There are plenty of good reasons to choose walking as a way to exercise. Walking in scenic surroundings can be a very pleasurable experience. It can be a nice break in your day, offering a change of scenery and a chance to think. It can be a social event with a friend or group of friends. There are numerous health benefits from walking which you might find appealing – and it’s a lot easier to fit it into your daily schedule than some other methods of exercise. It is also an excellent way to lose a few pounds and get in shape.
That could be the reason why you will often hear someone ask “how many mile do I need to walk to use up X calories?” – or some slight variant thereof. It’s a perfectly valid question, but it does completely disregard one of the most important factors about walking to lose weight.
The great thing about walking for weight loss – or any other type of light exercise for that matter – is that, if it is performed on a regular and consistent basis, it will actually boost your metabolism. In simple terms – your rate of burning calories throughout the whole day will go up.
Clearly, whilst you are actually exercising, you will burn calories. That’s great – but the fact that you will also burn calories at a higher rate throughout the course of the entire day – even when you’re not exercising – is even better. Reading a magazine, surfing the web, watching TV – even when you are sound asleep – you are going to be using calories at a faster rate.
The key thing to remember, if you wish to achieve this higher calorie consumption rate, is to take your exercise on a regular and consistent basis. Walking is a perfectly natural activity that you will carry out, to some degree, every single day. However, you should be looking to do a little extra at least three times weekly if you want to increase your metabolic rate. A good brisk half hour walk should do the trick.
It’s great if you can manage a little more – but the truly important thing is to be consistent in your approach. For most people, low impact, low intensity, low injury risk exercise is a much better option than periodic bursts of high energy physical activity.
Walking is one of the very best exercises to lose weight that you can adopt. In addition to weight loss, you will benefit from many other health improvements. For a lot of people, going for a walk might be more likely to produce sustainable results than “going for the burn”.
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