In this article, you will learn everything you need to know about fitness walking and how to do it properly in order to lose weight.
I could just tell you to walk at a moderate pace which makes you breathe heavier making it impossible for you to talk for at least 30 min every day but believe me you will not understand the meaning behind it.
I really want this article to be really informative and explain to you everything in depth so take a cup of hot coffee or other beverage and let’s get going.
If you read the entire guide you will understand why this is an amazing and efficient way to lose extra weight, how to do it properly, what are you going to need and much more.
Our guide is suitable for both beginners or experts because there is always something new you can learn and apply.
So if you are just starting and want to learn the basics, all the know-how or you have a lot of experience but you are looking for ways to improve fitness walking and get the max out of it then this read is for you.
Here’s a glance of everything included in this post
How Good is Fitness Walking For Beginners?
If you are a total beginner and don’t have a clue or experience in this type of training don’t worry. This whole post is designed for everybody and will teach you all the basics you need to know before you start.
Even if you are intermediate or advanced in walking you can still learn a thing or two and add it into your lifestyle. So let’s start with the epic part…
What is fitness walking and how is it useful for weight loss?
Why is fitness walking important and why should I care? – You may ask yourself.
Here’s why…
Fitness walking is a great combination of physical and mental benefits. It is perfect for people of all ages.
It is adjustable to your personal preferences. It enables you to choose the perfect time, place and intensity for you. You can even share this experience with your friends which makes it even more enjoyable.
Below I have listed for you how is fitness walking beneficial for you and your body.
It is an aerobic activity that improves the health and strength of your heart.
It tones your muscles and strengthens the bones.
Accelerates the metabolism which leads to faster results. Your body continues burning calories even after the walk.
It helps you build up good habits which makes you feel satisfied and in this way it boosts your self-esteem.
Walking in nature helps you blow off steam and relax after a long day. As weird as it may sound, it gives you energy.
Comparing to intensive physical activity (e.g. running, weight lifting, etc.) it is easy on your joints and it prevents from serious injuries.
You can do it whenever and wherever you want.
It is great for people who can’t afford a gym membership or simply don’t want to buy any extra equipment.
Walking is an activity that you do naturally and so you don’t need fitness instructors to teach you how to do it.
Now you have a quick glance about what fitness walking is. What are the positive effects on your body and why you should include it in your daily routine?
Because this article is mainly based on weight loss with the help of fitness walking, below you will get the answers to the most common questions you might have.
Let’s answer the first question you may have …
How Long Should You Walk if you want to lose weight?
There isn’t such thing as “the perfect” distance or time that would be ideal for everybody who wants to lose weight.
Let me quickly explain to you why…
There are 2 types of factors you have to consider when going for a fitness walk:
- The terrain
- Your capabilities
Let’s find out why they are important.
The Terrain
How difficult is the terrain (the route) you have picked for your fitness walk?
Here are some simple questions you can ask yourself to find out:
- Is it downhill or uphill?
- Are there a lot of stairs or other obstacles?
- Is it flat?
- Is it cold or warm?
- How long is it?
- etc.
Your capabilities
Except for the terrain, there are a lot of individual factors that affect how much weight and how fast you can lose it.
Factors such as:
- How old are you?
- How much do you weigh?
- What is your body fat percentage?
- How much lean muscle mass do you have?
- What is your condition?
- What is your experience with fitness walking?
- Etc.
Now you see why there can’t be “a perfect” time or fitness walking distance.
Quick Example: Let’s say two different people may walk the same distance using the same tempo at the same time. Both of them will have different individual factors as the ones stated above. That’s why they will have very different results when it comes to losing weight.
It was really important for me to explain all those things because now you can understand everything correctly.
The good news is that there are some great guidelines to follow to start seeing results despite all those factors above.
Guidelines You Can Follow
Here are 4 simple guidelines you can follow straight away and see results for your weight loss journey.
Quick Guide #1
The most common question we get is this – what is a good fitness walking pace?
The perfect
Quick Guide #2
When walking for weight loss you should aim to use intensity of 60 to 70 percent of your maximum heart rate. (You can use fitness band, app or heart rate monitor to check the intensity you are walking with)
Tip: If you do not have any additional equipment you can use to check your heart rate with do not worry.
