Hey Gooders,
I just got back from Belgrade with my family. What a great city! What a fun vacation! I know it's not the first place you'd think of when you think European vacation, but we are so glad we went. If you have been following me on Insta, my BFF moved back to her home country about 3 years ago. We used to hang out all the time when she lived in the states so it was a no brainer for us to go visit.
She lives in the center of the city. I gotta say, I loved the convenience of having everything within walking distance... and walking we did! It was so easy to rack up 10k steps before noon. The first couple of days, I felt really tired. Perhaps it was jet lag combined with the fact that I wasn't used to walking so much, but soon, I really looked forward to walking everywhere.
You probably know that walking is really a great way to stay healthy. It's easy, convenient and cheap. Just to name a few of the health benefits:
- Maintain a healthy weight and lose body fat.
- Prevent or manage various conditions, including heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, cancer and type 2 diabetes.
- Improve cardiovascular fitness.
- Strengthen your bones and muscles.
- Improve muscle endurance.
- Increase energy levels
- and so much more!
And to name some additional benefits:
- Fresh air.
- Vitamin D.
- Good conversation if walking with friends.
- Meditative if walking alone.
- Sight seeing if traveling.
- A good way to catch up on your favorite audio book or podcasts.
You may be asking how many minutes you have to walk a day in order to reap these benefits? There are many studies out there that say anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes to gain these benefits. Some prefer to count steps and in that case, 10k steps seem to be the bench mark. Do you have to walk all at once or can you break it up? Here's a study that says either long bout or short bout walking showed no significant difference but the 6 minute walk test showed that the long bout group demonstrated significant decreases in hip circumference and significant increases in 6 minute walk test distance compared to the short bout group.
While in Belgrade, I walked everywhere, ate out of my normal diet, drank a bit (or a lot) more and worked out in a gym twice. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment with my friends and family and didn't think twice about calories. You know what? My weight stayed exactly the same. I have to say, I was a little surprised. I do have muscle mass which helps burn fat more efficiently so that helps. But I attribute a lot to my daily walking. My average was around 15k steps per day and my most being 24k steps.
I used to poo poo at the thought of walking as exercise. If I wasn't sweating, grunting and crawling out of the gym, it didn't count as a workout. Today, my view on walking as a part of an ongoing, do-it-daily program is right up there with weight training. If you do both, oh boy, the benefits you will reap are out of this world.
Now that I'm home, I am trying to continue walking more. It is harder to get to 10k steps as places I need to get to are not walking distance, but wherever I can, increasing my steps is my goal. Because I can do it until I'm very old. And I want to be able to walk and move well into old age.
If you are new to fitness or just want to start moving more and feeling better, lace up your sneakers and go for a walk! Grab your friends, your dog, your family... every step counts.
Have a wonderful day! Until next time.
Xx, Essie