Don’t underestimate the power of walking! Walking is one of the most powerful ways of losing weight, keeping healthy and maintaining a healthy body weight.
it is important to think about your current cardiovascular health, your posture, technique and your own individual limits when starting to exercise. If you are struggling with weight issues, consider low impact exercises that will reduce the pressure on your joints and lower back whilst you gradually build up your fitness levels.
Simple walking can be an affordable and extremely effective way of getting healthy. Consider your own individual circumstances when thinking about introducing exercise and look to protect your back and joints in the first instance.
We are already carrying our own weight, which if you are overweight, could be applying additional pressure to your joints and back. Therefore, it is important to gradually increase your fitness levels and mobility and not to feel pressured into doing high intensity, high impact or extreme forms of exercising in a bid to lose weight.
If you do decide to build walking into your daily or weekly routine, please don’t feel that you have to walk brisk/fast to begin with! It is absolutely fine to walk slower, especially if you suffer with joint pain or other conditions.
You can even walk a bit further to compensate for a slower pace, or break the session up into smaller more manageable segments over the week if you need to. Choose a pace that is comfortable for you and then over the months you can increase the pace if you wish to. As time goes on, you will gain more confidence in recognising the pace that is right for you.
Walking has many additional health benefits, it can help alleviate stress and anxiety, as well as improve overall mood and cognitive function. Outdoor walking is particularly good for health, breathing in fresh air, being able to see the sky and birds, noticing the vast array of trees and wildlife if you have a park or green open space nearby!
You have to gain confidence in knowing who you are, what is right for you, what you are able to do and believe in yourself. Also, please don’t feel pressured by this post to try and walk if your unable to. Just remember that I will be writing a lot more on alternative forms of exercise and nutrition for weight loss in the future. I hope that you will find it supportive and empowering as you gain confidence with moving forward in your own way.
Have a lovely day,
Samantha