There are a few useful ways to help you check whether you are in the right intensity. The first one is that you are breathing a lot heavier than usual.
The second one is to try singing. If you can talk but you can’t sing while walking then you know you are at the right intensity. The intensity you walk with should be somewhere in the middle of your capabilities. You should be able to continue walking without stopping every 5 minutes to rest.
The intensity you walk with should be somewhere in the middle of your capabilities. You should be able to continue walking without stopping every 5 minutes to rest.
Quick Guide #3
Try building a walking routine (more info on how to exactly do it later on this article) for at least 5 days per week. Your goal should be to walk somewhere between 30 and 90 minutes every day of those 5-6 days you have picked.
Quick Guide #4
The total time you have walked every week, if your goal is weight loss, should be a minimum of 150 minutes (5 days x 30 min. = 150 min.) which is also equal to 2.5 hours.
Tip: Please notice that this is the bare minimum and it’s recommended to do more than that if you want to have better and faster results.
You already know what tempo, and how long you should walk.
Let’s find out how many calories you can burn while fitness walking…
How many calories and fat can you burn in 30 minutes of fitness walking?
Again as the question above, I can’t give you a specific number that is a perfect fit for everybody because there are 2 things to consider:
- What intensity are you using?
- What is your condition, weight, muscle mass, body fat percentage, etc.?
Before we continue down please check this…
Please Note: Before you even consider doing fitness walking you MUST know how many calories you need to eat daily and how many are you eating! If you can’t answer those questions all your hard work will be for nothing.
Here’s Exactly How To Do it:
Use this great free online calculator to find out how many calories your body uses every day.
Plug on your numbers and write down somewhere that number.
Example: 2500 Calories
That is your starting point.
After you know your number you must check out how many calories you are eating every day and try not to get above this number.
There are a lot of useful phone apps you can use to track the calories you eat daily.
Myfitnesspal is a great application to start. Simply download and install it on your phone. Use it to track down every food you eat throughout the day and it will count how many calories it contains.
It will also show you how much calories you have eaten for the whole day. You must try not to go over that number!
Of course, it’s better to eat real whole foods full of important nutrients, vitamins, and minerals and drink a lot of water.
Here’s a quick checklist for you to follow to find out how well you are prepared.
Answer those questions honestly to get the max out of it.
- Only if you have an answer to these questions …
- How many calories should you be eating daily?
- Where are they coming from (what food sources)?
- Are you making sure that you are not eating more than that?
- Are you tracking calories and meals daily?
… then you should continue reading this post. If not please go back and follow the steps I have given you above.
An average number of calories you can burn in around 30 minutes of brisk walking is around 100 – 300 for an average adult with average weight and height.
The longer you walk and the higher the intensity of the walk, the more calories you will burn. That’s why it’s recommended to walk longer than 30 minutes.
Another reason why you should walk for more than 30 minutes for your daily routine is this that during the first 30 minutes of walking your body uses stored sugars as fuel. After all the sugars from your body are gone (usually around 30+ mins.) your body starts using fat cells as the new fuel.
That’s exactly when you start burning your fat and activate the process of losing weight. Now you understand why your goal should be to do at least 30 mins of walking at a time.
One more very useful fact is that your body continues burning more calories (and fat) long after you have finished with the workout.
In a nutshell, depending on the intensity and the length of your walking you want to burn at least a few hundred calories every day. That will quickly add up when you do regular routines of at least 5 days per week.
If 30 minutes for one walk seems like too much time for you the next chapter will be very useful …
What to do if you can’t walk for 30 minutes straight?
If that is too much for you, don’t worry. There are a few things you can do to increase your stamina and get there in no time.
Before you even start with the right tempo take your time and warm up your body by a normal walk around 2-5 min. Even if you can do more than 30 minutes it’s always better to warm up because you lower the risk of injuries.
One good way to solve this problem is to simply break down those 30 minutes to 2 intervals of 15 minutes or 3 intervals of 10 minutes.
