Walking for Weight Loss: The Benefits of Taking a Walk on National Walking Day

With your Nutrisystem weight loss plan, you are already on the path to a healthier and happier you. The next step is to turn up your daily activity level, which will keep your metabolism burning off excess pounds all day long. Good news: the simplest activity—walking—is all you need to tone your muscles, shed extra inches from your waistline and speed up progress towards your weight loss diet goal. To help you celebrate National Walking Day and inspire you to keep on walking, we’ve compiled this list of smart reasons to take a walk on this special day.

The American Heart Association’s National Walking Day is the perfect time to kickstart your spring fitness routine. Taking place on the first Wednesday of every April, this essential day brings awareness to the importance of physical activity in all of our lives. So, grab your favorite pair of walking shoes and head outside to gain the many benefits of taking a leisurely stroll—just be sure to continue practicing social distancing during this time, maintaining a six-foot distance from strangers and non-immediate family members while walking.

Before you get to stepping, making sure to download the NuMi app so that you can keep track of your daily exercise! Easily connect your Fitbit device and Apple Step Tracking and make logging your activity a breeze. You can also manually log activities like walking and include details like distance, duration, speed and number of calories burned. Never forget to exercise again by setting up handy personal reminders for activity, water, snacks and more. NuMi is the ultimate weight loss sidekick and will help you reach your health and fitness goals.

10 Must-Follow Safety Rules for Walkers

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Here are eight reasons why you should take a walk on National Walking Day:

1. Visible Results

Walking has the ability to make your healthy diet plan even more effective. In a 12-week study, published in the International Journal of Obesity, a group of overweight individuals followed a diet plan and walked five times per week. Researchers found that those who walked experienced significantly greater improvements in their waist circumference compared to a similar group that followed the diet alone.

2. Steady Burn

You might not think of plain old walking as a good exercise. However, a 150-pound person strolling at an average speed burns almost 100 calories per mile, says The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. Want to burn even more and have some extra weight loss motivation? Walk uphill, which requires more energy, stokes your metabolism and uses up more calories.

3. Take 10

Nutrisystem weight loss experts recommend that you get at least 30 minutes of daily physical activity. Don’t have time in your busy schedule for 30 minutes of exercise? No worries! With the My Daily 3 activity plan, you’ll find that three 10-minute walks each day—whenever is convenient for you—adds up to the same benefits as one 30-minute session. To boost your burn, combine your walk with one of these simple 10-minute workouts! >

5 Sporty Gifts for the Walker on Your List

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4. No Pain, All Gain

Jumping into a difficult full body workout routine when you’ve been inactive can lead to sore muscles and even injury. Your body is already well-adapted to walking, so you can gradually increase the distance and time without feeling too beat to do it again the next day. This low-impact activity is great way to stay active without the high risk of getting hurt or sore. However, always speak to your doctor before starting a fitness routine to ensure it is safe for you.

5. Cost-Free

You can forget about costly gym membership fees or buying expensive fitness clothing and gear. If you have a pair of supportive shoes and a safe place to take a stroll, you have everything you need to include a calorie-burning walk in your daily weight loss diet routine. If it’s nice out, head to a local park or walking trail. If the weather isn’t agreeing with your walking plans, take a trip to the mall and walk indoors safely without the elements.

6. Good for Your Heart

According to Harvard Health, several reliable studies show that walking regularly decreases the risk of “cardiovascular events” by 31 percent and the risk of dying by 32 percent in both men and women. They explain that these benefits were even seen at shorter distances of 5.5 miles per week and at “casual” paces of just two miles per hour. So, don’t be afraid to walk at your own pace and enjoy a workout that is comfortable for you.

Check out these seven delicious foods for a healthier heart! >

Walking or Running a 5K? 6 Things You Need to Know

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7. Prevents Diabetes

Walking after eating a meal for just 15 minutes significantly improved the blood sugar levels of people at risk for diabetes, according research by the American Diabetes Association that was published in Diabetes Care. The study showed that the benefits of a post-meal walk lasted all day for the participants. Pair your walking with some of these delicious and beneficial foods for diabetes and take your health and well-being to new heights.

8. Daily Dose of D

Vitamin D deficiency is common among people who are overweight. A study, published in the International Journal of Preventative Medicine, found that taking vitamin D supplements made a significant difference in reducing the subjects’ weight, body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference. Your body naturally produces vitamin D when you are exposed to sunlight. Taking a walk outside in the sunshine also ensures that you have a healthy supply of vitamin D.

