Weight Loss and Walking

Weight Loss and Walking:

Ascending Mt. Kosciuszko in NSW

Weight loss must be one of the most popular reasons for people to take up the wonderful activity of walking.

The thought of feeling the weight disappear as you make your way over hill and dale along, for example – the Coast to Coast Walk, is very appealing.

And in most cases it is worthwhile. Let’s have a look at some of the benefits of walking in general, and then we’ll look at our longer distance walks.

Walking at a moderate pace for 30-60 minutes

burns stored fat and can build muscle to speed up your metabolism. Walking an hour a day is also associated with cutting your risk of heart disease, breast cancer, colon cancer, diabetes and stroke.

This is good. We should be doing this as a regular part of our day, or at least three times a week.

With a more active metabolic rate, weight loss is more likely – just don’t increase your food intake unnecessarily.

So, what happens on the longer distance walks?

All this new exercise is great for our bodies and minds. It’s called well being. As the walking days continue, you will find that you will become fitter, as long as you do not overdo it.

You will find the distances that are manageable – 10 km, 15 km, 20 km or even 25 km per day. Keeping to your chosen distance, your heart, muscles and lungs will all be happier, and healthier.

And as long as you don’t overeat, you will most likely find that weight loss will occur. Now, this is not guaranteed, because when you do walk in Europe, there are so many interesting foods to try as well as drinks, coffees and cakes.

On all our classic journeys,

we enjoy the whole show, culture, history, physical walking, meeting people and becoming (if not already) healthy. So if weight loss has brought you to walking, that’s great. Now it’s time to start planning that next journey.

Till next time.