Walk Your Way Into Long Life, Good Health and Weight Loss

Walking is a low impact exercise that is beneficial to everyone, including YOU! Perhaps its greatest benefit comes in the added years to your life. A 2005 study shows that 30 minutes of walking daily adds about 1.3 years to a person's lifespan and 1.1 years without heart ailments.

General practitioners recommend at least 30 minutes of cardio activity, and it is for these very same reasons. If you live a very sedentary lifestyle at home and your job does not demand you to get active then a walking program is what you need. It helps curb lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, heart diseases and cancer aside from prolonging your life.

However, if your goal is to lose weight then you need to walk more and maybe combine it with other exercises. Experts recommend a good 10,000 steps daily if the intention is to lose weight. This will definitely take longer than 30 minutes, depending on how you are walking: shorter if you do brisk and race walking and longer if you are doing leisure walking. Breaking the habit of a sedentary lifestyle may be difficult but if you focus on goals you will get motivated. Set your goals before choosing an appropriate walking program and work your way into achieving those goals.

Use a pedometer if you want to monitor your progress in walking. It's basically a walking gear that counts the steps you made. Most pedometers give you the amount of calories burned during the exercise, the miles you've walked or the time you spent walking. Tracking your progress is made easier with this device. Some pedometers can keep logs of up to 7 days so that you are on top of your game.

If you are a reluctant walker create a walking calendar to motivate you. Print and place this calendar in a prominent place in your home like the fridge or your washroom. After your walks you can record the number of steps made and the amount of time you spent walking. Do this for 6 weeks, as it takes about this amount of time to turn walking into a habit. You can also add calories burned in the calendar. It takes 3500 burned calories to lose 1 pound.

Since it's already getting nippy outdoors make sure you wear the proper attire when you go out for a walk. Some walkers trade the outdoors for the comfort of the treadmill during colder months. If you don't have one in your home, it's time to visit the gym. It all depends on individual preferences where the walk is made (indoors or outdoors) and how to do it (Nordic walking, brisk walking or race walking). Most walkers also evolve and combine other exercises in their routine. The most important thing is to start somewhere - and walking being kindest to the knees, is a highly recommended exercise. So get healthy, be smart and start walking.*