Walking for Weight Loss

by Sharon Hopkins


Walking is a popular way of exercising. It does not stress the body out too much and it provides a moderate amount of exertion for the body. This suits many people, particularly those who are beginning with an exercise regime and are not very fit. Such people suffer from a lack of stamina and walking helps to build this up over a period of time.

When it comes to weight, the body is made up of muscle, fat, organ and bone. Organs and bones cannot be modified in a way that would reduce one's weight. One can work on muscles and fat through exercise. Fat is stored nutrition that will be used at a later time by the individual. There are different areas of the body where fat tends to accumulate. This also varies between sexes. Men tend to accumulate fat around the stomach and lower abdomen whereas women tend to accumulate fat around the buttocks and thighs. Different people also accumulate weight in different areas of the body depending on their genetic makeup. It should be noted here that muscle tissue is denser than fat tissue. Thus a similar sized muscle would be heavier than fat of the same size.

Weight loss is the process where targeted dieting and exercise allow an individual to shed unnecessary weight. Weight loss is a combined process of diet modification and exercise. Using one method or the other method individually will yield only partial results. When an individual chooses to lose weight, the first thing to do is to eliminate foods that are high in fat content. Foods that provide healthy nutrition should be added into the diet. Roughage is also important as it allows food to pass out of the body efficiently. Fiber helps the process of digestion and also absorbs some extra nutrition which is then released by the body through defecation. When planning a new diet, one should focus on providing enough energy while reducing the fat consumed. This allows the body to have enough power to perform the exercise required of it without any of the wasteful substances that are found in junk foods and heavy foods. That being said, the complete elimination of fat is also dangerous. Fat should be consumed as per the dietary recommendations of one's doctor.

When it comes to walking for weight loss, there are a few things that need to be understood. The human body first breaks down the food that is available to it for energy. This is typically the previous meal that has been consumed. Once this happens, the body begins to access its fat deposits for energy. This is one of the reasons why people who exercise for short durations may not be successful. Walking is a low effort long duration exercise option. This means that a small amount of effort is being exerted over a long period of time. This makes walking one of the ideal methods for weight loss.

For walking and weight loss, the person should follow a regime of increasing effort as time goes by. This means that the subject must gradually increase speed and distance covered in every subsequent walk so that he or she eventually achieves a good workout from walking. There is no set duration or distance that will help with weight loss. These parameters depend entirely on the subject. One can say that if one is tired and sweating after a walk that a sufficient amount of effort has been exerted. One should also note that this tiredness will reduce with subsequent walks if the distance and duration are not increased. The focus on one's own body is important here. Different people have different levels of stamina. When walking for the first few times, some focus should be put on the body and how it is reacting to the new physical effort being asked from it. This will help to prevent over exertion as well. If one reaches a level of tiredness quickly in a walk it is best to stop walking and to take some rest. This should also be done in a measured manner. Stopping immediately will be detrimental to the process. It is better to gradually taper off the effort used by slowly reducing one's speed until one comes to a halt. This has several benefits associated with it. Firstly, the muscles, heart and lungs are allowed to gradually return to their idle states and this then provides extra distance and exercise which is used as cooling-off time. Therefore, the best way for using walking for weight loss is to try and achieve the same level of tiredness every day. This means that one will be pushing one's body as per the body's ability and gradually increasing this effort every day. This is the best way of exercising because it is perfectly suited to one's own body.


Warning: The reader of this article should exercise all precautionary measures while following instructions on the home remedies from this article. Avoid using any of these products if you are allergic to it. The responsibility lies with the reader and not with the site or the writer.


Warning: The reader of this article should exercise all precautionary measures while following instructions on the home remedies from this article. Avoid using any of these products if you are allergic to it. The responsibility lies with the reader and not with the site or the writer.
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