The first thing you should do when you start walking for weight loss is to step up the pace of your walking. A stroll is not enough, as you need to be walking at an elevated pace to get your heart rate up and force your muscles to do some work in order to get them burning more of the fuel you have floating around in your body in the form of the sugars present on your bloodstream. By walking faster than normal and even better is if you can walk up and down hills, you turn a leisurely activity into a cardiovascular exercise.

The next thing you need to know which is vitally important if you want to turn your walk into a fat burning exercise is to maintain your pace of walking for more than twenty minutes. The reason for this is that is about how long it takes for this form of exercise to cause your working muscles to deplete the blood sugar levels to the point where the body must supply more. Your body does this by raiding its’ fat store to convert stored fats back into burnable sugars to keep the muscles fed with the energy they need to keep working. The longer you can keep this exercise up, the more fat you will burn.

Do this every day and you can see that it won’t be too long before you are reducing your waistline and losing the flabby fatty parts of your body that you are aiming to get rid of. This is one of those great tips for weight loss that works so well because it’s an easy exercise to start doing and you can build up the length of time you do it for each day.   Add to the fact that it is an enjoyable way to keep fit and get some fresh air into your lungs, depending on where you live, of course!

So why not begin right away?  Here’s a suggestion – keep a comfortable pair of walking shoes and several pairs of clean socks in the trunk of your car.  At lunchtime, spend the majority of your free time walking.  This will help you emphasize healthy weight loss and de-emphasize mealtime.  Shift the focus, and you’ll be helping your brain to develop healthy habits.  Healthy habits add up!

Good luck beginning your walking program, and congratulations on starting your weight loss program!

The Garmin brand is synonymous with GPS technology. It’s no wonder as they have taken over the GPS consumer market because of their quality, ease of use, reliability and rich features. One area of GPS that they dominate the most is the GPS watch market with their Forerunner line of watches.

Since Garmin watches use GPS technology they can pinpoint your exact location any where on the globe. Using this information they will track vital fitness statistics such as distance traveled, speed, calories burned, heart rate, elevation, and a ton more, all in real-time. This information can then be uploaded to your computer and can be analyzed over time so you can find any areas of weakness that need improvement.

Just as important as the weaknesses are your strengths. Being able to see that you are increasing your distance, speed and calories burned each day can be very motivating in getting you to try your best and break your own personal records each time you go out. As an added bonus, Garmin watches come with their patented Training Center software which allows you to view your statistics in spreadsheet and chart form. It can be pretty cool to see your distance, speed and calories burned on a graph with a line going upward at a 45 degree angle.

A couple of other very useful features that will get every last bit of performance out of you are the ability to compete against previous workouts and goal setting. Being able to compete against someone who is slightly faster and stronger than you can be huge for making new heights. With the ability to compete against previous workouts you can try to beat your previous speed, distance and calories burned. This is a sure way to constantly make new records. Setting goals is a technique that the wealthy and successful have been using for centuries. With this feature you can set goals for any stat that you would like to improve on.

Of all the features of Garmin watches, the most beneficial is Garmin Connect which is an online community of other exercise enthusiasts. It has been proven that working with other like-minded individuals, who have the same objective, can drastically increase your chances of succeeding. With Garmin Connect you can compare, motivate and compete against others as you make new heights.

AARP cites walking 50 miles per month as a great way to walk off weight!  “One New Year’s Resolution could improve your life in many ways!”  “I will walk 50 miles every month.”  Just half an hour of walking each day at a brisk pace of 3.5 mph will get you there.  Here are seven things you can accomplish within a matter of months:

The January – February AARP Bulletin (by Betsy Towner) lists the following benefits of walking 50 miles per month:

1. Get Fit
   Aerobic Capacity:  19% increase
   Physical Function:  25% increase
   Risk of Disability:  41% decrease
2. Save on Annual Medication Bills
   Normal-Weight Retiree:  $3,300.
   Overweight Retiree:  $2,500.
   Entire Country:  $1.4 Trillion
3. Improve Cardiovascular Health
   Heart Disease:  32% Lower Risk
   Stroke:  33% Lower Risk
   Type 2 Diabetes:  71% Lower Risk
4. Fight Cancer
   Breast Cancer:  18% Lower Risk
   Colon Cancer:  31% Lower Risk
   All Forms of Cancer:  33% Higher Survival Rate
5. Lose Weight: 
   Each Walk:  150 Calories
   Monthly:  1.3 Pounds
   Annually:  15.6 Pounds
6. Accelerate Recovery
   Depression:  47% Reduction in Symptoms
   Skin Wounds:  Shorten Healing by 10 Days
7. Battle Degenerative Disease
   Alzheimers:  40% Lower Risk
   Osteoporosis:  0% Loss of Bone Density

What benefits of walking are most important to you?  We’re all familiar with the benefit of walking to walk off weight – did you know that walking also reduces your liklihood of contracting cancer, becoming diabetic, reduces your bone density loss, and improves your mood?  So enjoy your walk, walk off weight, and smile all the way!

