Can I lose weight by walking 30 minutes everyday?

Walking is a physical activity that involves you taking a stroll for exercise or for pleasure. Walking helps to improve fitness; it alleviates depression, cardiac health and improves one’s mood. Walking is very essential for weight control as it helps you burn calories. Include walking in your daily routine for about 30 minutes and you might burn about 150 calories in a day. You tend to burn more calories when you walk more and increase your walking pace. We should note that when walking as an exercise, there has to be a balance as excessive walking can put you at the risk of injury, burnout and soreness. A person who is new to physical activities, regular exercises may need to start with walking a short distance, and avoid vigorous intensity, when walking a short distance has become a part of him, he can then walk a longer distance.

Can I lose weight by walking 30 minutes everyday?

Walking for weight loss is very achievable as you can lose weight that way. However, it depends on the intensity and duration of your walk as well as your diet plans. Walking for weight loss has to be combined with a proper diet (eating less calories) which will aid in promoting weight loss more effectively.

Everyone wants a work-out plan that is flexible enough to fit into their busy schedule. And here it is- walking. Walking is very easy and it is a natural exercise that when you are at it doesn’t really feel like you are taking part in a weight loss-program. And of course that is the exciting thing about walking. That easy act of placing one foot in front of the other without having to go to the gym, no use of any gadgets can improve and modify your shape even if you choose not to change anything about your diet.

Many experts have said Walking helps improve one’s health, according to them, it has physical benefits such as; lowering blood pressure and it helps reduce the risk heart diseases and prevents the occurrence of breast cancer if you can take about 10,000 steps per day. 10,000 steps might sound like a lot of work, but look at it this way: taking 10,000 steps means 4.5 to 5 miles or walking rapidly for about 1 hour, also, you can achieve 10,000 steps by breaking it down like this: have a 30 minutes’ walk before breakfast and you can have another walk after dinner, you can also run a 20 minutes errand three times. You can also get up and walk for five minutes once every hour throughout the day. Break down the steps whichever way you want and you will still achieve one result which is you getting slimmer and more energetic. You will burn up to 300 to 500 calories by walking for 60 minutes, if you continue like that for 10 days, you will lose a pound and if you keep it up for a year, you lose 35 pounds even without dieting.

When you begin your walking exercise, try as much as possible not to focus on the minutes but rather focus on the miles you walk. Even if you do not meet up with the time suggested in this article, do not feel like you are not doing it right, as long as you walk a long mile. You can measure the benefits of walking for weight loss and good health by the number of steps you take, not how many minutes you walk. For beginners who have never exercised before or for people who haven’t exercised in a while, you should have an appointment with your doctor first.

Benefits of Walking 30 Minutes a Day

The following are reasons why walking is good for weight loss:

1. It is easy to add walking to your daily routine: Walking is an easy exercise and you cannot say no to walking, because walking is a human nature, you walk everyday and so you can make use of walking for weight loss by increasing the intensity. Walking does not involve you using any special equipment and it can be done every day. Instead of taking a bus or bike in the morning to a place that is equally trek able, choose to walk as it will help burn down extra calories and it will help you save more transport fare.
2. Asides it being easy, walking helps to improve your health at the same time: If you take up to 10,000 steps in a day, there are physical benefits that comes with it, such as; a decrease in the risk of heart disease, it can prevent breast cancer, and also lower blood pressure. You can use phone apps to keep track on your exercise routine.
3. Walking at a fast pace: For a more effective result, you should combine this with a healthy diet. Some studies have shown that women who engage in 30 minutes high intensity walk about three times together with not too excessive paced recovery walks in a week lose about six times more abdominal fat than the other women who just had a stroll for five days in a week. Just make sure you increase your speed when going about your normal day’s activities. For instance: you can increase your speed when walking to the lecture room, you can run to catch up with the bus or better still, set time aside everyday for walking.
4. You can engage in power walking  rather than jogging as it is less strenuous on the joints: Power walking is all about walking at a very fast pace and at the same time using your arms to help push you forward and allow you take longer steps. Power walking helps you burn about 300 calories in one hour. According to Art Weltman, a director of exercise physiology at the University of Virgina says there is a link between intensity of exercise and fat burning hormones. This means that if you walk at a high-intensity, you have a higher chance of releasing these hormones.

