Those feet are made for walking! Walk the fat off!
1. Walking:
…does not simply serve to the purpose of transporting yourself from a source to a destination. If you would be asked what does walking mean to you, how would you answer?
Personally I would answer: a food for body, mind and soul.
Body
- 2.000 steps equal -100kcal, by walking 10.000 (ca. 7.62 km) steps a day you can easily burn off a meal or earn a decent-sized ice-cream. 😉
- It is great to tone your legs, your Kim-Kardashian-most-famous-asset (you got it right, that part of the body) and your jelly-belly. 🙂
- It helps your blood circulation, blood pressure and regulates the blood sugar levels (especially good for fighting type 2 diabetes.)
- Reduces the risk of the coronary heart diseases, osteoporosis (strengthens your bones and increases their density), breast cancer, arthritis (healthy joints.)
- It is proactive to the brain functionality and it helps to prevent dementia. Furthermore, older people who incorporate walking as a routine have fewer risks from developing brain shrinkage (memory loss.)
- Wow, the sun is out today? Then congrats, you’ll increase your vitamin D levels (but don’t forget the suncream.) Especially important for those who happen to live in grey cities.
Soul
- Did you know that 10 minutes of fast walk can boost and lift your spirit for 2 hours? Yeap, I’m impressed too!
- Walking alone, regardless where, is somehow a nice way to talk your thoughts to yourself. I find myself totally lost in my thoughts 80% of the time, even if I am in the middle of a messy crowd.
- Walking with another person or other people can be an amazing experience. Do you often find yourself telling your friend or colleague that you don’t have time to meet / discuss on work related issues? Organize a walk date. You’ll be more prone to have a nice / productive conversation compared to a “static” converation.
- If you choose to walk your fat off in the nature, you’ll definitely benefit a lot. I feel like the fresh air and the greenish landscapes activate my senses, increase my positivity, make me more sensitive and aware of my surrounding, strenghen my relationship with the nature and somehow make me more empathic, which I highly appreciate and list as a virtue.
- It releases feel-good endorphins into the bloodstream, reducing stress and anxiety.
Mind
We mentioned before that it contributes in a better functioning of the brain, it increases positive thoughts, boosts your mood… Well, strong assets towards a peace of mind, a beautiful mind, a mind that is able to be creative and produce healthy and useful outputs.
So, all set, body, mind and soul! 🙂 Indeed, but let’s compare walking with other healthy body-mind-soul foods.
2. Benefits & Tips: Which is better for weight loss?
Walking cost = 0.
You can find time to walk at any fraction of the day. Stop excusing yourself! Walk to school / Uni / work; if you have to drive or take the bus park the car far from your destination so that you will get the chance to walk a bit / stop some bus stops earlier and do the rest of the way on foot. Walk your dog. Walk your friends ( 😀 ), I mean, take a to-go coffee and walk. Proceed the same way with your kids, mum, dad, husband, colleagues, whoever you can grab. Don’t feel embarrased to ask for a walkie-talkie date / meeting, both parties will benefit.
Stairs, stairs, stairs. Don’t ignore them. Your Kim-Kardashian part will thank you! 🙂
You will have less probabilities to get injured by walking. Your joints will also thank you!
Any type of activity, as long as you activate all (or almost) parts of the body results in huge benefits, but which one is better in terms of weight loss?
It seems that when you do high intensity workouts (HIW) the body tends to lose more energy from carbs rather than fat because they are dissolved faster. Low intesity workouts (LIW), on the other hand, give time to the body to use fat as an energy fuel, resulting in a higher percentage of fat burn. A very interesting thing to know, I agree.
Walking, as a LIW, has less probabilities to make you feel hungry compared to the feeling after finishing a gym session, a very intense fitness class, boxing and so on. After a walk you will feel less hungry, so you’ll be able to make smarter choices on what should your next meal be. In my experience, I tend to make junky-choices when I am extremely hungry, that’s why I try to avoid such situations by planning my meals 1 day before or early in the morning and always being prepared for any type of hunger attack (fruits, vegan low fat crackers etc..)
My experience?
To be true I wasn’t aware of the benefits that walking had until, without even recognising, I had to walk ca. 8km daily. I was on a business trip and I wasn’t eating100% clean (my kind of clean) food because I had to eat out and I was either finding vegan friendly restaurants or asking for modified dishes so that they could still be vegan. And I was happy with the outcome (YES, you can be vegan and still find something at almost any restaurant – I will share a post on this topic too), but still some dishes were too oily for my taste or even fried (which is a NO NO… NOOO for my self made food.) Therefore, even with not so healthy meals, I lost weight, in just 2 weeks, without even trying.
***Find and download stepcounter apps, be aware of the amazing benefits that walking has and you’ll find yourself making better choices in this direction. Start educating yourself and the others will follow. Results are the best advertisment 😉
If we only live once, then I don’t want to miss the chance to treat my self as best as possible, for a better me!
Walk the fat off, in Peas! ^_^
by 