Walking to Lose Weight

In this article we will consider the recent upsurge in the average weight of the individual and the advantages of using walking for weight loss in our daily efforts to combat the problem.

The obesity epidemic has taken less than 30 years to spread out of the Developed World across the planet. Even middle and low-income countries are now suffering the ill effects of the spread.

For many decades leading up to the mushrooming problem we now face, the obesity problem appeared to affect very few.

Indeed, if we go back to the early Victorian era, 90% or more of the world’s population lived and worked in agriculture, and, like our even more distant ancestors, walked to work, were physically active at work, and then walked home at the end of the day.

They were constantly on the go, if at a more modest walking pace than today ... and for other different reasons.

Collecting and carrying water, food preparation, and clothes washing were all physically intensive, and walking was required for socialization.

We may have lost those specific needs to walk, but our bodies evolved to walk, so doesn’t it make sense to do exactly that?

We can use walking to lose weight as well as for improved health benefits. However, one problem facing many wannabe slimmers, is that we are still suffering the hangover of the constant bombardment of messages insisting that short bursts of high intensity, sweaty activity down the gym are the only way.

The argument still rages about whether sweaty aerobic exercise is more beneficial than intense effort anaerobic strength training.

During this time, the message conveyed by the exercise lobby was “more is better.” And even the US surgeon general’s report summarized the view that more exercise of greater intensity promises more health of greater duration.

But a growing body of evidence shows that this is clearly not the case.

A recent article by Nemoto and co-workers reported that walking in middle-aged and older people results in the same health benefits that are similar to those provided by a workout down the gym.

Whether the outcome measurement is blood pressure, as in the Nemoto article, joint problems, mental health, diabetes and other metabolic disorders, or cardiovascular disease, collectively, the data suggests that walking improves health.

So what are we to make of the growing body of evidence relating the health benefits of simply walking in light of pressure from the exercise movement showing the benefits of high-intensity, high level exertion?

Well there are five key points that are important.

Firstly, walking is far more accessible to many more people than expensive high-intensity exercise down the gym, in terms of tolerance as well as cost.

Secondly, evidence shows that a great deal of low-intensity activity can have as many health and physiological benefits as high intensity exercise.

Thirdly, individuals who are able to undertake and sustain high-duration, high-intensity exercise are, by definition, fitter than the population who rarely exercises; so for example, a marathon runner is inevitably fitter than those of us who only occasionally stroll in the park.

Fourthly, walking exposes participants to few activity-associated injuries,whereas nearly all high-intensity athletes experience sports-associated injuries.

And finally, any amount of walking, at any pace in any place, burns calories and as such has the potential, long term, for use in weight management.

There are of course many other benefits to walking to lose weight which have not necessarily been scientifically proven, but are blindingly obvious to anybody who has ever stretched their legs.

The pleasurable and therapeutic, psychological and social dimensions of walking, the stress relief; whilst all these effects are self-evident, they have only recently begun to be studied.

To read more about walking for weight loss and many more interesting topics feel free to visit us at slimmersecrets.com

Take care until next time,





Resources for this article:

Levine JA, Exercise: a walk in the park? Mayo Clin Proc. 2007 Jul;82(7):797-8.

Nemoto K, Gen-no H, Masuki S, et al. Effects of high-intensity interval walking training on physical fitness and blood pressure in middle-aged and older people. Mayo Clin Proc. 2007 Jul;82(7):803-11.