Walking for Weight Loss

For many people who want to lose weight, many types of exercise are difficult or even not possible for them to do. While they can achieve some short term body mass reduction through diet, it really needs to be combined with exercise to be more effective and last longer. But there is a way that most people can still get some form of daily exercise that will certainly boost the effects of their diet and ensure they keep the excess pounds off once they have been initially lost.

That way is good, old fasioned walking!

Lose Weight Walking

That's right, walking is an excellent form of exercise when it's done in the right way and for long enough and regularly enough. It is something that most people can do and it is a great excuse for getting out of the house and into the fresh air, which in itself lifts your spirits and improves your overall mental state. A positive mental state is also highly important to the success of your attempts to lose weight, so this is an added benefit of going for long walks outdoors in the fresh air.

How Does Walking Help You Lose Weight?

It is one of the lesser known weight loss tips that going for a walk is a great form of exercise and is most effective when you do it with purpose. That means moving at a faster rate than normal with a deliberate step that causes you to breathe a little harder and raise your heart rate to above that which normal walking speeds would occur.

Then you have to keep it up for more than twenty minutes as this is the magic number for the time period when the body is forced to start taking its supply of energy from its store of fat. That's because the sugars present in the bloodstream which feed the muscles becomes depleted after twenty minutes and must be replenished for the body to continue exercising.

So you can see that even by doing something as simple as walking, you can still force your body to burn some of its store of fat that, over time will result in a reduction in excess body mass. The additional benefit from this is that you also improve your level of fitness as the muscles you use when walking become stronger, gain stamina, get toned up and that means better looking legs and body overall.

When a daily walk of half an hour to an hour or so is combined with a healthy, reduced calorie diet, then you will reduce your overall body mass at a constant and healthy rate. This is defined and agreed by experts as no mor ethan one to two pounds per week. This will bring you long term weight control that is enjoyable to maintain as walking is probably one of the least exercise-like exercises you can do!