Example: You can follow the right tempo for the first half of 15 minutes, then slow down for around 2-5 minutes. During those 2-5 minutes walk slowly to calm your breath and rest. After the rest time is over go for the second quarter until you have done all 30 minutes.
Another way you can do this is by steadily increasing the time you walk. For example, you can start with only one walk of 10 minutes with a good tempo. Next time you go out for a walk increase that time to 15 minutes. Continue to do so until you can reach all 30 minutes in one time. This method may take a few weeks or even months depending on your condition but it’s all going to be worth it in no time.
Don’t stop only at 30 minutes – go for much more. That should be the bare minimum for you walking – strive for 40, 50 even 60 minutes. The more endurance you build the better the results you will get.
To be able to do this you must be very patient because it doesn’t happen overnight. If you are willing to do the hard work and have the patience you will reach your goals in no time.
Now you know everything important about losing weight and walking itself.
Let’s continue to the next part…
What Should You Wear for fitness walking?
It may sound weird to some of you but you should pay close attention to what clothes you wear on your walk. This will make your walk easier and way more comfortable.
Of course, it depends on where you live and in what climate conditions you walk. We all know how hard it is to walk even 100 meters on a hot day. So in this part of the article, I will tell you all you need to know about the appropriate clothing.
Don’t wear cotton clothes as they tend to hold sweat and they also dry slowly which makes getting ill easier. Instead, use clothes from synthetic materials as they are breathable.
Do not by any means wear denim clothes. Like cotton, denim holds sweat and soaks up rain like a sponge. No one wants to experience this nasty feeling.
Don’t wear too many skin-baring clothes as exposure to the sun makes the chances of skin cancer higher. Make sure to use sun protection!
Another mistake you could make is wearing too many clothes. The more clothes you wear, the sweater you will get. Some people believe that wearing more clothes in order to sweat more will boost the process of calorie burning, and that my friends, is a lie.
In this way, you burn water weight which even makes you dehydrated. Yes, you can get rid of some toxins but that doesn’t have anything to do with weight loss.
Another thing you should avoid is wearing dark clothes. As we all know black color absorbs the sun rays attracting the heat. Another downside is that if you walk in the dark you will be hardly seen and nobody wants to be hit by a car, right? So, use bright colors instead.
Find some light, comfortable shoes. Don’t wear heavy shoes as they make walking harder. Comfy shoes are a must because they protect the joints, absorb shock and help for longer walking.
Don’t carry unnecessary, heavy additional equipment for shorter walks. The only thing you definitely need is your key if you want to be able to go home afterwards!
Make sure to use a simple layering system depending on the weather. This means that you should wear a few layers of light clothing so when you get too heated you could easily remove some clothes.
On the contrary, if you get too cold you can put on some more clothes. These could be a t-shirt, a light sweater, and a windproof jacket. If you do fitness walking in the winter or autumn seasons you can wear a pair of gloves, a hat or a scarf.
If you are a beginner I recommend you wear a bit loose pieces of clothing for more comfort.
If you are advanced then you can add some extra weight, preferably on your torso.
Now that you know everything about the preferred clothing we can move to the next important phase of the journey…
How to properly rest and recover
You don’t want to burn out in your first month of fitness walking, right?
Many people ignore this part because they think it’s not that important but guess what. They miss out on one of the most important things – rest and recovery.
For starters make sure you take at least one day off every week. That way you give time for your body and nervous system to recover. If you ignore the rest soon your body will burn out. Your energy levels will start decreasing and your performance will suffer from it.
That will lead to bad performance which will then lead to poor results in your weight loss journey. If you are just starting out and don’t have a clue on how to create one for yourself I would recommend to pick one of these 2 walking regimes:
Example Regime 1:
Monday – Walk
Tuesday – Walk
Wednesday – Walk
Thursday – Walk
Friday – Walk
Saturday and Sunday – Rest
or
Example Regime 2:
Monday – Walk
Tuesday – Walk
Wednesday – Walk
Thursday – Rest
Friday – Walk
Saturday – Walk
Sunday – Walk
The 2 fitness walking regimes above are simple examples you can follow. If you want you can create a personalized one designed specifically for you and your daily life and free time.
