Walking is probably the easiest form of exercise. After all, you’ve been doing it for most of your life! And luckily, walking is also extremely effective with regard to a weight loss plan. Almost everyone can fit a daily walk into their schedule, and it’s as simple as lacing up your shoes and walking out the door.
However, that doesn’t mean you can’t make a few mistakes with regard to your daily walk. None of these mistakes are exactly catastrophic, but making them can undermine your overall weight loss plan in the long run.
Walking the same route every day. If you never switch up your route, you’re likely to become bored with your walking routine and feel tempted to quit. Plus, as your body becomes accustomed to the route, this makes the walk less of a challenge over time. That could result in a lower calorie burn than you were hoping for. Keep things interesting and your body challenged by switching up your route regularly, adding in hills or other challenges.
Overlooking all other forms of exercise. Walking is great, but if you’re only walking, you could be overlooking opportunities for additional calorie burn and fitness. Yoga helps with flexibility, for example, and weight training adds muscle tone to your frame. Muscle can be very important to boosting your resting metabolism, or the rate at which you burn calories outside of exercise time.
Drinking sports drinks. Save the sports drinks for heavy exercise on hot days, when you actually need to replace electrolytes. Otherwise you’re unnecessarily consuming calories that replace the ones you just burned on your walk!
Living a sedentary lifestyle outside of your walks. Scheduling a daily walk is a great step toward better health and a successful weight loss plan. But you should avoid being overly sedentary during the rest of the day, too. Remember to get up and move around periodically while working at your desk.
Overcompensating with your eating plan. You went for a longer walk than usual; now you can have two brownies after dinner, right? Well, maybe not. We tend to overestimate the calories burned during exercise, and underestimate the calories in our favorite foods. Walking an extra fifteen minutes might burn a few dozen more calories, but it won’t counteract the effects of two brownies!
Remember that we’re here to support you as you pursue a weight loss plan. If you have questions about your exercise routine, calories in food, or anything else, give us a call to schedule a consultation.
