Don’t Wait to Walk the Weight Off

August 28, 2016 – 

For those of you who have had a recent vacation or visited new places for any reason, you may have noticed that you walked more than expected. And as a result received the benefits of extra calorie burning, energy exchanges, muscle use, and a better nights sleep.

I found out this weekend, sometimes things aren’t as easy as they look on a map. On a one-dimensional map, a few blocks to get to dinner may appear easy. What actually happens is that the block frequently has a few twists or turns. This weekend in Denver, Sharon and I wanted to walk to a friend’s house “not that far away” she said. However, that walk did cross a freeway that included 4 stairwells and a long hot bridge. Both directions by the way … That added to the effort for sure, as did the extra distance needed to circumnavigate the construction project fencing off the ‘direct route’.

After returning to our original destination my wife calculated the distance “not that far away” , from the map or a birds eye view, “not that far away” was 3.2 miles, one-way. Yes, walking both directions plus the stairs and the “recalculating” of route…was a much longer walk. Good for us! We also walked everywhere else we wanted to go. One such walk looked to be easy enough … it “wasn’t very far”… the guy at Red Rocks Amphitheater said as he pointed up the hill. OK, that changed everything as we began the ascent. And the stairs were brutal too. But as we took a break and big fresh breath …a few old ladies walked right past us. No fair, they must have been used to the elevation … yes, that’s it. We climbed on and reached the top!

My point is that we spent a lot of our time active; we walked maybe 20 miles over the weekend. No we did not get shredded from the weekend but we did maintain or improve our fitness and saved money by not renting a car.

Walking is one of the easiest ways to get the exercise you need to stay healthy.

Experts (2016 WEB MD and I) recommend at least 2.5 hours of moderate activity (such as brisk walking, cycling, yard work, …) a week. No, that doesn’t sound like much but many of us find that little bit of time hard to set aside. We are all busy.

If you are worried about how brisk walking might affect your health, talk with your doctor before you start a walking program. Start easy with short-term goals like 5-10 minutes a day, every day. Gradually increase your effort with time or perhaps from 2,500 steps per day to 3,000, then 4k, and re-set your long-term goals to a minimum of 10,000 steps daily. You can do it! If you are not wearing a pedometer to track your steps each day … visit me today to set a goal and pick up a F.I.T. pedometer!

In good health,

Bob

“But the beauty is in the walking — we are betrayed by destinations.”
― Gwyn Thomas