Another thing to consider about resting is to have a proper good night sleep. The lack of long and deep healthy sleep will result directly in your walking abilities.
Make sure to sleep at least 5-6 hours every night consistently. That way you will feel better and will be more productive during the next day.
Food goes hand in hand with recovery.
Feed your body with the proper fuel to boost your progress. Try to add as much real organic foods in your daily diet as you can. Even if you can replace all processed foods with raw organic ones. Yes, it might take a little more time to prepare the food but believe me, if you care about your health and well-being in the long term this, is a must.
Tip: You do not need to make one massive change in one day. Try replacing one processed food in your diet with something healthy every other day. Continue to do so until you have replaced everything unhealthy with it’s healthier version.
The healthier the foods you eat every day, the more energy you will have and the faster your body will recover.
When you go out for a fitness walk you sweat a lot which is a good thing. With sweat, your body removes harmful toxins and cools itself. After every walk, you need to replenish your body’s water supply. Do not forget to drink a lot of water, especially during the days of your workouts.
I would also recommend you to always carry a little water bottle every time you go out for a walk. This is a lifesaver on a hot sunny day.
If you are a total beginner the next part can help you…
How to start if you are a beginner [Build a routine]
Ok, now you have reached probably one of the most important steps. As you have learned the basics of fitness walking it’s time to actually start doing it. It’s time to finally get up from that couch, go out and start walking.
Many of you, though, will ask:
“But wait, how do I even start?”
In this chapter, you will find out what you should do as a beginner.
In the first place, to achieve any results, you have to build a routine. And to build a routine, of course, you should pick up some habits.
The first thing you could do is to set a time convenient for you when you are going to go for a walk. The majority of people prefer walking in the morning because they feel more energized at this time of the day. In other words, almost nobody wants to go for a walk after a long stressful day when they feel most demotivated. But anyways, it’s up to you to choose the perfect time for yourself.
The next thing you should consider is your destination. If your goal is too far away you will most probably get demotivated. So, take your time to gradually increase the distance to your destination. For example, in the beginning, aim for a target that you can reach for about 10 minutes at a normal pace.
Now that you have reached your destination it’s time to turn around and go back. This time, however, you are going to increase the pace and hurry-up. To make things easier you can simply imagine that you are being chased by tax collectors. After all, you aim to push yourself hard and not just go for a casual walk in the park, sipping your morning cup of coffee.
Those calories won’t burn themselves, baby!
But seriously, leaving the joke aside, the scientific explanation behind this is that when you walk with a faster pace, your muscles need more oxygen. This is when your breathing becomes heavier and there is an increase in your heart rate. Bettering the oxygen consumption by your muscles will make you more durable and easens the recovery after a workout.
Now that you know what to do as a beginner, you should learn what your next goal should be…
What should you aim for next?
After you have built a basic routine you should begin with a decent goal you must reach.
Find something you want to reach which is around 1 mile away. Your first goal should be to reach it within 18 minutes using the brisk walk.
If, for some reason, you can’t reach it in 18 minutes or less, find out how long it took you to reach it and after a week try again. Repeat until you reach your first goal.
Your First Goal: Walk 1 Mile in 18 minutes or less in a specific time period
Quick Tip: If you don’t have a specific timeline for your goal believe me – it will take you forever to reach it. Let’s be completely honest here – having no timeline will more likely end up as never achieving it.
We people, including me, love to procrastinate things we are not comfortable doing or simply don’t like. To solve this problem, it is helpful to write down your goals somewhere you can see them daily. Also, you can tell other people about it. That way you will feel obligated to follow through it. Also, have a timeline in which you must achieve it!
The second goal is more difficult to reach.
To be able to do it, first find a local landmark or something interesting you want to see as a finish. Make sure it’s around 2 miles from your starting position. Start your timer and walk towards it. When you are there check out your time and see how long it took you to reach it.
Write down that time – this is your first attempt.
Your target is to reach your targeted location in 30 minutes or less. If you do the simple math that’s about 15 minutes per mile. It’s 3 minutes shorter than your first goal.
