Walk For Fun & Fitness May 4, 2012
Posted by nrhatch in Exercise & Fitness, Happiness, Health & Wellness.trackback
Like “an apple a day” . . . walking keeps the doctor away!
Walking is a safe, inexpensive, enjoyable way to stay fit ~ improving your health and outlook on life. No matter your age and fitness level, walking is one of the most effective and enjoyable ways to be more active.
Some great reasons to start walking:
* Physical exercise, including brisk walking, helps prevent heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and osteoporosis.
* Walking is an excellent form of aerobic exercise which improves your body’s ability to use oxygen and strengthens your heart, lungs, and circulatory system.
* Walking is an energy booster . . . that helps you sleep better at night.
* Walking enhances a sense of well-being, uplifts mood, improves self-esteem, lessens daily anxiety, relieves tension, and is a terrific stress buster. When you feel tense, depressed, or unable to think clearly . . . take a mood improving walk.
* Walking is a terrific fat buster. A brisk 45-minute walk 4 times a week for one year can result in an 12-18 pound weight loss ~ provided you don’t eat more.
Walk for health, weight loss, companionship, time alone, or to save gas!
Aah . . . that’s better!
Artwork ~ Apple on Shelf ~ by Oriana Kacicek
Spirit Lights The Way 
Have already started… 🙂
We’ve been walking 2 miles a day (most days of the week) since January and LOVE IT!
We feel better physically, emotionally, and intellectually. Plus we’ve had some pretty funny conversations while walking.
Walk on!
I walk 5.2 miles most days of the week when I am home. It is some of my most creative time, really where a lot of the seeds for my writing take root. I don’t know what I’d do without it. Glad to hear you’re enjoying the experience, too.
Wow! We need to . . . Step It Up A Notch! 😉
I don’t think I’ve walked and been sorry I did. there’s something about it that refreshes, lifts, and helps problem solve too.
Yes! I ALWAYS feel better and gain clarity after walking. 😀
I also have started walking but need to add more time to my walk, as I take 20 minute walks once or twice a day, depending on the weather. I like my evening walks even better, very relaxing.
It’s a wonderful way to clear the mind while exercising the body ~ a win/win for all systems.
….and walking is always doubly delightful beside a small smelly terrier.
YOUR walks have become legendary indeed, Kate. How could they not with Macauley and Big Al traipsing along with you?
Or a large, shedding collie! The dog adds accountability I might not otherwise find.
Dogs do encourage us to put on our walking shoes. 😀
I’ve always been a big walker…that is until recently! I started yoga three times a week after work, and that has wonderful benefits, but now I can’t seem to fit the walking in with the same regularity…and walking is much better for keeping weight down. It’s hard to get it all in sometimes isn’t it? I like the reminder, though…I need to figure it out and get the tennies on! Debra
Good luck figuring it out. On days I do water aerobics (with a bike ride up and back), I don’t always fit a walk in later ~ sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t.
Remembering to “move it” every day in some way pays dividends as we age.
Definitely something I should be doing. Walking! I will get there. Slowly.
Slowly is a good idea, Robyn. People who act like jackrabbits often get injured before they benefit from new healthy habits.
I’ve seen recommendations for 20 minutes a day (3x a week) for the first 2 weeks . . . adding 5 minutes every two weeks until walking 45 minutes a day.
I try to do a heart healthy walk every day!
We walk, bike, or swim on all but our laziest days. 😀
First-time visitor from Debra at Breathelighter. We love walking … and just trying to determine where in the city (Cincinnati) to walk today.
Just for fun, I snapped my pedometer on at the grocery store the other day . . . I walked a full mile (mostly in the store and parking lot) from when I left the house until I got home. That surprised me.
Walk on!
My all-time, ever-favorite pastime…to walk. We were built for it. Why do I sometimes put it in the low priority pile of my day?!
I’ve always loved walking . . . on vacation . . . and through the woods . . . and on the beach . . . and to waterfalls. But my focus was on the PLACE rather than on the ACTIVITY (walking).
Now, walking the same path every day, it’s all about the JOURNEY and not at all about ARRIVING. 😀
I don’t get the daily recommended walking, but I try to squeeze in a fifteen minute walk at work to break up my day. I haven’t done weekend hikes since we got back from vacation, so I’m feeling a bit lazy right now. I’m glad you’re getting out there and getting those walks in, though. How about you just walk a little extra for me? 🙂
There’s an idea . . . instead of a “dog walking” business, I’ll run a “people walking” business.
It certainly is, Nancy – it’s free and we can do it anywhere, anytime
Yesterday we went to Food & Wine on Pine . . . we walked 2.6 miles (per my new pedometer) while enjoying great music and casual conversations with friends. I’ll post photos later.
I love this time of the year when I can walk and take pictures of nature at the same time.
I don’t always walk with camera accompaniment . . . but I do at times. It’s amazing how much more I see when looking at life through a View Finder. 😯
And even though my kids can whine a lot when we go walking for the sake of it, they notice things at their eye level I would miss from my height. The only thing is, they won’t give me a lot of time to take a picture and if it’s an animal, they always manage to scare it away!