Not sure if you’re getting enough vitamin D? Click here for seven common signs of a D deficiency >

Looking for more low impact exercises to incorporate into your fitness routine? Click here for seven of our favorites! >

Must-Have Fitness Gear (Walkers, Prepare!)

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The post Walking for Weight Loss: The Benefits of Taking a Walk on National Walking Day appeared first on The Leaf.

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Feeling discouraged after a weekend at my parents' house

I've been lurking on this sub for a while now and I wanted to post just to vent some frustrations I'm having this week. To start, here is a bit of history about my weight loss journey. I'm a 37 year old 5' 7" cisgendered man that has a large frame. I played football in high school, and I have always had a build like an offensive lineman. I have been overweight or obese for my entire adult life, but there have been times when I've been able to get my weight to levels where I'm comfortably in the overweight category.

By October 2020, quarantine habits had gotten me up to 235 lbs, so I decided that I was going to use the rest of this time that I had to work on myself. I set two ambitious goals: I wanted to be 185 lbs by my birthday at the beginning of April, and then I wanted to be 165 lbs by the end of the summer. I set a routine and changed a lot of my habits. I work out on average 6 hours a week doing a mix of cardio and strength training. I examined my diet and started to monitor CICO as well as doing IF.

The day before my birthday last week I got on the scale after my workout and saw 184.5 lbs! I was ecstatic to hit my goal. I then packed up to spend the long weekend with my family at my parents' house (everyone is thankfully vaccinated) for Easter. At my parents' house, I spent 4 days taking a break from my workout routines since I was away from my equipment, and eating with the rest of my family. It was very safe to say that my CICO was not ideal.

On Sunday afternoon, I got on the scale after getting back home and was horrified to see that I was at 200 lbs. Granted, I typically weigh myself for my "official" weigh ins after workouts, but it was still really disheartening to see. I've been back in my routine on Monday and Tuesday, and this morning I weighed in at 194 lbs (again, not an "official" weigh in, but from experience I'll probably be somewhere around 190 after working out).

This all has me feeling incredibly down on what my future looks like. While before I was feeling so confident on my weight loss goals and that I was going to achieve my end of summer goal, now I am getting nervous that even if I get to my goal that I'm going to be unable to maintain it after seeing the damage that a 72 hour lapse caused.

I've been spending the week focusing on my progress indicators outside of the number on the scale, like the amount of energy that I have, my progress pictures, and the fact that I've gone down from being a 38" pant size and XL shirts to 34" and M. But the reality is that the number on the scale is still having a psychological effect on me. I'm trying to take this in stride and use it for motivation that I have to make lifelong commitment to the healthy changes I've made in my life, but right now this week just sucks.

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Low energy levels and moodiness once I transitioned to maintence

I am currently in the middle of my weight loss journey and have achieved many goals, such as habitual running, weightlifting, healthy eating, cutting added sugar and losing 50 pounds. (I may have an out of date flair. I'm currently 27F 5'4.5" | SW 233 | CW 182 | GW 150).

I did okay through this. I was tired but very driven to lose weight so I'd use that to fuel my activities. My rate of weight loss gradually slowed which was stressing me out big time. I started listening to Renaissance Periodization which is a podcast lead by doctors, who are also athletes, that developed diets and workout programs that are only backed by rigorous science. It helped me avoid getting sucked into trends.

They talk a lot about the importance of incorporating periods of maintenance into your diet so I decided to give it a try. I'm 10 days in. First couple days were okay but now I suddenly have less energy, while eating more food. I am eating the same, just more. I am so damn tired. I'm running slower and cant weight lift the same, even after taking a 6 days off. This got worse on Easter (and every day since). I treated my self to chocolate, ate more than I intended and my mood plummeted. Like dropped to levels of despair I haven't felt since I was depressed as a teen.

I don't know what this is from. Maintenance is supposed to be a recharge.

It could be because I don't have my weight loss goals driving me through "the suck".

I do suffer badly from seasonal allergies which might be adding to the fatigue.

I'm looking into therapy, sleeping lots and still cranking out some wimpy workouts.

Due to covid, I have to wait a couple months to get a full medical check up (Canadian). In the meantime, I was wondering if anyone else might have gone through this or has any insights.

