How a daily walk is helping boost my weight loss

Last updated on Wed, 14th Sep 2022

You can lose weight with Slimming World by following the Food Optimising food plan on its own. However if you add in a bit of exercise – or as they call it, Body Magic – it can really boost your results!

By nature I’m a bit of a lazy oaf! I’m quite happy to plonk myself down on the sofa in front of the TV and not move for the rest of the day – save for the odd visit to the toilet or fridge. In fact, it has been known for me to come home from work on a Friday night, and not set foot outside the house until Monday morning, having just sat on my fat arse for the entire weekend!

I’m not a fan of exercise, and I don’t possess the gene that some others have that drives them to remain active throughout the day. But I’m not a moron, and I do understand that a bit of activity is good for me. It helps me feel bright and alert, and also burns a few calories off my body in the process.

The only problem is that I quickly lose interest in doing exercise. I may start with good intentions, but within a matter of weeks I’ve found excuses not to do it. For example, I joined a gym a couple of years ago, and even engaged the services of a personal trainer to put together a training programme for me. And at the beginning it all went well. I would stop in to the gym 2 or 3 times a week and do a full hour of cardio and weight training. However, after a while my enthusiasm started to wane, and I would find excuses not to go. And then I managed to injure both my knees, and that was the perfect to excuse to stop training for a while. And inevitably that ‘while’ ended up lasting for ever!

So in order to make sure I do some exercise and – most importantly – stick with it, is to build that exercise into my daily routine.

One great way is to commute to work by bike. I used to cycle to work every day – come rain or shine – about 7km each way. And by making cycling my means to transport, I built-in around 50 minutes of moderate exercise into my daily routine. And invariably my commute time was quicker than if I would have driven!

Unfortunately, I’ve not been working for the last few months, and so the cycling has fallen by the wayside. But instead, something else has happened to build some activity into my daily routine.

We got a dog!

Here’s a photo of the little fella. He’s called Alfie.

We rescued him from the pound about 10 weeks ago, and he’d definitely part of the family.

Having a dog means that you need to walk the dog, and so my daily routine now includes a 40-60 minute walk with the dog. And while he gets his daily exercise, I get mine too. Okay, so I’m not at the level where I’m training to run a marathon, but I am walking between 5 and 10 km every day.

I may not be breaking a sweat, but I can feel real benefits from getting out and about. My leg muscles are certainly getting much stronger, which must come from having to carry the rest of me around. I feel much more alert and positive after completing a walk. And I also find that a weight loss is easier to achieve during the week.

Walking a dog may not be for you – particularly if you don’t own a dog! But here are my top tips for including exercise in your day:

• Pick an exercise that you can build into your daily routine. You’re much more likely to stick with it.
• Pick an exercise that you enjoy. If you hate doing something then you’re eventually going to find excuses not to do it – a bit like me and going to the gym!
• Pick an exercise target that’s achievable. Start small – even if it’s a 5 minute walk down the street, and the build up gradually. If you set yourself too tough a goal, you might get disheartened and give up.
• Get outside. I find that walking on a treadmill or cycling on an exercise bike incredibly boring. But by getting outside you can explore your local area, and even meet interesting people. Every day when I walk the dog I seem to strike up a conversation with someone, and I’m not normally an outgoing person. And the weather isn’t often as bad as you think it is.
• Find something that you can measure. Whether it’s a count of laps in the pool, the distance you cycle, or the time spent walking. It can often be a good motivational tool to measure what you do, and track your improvement over time. I have a Fitbit to help keep track of my steps, and I find that I challenge myself to get in 10,000 steps in a day (about 8km).