If you’ve been walking up a storm yet have not lost weight, there’s a few reasons why.
Don’t give up yet. Learn how to make walking melt off the fat.
In order for walking to strip off body fat, it must be done above baseline. Your baseline is the level of walking that your body is accustomed to.
However, many people “house-walk” for their exercise sessions. House-walking is the pace a person walks from one room in the house to another.
They duplicate this pace outdoors, at a gym track, or on a treadmill, prolonging it to 30 minutes or even an hour, thinking that it will knock off weight.
But merely extending the house-walk pace doesn’t get you beyond your baseline.
Exercise is more about only calories. Exercise releases hormones, which control metabolism in a big way.
You’ll burn calories and lose fat when walking triggers the right hormonal environment.
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Though a higher percentage of fat is burned during low intensity walking, more total fat is burned during highly intense walking, because more total calories are burned.
Find the pace at which you must struggle to maintain. Then force yourself to stay there.
Two Walking Mistakes that Prevent Fat Loss
- Holding onto the treadmill. This huge mistake burns 20-25 percent fewer calories than letting go at the same speed.
- Lack of intensity
Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being how you feel when relaxing in a hot tub, and 10 being how you’d feel if trying to outrun a tornado. Walking exertion level should be 6-9.
Many people believe that walking can’t be intense. For optimal fat loss as well as fitness, walking must be rigorous for your abilities. Adjust your walking speed and course to obtain a level 6-9.
If you can maintain 6-9 for only five minutes or even just one minute, that will work!
Then par back for a few minutes at a casual “recovery” pace, then charge right back up again.
Continuously alternate this way for 30 or more minutes, and the fat will start coming off.
This is called interval training, and is extremely effective for fat loss. However, sustaining a fixed walk of level 6-7 for 30 minutes will also trigger weight loss.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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