Walking 30 Minutes a Day TIPS

1. SELECT THE BEST SHOES: shoes are the only important equipment needed for walking and luckily there are shoes already designed for this purpose. Shoes meant for walking are designed to have flexible soles and stiff heel counters to help prevent side-to-side motion. For surfaces that are flat, what you need are low- heeled shoes that are lightweight, cushioned and comfortable for use.
2. GET A NICE WALKING PLAYLIST:  when you are preparing to leave the house for your walking exercise, start thinking about the song you want to listen to while walking as you take long steps. When you have a good soundtrack while walking, it will give you some kind of motivation that will enable you push harder and you will go farther and the beauty of this is that you might not feel so much stress and you won’t notice the effort you put in. Some song tempos will help you match your strides to the beat so try to look for songs that are between 75 to 130 BPM.
3. GET FAMILIAR WITH THE ROUTE: You should have a fore knowledge of the route you will be taking every day. If you are very familiar with the route you will be taking, you will feel very comfortable and confident as you will know what to expect at any junction or place while you walk and you won’t have to waste time trying to figure out what route to take. Take time to make a list of routes you have in your area as they vary in terrain, grade, and length.
4. FIND A WALKING PARTNER: Many studies have shown that weight loss success can be achieved by finding a perfect group that will support you in achieving your weight loss goal. The group could be such which comprise of people that are part of a social support network, and such group will help you lose more weight than you not belonging to any.
5. ENJOY WALKING WITH YOUR PARTNER: This will enable you to have a good laugh with your partner, a study published in International Journal of Obesity shows that having a genuine laughter can cause about 10-20 percent increase in basal energy expenditure and an increase in heart- rest. Therefore giggling or laughing for about 10-15 minutes can help burn up to 40- 170 calories.
6. GET PREPARED FOR ANY WEATHER CONDITION: We all have to deal with different weather conditions since we do not live in San Diego. Do not get discouraged with whatever weather the day brings; it could be a cold, wet, hot, windy or icy weather. Just make sure you get yourself the perfect clothes for the weather. If the weather is hot, take a walk before the sun gets too harsh in the sky, during a cold weather, do the opposite.
7. KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR STRIDES: There is no right or actual number of steps you have to take daily, but some Japanese health officials recommends taking 10,000 steps. There is basically one way to keep a tab on how many strides you have taken, and it is by using a pedometer. Pedometers are not so expensive and they can help stir you up to shed more pounds by going longer distance. In fact some health insurance companies have made it a point of duty to give financial incentives to members who can reach a specific number of strides in a day. They do this because they know that walking is a good way to shed pounds and to combat some illness.
8. TAKE A WALK BEFORE BREAKFAST: Seth Santoro, a holistic health coach said it is best to take a walk soon after waking up as it is more effective in lowering the percentage of body fat. Why? This is because your body after waking up is in a calorie deficit, so taking a walk just after you wake up will help heighten your body’s ability to burn fat.
9. WALK BRISKLY: When walking with a lively spirit, you will enjoy walking with your friends. Studies have it that if you are 150 pounds, walking briskly for an hour covering 3.5 miles, will help you burn about 300 calories per hour. If you can afford to do 30 minutes of brisk walking everyday on a flat surface, in a week, you will have burned 1,050 calories.
10. INCLUDE HIGH INTENSITY WALKS TO YOUR ROUTINE: High intensity workouts can be referred to as cardio-intensive workout which will help you burn more fat and so do so for at least 20 minutes of high- intensity walking for three days in a week. On other days do moderate workouts for about 30 minutes per session.

OTHER BENEFITS OF WALKING

• It enhances creative thinking: you would notice that when you are bothered about something and you are confused on what to do, when you take a walk, most times alone, you tend to come up with solutions or a great way of handling the problem. When you take a long walk sometimes you have time to think and come up with great ideas as well.
• It can help enhance one’s mood and energy: taking a walk help boost one’s self-esteem, it gives more energy; it lightens up your mood thereby making you happy.  A study conducted at the California State University, Long Beach shows that students who took part in a walking exercise and had more steps were able to beat low-self esteem issues, depression and in fact they began to realize that their diet was more nutritious when they took more steps.
• Better Mobility and Function: Walking enables you to have a good body movement making you more mobile to move freely and for your body to function properly. Sitting or laying in a particular position for a long time can make you restless and your body can be achy. You might also become very stiff because our bodies aren’t meant to be in a particular position for long.