Your Second Goal: Walk 2 Miles in 30 minutes or less in a specific time period
Please Note: If it takes you longer than that to finish a specific goal don’t quit. Good things don’t come easy in life. Be consistent in your walking routine and only after a few weeks you will be able to achieve it. I would recommend you to train for a few days and then go for your goal. That way you will not feel discouraged and disappointed.
Quick Tip: Write somewhere down every little progress you make and how long it took you to reach it.
Example:
12.06.2019 – 1 mile took me 19 minutes and 45 seconds
18.06.2019 – 1 mile took me 18 minutes and 34 seconds
and so on…
It is proven that people with goals who work regularly towards them are far more successful.
But there are a lot of things out there that can destroy your progress, hard work and stop you from achieving your dream body.
Below you will find out what are those things and how to prevent them from happening…
Top 10 Things to Avoid when you walk [Don’t do these]
We all know the feeling when we make a very big mistake that would cost us a lot.
It’s something we humans will never forget. There isn’t a feeling worse than that. But what if I tell you there is a way to avoid all that.
It’s always better to learn from other people’s mistakes than do them yourself and learn the hard way.
Below you will find the 10 most common mistakes people make in their fitness walking journey.
1. Are you tracking down how much you have really walked?
If you are not, then you are losing a lot.
How can you measure your progress if you have nothing to compare it with?
You can use a pedometer, fitness band or a free phone app to track down how many steps, yards or miles you havebwalked during your workout. Today’s most smartphones come with a pre-built feature that can give you this information for absolutely free.
Once you have that useful piece of information you can save it somewhere – on a journal, google sheet or text file. You can also save it with a combination with the time it took you and the date you did the workout. You can add as many details in there as you like.
2. Don’t know how many calories you eat daily
As I have previously stated in this article it is extremely important for you to find out how many calories does your body need for your daily lifestyle.
If you are not using an app or some sort of way to track down what you are eating and how many calories it contains then you are wasting your time.
In other words, all your hard work and sweat from your walking routines will be for nothing. And the worst thing is that you will not lose any significant amount of weight.
I have already explained step by step how to do the whole process of tracking down your calories.
If you haven’t read it already please go back to the previous chapter named “How many calories can you burn in 30 minutes?” and check it there. It’s important not to skip it.
Once you know how, let’s go for the next mistake…
3. Repeat the same workouts/routines regularly
Doing this very common mistake makes your experience boring – you get used to going to the same places and seeing the same people. Repetitiveness also affects your results.
Nevertheless, your problem can be solved simply by changing up your workout routine. You can increase the distance, pace, intensity or even your overall activity. Further information you can read in the following chapter.
4. Not being consistent
There isn’t a shortcut when it comes to losing weight or being healthy. You can’t expect after doing only a few fitness walks for a few weeks that will get you amazing results.
You must understand that this is a long process which will take a lot of time, energy and hard work. If you are looking for shortcuts or some magical way to skip everything I’m sorry to tell you this but you are not on the right website. Here, at fittylife.com, I try to be completely honest with you and give you realistic goals and expectations.
You must know which day, at what time, how long and where you will do your workout one day ahead. And most importantly, you must repeat the workout for at least 5 times every week. Even if you are sick, even if you don’t want to do it, even if you don’t have the time – you must find a way to do it.
That’s what differentiates winners from losers.
5. Not walking intensive enough
In every single workout you do, no matter what you are doing, if you do not use proper intensity you won’t have any good results.
It is in our genes to pick the easiest, least resistant road to reach our goals.
But guess what?
If we continue to follow this genetic trap which mother nature has given us when it comes to fitness walking it will lead us to nowhere. We won’t be able to lose any weight whatsoever.
You must push yourself harder in every workout you do. To be sure check your heart rate regularly while walking. Make sure you use 60 to 70% of your max heart rate. If you are on the right track you should breathe heavily and feel the burn.
Quick Tip: If you are feeling uncomfortable and your body wants to quit that’s a good sign that you have found the right intensity for your fitness walking.
6. Avoiding hills and stairs
The next time you think eluding the big hill ahead remember this little piece of information:
“The harder it is to do it, the better and sweeter the result will be”.
