Walking – A nice and easy way to weight loss
While people usually find putting on weight easy enough, taking is off is quite a different story! Many have tried to lose weight, but once they have excess poundage, taking it off and keeping it off can be quite a chore. However, a simple exercise like walking can put people on the path to be being thinner, healthier and happier.
Technically, losing weight is simply a matter of balancing the books as far as calorie consumption is concerned. If daily calorie intake is less than the amount required to fuel the body, then the dieter will lose weight. While this is obvious enough, it is difficult to put into practice. The best and healthiest way to achieve this calorie deficit is through a combination of diet and exercise. What is the best exercise to start off with? Of all the current activities, walking is the easiest method to add exercise to the equation and bring weight loss regardless of size, weight or fitness level. It is literally the best first step.
Here is how a combination of diet and exercise such as walking helps – the diet keeps the calorie intake under control, and the exercise ensures that the metabolic rate remains high so the body burns fat. Otherwise, the body tends to enter starvation mode by lowering the metabolic rate and trying to conserve energy when subjected to lower food intake. Walking is one of the easiest exercises that one can choose – the walker gets to set the pace, the terrain and the duration of the walk. Walking can be done outdoors or indoors on a treadmill. With the right attitude, it and can really be a fun, healthy, daily event-especially when done with friends. Walking, unlike the more vigorous weight loss option of jogging, has very little impact on joints and causes less fatigue.
Here are some tips to help stick to a walking routine:
* Take it nice and easy in the beginning
* Choose the walking trails well and vary the path to avoid monotony
* Find friends to walk together with
* Maintain a progress chart
* Get a good pair of walking shoes
* Walk with small weights when ready to increase the intensity
* Take in the surroundings and enjoy the view
* To save time and maybe even transportation costs, integrate walking into some daily activity
* Take off a day once a week to rest
Before you start off on a diet and exercise routine, it is a good idea to discuss it with a doctor to make sure that it is a safe choice.
