Losing weight and boosting your health and fitness levels doesn’t have to mean slogging it out at the gym.
WATCH: Sam Wood goes bushwalking
Walking has become the exercise form of the season for more reasons than one. Apart from the associated fitness benefits, walking seriously boosts your mental health – especially when you’re getting outside to do it. Great news for those of us in lockdown!
Another huge pro of getting out and about for a stroll? Walking heavily reduces levels of stress.
Stress causes our bodies to release hormones that help with our flight or fight response – but in most cases, neither is required. Regardless, you’ll get a rush of cortisol, which tells your body to replenish the energy it thinks you should have used, making you feel hungry.
Elissa Epel, PhD, a researcher on stress eating at the University of California, San Francisco told Prevention, instead of reaching for healthy snacks, “we crave sweet, salty, and high-fat foods because they stimulate the brain to release pleasure chemicals that reduce tension.”
So that being said, a simple way to fight stress, extra body fat, and lockdown cabin fever is to walk!
How to lose weight and reduce stress while walking
While walking has in the past been shunned as a low-intensity form of exercise, there are lots of ways you can kick it up a gear and really burn those calories. In fact, if done right, walking can be just as beneficial as running! As Albert Matheny, nutritional advisor to Promix Nutrition and co-founder of SoHo Strength Lab says, “Any physical activity that elevates your heart rate above its normal resting rate can be considered cardio.”
Walk 15,000 steps a day
While it’s true that 10,000 steps a day is a good number to hit, if you’re looking to really up your fitness, aim for 15,000.
Speaking to Women’s Health, Tennessee-based personal trainer and strength coach Hannah Davis said: “Don’t worry about slowly increasing your step count. Just go for it.”
Break it up
Remember your step count is over a whole day, so try and break down the bulk of it into three 20-minute walks.
Walk after you eat
A study from Washington University found walking 15 minutes after you eat can help lower blood sugar levels, lowers Triglycerides, speed up digestion and burn calories.
Walk uphill
Adding an incline or an extra set of stairs to your daily workout will help increase your heart rate while burning more calories.
Add body weights
Adding some squats, lunges and triceps dips while walking will help increase your heart rate but also build muscle.
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