Doctors, nutritionists and weight loss counselors often recommend walking as a way to get started exercising and increasing your activity level. Requiring no specialized equipment and easy to perform, walking can improve your health and help you lose 20 lbs. While walking will help you lose weight, combining your walking program with a slight reduction in your normal calorie intake will help you lose weight more quickly.
Benefits of Walking
Walking enables you to burn calories without unnecessarily taxing your joints and bones. Because you already know how to walk, you do not have to learn a new skill, as opposed to learning to use a rowing machine or riding a recumbent bicycle. The ease and accessibility of walking for weight loss makes it simple to get started immediately. Walking also helps increase your good, or HDL cholesterol while lowering the amount of bad, or LDL cholesterol in your blood.
Realistic Goal Setting
Although you may want to lose 20 lbs. immediately, even with a consistent, regular walking schedule, it will take time to lose 20 lbs. The National Institutes of Health recommends a weight loss goal of just 1 to 2 lbs. per week, meaning it can take you between 10 to 20 weeks of regular walking and controlling your diet to reach your goals. Set both weight loss and exercise goals to be successful. Commit to walking for 30 to 60 minutes four to five days a week to burn enough calories to help you lose weight. A 200 lb. person walking for 60 minutes at 2 mph burns 273 calories. Five 60-minute walking sessions per week at a 2 mph pace will burn enough calories to lose slightly under 1/2 lb. each week.
Correct Walking Techniques
Make the best use of your walking time by using the correct walking techniques. To use walking as your primary cardiovascular exercise, walk quickly, with your head forward and chin level with the ground. Proper walking technique helps you walk faster, which helps your body burn calories more efficiently. Bend both elbows and keep your hands relaxed while pumping your arms in time with your foot stride. You will see not only improvements in your cardiovascular strength as you walk, but tone and definition to your thigh and calf muscles as well. If you concentrate on keeping your abdominal muscles tight while walking, you can also strengthen your core. Walk a few more minutes each week until you can walk quickly for 45 minutes or more.
Burning Calories Faster
Adding intervals of speed or race walking to your walking session will increase the number of calories you burn, which will help you lose your 20 lbs. faster than if you walk at a steady pace for every walking session. Walk for 10 to 12 minutes at your regular pace, increase your pace for four to five minutes, and then walk for 10 to 12 minutes at your regular pace. Repeat these intervals for the duration of your walk. Additionally, walking quickly up hills or setting your treadmill's incline to 4 or 5 percent will help you burn calories at a faster rate.
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