Losing Weight by Walking

Losing weight by walking is probably the easiest things you can do to stay healthy. Even when you can't find time to go to the gym, or when you can't wake up early enough for an hour-long jog before breakfast, you can still squeeze in several minutes of walking every day. So if you've never exercised extensively before, walking is a great way to break you into the habit.

The proper way of walking.

Walking is the simplest exercise out there. It's simply a matter of putting one foot in front of the other. Even people living the most sedentary lifestyles, like couch and mouse potatoes, still need to get up to walk to the bathroom to take a shower, to the dining table for meals, or to the door to answer the pizza delivery guy. Losing weight when walking is possible, even for these people, provided they do it enough.

When walking for exercise, make sure you dress in comfortable walking/jogging shoes, and in bright, comfortable clothing. Look for safe places and routes to take from your home and going back. Great places to lose weight by walking include public parks, protected subdivisions, and around lakes. When you find a place that you like visiting over and over, it'll be easier to stick to the habit.

Walking - the numbers.

So how many calories do you need to burn to lose weight when walking? Here's the tricky part. You have to be on a current diet where your weight doesn't fluctuate anymore. In other words, your current daily calorie consumption shouldn't make you gain another pound. Once you achieve this, you can then proceed to burn 3,500 calories to lose a pound. Walking moderately burns 300 calories per hour. At this rate you lose 30 pounds in a year by walking moderately everyday for one hour.

Remember, though, that distance is more important than time when it comes to losing weight by walking. The average walking speed of a person is around four miles per hour. But if you can manage to cover five miles in an hour, you'll be burning proportionally more calories. So it's important to increase the challenge little by little as you go along.

Other ways to lose weight when walking.

Losing weight when walking doesn't mean you have to cram all that walking into one straight hour-long session - you can break it up, say, into three 20-minute sessions throughout the day. Some people like to take a 30-minute walk before breakfast to start the day, and another 30-minute walk before dinner to cool down after work. That's the beauty of losing weight by walking - you can set your own schedule.

Another thing to remember about walking to lose weight is this: - increasing the intensity of the workout will burn even more calories - maybe even pushing the number of calories burned per hour from 300 to 500. If you live near a hill, you can start walking up a slope. If you have a treadmill, incline the treads. It's more work, but its faster weight loss.

When you've never exercised before, it's best to get your doctor's blessing before you embark on any exercise regimen, even if it's something as simple and safe as walking.

written By Peter Hilford