What is your favorite benefit of walking?  Do you walk each day?  Do you walk to reduce cancer?  Do you walk to reduce depression?  Will you set a goal to walk 50 miles a month?  Please join the conversation – leave a comment!

Last week I chose to drink water more often than diet soda, and to take a 15 minute walk around the block more often than sitting relaxing for my break.  At the end of the week I found that I didn’t have to actively think about these new habits so often, because they had become, well, habits!  And healthy habits are key to healthy weight loss!

This week I choose to bring my lunch to work more often than eating out, and I choose to swim laps on more days of the week than not.  So, if I bring my lunch to work at least three times and swim at least four times, I’ll be achieving my weight loss goal for today.  Did you see how I phrased that?  My goal is NOT to lose two pounds this week, I’m not concentrating on the pounds AT ALL!  I am simply choosing a food item and an exercise item to think about, and choosing a habit I will do more of.  By doing more of healthy weight loss habits, it naturally follows, and without any effort on my part, that I will be doing less of an unhealthy habit!  I am focusing on the positive and letting the negative slip gently away.

What weight loss habits will you set this week?  Can you suggest a food or exercise habit that you will schedule to do “more of” this week?

Have a great week with your healthy weight loss goals!

Follow Walk Weight Off on Twitter!  http://twitter.com/WalkWeightOff

1. Make an appointment with your health professional.  We’ve gone into this step in depth in a previous post, please read more here: Best Diet Plan
2. Ok, we’ll be honest, this is going to take a HUGE investment on your part!  But don’t panic, the investment is TIME, not money!!!   But seriously, walk to the store right now and buy the nicest 3 ring binder you can find, and a spiral notebook.  The “Walk Weight Off 100 lb Weight Loss Challenge” rules will be created by YOU for YOU! 
3. Now that you’ve made the HUGE financial investment in your new walk weight off diet, (was it $7.99?)  take a fresh piece of paper and on the top of it write your name and today’s date. 
4. Weigh yourself, and write it down.
5. Measure your waist and write it down.
6. Write down this sentence and fill in the blanks:  “Today I am going to do this more ______________ and today I am going to do this less _____________________.  What will your goal be?  When you determine your goals, your brain is engaged, and you “buy in”.  Here are some suggestions to kick in your brain, the most important member of your weight loss team!

• Today I am going to do this more:  drink water.  Today I am going to do this less:  drink soda.
• Today I am going to do this more:  slice carrots and bring them with me.  Today I am going to do this less:  buy potatoe chips when I gas up the car.
• Today I am going to do this more:  bring water in a glass or metal thermos to avoid the danger of leaving my plastic water bottle in the hot sun.  Today I am going to do this less:  buy fancy fru-fru coffee.

So you get it, if you pick one thing per day and think about it all day, you’re being kind and gentle to yourself.  Just like an old fashioned knob on the T.V.  – change the channel!  When you’re about to do or think your “do less of” though or action, switch the channel to your “do more of” plan!

And today, pick your “walk”.  Your “walk” doesn’t have to involve your feet!  Are you challenged with walking?  No problem!  What physical activity can you do?  If this is a challenge for you, please speak with your doctor about a proper way to move your body to increase muscle mass and increase your metabolism.  Walking for weight loss might not be a healthy option for you right now, be open to the possibility of another movement or exercise that’s right for you!  Because with healthy weight loss diets, the only “rules” are the ones that are perfectly right for YOU!  So be kind and gentle with yourself, and get the help you need to hand craft your rules.  Think about these simple ideas with healthy weight loss:  your brain is in charge, and you might need to get some help from a professional with changing thinking habits, move more, drink healthy water, eat healthy foods.

Would you like to join the “Walk Weigh Off 100 lb Weight Loss Challenge”?  Please leave a comment on this post, and express your desire to start today with your 100 lb weight loss.  Then go buy a new 3 ring notebook and a new spiral notebook.  This will kick your brain into gear that your have made a financial investment in your future.  Then get busy and write down your first rule!

Please join us today, and leave a comment.

I’m setting out to find out!  There’s no time like today to begin a weight loss diet for health, and I’m setting out to do just that for my health and happiness!  Somehow I’ve created an unbalance in my life where I’m burning less calories than I am taking in, and I need to reverse that.  Simply, and happily, I’ve decided to walk the weight off!  One day at a time, beginning today!

What’s your weight loss story with walking?  It’s like taking the slow boat instead of the fast jet, I know, but for me it seems right.