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I realised something this morning...

Hi, obligatory long time lurker, never posted, always read, sorry for the long post...

I started off my weight loss journey in 2017 with 270 pounds, and got down to a proud and very sporty 213 at some point, it was still too much, but man was I fit and happy! And well what can i say, corona came and boom 250 here we come. Then I had enough, pulled off three months of keto, hit the gym and I was down to 233 and back on track and feeling motivated.

Then come November things got real bad. Out of fear of getting depressed in my one bedroom apartment far away from family and friends, I decided to move back in with my parents, whole house, garden, pets, contact... You get the picture. The only problem? Food! It's everywhere, it's comforting, and its kind of a hobby for my parents...
And what happened? I gave up! So I thought anyways: Dinners would never be healthy, and I didn't want to act like a spoilt 32 year old brat, constantly complaining about the foods not meeting my restrictions. But at the same time I gave up... I decided on a simple "damage control" plan:

Healthy breakfast and lunch, because they are MY meal-times and well... trying to not max out on dinners... which is hard with all those yummy creamy sauces and comforting carbs and depression screwing with your brain...

And unfortunately I started hating myself again... which sucks, because this situation is just about ready to take away all the hard work I did for my mind, body and soul. So yesterday I had enough and I got a scale to judge how bad the damage was. And to say the least I was scared and ready for hating myself big time for giving up. Yet, what can I say as of this morning 233 lbs is my current weight. I didn't lose anything living here, but I sure as hell did NOT gain weight.

So I just realised: These times are tough on everybody and circumstances are definitely hard and will stay tough for a while. But it's the little things, that we can control ourselves, the extra block we add on our walk, one scoop less of pasta and just accepting that sometimes you can't control everything in life and you can still be underestimating what you've accomplished by trying your current best.

So, today I choose to see that I have lost 37 Pounds overall and I'm just getting started!

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When does being fit and healthy start to feel good?

Sorry for the length - but basically it's been 9 weeks and I feel like literal shit all the time.

I'm posting this because I need to know when those positive feelings will kick in. You know the ones that healthy and athletic people are always talking about. How a consistently healthy diet and working out give them more energy, better sleep, better overall mood, keep your mind sharp, etc, etc.

Ill start off by saying that I (31/F) haven't exercised in 10 years, and then a little over two months ago began to hit the gym hard. Long story - but major mental shift happened and I'm leaning in.

I hired a personal trainer and have been working out 4 days a week for over 9 weeks now. Each session is two hours. 15 min elliptical warm up. 1 hour weight lifting. 45 min stair master to finish.

My trainer has been helping me with figuring out food, as I know "abs are made in the kitchen". I take a picture of everything I eat to show them in order to make sure I am doing it right, and drink almost a gallon of water a day. I started using a calorie counter and am learning about macros, all in the hopes of achieving my goal of losing 25 lbs by end of summer/early fall.

And basically every moment has been exceedingly unpleasant.

Physically I'm exhausted and grumpy. I feel heavy - like my body is made of stone. I move slower. I've had to visit the doctor 3 times for major issues with constipation, nausea, migraines, fatigue so bad I had to stay home from work once or twice, and my hormones have gone crazy and so I've had to go on birth control to manage. I generally have little to no energy at all times, and do not feel good before, during, or after I work out. I honestly feel best (which is not great) when I have a day of rest. When I can just lie down and not move.

Mentally I'm in a fog and dizzy half the time. I feel unattractive and bigger that I've ever been before, even though I've been receiving compliments from friends and coworkers on my weight loss (so I'm objectively noticeably smaller). It's the oddest thing.

Honestly - in the last 10 years of eating whatever I wanted and never going to the gym I've had little to no issue with energy, a positive mood, and solid self esteem. I've always pretty much felt great and liked the way I looked, and enjoyed being active but only if it looked fun. Ex. Walking a new city for hours on end, riding ATV's, surfing, archery...whatever. but not like going to the gym to build muscle/lose fat active. I was a generally happy person.

Oh, and as for weight loss, I've lost 7 lbs in 9 weeks. Trainer says its normal and good to go slow so that it stays off, but its not the most encouraging thing to feel terrible and see almost no positive results myself.

Anyways - I just need to know when being fitness and health focused starts to feel worth it? This shit is awful.

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Day 1? Starting your weight loss journey on Wednesday, 07 April 2021? Start here!

