Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Weight Loss And Walking

If you want to lose weight, exercise is important, if not critical in helping you achieve your weight loss goals. You may be avoiding exercise because it is "painful", but it doesn't have to be that way. In fact, there are exercises that you might find very enjoyable - you just have to get out there and do it. Here is one thing that is for certain:

Some exercise is better than no exercise at all.

Believe it or not, one simple way of getting back into shape is walking. If you walk only a few times a week, the benefits are staggering compared to not exercising at all.

Consider the following example:

Suppose you walk just 3 times a week, for 15 minutes at a time. How would this benefit you?

Well, you can burn about 75 calories for every 15 minutes you walk.

If you walked 3 times a week, that's 225 calories per week.

225 calories per week is 875 calories per month.

875 calories a month is 10,500 calories year.

10,500 calories a years is 105,000 calories every 10 years!

That's just 15 minutes a day! Just imagine how many calories you'll burn with 30-45 minutes a day!

Once you start walking, you might find that you enjoy it so much that you'll end up walking for much longer than 15 minutes - maybe even up to an hour. The health benefits are amazing too: walking is great for your heart, and can even make you feel stronger!

To get the maximum cardiovascular benefits out of walking, try to walk for at least 45 minutes...and of course, always consult a physician before doing any kind of exercise. Make sure to walk in a safe place, and in the daytime. It can also be more fun to walk with a partner.

While you may not lose huge amounts of weight by walking, if you walk on a regular basis you will start to develop good exercise habits. You body will will start burning more calories, and get you started on the path to help you achieve your fitness goals.

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