I would recommend you to do the exact opposite thing of eluding. Add extra hills, stairs, and other challenges as part of your routes. Yes, it will be more difficult but life gets quite boring if we don’t challenge ourselves.
Tip: If you don’t have any hills, stairs or difficult terrain for your walk you can add additional weight to your torso. That way you can increase the intensity and force your body to start getting slimmer and healthier.
7. Finding excuses to skip workouts
If I got a penny for every time e hear an excuse, oh boy I would be rich…
The easiest way to run from something unfamiliar or something you don’t like is simply to come up with an excuse.
Something you “try to make yourself believe” to skip the hard work.
Next time you hear yourself making an excuse ask yourself a few of these questions:
- What proof do I have that this is correct?
- Are you the only one who thinks that way?
- Do you 100% believe there isn’t any possible way to do it?
- Have you ever tried?
These questions will question the excuse itself and help you.
In a nutshell the more excuses you come up with, the further you will get from your goal.
You can also use the simple 5 seconds Rule.
Here’s how it works:
Count down from 5 to 0 (Example: 5,4,3,2,1)
After you have reached 0 just go for it straight away.
That way you don’t leave time for your brain to come up with an excuse or fear.
If you do fitness walking many times it will eventually become a very useful habit. Once that happens you will do everything on autopilot.
8. Not tracking down progress
To track down your real progress you will need to track down a lot of things. Make sure to write everything down (with the date).
Firstly make sure to track down your distance. You can also write about the terrain difficulty.
Next track down how many calories you have burned. Also, check out how much weight you have already lost from day 0 and what’s your tempo of losing weight (1 pound every week, etc.)
You make real progress by beating your personal records. If you don’t know what they are – how can you beat them?
9. Not knowing your pulse
This is one of the most common mistakes beginners like to do. Some people think measuring your pulse is useless and it’s not necessary when it comes to weight loss.
They are somehow right because you can achieve amazing results without the help of a machine to do it.
But even if you don’t have a big budget you can always buy a cheap fitness band that can do the trick. Tracking down your pulse can be a really helpful thing to do. You can use that information to adjust your intensity and get better and faster results.
If you don’t have goals you are missing a vital part of the whole process. It takes only a few minutes, a pen and a piece of paper to do it.
10. Not having goals
The goal you pick must be realistic and achievable. It also must have a specific deadline. That way you will feel obliged to do it.
One very useful tip I use regularly with my goals is to split one massive and overwhelming goal into smaller segments which I can do easily.
It’s far easier to do one little daily goal at a time rather than going after a huge one which will take you forever to do it.
Take a pen and a piece of paper and write down a big goal. Next, brainstorm and write down every single small thing you can come up it that will help you complete it.
Example: My main goal is to lose weight (10 pounds in 30 days) using fitness walking.
Here’s a list of small goals I can do daily to achieve that big goal:
- Calculate my calories
- Pick a good workout regime
- Download and install a fitness app for tracking down calories
- Eat for 1 day healthy foods
- Drink 3 liters of water in a day
- Buy some good shoes for fitness walking
- Pick a good landmark in a radius of 1 mile
- Try walking for at least 20 mins with proper pace
- etc.
Now I should try to do all little things one at a time and after I finish all of them I will be a lot closer to my main goal. Doing it this way you see that the goal doesn’t seem that bad.
Even if you learn from other people’s mistakes most of us will reach a plateau.
Here’s exactly what to do when that happens…
What to do if you stop getting the results you want?
Sadly, it is common to stop seeing results after some time. This occurrence is known as a plateau. It happens when your body gets used to the repetitiveness of the activity you are doing. Obviously, to prevent this from happening you should regularly change up your routine. In this part, I am going to tell you some things that you can change to avoid plateaus…
The first thing you can do is to walk longer distances. For example, if you are stuck on that one mile then next time push yourself to do mile and a half.
Then it will be time for mile 2 and by the time you’ve realized it, you will be at mile 5, standing there not believing what you’ve done keeping in mind from where you have begun. See, it’s easy as that. It’s just a matter of time and consistency.
However, there is a hidden risk. Make sure not to overestimate yourself. Be patient in your journey. Making too dramatic changes to your routine overwhelms your body which can eventually lead to serious injuries.