Today is your Day 1?

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Welcome to r/Loseit!

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So you aren’t sure of how to start? Don’t worry! “How do I get started?” is our most asked question. r/Loseit has helped our users lose over 1,000,000 recorded pounds and these are the steps that we’ve found most useful for getting started.

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Why you’re overweight

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Our bodies are amazing (yes, yours too!). In order to survive before supermarkets, we had to be able to store energy to get us through lean times, we store this energy as adipose fat tissue. If you put more energy into your body than it needs, it stores it, for (potential) later use. When you put in less than it needs, it uses the stored energy. The more energy you have stored, the more overweight you are. The trick is to get your body to use the stored energy, which can only be done if you give it less energy than it needs, consistently.

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Before You Start

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The very first step is calculating your calorie needs. You can do that HERE. This will give you an approximation of your calorie needs for the day. The next step is to figure how quickly you want to lose the fat. One pound of fat is equal to 3500 calories. So to lose 1 pound of fat per week you will need to consume 500 calories less than your TDEE (daily calorie needs from the link above). 750 calories less will result in 1.5 pounds and 1000 calories is an aggressive 2 pounds per week.

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Tracking

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Here is where it begins to resemble work. The most efficient way to lose the weight you desire is to track your calorie intake. This has gotten much simpler over the years and today it can be done right from your smartphone or computer. r/loseit recommends an app like MyFitnessPal, Loseit! (unaffiliated), or Cronometer. Create an account and be honest with it about your current stats, activities, and goals. This is your tracker and no one else needs to see it so don’t cheat the numbers. You’ll find large user created databases that make logging and tracking your food and drinks easy with just the tap of the screen or the push of a button. We also highly recommend the use of a digital kitchen scale for accuracy. Knowing how much of what you're eating is more important than what you're eating. Why? This may explain it.

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Creating Your Deficit

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How do you create a deficit? This is up to you. r/loseit has a few recommendations but ultimately that decision is yours. There is no perfect diet for everyone. There is a perfect diet for you and you can create it. You can eat less of exactly what you eat now. If you like pizza you can have pizza. Have 2 slices instead of 4. You can try lower calorie replacements for calorie dense foods. Some of the communities favorites are cauliflower rice, zucchini noodles, spaghetti squash in place of their more calorie rich cousins. If it appeals to you an entire dietary change like Keto, Paleo, Vegetarian.

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The most important thing to remember is that this selection of foods works for you. Sustainability is the key to long term weight management success. If you hate what you’re eating you won’t stick to it.

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Exercise

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Is NOT mandatory. You can lose fat and create a deficit through diet alone. There is no requirement of exercise to lose weight.

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It has it’s own benefits though. You will burn extra calories. Exercise is shown to be beneficial to mental health and creates an endorphin rush as well. It makes people feel *awesome* and has been linked to higher rates of long term success when physical activity is included in lifestyle changes.

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Crawl, Walk, Run

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It can seem like one needs to make a 180 degree course correction to find success. That isn’t necessarily true. Many of our users find that creating small initial changes that build a foundation allows them to progress forward in even, sustained, increments.

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Acceptance

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You will struggle. We have all struggled. This is natural. There is no tip or trick to get through this though. We encourage you to recognize why you are struggling and forgive yourself for whatever reason that may be. If you overindulged at your last meal that is ok. You can resolve to make the next meal better.

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Do not let the pursuit of perfect get in the way of progress. We don’t need perfect. We just want better.

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Additional resources

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Now you’re ready to do this. Here are more details, that may help you refine your plan.

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• Quick Start Guide - Build your foundation!

* Lose It Compendium - Frame it out!

* FAQ - Answers to our most Frequently Asked Questions!

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So I'm fat and I used to rollerblade--would this be a good exercise for weight loss?

I'm morbidly obese--I'm a (almost) 27-year-old, 5"4 female, at 236 lbs.

I used to rollerblade and skateboard all the time when I was a kid and teenager. I still have a pair of rollerblades in decent enough shape that still fit, and I think I still know how to skate (last time I inlined skated I was 15 but I went ice skating when I was 24 and was fine but I also felt like ice skating was easier as far as keeping balance goes).

Would this be terrible exercise to take up? I don't do the gym because of the plague and I HAAAAATE boring exercising like walking, running, jogging, and biking unless it's on trails.

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