If you are overweight, obese, or have a few love handles that you find a nuisance, then you might have been advised by your doctor to lose the pounds. Maintaining a healthy weight is essential to keep blood cholesterol levels down, meaning decreasing the risk for heart disease. Another reason why you need to lose the pounds is that it contributes to the prevention of Diabetes Mellitus Type II, which is considered the mother of all diseases.

Dieting is not just the main idea behind losing weight – exercise is a must too. If you are obese, or plainly physically inactive, then there is another option you can choose to exercise instead of doing sit ups, running, or any other vigorous activities. Walking, yes walking, is a good way to lose weight. It burns off the calories, sheds pounds, and keeps you in shape.

Before starting to walk to lose weight, it is best to remember to stretch and warm up. Take at least 5-10 minutes to do some stretching and a slow light warm-up walk of 10 minutes. Stretching helps loosen up the muscles of your calves and lower back to prevent injury, while warming up prevents the build-up of lactic acid, resulting to pain after exercise.

Once you’ve warmed up and stretched, it’s time to start your power walk. Doing a “power walk” is more beneficial than a leisurely walk, as it raises your heart rate more, burning more calories. Start slow, progress to a faster pace, and then ultimately to a pace that raises your heart rate double to that of your resting heart rate. On your first week, do a short time like five minutes, gradually increasing to ten, fifteen, twenty, then thirty minutes. Do your walk most days of the week, or at least three times a week, to see results.

Coupled with a healthy diet, enough sleep, and controlling stress, you will surely be able to shed pounds slowly but surely!