To prevent that, progress one step at a time. The recommended increase in distance is no more than 10% per week.
The next possible alternative is the increase in intensity. Of course, as a beginner, you are aiming at a lower intensity but as you are progressing there is no other way but to increase it. For example, you can include high-intensity intervals on hills.
With this method, you are aiming at the time under tension – the time for which your body is performing physical activity. Combined with a proper rest you will see great results in no time.
What is more, you can go up and down the stairs if there are no hills nearby. You may not believe me, but stairs can turn out to be more challenging than you expect.
This may sound like too big of a change but you can even try jogging if you feel ready. The best thing here is that you have the freedom to experiment.
This may sound like too big of a change but you can even try jogging if you feel ready. The best thing here is that you have the freedom to experiment.
Another solution can be to reduce your daily calorie intake. Let me tell you something, exercising is only 20% of the fitness journey. What makes a huge difference in your diet.
Even if you train like a beast for hours every day but you don’t eat correctly, you won’t achieve anything. So to progress you should keep a healthy, nutritious diet.
To lose weight you have to consume fewer calories than you burn. This is called calorie deficit. If you see that you are stuck in one place without any progress whatsoever reduce your daily calorie intake by let’s say 100 cal.
Most importantly, you should keep track of your results and if you see that you are still not losing any weight, once more, reduce your calorie intake. Repeat this until you see that you start progressing.
The simplest solution, yet an effective one is to be more active in your day to day life. For example, if you go to work by car try going by foot. If your work is way too far and you are unable to walk to work then make sure to park your vehicle further to the entrance of your workplace. You can also take the stairs instead of using the elevator. Again, you need to track your steps using one of the numerous apps you can download for free. You need to know what is going on with your journey.
There are hundreds of little changes that you can implement in your daily life that guarantee to achieve your goal. So stop making excuses and start breaking bad habits.
Now you know almost everything about fitness walking, but how do you continue being consistent throughout your journey – find out in the last chapter…
10 Most Actionable Tips for you to Keep the Motivation Alive [Use them to get better results]
Perseverance is key in achieving the results you want. However, to be persistent you need to have the motivation to continue your weight loss journey.
In this part, I am going to give you 10 ways how to gain fitness walking motivation…
Tip #1: Take part in a walking event. Beginners should start with shorter distances, whereas advanced can walk distances varying between a half-marathon to even a multi-day walking festival.
Tip #2: Set goals and deadlines. In this way, you will be motivated to continue to push harder.
Tip #3: Follow a training program. A well-structured routine will keep you on track. When your workouts are prepared in advance you will be sure that you won’t miss a workout. What is more, you won’t have to lose extra time to wonder what to do.
Tip #4: Wear a fitness band to record your steps, pace or even your heart rate and the calories you’ve burned. That gives you a detailed overview of your progress. Let the numbers talk for themselves. I promise you that once you notice the results getting better and better you will want to continue.
Tip #5: Find someone to walk with. It is way easier when you have someone by your side to motivate you to push harder. Your dog can do the trick too. Dogs are good listeners and won’t ever argue with you – how can it possibly get better?
Tip #6: Track your progress no matter where. It could be on your smartphone, computer or even in a journal. Write down your weekly results to know what’s exactly happening in your body.
Tip #7: Treat yourself with some new workout clothing. Workout and look trendy both at the same time.
Tip #8: Maintain a healthy and nutritious diet to boost your energy levels and general health. It also guarantees faster results.
Tip #9: Go explore new places, find near tracks that you haven’t visited before. In this way, you will not get bored and eventually quit. We are curious creatures and we are programmed to explore the unknown. So take some time to find a new destination.
Tip #10: Remember that numbers aren’t everything. Don’t trust the scale too much use a measuring tape instead to see if you are actually losing inches. The problem with scales is that they measure everything – fat, muscle, bones, organs and even the food and drinks you have consumed.
Conclusion
Now that you know everything about fitness walking get up and change your life for the better. Time won’t wait for you. After all, you only live once – make the most out of your time on this planet!
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I’m eager to hear your thoughts about fitness walking.
Wish you the best,
Bozhidar Karailiev
