Shed Pounds More Quickly By Raising Your Metabolic Rate
Wednesday, August 25th, 2010If you would like to lose weight then you have to look at your calorie balance. If you consume fewer calories as a result of eating and drinking than you burn off by physical activity, you will tend to lose weight. Physical activity includes just about anything you do. You burn calories all the time during the day. Reading the newspaper, surfing the internet, doing the ironing - all of these perfectly normal activities use up calories.
The rate at which you burn calories is known as your metabolic rate. It’s important to know that not everyone has the same metabolic rate. We all know some lucky (if slightly annoying) people who just don’t seem to gain weight no matter how much they eat. They probably have a metabolic rate which is higher than normal.
That’s the reason why you should really include a certain level of regular exercise in your weight loss routine. Obviously when you perform exercise you will burn off some calories, which is great of course. However, what’s even better is that, as long as your exercise is conducted on a regular basis it will actually cause your metabolic rate to rise. You will burn off calories more rapidly than before – even if you’re not exercising – and that could help you to achieve better results, and a lot faster, than if you rely on dieting alone to lose weight.
The important thing is consistency. There’s no need to visit the gym or get all hot, sweaty and out of breath, a low intensity workout will do the trick – as long as it is performed regularly. Walking is one of the best and most popular ways to take regular exercise. There are no monthly membership fees, it’s easy to do, you can slot it into your daily schedule whenever you like and you don’t need any special equipment or training. It has very many health benefits in addition to helping you to lose weight and, as it’s a low impact workout, it has a very low risk of injury.
If you want, you can increase the efficiency of your walking workout using the latest design of fitness footwear. You can now purchase specially engineered shoes such as Skechers Shape Ups, Reebok Easy Tones, MBT’s and Fit flops sandals – all of which use specially designed soles to raise the amount of work carried out by your lower body muscles and to help trim your butt and tone your legs. However, if you don’t feel the need to try these, then do be sure to get yourself a comfortable pair of shoes. If your shoes are uncomfortable or, even worse, give you blisters then it will be very hard to keep your walking exercise routine on track.
A lot of people ask how many calories walking will burn off. One of the main influencing factors is your weight. A heavier person will use more calories per mile than a lighter person – simply due to the fact that they are carrying more weight over the same distance. An approximate rule of thumb is that a 180 pound person will use up about 100 calories per mile walked. Someone who weights 130 pounds will use approximately 84 calories if they walk the same distance. If you wish to know more accurately how many calories you are using up then an Omron pedometer is accurate to within 5% and can show your results in terms of distance covered, calories burned or the total number of steps taken.
There seems to be a consensus amongst health professionals that walking 10,000 steps each day will deliver a whole host of health benefits - including weight loss. However, you don’t need to instantly start doing the target value of steps tomorrow. Take your time and build up slowly. If you haven’t exercised for a while then do seek the opinion of your doctor before you begin any new exercise program. Remember, the most important thing is consistency and taking your exercise on a regular basis. Brief periods of high intensity activity are nothing like as good as regular low level exercise. That’s why walking is such an ideal exercise solution.