Beginning a weight loss plan might seem like a daunting task, but exercise coupled with a carefully crafted nutrition plan can help make the process faster. And while fast weight loss might seem out of reach, exercise will certainly move things along.
Anatomy of Walking
#1 Walking puts you on the highway to good habits
Walking works because it is a gateway exercise. It is easy to do! Humans require feedback and reassurance that the things that they are doing are leading to success. Walking is easy for most people and can be done anywhere and fit into almost any schedule.
Books like The Power of Habit teach you that little habits can turn into a big success. When you complete a walk and you say to yourself “That wasn’t that hard”, it reinforces the good habit and sets you up for tomorrow.
#2 Walking Gamification is Fun
How many steps or miles can you get into a day? The CDC states that 10,000 steps a day should be the daily step target for people to remain healthy, although other findings in the Journal of American Medical Association suggest taking just 8,000 steps a day could lead to lower mortality.
In any event, using fitness tracking or walking apps and watches can help you stay motivated and have fun while you stick to your goals. Here are just a few apps or watches that can help. Yes.Fit (but we are kind of biased), Pokemon-Go, Fitbit, Apple Watch, and Strava are just a few of the apps that help you stay active.
#3 You can find the time to walk
It is easy to fit walking into your schedule and most people can increase their totals a little bit at a time without stressing their bodies out too much. The old saying is you have to start somewhere and walking certainly does that.
Start by setting a goal to get most of your steps out in the morning before the day gets hectic. You know before your brain realizes what you are doing and then at the end of the day you get bonus miles if you have the time. If you are a night person, flip the schedule and let it work for you.
It’s all about finding your balance.
#4 Walking + Outdoors is a double benefit
Fresh air, Vitamin D from the sun, and exercise are like a triple whammy of health benefits. Though it may be a little harder during the winter months than the summer, make a point to get outdoors to do your walks.
I often find that walking outdoors allows me to de-stress and be thankful for this amazing world that we live in.
#5 Increasing distance is easy-peasy. Get creative with your weight loss goal.
Take the stairs, park farther away at the grocery store. For a double benefit, skip a meal and walk during your lunch or dinner hour. Take the book or tv show to the treadmill. Walking can easily be integrated into other tasks to help you get those steps in while not having to give up what you love to do.
It doesn’t have to be a chore!
Exercise Benefits
Walking works for losing weight because you are reinforcing successful habits and crushing your goals each time you go out. But even though most of the focus is on weight loss it doesn’t have to be all about the Lbs.
The Yes.Fit community has coined the term NSVs (Non-Scale Victories) for all of the other benefits of exercise that have nothing to do with weight loss including (clothes fitting better, getting less tired, ability to do things they couldn’t before, fewer aches and pains, etc.)
We can go on and on about the benefits, but as we said before, we are a little biased. So go on, get those miles and steps in.
We can’t wait for you to succeed.
You Got This
