Take a Walk!

Last summer, I started walking with my mom. She lives next door and it made it convenient to have quality time together and get in some exercise. Unfortunately, due to a couple of different things we discontinued our walks.

During the several months we had been walking, I started loosing weight and feeling much better. I was to the point that I could walk without getting winded and tired. Well, needless to say, I'm back to my old winded and tired self so I've decided to start walking about.

I don't have time for the 3 hour walks we went on so I've been doing some research about exactly how much walking I need to do as a minimum to gain the benefits.

I have a few goals that I want the walking to accomplish.

First, I want to get into better shape physically as far as being able to walk any where at any time without getting so out of breath. I want to be able to chase my toddlers...and catch them! I want to take hikes with my wonderful husband and play baseball at our family reunions.

Second, I would like to loose a LOT of extra pounds that I've picked up over the 20 years that I've been married. Most people don't know how much I weigh because I'm rather tall for a woman. At 5'9", my height hides some of my weight. I've debated on rather or not to tell the whole world what that number is but I know many of you are friends and family and I'd like to keep you up to date on my progress. Drum roll please...I weighed in this morning at 328. Yeah...I know...WOW! However, I do know that it's better than last year. Even though we quit walking, I still lost some weight and I believe that's due to the changes we made in our diets. The changes were avoiding the high-fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils.

Lastly, when I was walking before, it was very relaxing. Funny, is it not? Exercise...relaxing? Well, below is a list benefits of walking that I've learned in my recent research.

If you aren't already active, maybe you'll take up the habit of walking. So far, I've found that as little as 50 minutes can have great benefits and it doesn't have to be all at once. You can take a couple 30-minute walks or one long one. Also, add in extra steps by parking a little farther from the store or office. Take the stairs. Walk around your neighborhood a couple of times a day. All these things add up.

Have a great day!

Mavis D.