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How Much of This Do You Need to Do to Lose Weight?
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Although many people made a commitment in January to drop a few pounds, most of them gave up months ago. There are tons of excuses for why they had to stop, and many times it’s simply “I just don’t have time.”
One of the safest and easiest types of exercising is walking. If you walk regularly, you can easily manage to lose at least one pound per week. Now this might sound like a piddley amount, but think again. Simply by walking, and not having to go on a diet or exercise at the gym, you can be 20 pounds lighter within less than half a year.
Walking will not only help you lose pounds and shrink inches, but will also tone your muscles and improve your general condition and overall health. The only difficulty is to get into this habit, but once you do, you will find you get hooked on this easy way to stay in shape and drop weight.
First off, the number of calories you will burn depends on your walking pace and your body weight. The heavier you are and the faster you walk the more weight you will lose. Most people can walk at about 4 miles an hour comfortably. This means that most people can burn 400 calories an hour.
This doesn’t mean you must walk 4 miles a day! If you can manage only 3 miles, that would be an extra 300 calories each day, still a terrific accomplishment that will add up over time!
If you buy a quality pedometer or a wrist band, it will increase your chances for success as you will be able to track your activity level each day. In order to find out how many miles you need to walk each day in order to lose weight, you first need to know how many steps, or miles, you are currently doing each day. This way you will know how many more steps or miles you will need to cover to lose weight.
For example, if you find that you are taking about 8,000 steps each day on average, then you need to increase that number to lose weight. We will show you how to figure that out in a little bit.
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For most people to lose weight, they need an additional 2,000 steps per day to burn about 100 calories. Keep this in mind:
- 1 pound = 3,500 calories
- 1 pound weight loss each week = 500 calorie deficit per day
- 1 mile = 2,000 steps and 100 burned calories
- So to lose 1 pound per week, you need to add 10,000 steps to your day
This might sound like a great deal of walking, but you don’t have to start right off trying to add 10,000 steps, start gradually. You will still lose weight and you will find that you are quickly able to work yourself up to that 10K.
There are a great number of ways you can add steps to your day:
- Take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator. If you work or live on in a very high building, get off the elevator two or more floors below yours and then walk the last two or three flights of steps.
- Walk to the bus or get off the bus two or three blocks before you usual stop and walk the rest of the way.
- Park your car a block or two away from your destination and walk the rest of the way.
- If you will be carrying heavy or numerous items, park your car at the farthest end of the parking lot.
- Walk while you are chatting on the phone.
- Cut out just one TV program each night and go for a walk instead.
- Walk in place while standing in line.
- Meet your friends at a park or mall and walk while you talk.
Look for ways that you can add a few extra steps. These all add up over time to weight loss!
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Walking can get boring if you take the same old path at the same old park or neighborhood day after day. Try to walk at different parks or take a different path whenever you can. Listen to music or ask a friend to join you.
When the weather turns bad, a treadmill is a terrific investment. Put it in front of a large window, or watch your favorite TV shows while you are walking.
Don’t allow yourself to become bored with the same old routine. Change things around so that walking always feels fresh and exciting to you.
Also, don’t become discouraged if, no matter how carefully you have tried to add steps, you can’t reach that 10K mark. That’s OK. Picture this, even if you were to add only 4,500 steps each day (about 3 miles) you would still be burning 300 extra calories each day. This would be a monthly calorie deficit of about 9,000 calories! This is 2.6 pounds each month. This means that you can lose more than 31 pounds in a year simply by walking!
SEE ALSO: Can Simply Soaking in This One Thing Help You Lose Weight?
If you really want to be sure you lose some weight, be sure to add a bit of strength training. You don’t have to, of course, but the longer you avoid doing strength training, the longer you are actually putting off losing weight more easily and keeping it off. Strength training is healthy for everyone and can be modified for anyone from the beginner to the advanced. Depending on your age and fitness level, simply buy a couple of free weights (very inexpensive), rent one of the strength training videos that are available from your local library, and get started. Doing strength training just twice a week for 15 to 30 minutes will go a long way towards helping you reach your weight loss goals, even if you only manage to walk 3,500 to 4,500 steps each day.
Don’t be afraid to try it! What do you have to lose except for a few pounds?! Nothing is easier than something you do every single day of your life; walking.
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