Can Brisk Walking Help You Lose Weight
Introduction
When someone begins their efforts to lose weight, exercise methods that come to mind are ones like gym, Zumba, or something that seems glamorous and popular. Coming up with an exercise routine and following it, may seem like a difficult task too. However, excess weight brings mobility challenges with it. To aim for advanced exercises or those that are very challenging can be counter-productive.
This means one may need something simpler to kick off the exercise part of their weight loss journey. It should be easy to do and accessible, requiring a relatively low amount of effort and equipment.
There are few exercises or forms of movement simpler than walking. It can help burn calories, maintain health and motor function, relieve stress, or make room for ideas. It can catalyze weight loss by playing a role in its straightforward formula of a caloric deficit.
It’s worth keeping in mind that walking is one of the most accessible and simple forms of exercise. All you really need is a suitable pair of shoes, and you can walk around your neighborhood, parks, or even malls. Music of your choice can be an excellent addition to help you increase duration or pace based on your preference.
How many calories can brisk walking burn?
While walking, one consumes or burns calories, which in turn causes weight loss. The way to lose weight is to consume calories and supplement it with moderate or intense exercise. This dual approach helps lose fat and body weight while meeting the body’s needs.
Over a 30-minute brisk walk, one can expect to burn or consume 150 calories. However, this calorie count can increase with the duration and intensity of your walk. Both of these, however, carry a slight increase in risk for injury or soreness possibilities.
Guidelines recommend 150 minutes of ‘moderate aerobic activity’ each week to maintain our health. Walking can contribute to that with 5 30-minute sessions or 3 50-minute sessions, whichever fits your schedule better. Even modest amounts of activity add up, although the most benefit comes from greater amounts of exercise.
Other health benefits of brisk walking
- General maintenance of health to manage conditions such as cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes.
- Enhance cardiovascular fitness and capabilities.
- Improve muscular endurance and energy levels.
- Improve cognition, memory, mood, and sleep.
- Reduces mental stress by reducing stress, depression, and anxiety. It also makes our brain more responsive to serotonin, stimulating endorphin release. Endorphins are the hormones that make us feel happy.
- Increase bone and muscle strength.
- Give a boost to your balance, coordination, and immune system.
Walking can also enhance your social life, as it is an inherently inclusive exercise that can be performed by any group of people at levels of intensity that suit their goals and health. You can walk with your friends, family, and neighbors or even form a walking group at work. It is possible to stroll at lower speeds for longer and run slowly or turn up a gear and burst into runs with a degree of pace.
For significant results in your weight loss journey, you can consider clubbing a sustainable exercise routine with a doctor-led weight loss program that can accelerate your weight loss journey. Once you start to lose weight, you will find it easier to take on slightly increased-intensity workout plans. A combination of a doctor-supervised program that also offers customized diet and exercise plans can be an extremely beneficial and motivating step for your weight loss journey.
Conclusion
While metabolic set point theory suggests that most people spend their life going up and down a certain weight range, it is possible to break out of it. It is possible to reduce or lower that weight range or to occupy a lower weight range. This can be achieved with the right balance of emotional support, nutritional intake, and physical exertion, apart from expert guidance in medical-weight loss programs. From these, walking, a mild physical activity – which can be scaled up for speed or duration – can play the role of a catalyst. It can be an accessible early exercise for any weight loss attempts and a simpler one to do as one goes along the program.
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