Different people have different expectations and capacities. If you've been regularly working out, you might not be challenged by walking four miles. I'm sure some who've read my blog wonder why I don't just get on a treadmill and jog or run the mileage. If you are working out regularly so that a four mile run or more is no big deal, then my hat is off to you. I want to encourage you to keep pushing yourself, but not to the point of injury. I believe you want to keep from being injured so that you can continue to exercise without interruption. So I guess I'm saying that you should really, truly go for it - within reason.
Now, for those of you who don't think that a four-mile run is a walk in the park (no pun intended), I encourage you to keep walking. During my 10 day
Perfect Weight America cleanse I didn't walk much so that I could demonstrate its weight loss power. Yesterday I started the actual diet, also called The Maker's Diet, and I'll be reporting on my weight less often. I know that some people can get discouraged when they see that they've had weight gain over a day or two, and that happens. Most people can do just fine weighing themselves once a week. You have to stick with it and you probably won't lose weight on the diet at the same rate as the cleanse.
When I went to bed last night I had walked four miles throughout the day. I'm not necessarily going for a big cardiovascular workout when I walk. Sometimes and sometimes not. If you're ALWAYS looking for the cardio, then you might dismiss walking for five minutes. I want you to walk more than five minutes a day. Really. I know you can do that. The thing is, the miles and fractions add up. You can walk five minutes 12 times a day and that's likely to be three miles. Starting yesterday morning before 7 a.m. my dog and I walked 1.5 miles. I got busy and didn't get back to walking until four hours later when we walked 2.0 miles. Last night I walked .25 miles twice and that's how I came to walk 4.0 miles total. Why am I using .25 and 2.0 to describe my mileage? Because if you aren't thinking this way then I want you to start thinking of a quarter mile (or even a furlong - one eighth mile) or .25 miles as significant enough to keep track of.
When you keep track of your miles you can have a record to look back on and that's encouraging. If you're encouraged you'll keep going. You will look for opportunities to walk one half, one quarter or even one eight of a mile. I'm tall so 500 of my steps is a quarter mile. If you're shorter than me it's likely to be around 600 steps to the quarter mile. If you go to a local track at a community college or high school, you can count your steps as you walk around it. That will be close. Or you can get a pedometer. I have done both and a pedometer is easier if you can find one that works and doesn't break. My wife just got me another cheapie Sportline and the last one worked well until it broke. My good buddy in San Clemente has a more expensive Omron and it has worked for a while. I'm sorry to say that those are the only ones from personal experience that either work for a lot of miles or don't break down. In fact, when my Sportline (calorie step distance) pedometer broke, it was not the pedometer but the clip that kept it on my belt which broke.
Let's be clear. If you have a pedometer it can help you more accurately keep track of your mileage. If you keep track you will be more encouraged (or you will see the need to improve) and you will keep going. If you let it be ok to not ONLY walk for cardio, then you will become used to adding up the smaller units of walking. Remember, for weight loss 35 miles equals one pound lost. It's right around there for everybody. Don't get into fuzzy/mystical thinking here and say that it doesn't work that way for you. If you are human and make all other factors (eating, mostly) equal then you will lose a pound for 35 miles walked. Some people eat more and don't notice and that's a challenge. Well, don't eat more because you're walking more if you want to lose weight through walking. I started off this year by not changing my diet one bit for the first seven weeks and simply walking more. I lost seven pounds in seven weeks. You can read some of those posts
here. You can make more walking part of your way of life. It makes a big difference over the long run. Even if you lost seven pounds during the first seven weeks of the year every year you would be doing better than most. But don't settle for just better than most. Achieve health and wellness.
Keep WALKING!
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