Walking Off The Weight - Let's Get Started

Let's Get Started On Your Weight Loss Walking Plan

Are you ready to get walking and to loose those extra pounds? Great and congratulations on taking that all important first step. You are ready to change your body and we'll be here to help you along the way. Please consult your physician before starting this or any other diet and exercise program. Once he or she gives you the ok, you are ready to start.

It is important to keep a log of the steps you take and what food you consume on a daily basis at least for the first few weeks. We suggest that you start a notebook or spreadsheet. For now we'd like you to wear a pedometer and record the steps you take on a daily basis. Don't walk any more than you have been so far. We'll do this for a week to get a baseline figure. During this week, we'd also like you to keep a food journal. Just jot down everything you eat and drink. Don't worry, we won't make you do this all the time, but it will help give your self a more objective view of your eating habits and what you need to change to loose those extra pounds.

At the end of the first week, calculate the average amount of steps taken per day. Let's give you an example:

This gives you a total of 35195 steps for the week. To get the daily average, we'll just divide that number by seven, which gives us an average of about 5028 steps per day for that week.

Your personal daily average is what we will work with. Our ultimate long-term goals will be to get you to walk 10,000 steps daily for maintaining your weight and 12,000 to loose weight. This may seem like a lot of steps right now, but don't worry, we'll take it slow only adding about 200 steps at a time.

For the next week work in an extra 200 steps each day. Add another 200 steps each of the following weeks until you reach your goal of either 10,000 or 12,000 steps per day. 

You may also want to make some adjustments to your diet. First of all, try to drink at least 8 eight ounce glasses of water each day. You may need to drink more if you are exercising a lot or walking while it's hot outside. Drinking all this water may also help curb your appetite. We often eat when we are really thirsty. So keep a glass of ice water or a water bottle with you at all times and drink that water.

The last thing I want to talk to you about in this getting started article is the food you eat. Take a look at the food journal you kept for the last week. It should give you some hints on where you need to make some adjustments. Are you snacking on candy, chips and leftovers all day long, or maybe even just late in the evening? Replace some of your high calorie snacks with something like a piece of fruit, some veggies and low fat dip or even some no sugar yellow or some low fat pudding or yogurt.

You can find some great lower calorie recipes right here in our recipe section.

So get up and get walking today!

I encourage you to sign up for the Walking Off The Weight Newsletter using the signup box in the upper right-hand corner of this page. I will be sharing lots of great tips on walking off the weight.

Susanne