Walking to lose weight: what to do for it to be effective
Walking to lose weight not only allows you to lose weight by eliminating excess pounds, but also has a positive effect on mood: a nice walk in nature is therefore useful for body and spirit, but a certain constancy is required to obtain the desired results. you don't like outdoor sports, in the cold season you can also try some simple yoga exercises to tone up: watch the video below, you can do them directly at home.
Can you really lose weight by walking?
The health and well-being of the body must always be in the first place, but this does not mean necessarily having to engage in extreme sports that are not for us. This is why associating brisk and above all constant walks with a healthy diet can bring extraordinary results that we never expected.
Walking has the advantage of being a simple sport that we can also define very natural: you don't need to be a professional sportsman or have years of training behind you.
Thinking about it, we all walk every day to get to work, to go shopping, but also for a shopping trip with friends. Without even realizing it, through simple daily activities, we allow our body to move, contributing significantly to its well-being. If we have specific goals related to weight loss, we can transform walking into a real sports exercise: if done consistently over time you will be amazed at the results and you will never want to abandon it. What if it rains or is cold? Just get a treadmill at home to be able to make your daily steps even on days when the desire to go out is zero!
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Motivational tips to start walking every day!
It may sound trivial, but we've gathered some simple tips that can spur even the laziest. With the right motivation there will be no more excuses: everyone to walk!
- Choose shoes that suit your needs: this is especially important in order not to find yourself after a few meters with sore feet that will immediately make the desire to continue passing away. In addition, choosing the right shoe allows you to avoid getting your feet wet in rain and not slipping if the ground is wet.
- Go Shopping: Buying new sportswear has been shown to increase motivation. Choose a type of sportswear that is also breathable and waterproof.
- Monitor your progress with a pedometer sports watch, or with some apps to download to your smartphone. Observing the results achieved from day to day will push you even more not to give up.
- Play your favorite playlist, put headphones in your ears and clear your mind. Music can work wonders and charge you with positive energy.
- If possible, the routes vary from day to day in order to always have the curiosity to discover new places.
- A small backpack, a pouch or a band to attach to the arm will be perfect for storing the few personal items to take with you: cell phone, keys and a small water bottle will be more than enough.
- If it is summer, do not forget to apply sunscreen to avoid sunburn: in reality this operation should be done all year round, adjusting the protection factor of the cream according to the season. On the contrary, in winter, protect yourself well with a hat, gloves and neck warmer to avoid seasonal ailments.
Walking to lose weight: the rules for not making mistakes
If you have decided to make walking an ally to lose weight and get back in shape, here are the rules to follow to avoid making mistakes.
- Walk quickly and at a constant and continuous pace.
- Keep a steady pace for the duration of the walk.
- Try to reach the so-called "resistance zone", between 60% and 75% of your maximum heart rate (maximum number of heart beats in 1 minute). By doing this you can burn fat. If you are short of breath you will want say that you are beyond the resistance zone and it will be better to slow down, but if you gradually start to sweat and your muscles feel warm and active, the rhythm will be perfect and you will have to continue.
- For those who have never played sports or are not in shape, it is always better not to "start in the fourth", but proceed gradually: alternate 2 minutes of fast walking with 30 seconds at a slow pace, in this method if you are a sedentary person, you will be able to more easily reach the rhythm that suits you.
- Make sure you rest your foot firmly on the ground, from heel to toe: this is very important to avoid any type of muscle, ligament and joint problem.
- Focus on working the thigh muscle without straining the knee. The legs must not be too stiff.
- Same thing goes for your shoulders - try to keep them soft and down, releasing tension in your neck and shoulder blades.
- Bend your arms and try to coordinate their movement with that of your legs.
- Last but extremely important rule: pay attention to your breathing. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth, so you avoid drying out your throat quickly. Breathe while controlling your belly and diaphragm.
