Walking To Lose Weight – Essential Tips For Success And Safety

Walking is one of the most popular exercise activities in the world. If you’re looking for an easy to do workout that can help you burn some calories and shed some pounds, walking is it!

Walking for weight loss has many benefits and can work for practically everyone at any age no matter what your current fitness level is.

In this article I want to share with you some tips on how to get better and faster results by walking. If you’re walking to lose weight and burn fat, you’re going to want to read this article to the very end because it can help you improve your results tremendously.

So, let’s see how you can walk the pounds away…

Why is walking such an awesome workout?

There are many reasons why walking is so popular. Here are just a few:

1. Walking can be done with minimal equipment.
2. It’s a low impact sport so if you have joints issues or bad knees, walking is much safer for you than running is.
3. You can burn lots of calories by walking.
4. This is a social activity which is quite easy to do with a friend or family member.
5. Even if you’re currently not really fit, you can still do this sport and achieve excellent results with it.
6. This is a sport you can do outdoors or on a treadmill.

Now, let’s see some tips on how to achieve a quick weight loss by walking…

Walking Tips

Do Intervals

Some articles online talk about how you need to walk for a long time at about 60-70% of your maximum heart beat is the best thing to do to burn more fat. They talk about the “Fat burning Zone” and how you need to stay in it to achieve the best results.

I completely disagree with this approach. Walking at 60% of your maximum heart rate basically says that you’re not making a real effort. While your body may be burning more fat calories in relation to others, it is burning far less calories overall. It is the number of the overall burned calories that we want to increase.

In addition, when you do a high intensity workout, your body continues to burn calories even after the workout has ended. It takes time to get back to normal. With a lower intensity workout this just doesn’t happen.

I recommend doing interval training workouts when you walk as I do with any other cardiovascular activity. This can be done by doing fast walking segments and slower walking segments throughout your workout. This is the way to ramp up your heartbeat and to push your body to burn more calories.

Wear Ankle Weights – The Good and Bad

One of the best ways to lose more weight by walking is to wear ankle weights. These are weights that can be secured around your ankles to make them comfortable to walk with. By using such weights, you add resistance to every step and boost the effort your body is making.

In addition, you’re also working your leg muscles more and getting an additional benefit by building muscle tone in your legs while you’re walking. There are a lot of brands who sell these weights and they’re very affordable. Here’s a link to one popular brand: Valeo Ankle Weights.

However, the are risks associated with wearing ankle weights as they do add strain to your joints. They may also lead you to walk incorrectly if they are too heavy or worn incorrectly. Check with your doctor to make sure they’re right for you. For more on this read this article: Walking with ankle weights – possible benefits and risks.


Walk an an incline

Walking uphill is an excellent way for you to burn more calories while walking. Each small increase in the gradient on which you walk adds to the intensity and effort you’re making.

However, you really don’t want to do a long workout on a steep incline as this can place a lot of strain on your ankles. A modest incline can prove to be very beneficial. Walking at an incline also targets the back of your thighs and buttocks and may help you to get rid of your cellulite in addition to overall weight loss.


Walk With Dumbbells

If you want to do an upper body workout while you’re walking you can use small dumbbells and do exercises with them along the way like bicep curls, shoulder presses, and so on. However, holding on to dumbbells for your entire walk can prove to be uncomfortable so be aware of that.

Use a pedometer

You need to keep track on how much you walk, how fast and how far. Using a pedometer to count your steps is the easiest way to track your progress. Pedometers are cheap and an effective way to monitor your effort. Here’s a link to a recommended one: Omron HJ-112 Digital Pocket Pedometer.

How Much should you walk to lose weight

This is a common question and they’re all kinds of answers. Some way that you need to take 10,000 steps each day. Others say that you have to walk for 30 minutes or more just to begin to burn fat. I don’t like to set a specific time to my workouts. I like to make sure they’re effective.

If you do interval training you may be wiped in 25 minutes. If you take a stroll like walk, you can continue on for 2 hours and it still won’t be as effective. Anything is better than nothing. Don’t judge your workouts by how long they take but by how they make you feel.

In Conclusion

Take a walk. Go outside and enjoy yourself. It’s an excellent way to breathe some air, be active and to lose weight as well. Use the tips I’ve outlined and have a great walking experience.

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