutes Wii exercise before getting bored.

I started using Wii Fit on November 24th and since then have lost 6.8 kg (just under 15 lbs) and just over 2 BMI % points.

So I get it out, which is not that difficult because I haven’t actually packed it away this time, just tidied it up. As usual I remember why I find it so much fun, it asked me how I was and then about Gaz, a friend who hasn’t been around much, then inquired as to how Gaz is looking, has he lost weight? I said he had put it on just to see the response. It advised that it was best not to mention “it”.

I have lost 2.4 kilos in the last 30 days. About 5 lbs. Today it is raining and windy and generally unpleasant. And I am feeling less than enthusiastic about my weight loss than usual. Generally I feel super confidant about the weight I am losing because I’m doing brisk walking of at least an hour daily, carefully monitoring what I eat and my clothes are getting looser, or actually fitting, in some cases.

So I need a boost and the Wii Fit test is the way to do it. I anticipate a good result but have had times when the answers are not what I wanted to hear. This is where an attitude of resilience comes in. Ignore the poor results unless it is gives you good information.

The fitness tests let you check out your history and then I take a different approach with the exercises. Take jogging. I have always found it difficult to work out the desired 60% running speed. And I can’t find a way where swinging my arms to burn those extra calories feels right. Until today. I decided to play with the options and increase the standard distance to a round the island run…but this time I walk. Marching on the spot and it works really well, and I can swing my arms and burn those extra calories (if I want to). So a marching action works for anyone who is turned off by jogging.

Then the hula hoop-I have seen a couple of videos with girls doing this and it has puzzled me because they do it in a sort of lazy way to my mind but…

turns out that is the way to get the best result! That is score highly on the Wii for that exercise.

I tried it on a few other of the games and it is a very successful strategy. This is very motivating. It helped me get to 62 minutes without really trying by doing some muscle exercises, balance games and aerobics.

Slowing down allows you to refine the posture and other details, check the balance monitors, succeed at the game and feel in control.

Walking to lose weight on the Wii Fit!

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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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