CAN YOU LOSE WEIGHT BY WALKING?
Adding 30 minutes of brisk walking a day can help you burn about 150 extra calories a day. You need to eliminate about 500 calories a day to lose a pound a week. So yes, you can lose weight by walking, but consuming fewer calories overall while exercising promotes greater weight loss than physical activity alone. Walking is an excellent choice for extra physical activity because it is easy on your joints and most people find it enjoyable.
If your walking pace is quicker will you burn more calories?
Physical activity is important for weight control, and your results depend on the intensity and duration of your exercise. The faster your pace and the longer you walk, the more calories you will burn. So yes, adding 30 minutes of brisk walking a day can help you burn about 150 extra calories a day. To achieve the most health benefits, your workout intensity should be at a moderate or vigorous level. For weight loss, in particular, the longer or more intense your exercise is, the more calories you burn. Walking can be a super accessible and simple way to lose weight, especially if you are currently living a sedentary lifestyle. Not only will walking help you to burn calories, but it will also decrease your stress levels which leads to easier weight loss.
If you want to stick to an easy exercise for health reasons such as arthritis, you can still lose weight by walking at your average pace. If you take a 30-minute walk every day, you should lose about a pound a week, that means you could lose 20 pounds in 20 weeks. This pace is safe for your joints and will help keep the weight off in the long run.
If you want to burn more calories, pick up your pace. When you walk fast or jog, your muscles have to work a lot harder to maintain the pace, resulting in your heart and lungs working harder to supply your muscles with blood and oxygen. This extra work helps your cardiovascular system stay healthy as well. Also, focus on swinging your arms as you walk. This extra movement will burn more calories and build muscle in your shoulders and core.
A great way to improve your walking routine is with interval training. Interval training allows you to walk slowly and quickly. You simply alternate your pace every minute or so, and for maximum benefits alternate walking with running.
If you overdo it, you can increase your risk of soreness or injury.
When you are new to regular physical activity and exercise, you should start with a light intensity workout and gradually build up to moderate or vigorous intensity. With walking, you should start with three days a week for 15 to 20 minutes. You can gradually increase the frequency and duration until you are walking at least 30 minutes a day most days of the week. Walking outdoors, using a treadmill with a television, or listening to music or an audiobook will help make your walks more enjoyable. As long as your walks don’t become boring, they should be easy to keep a priority in your daily routine.
Most everyone wishes they exercised more, and when you finally choose to change your lifestyle, you most likely want to jump right into it. But it is crucial to start easy. If you work your body too hard and too fast, you can injure yourself and essentially undo the benefits of the exercise. The following are tips to keep in mind when you first start working out.
- Start easy- If you start exercising at a rigorous pace, you will likely feel overwhelmed and defeated. Instead start slow. Your goal should be to simply get moving more, even if that means starting with 10 minutes a day.
- Start with what you are comfortable with- If you only want to start at one day a week, go for it. You are more likely to stick to your workout schedule if it works for you.
- Take resting days- Recovery is an essential part of physical activity. Your body needs time to rest after working out.
- Start each session with a warm-up and end with a cool-down- Warming up prepares your body for the increase in physical activity, and a cool-down allows your heart to return to a normal resting rate. Muscles that are not accustomed to physical activity will likely experience some soreness, but a good cool-down can reduce the soreness as well as the duration of it.
- Make sure to stretch- You should stretch before starting your workout and after cooling down.
- Listen to your body- You will know the difference between soreness and something not being right. If something is giving you pain or just don’t feel right, don’t ignore it, see a doctor right away.
Once you’ve reached your weight loss goal, walking is even more important.
Once you have lost the weight you wanted to lose, you can’t stop your physical activity. Exercise is what keeps the weight off, and walking is a great way to stay active and keep your weight loss results. Most people have no problem committing to a walking schedule because it is enjoyable and relaxing.
Since you have reached your weight loss goal, you may have a hard time getting yourself motivated to workout. The trick is to stop thinking about your weight at this point and focus on a performance-based goal instead. Picking new goals will help give you a challenge and something to look forward too. For example, instead of saying “I need to workout today” say “I wonder if I can walk that extra mile without getting winded?”
Our bodies adjust to the stresses placed upon them. Therefore we need to change up our workouts over time or take them to the next level. Maybe you want to pick up a new sport like tennis, basketball, or disk golf. You’ll get to see the results of the extra strength you’ve gained while working different parts of your body.
How can we help here at VIP Medical Weight Loss?
Here at VIP Medical Weight Loss, we have all of the equipment for walking, including treadmills with televisions. We also have a professional staff that includes personal trainers, dietitians, and a doctor. We are a great weight loss clinic to join if you have medical conditions that you are concerned about while trying to lose weight because our doctor will help you come up with an individualized plan designed to help you achieve your weight loss goals while keeping your condition in mind. Not everybody is alike, and we understand that. Everybody has different challenges and obstacles they have to overcome to reach their goals, and we will be there to help. You will likely become friends along the way with other members of our clinic, and having a partner to workout with makes it that much better. Visit our clinic today to meet the staff and see what we have to offer.