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you might have heard that walking is
healthy and helpful for weight loss i'm
going to explain the benefits of walking
and why it makes sense to add it to your
weight loss plan and at the end i'm
going to include a couple of important
warnings so that you make sure that you
do walking right and i'm going to
include a tip for people who are trying
to maximize their fat burn
hi it's ivana helping you get fit
healthy and strong at any age let's
start with a really important point you
can't out exercise a bad diet most of us
don't have enough hours in the day to
burn off tons and tons of calories the
majority of your weight loss result is
going to come through your nutrition but
i still think it's really important to
add walking in order to enhance those
effects there's one interesting study
where they found that walking combined
with caloric restriction enhanced the
outcomes and especially the long-term
outcomes because a lot of people when
they get on a fitness regime they get
very excited and they might go to the
gym every day but it's not sustainable
whereas adding a half an hour walk every
day is sustainable for most people the
great thing about walking is that most
people can do it there's a very low
barrier to entry even someone who's
carrying a lot of extra weight or
someone who's in their 70s or 80s can
benefit from walking now there are some
really intense exercise routines that
burn off to a ton of calories if you're
doing hit training or something like
that or just some really intense
exercise programs but only fit people
can really benefit from those and even
fit people will find it a struggle after
a while and sometimes hard to stay
motivated for that type of plan walking
is something that we should all be doing
on a regular basis anyway we need to be
moving more and while exercise itself
even walking is not as effective as
dietary change for weight loss there are
still so many benefits that can enhance
your weight loss process and let's also
remember that right now about 69
of americans are either overweight or
obese
and they don't do the recommended amount
of exercise i'm using us data because
there tends to be a lot of it that's
where a lot of the research comes from
more than 60 of us adults do not engage
in the recommended amount of physical
activity and what's recommended is 150
minutes of moderate intensity exercise
over the course of a week it's actually
not that much it would be 30 minutes
five days a week or you could do a
couple of one hour sessions on the
weekend and then you just need to
squeeze in a couple of 15 minutes
ideally you're active every day and
about one quarter 25 of us adults are
not physically active at all so just
adding walking on a regular basis would
make a big impact on a population level
but no matter where you are currently on
your fitness journey walking can be
helpful just incorporating more walking
and particularly brisk walking can make
a big difference for the vast majority
of people i work from home and there are
days when i don't do a lot of walking i
know from experience when i walk more i
feel better i feel less stiff i feel
more energetic a body at rest tends to
stay at rest and a body in motion tends
to stay in motion and most of us could
benefit from more motion so let's look
at some of the specific benefits of
walking and then i'll talk about how you
can incorporate it most effectively into
your routine walking improves your
circulation
and your breathing and for people 65 and
older it's been shown to reduce mental
decline it also builds bone density and
it improves your sleep and we don't get
enough sleep and we don't get enough
quality sleep so if you're improving
your sleep you're going to improve
everything it's a key part of your
lifestyle that a lot of people often
ignore walking can definitely improve
your health it's been shown that being
sedentary can increase your
cardiovascular
risk factors so cholesterol and blood
pressure so here's how to make sure that
you get the most benefit from walking
walking outdoors can be particularly
beneficial for improving your mood i
definitely feel that little mental lift
when i'm outside walking walking at the
same time every day can be helpful as
well the key to success with weight loss
in the long term is consistency so if
you set a particular time that you're
going to walk every day then you're more
likely to do it my husband has recently
started a really great habit when he
drops our son off to school he goes for
a half an hour walk before he starts his
work day and that's a great way for him
to fit that extra exercise and movement
into his day so whether it's first thing
in the morning or later in the evening
it's really whatever works best for you
but try to keep it consistent walking
after eating can be a really good habit
to get into walking after a meal can be
helpful for digestion and reducing acid
reflux so maybe you take a 15 or 20
minute walk after your lunch if you're
meeting a friend or colleague you can
walk together it can be really
refreshing in the middle of your day and
kind of keep you more energized walking
with a friend or family member can be a
good habit because if you're also doing
it with somebody you're more likely to
stick to that practice if you both
encourage each other you're more likely
to be successful so rather than just
telling yourself that you're going to
walk more it's best to do it at the same
time and have a specific plan it's more
about building the habit of an active
lifestyle rather than measuring how many
calories you're burning off although you
will be burning some calories so how
many calories can you burn so i've seen
a general rule of thumb that says you
burn off about a hundred calories for a
mile for an 180 pound person so maybe in
a half an hour walk you'll burn off 150
calories if you're slightly lighter
you'll burn off less if you're heavier
you'll burn off slightly more also if
you're going a bit faster you're going
to burn off slightly more calories now
theoretically if you burn off an extra
250 calories a day you would be losing
half a pound per week so let's say
you're taking those 30 minute walks each
day then that's 150 calories and if you
do just a slight dietary modification
just something very minor where you're
reducing your calorie intake for that
day by a hundred calories then
that adds up to 250 calories a day and
you'll be losing that half a pound a
week with very little effort and now a
couple of important warnings gradually
increase your walking so if you've been
completely sedentary don't start walking
an hour to two hours every single day
without fail it sounds like a great
thing to do and people get really
excited but if you're putting too much
strain and you don't give those tissues
a chance to recover you can end up with
plantar fasciitis which is quite painful
or you can end up with like ankle pain
or hip pain or knee pain so you want to
build yourself up gradually obviously if
you're already a very fit person and
you've been working out and you're just
adding walking then that's fine but if
you've been completely sedentary and
you're carrying quite a lot of extra
weight take your time and do this
gradually you can start off with just a
15 minute walk each day and that's
enough the main thing is that you get
yourself moving it is better to do
shorter walks more frequently than going
for a two-hour walk and then just being
sedentary all week your body responds
better when it's given time to recover
in between so make sure that you're
allowing recovery and you're not pushing
yourself too much all at once make sure
you have comfortable supportive shoes so
this is not the time to break out the
stilettos and go for an hour walk i'm
not sure that most people would do that
and it's probably not possible but make
sure that your shoes are decent that
they have some arch support if that's
what you need or at least some support
so that you know that you're going to be
comfortable during a longer walk you
don't necessarily need a ton of
cushioning if it fits you properly but
if you're like me and you need orthotics
then it's important to make sure that
you're wearing those orthotics on your
walks once you get good at this walking
thing you can increase the intensity of
course but you can also try working at
different levels so you can try hiking
which is something that i love to do
it's a little bit more challenging and
it's a little bit more fun you're almost
doing step ups and you're going to get
more stimulation for different parts of
your body you'll feel your glutes a
little bit more and your quads perhaps
calves as well you're going to feel
different parts moving it's a lot more
stimulating and you're going to burn
more calories i think it's helpful to do
a mix of some flat walking and some
incline walking just so you have that
variety incline walking either outside
if you have an area where you can do
that or even on a treadmill it's a good
way to increase the intensity and burn
some more calories with your walking
having different levels increases the
difficulty for your leg muscles and
you're gonna feel that you're pushing
yourself a bit more and check out these
videos as well
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