I hear people talk about wanting to get fit or lose weight all the time. Some people think you have to make massive changes to get fit, but sometimes little changes are just as good and even sometimes, simpler. One of those little changes you can make is to WALK MORE. I have to say I do walk quite a bit; I don’t have a car at the moment so even walking to the bus stop is better than nothing.
With spring just starting and the weather picking up, I thought this would be a great time to talk about making little steps that can help you start of your fitness journey.
I was looking through the #NEbloggers hash tag on twitter and found a blog post by Samantha from North East Family Fun (link) about how she was adding a 20-minute walk into day mainly on her lunch break to help her get fit (blog post here). This got me thinking, as I said I already walk quite a bit what could I do extra, then it came to me DOG WALKING.
Everyone knows that walking for a certain amount of time or doing 10,000 steps a day can be beneficial but what can walking actually do for you?
Well here are 6 benefits of walking:
1. Can strengthen your heart: Walking is a form of cardio exercise and it’s a great form it can lower levels of LDL which is bad cholesterol which then increases your HDL which is your good cholesterol.
2. Lowers risk of disease: if you do regular walks you can slashes the risks of type 2 diabetes by around 60%.
3. Can help you lose weight: if you walk for around 30 minutes at a pace of 2mph you can burn 75 calories or if you walk 4mph for 30 minutes that is 150 calories (that is 3 Jaffa cakes and a jam doughnut) you can burn.
4. Boosts Vitamin D: A lot of people in the UK have a vitamin D deficient which can have an effect on things like your bone health or even your immune system. How do you increase you vitamin D, by being outside and what better way to be outside than walking.
5. Can boost your energy: Walking is a natural energiser and the best one there is. Walking boosts your circulation and increases your oxygen supply. It also can make your feel more alert and just feel motivated.
6. It just makes you feel happier: In case you didn’t know exercise can boost your mood and studies have shown that a simple walk is just as effective as anti-depressants in mild to moderate cases of depression as your body releases feel-good endorphins.
So how am I going to add more dog walking into weekly/daily routine, well anyone who knows me know I’m in love with my dog Oscar (King Charles Cavalier) and he is definitely one of the most important living things in my life. We already walk him for around 20/30 minutes a day at our local Park but I wanted to do more. I’ve decided that at least once a week I will be taking Oscar away from are normal walking routes around the park and go further a field and explore.
For the last 3 weekends in we have been to 3 different places, these places are Newburn (with my mam), Jesmond Dene (with Euan) and Tynemouth Beach (with Euan and his family). I thought I would do a new little series on my blog all about the dog walking routes that we are doing. Some weekend it might not be so exciting and just been walking through the local dene but I’m excited to get out more and get to explore some places we might have never been to before.
First walk will be up to Newburn and hopefully it will be up on Thursday, expect a lot of dog pictures and some pretty scenery.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Why don't you leave you comment where you think your favourite place to go walking? or Do you walk a lot and if you do how far do you walk?
