Walk With Intention To Rev Your Metabolism!

Walking to shed pounds is not about ambling or taking a stroll, although even a fifteen minute stroll is better than nothing if there is something in your lifestyle that is preventing you from getting the exercise you need on a daily basis.

Walking to lose weight is most successful if you can try walking with a bit of purpose. Make sure yoyo achieve a rolling gait and a steady pace.  You can walk slowly but make sure you are taking deep breaths. A good pace to walk at is one that is fast, but not so fast that you cannot hold a conversation with the person next to you.

Walking Is Inexpensive

One of the greatest fallacies about weight loss in general is that you need to join a gym, get a trainer or buy some expensive equipment in order to accomplish your goals. Although having gimmicks and glamorous place to go to work out can give you a bit of a boost in terms of enthusiasm for exercise, it is actually not necessary.  The best way to lose a great deal of weight in a very natural way is to simply walk at an “almost brisk” pace for one hour every day.  The idea is to get your heart rate going, without making you so uncomfortable that you have to sit down and take a break.

Take heart if you feel that you can never be a fast-paced walker. It is possible to lose weight by walking very slowly, it will just take you a lot longer to lose it.

Walking is Possible for Most

Computer Simulation of a Human Walking

Taking a walk is possible for most people. If you have a mechanical problem or problems with your feet then it is important for you to see a chiropractor or podiatrist who can help correct the imbalance that is causing you to have limited walking ability.

Sometimes, the issue is the shoes that you are wearing.  Make sure that you are wearing footwear meant for walking and not for other purposes.  If you must make an investment in your future health, invest in a good pair of walking shoes.

The secret is -- the more you walk the more lean muscle you will develop. Lean muscle burns more calories as you use it. This means that you burn more calories because you have more muscular mass in general.

A Healthy & Active Way to Lose Weight

You can lose a lot of weight just y taking a walk every day. To lose one pound a week you must burn off 3,500 calories. A good goal to strive for is to expend 500 calories a day just by walking five days a week. For most people this means walking a half-hour to an hour every day.

Not only is walking good for shedding pounds but it can rev up your metabolism and have you burning fat even while you are resting. Other benefits include the prevention of diabetes, stroke, heart disease and breast cancer.

For more information about the Healthy & Active Program please visit our website at www.healthy-active.com. You may also call us in Toronto at (41) 440-2217 and ask for Adrienne Wright Bulow or Dr. Michael Rahman or email us at adrienne@healthy-active.com.

Understanding The Role of Basal Metabolism in a Healthy and Active Lifestyle

In general, the metabolism can be understood as being the rate at which your body burns calories just to keep itself alive.  You need calories to keep your heart beating and the blood pumping through your arteries. It is a fallacy to think you are not burning calories when you are at rest.

Your body is burning calories all of the time, even when you sitting as still as possible or asleep. In fact, you body burns a certain amount of calories per pound just to maintain body weight every day. The average woman burns about 10 calories per pound every day and the average man, about 11 calories per pound.

You Burn Calories When You Eat

Not many people realize this but you actually burn calories when you eat. About 30% of the calories that you burn each day are actually burned by the act of digestion. However, your body uses far more calories to digest a protein then it does a carbohydrate. You burn about 25 calories for every 100 calories of protein consumed and only about ten for every fat and carbohydrate you burn. This is why it is recommended that you eat lean healthy proteins to lose weight.

You Burn Calories Through Exercise

Every day you burn ten to fifteen percent of your calories as the result of moving your muscles. It does not matter what activity you do, you are burning carbohydrates every time you run, walk, lean over, flip a page in a book or press a key on the remote.  It is not really possible to burn more calories than fifteen percent a day, which is why it is important to lead a happy and healthy lifestyle and exercise as much as possible on a regular basis.

The Importance of Basal Metabolism

When fitness experts talk about the basal metabolism, they are referring to the calories that you burn per day when you are doing nothing at all.  Sleeping, watching television and sitting at you desk burn up between sixty and eighty percent of your available calories. That is because your body is at work all of the time, dividing cells, engaging in cell respiration and disposing of toxins.

The basal metabolism rate refers to the calorie burn that comes from the physiological functions that we don’t even think about or are not aware of it. That is why it is so important to eat foods and adopt a lifestyle that raises the basal rate of your metabolism so that all of your downtime is actually fat-burning time.  This is also why restricting calories works better than trying work off calories through constant exercise. Constant exercise works in shedding off the pounds to some extent but if you really want to lose weight it comes down to consuming less calories.

For more information about the Healthy & Active Program please visit our website at www.healthy-active.com. You may also call us in Toronto at (41)440-2217 and ask for Adrienne Wright Bulow or Dr. Micheal Rahman or email us at adrienne@healthy-active.com.