The Virtues of Walking

One of my favorite maintenance activities is walking. Walking is how I was able to keep off 25 of the 32 pounds I lost in 2006. Not a skimpy 10 minute walk (though I did have to start slowly as I was sadly not in good shape), but 30 minutes to an hour almost every day.

My favorite walking companion, other than my husband when he indulges me, is my dog. My dog needs the walks just as much as I do, so I don't have an excuse either way... especially when the hubby has class in the evenings after work. I came across a great article on the virtues of walking on Health.com. If anyone else needs any motivation to build a little more movement into their daily, weekly, or monthly routines, you may want to peruse the article:

Walk a Little, Live a Lot (Longer)

The article outlines 8 virtues of walking, and a few of them I have definitely found to be true for me: "3. It helps you sleep," "4. It cuts down on aches and pains," "5. It keeps you happy," and "6. It makes you slimmer."

I think there is something to learn from the French, regarding walking. While I was living in France for graduate studies, I began walking 30 minutes each day at a doctor's recommendation. I had a herniated disk and was told I need to drop a significant number of pounds to reduce the pressure on my spine. (I also had two bulging disks, as well.) I would walk along the river in a suburb of Paris, and many, many French couples and families would also be out for an evening walk. It was built into their local culture to both spend that time enjoying the evening with the family and moving their bodies.

Walking is so easy to build into any schedule and can be done almost anywhere. One of my favorite weight loss books (by a Frenchie), French Women Don't Get Fat (see the link under my favorite books), discusses that just moving more at any given opportunity can help. I sometimes intentionally park far from the stores to get in more walking, and I try to take the stairs at hotels when I am traveling (so long as I don't have my bags with me). I walk during lunch when I have the opportunity as well.

For now, I have swapped the time I was spending walking for running, as I am back into weight loss mode and need to burn the extra calories. I fully expect that I will, again, return to walking as a primary maintenance activity after reaching my goal weight.