How to walk off 10 pounds: follow our walking plan and you'll shed the weight in 12 weeks - How to Get in Great Shape

Natural Health, August, 2003 by Libby Ellis

WANT TO VAPORIZE flab? Then start walking. It's an ideal way to burn calories because you can do it almost anywhere, without the hassle of expensive equipment.

Our plan can help you lose up to 10 pounds by the end of October. Just follow these daily instructions, adjusting our plan to match your own schedule. (For example, you can take the long walk on a different day than we recommend.) Repeat the plan for 12 weeks--and then keep it up to stay in shape year-round.

To ensure your success, modify your diet a little, recommends Marilyn Bach, Ph.D., a fitness expert in St. Paul, Minn., and co-author of Shape Walking: Six Easy Steps to Your Best Body (Hunter House, 2003). Trim your calorie intake by 400 calories a day. It's as easy as replacing your 250-calorie lunchtime Coke with a glass of sparkling water and snacking on a half-cup of grapes instead of a 250-calorie bag of peanut M&Ms.

Sunday

Today's Walking Time: 40 minutes

Calorie Burn: 200 Start with a 5-minute warm-up walk at a slow pace, like a purposeful stroll. A warm-up sends blood to all the right places, protecting you from injury and allowing your muscles to work harder during your main workout, Bach says. "After your warm-up, take a 30-minute walk at a brisk pace, a pace that challenges you but doesn't wear you out," says New York City-based Carey Clifford, R.D., director of nutrition services for Nutricise, an on-line weight-loss program. "If you find it easy to chat with someone or sing along to music, you probably need to pick it up a bit," Clifford says. "But if you can't talk at all you probably won't be able to sustain the pace for a long enough period of time." You should aim to cover a mile in 15 minutes. Finish with a 5-minute cool-down walk, at about the same pace as your warm-up.

Monday

Today's Walking Time: 35 minutes

Calorie Burn: 200 Try an interval walk today. This means you'll change your pace every five minutes. Andrew Flach, a lifestyle and weight management consultant in New York City and author of Walk the Weight Away (Hatherleigh Press, 2003), suggests this routine: Walk 5 minutes at a slow warm-up pace; 5 at a comfortable strolling pace; 5 at a good clip but not so fast that you lose your breath; 5 at your fastest, most challenging pace; 5 at the comfortable stroll; 5 at your fastest pace; and 5 at a slow pace to cool down.

Believe it or not, you may burn more calories by switching back and forth than by walking at a fast pace the entire time, says Gay Gasper, a Union, N.J-based fitness trainer and creator of the video "15-Minute Workout for Dummies" (Anchor Bay Entertainment, 2003). The slow intervals recharge your energy so you can power through the fast intervals, and as a result, your body ends up burning more calories and fat.

FUN TIP To stay motivated, aim to never follow the same route twice in one week, Are there places you drive by that you'd like to examine more closely? Is there a bike path near your home that you haven't fully explored?

Tuesday

Today's Walking Time: 40 minutes

Calorie Burn: 200 Repeat Sunday's 40-minute walk today. Don't let yourself dawdle; after your warm-up, maintain a brisk pace, covering at least a mile in 15 minutes. As the weeks pass, make it your goal to increase your speed so that you can walk a mile in 13 minutes. This is a blistering pace that allows you to burn more than 250 calories in a half-hour. Use your watch to keep yourself on track. To plot out a two-mile course, set the odometer in your car to zero and drive along your walking route.

FUN TIP Keep a spring in your step by listening to upbeat music as you walk. You'll find albums specially paced for walking--in all musical styles, from disco to ballroom--at www.workoutmusicvideo.com.

Wednesday

Today's Walking Time: 35 to 39 minutes

Calorie Burn: 200 to 230 Do an interval walk again today. Our fitness experts agree that interval training is so effective for weight loss that it should be a key part of any walking program. Repeat the interval walk described on Monday. If you're ready for a bigger challenge, you can increase the intensity by extending your fastest intervals to 7 minutes. If you're already an advanced walker, you might even try jogging during the fastest intervals, Flach suggests.

FUN TIP Enlist a buddy, someone whose fitness level, schedule, and goals are similar to yours. If you have a partner who is counting on you, you're less likely to skip your walk. And because you'll be talking, chances are that you'll spend more time walking.

Thursday

Today's Walking Time: 40 minutes

Calorie Burn: 250 Head for the hills. Walking on an incline forces your muscles and cardiovascular system to work hard, and that exertion burns fat, Gasper says. Try adding a hill to Sunday's basic 40-minute walk.

If you don't live in a hilly region, Flach suggests trying stairs instead. Use the bleachers at a local school or even a staircase at your house. You can also simulate a hill on a treadmill with an adjustable incline. Set the incline to 3 degrees or higher, Flach says.