Walking is an excellent exercise for weight loss and weight control provided that it is part of an overall healthy lifestyle.
The body is constantly burning calories in order to maintain its constant temperature of 98.6 degrees and perform all essential bodily functions. This is referred to as a resting metabolic rate.
Physical exercise such as walking helps burn calories in 2 ways. The first is the energy expended due to the movement.
The more intense the exercise, the more calories you will burn. Thirty minutes of walking can burn 150 to 300 calories depending on your speed.
The second way it can help is by boosting your metabolism through the creation of long, lean muscle. Muscle burns calories more efficiently than fatty tissue. Therefore, having more lean muscle than fat will increase your resting metabolic rate, so your body will burn calories more efficiently.
Gaining 1 pound is far easier than losing it. Gaining 1 pound is the result of eating 2,000 extra calories beyond what you are burning throughout your daily routine. Losing 1 pound is the result of burning 3,500 calories.
This can be accomplished through exercise, and through a reduced-calorie diet. Even you cut your calories by 500 per day, you would be able to lose 1 pound a week. The only way to lose weight at a faster rate is to exercise more.
Making sure you get 10,000 steps each day, and walking at a pace of between 3.5 and 5 miles per hour for at least part of the day will burn up to 800 calories per day. Alternate regular walking with power walking.
Strength training for the recommended 2 sessions a week for 30 minutes each using light weights or resistance bands will also add to your lean muscle, to boost your resting metabolism even more. Some people walk with a weighted back pack or hand weights to add to the intensity of their work to burn more calories.
As with all weight loss programs, start slowly and sensibly. Think about adding, not taking away. Increase your steps even as you add healthier foods to your diet. Don’t starve yourself, just make smarter choices.
Once you’ve lost the weight you wish, walking will help keep it off. Walking is just one part of the healthy weight loss equation, but one proven to work. Make your walking program the cornerstone of your healthy lifestyle and see how much weight you can lose.
