Here’s How You Could Walk Your Way to Weight Loss!

Weight loss – probably the one thing that has a place in all our new year resolutions. And year after year, we only seem to be renewing it with no significant loss. As we are halfway through this year, how close or far are you from this resolution? Well, the pandemic and lockdown sure aren’t being of much help to most people in achieving their fitness goals. Most people have been gaining a lot of pounds. One of the culprits being the delicacies, they’ve been dishing out during the lockdown.

If you’ve been amongst those people too, here’s a fun and simple way to start shedding those extra pounds with ease. Stepping outside the house or going to the gym might not be possible; this is one exercise you could do just about anywhere. You do it every day! However, you’re probably not seeing the desired results because you’ve not been doing it right. So, here’s how you could lose weight during this lockdown. Or rather, here’s how you could “walk” your way to a weight loss.

Walking is a low-impact exercise that is easy for everyone to start and can fit in even inside a busy schedule. While all of us know to walk and lose weight, you might have to put a little more effort into the process. So, here are a few tips that will help you lose weight while you walk.

Track Your Steps

Try to walk around 10,000 to 15,000 steps on any given day. This will burn an ample amount of calories and help you stay in shape.  You could do this with the help of a wearable device or just download an app on your phone, which will help you keep track of the steps you take. Those numbers displaying on the screen should be a great motivator in helping you reach your goal day-after-day.

Did you know that your health insurance provider might also have a health tracking app? If they do have one, do install that and get started because most of them incentivize healthy habits like walking. They do this because walking helps prevent numerous health issues and thus keeps your payouts low. So, find out and get started with the app today. Besides that, many health and wellness apps have contests and points to motivate you about taking those steps. You could join any of those programs to reach your daily walking goals.

Start at Dawn

Experts suggest that you will have to start walking as soon as you wake up. This means you should put on those walking shoes and hit the road as soon as you wake up. However, if you’re in self-quarantine and cannot step out, start walking inside your house as soon as you wake up. When you wake up, your body is fighting through a calorie-deficit, so it’s ready to burn that extra fat that’s in your body. When you get started with physical activity, the process picks pace, and you burn more calories. This is because the Glycogen levels in the body drop during sleep, and the body is ready to burn up fat and convert it into energy.

However, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t walk much during the rest of the day. Pace your walking schedule and plan it in a way that you take ample walking breaks. This means, every time you get up, walk around for ten to twenty minutes before you resume work. This will keep your metabolism high, and you will burn more calories and thus lose weight.

Brisk Walk

Make sure you pace your walking effectively. Brisk walking is important and the easiest way to burn fat. So, make sure you do this for at least twenty minutes every day. However, do not get started with it abruptly. Instead, do a slight warm-up with a  slow-paced walk. Slowly change it to a few strides of brisk walking. Several studies suggest that regular brisk walking around 20 to 30 minutes daily helps you fight cardiovascular diseases while helping you stay fit.

A study at Ohio State University suggests that walking with altering pace will help burn more calories than just brisk walking. So, make sure you mix it up a bit.

Try to Walk Uphill

Well, this does seem difficult while at home. However, you could create a make-shift elevated surface or climb the stairs. Walking uphill helps your knees and leg muscles get stronger. While you’re getting down the stairs, going downhill, or descending from the make-shift surface you created, make sure to bend your knee and decent slowly. This way, you would burn more calories. However, restrict this activity to once a week or once a fortnight, you might strain your muscles and knee bone.