Time, speed and consistency: the three key points to lose weight while walking
How long do i have to walk to lose weight? This is a legitimate and very popular question: the advice is to walk for a period of time ranging from 40 to 60/80 minutes. It should be noted that the body needs at least 10 minutes of time to warm up, so the famous 30 minutes mentioned everywhere may be a little short.
Therefore, starting from a base of 40 minutes, the more minutes you can add, the more you can lose weight efficiently. Always remember not to overdo it: do not expect rhythms from your body that it is not used to, especially if you are just getting started.
The average speed to keep while walking to lose weight is also an important question. It will be necessary to have an app or a wrist smartwatch, taking into consideration that to burn fat you must exceed 4 / 4.5 Km / h. Depending on your physical state, this value can also always be increased in gradually and always slowing down in the presence of a too fast heartbeat or shortness of breath.
How many days a week should you dedicate to walking to lose weight? Walking helps you lose weight but also relaxes your mind, and you can do it at any time of the day. The advice, especially for beginners, is to choose 3 fixed days in which the walk is already planned.
For the more experienced you can even get to 5 times a week, the important thing is to always take at least 2 days off to rest the joints and the body.
Walking to lose weight: the results that can be obtained
The calories burned through walking are very subjective: they vary according to weight, age, consistency and pace. The faster you can walk, the more calories you will burn, and for those at a more advanced level it could it may be useful to add uphill or downhill stretches of the route to increase caloric expenditure.
Considering an equal speed, subjects with heavier weight will consume more calories to shift the volume of their body. On the contrary, those who weigh less will have a lower expenditure, but still proportionate to their body mass.
Never focus on calories alone: these are simple reference numbers and absolutely must not become an obsession. What really matters is looking in the mirror at the physical changes that fast walking is bringing to your body.
Also to keep track of the results achieved, do not put calories in the foreground: refer to the pace, duration and frequency that you will be able to sustain. Consider that in 1 hour of brisk walking if you respect the resistance zone, you could burn about 250 calories, which would increase by adding inclines to the route.
But how long does it take to see the first results? This is an important answer to give as most people tend to get discouraged after a short time because they don't see results. You have to be patient: with sport walking you really lose weight, but as with all sports, success depends on you, on your commitment and your constancy. If you are really determined, after about 10 weeks you will be able to see a major physical change.
Does 10 weeks seem too long? The body, in order to achieve visual weight loss, must reactivate a whole series of physiological and motor mechanisms, which is why it needs this amount of time.
We want to reassure you: over the course of the 10 weeks you will notice immediate improvements and benefits. One above all will be to feel less swollen right away, slowly you will notice slimmer legs and the change will extend to the whole body. These small steps will be just what will give you the motivation to continue. Never give up!
Difference between running, walking and other types of fitness
Does walking to lose weight not convince you? Are you a supporter of running? Let's go deeper into the matter. There is a substantial difference between running and walking, determined by the vertical displacement of the center of gravity. When we run the center of gravity shifts continuously and this certainly increases the expenditure of calories. With walking, on the other hand, the center of gravity remains much more stable, there is still a consumption of calories, but the joints will be less tired.
Let's dispel a myth: running is not for everyone: while it is true that it can lead to more immediate results in the long term, it is also true that in some cases it could do more harm than good.
The contraindications of running are such as to make it not recommended for people who are overweight, or in a state of obesity, or in general for those who are not a regular sportsman, with a rather sedentary lifestyle.
Overweight strains the joints, also leading to bone disorders due to the load it causes on these parts of the body, especially when there is no support for an adequate muscle structure.
In these cases, devoting oneself to an activity such as running, to get back in shape, is absolutely counterproductive: running implies strong impacts on the ground that cause rather intense stresses to the joints and tendons which, in overweight subjects, can also cause damage. quite important. Even the aerobic effort of running could be too intense and poorly tolerated by those who are overweight or are approaching physical activity for the first time.
This is where our advice on walking comes from: less and almost no stress on the joints, easy and modular aerobic commitment, which you can customize according to your state of health.
