Walking, the simple but powerful way to melt down your belly fat

Walking is an incredible cardio workout mechanism to keep the heart and lungs healthy. Image courtesy: Sirisab / Shutterstock.com

Walking is considered the best way to start the journey into the fitness world. Be it the morning walk that was started as a New Year resolution, or the stroll that you did in the city with a loaded mind, or the workouts done in a fit of enthusiasm in the initial days of purchasing a treadmill, or even the long quiet romantic walks with your partner all come under the ambit of the exercise regime. Come monsoon, don't let down your spirits. For, taking a brisk walk is not necessarily an outdoor activity. You can make the best of the space inside the house or terrace and happily practice the 8-shaped walking exercise to keep you moving at the right pace.

The simple technique called walking is an incredible cardio workout mechanism to keep the heart and lungs healthy. Regular walks have the capacity to control the blood pressure and cholesterol levels, apart from keeping chronic diseases at bay. Brisk pace of walking not just keeps the body physically active but also improves the mental wellness of human body, as it is the best medicine for depression and lifting your spirits. It is also powerful enough to control your craving for food. Most people who sit for extended periods of work can undertake the big change towards being physically active if they can spare a few minutes to stand up and take a few steps inside the room.

Some view the walking exercise as an excellent mode to burn down the fat. But it can bring the desired result only if certain points are borne in mind. Let's examine them.

The amount of food consumed should be equivalent to the amount of energy required to carry out the body activities. When the intake of food exceeds the requisite amount of energy for the body, the additional calories gets accumulated in the body in the form of fat, and manifest as tummy fat or flabby arms, thighs and hips, apart from forming a storehouse of umpteen health diseases.

The first and the simplest step towards melting down belly fat is to provide the body with lesser amount of calories than what is actually required. For instance, if the body wants 2,000 calories, we can limit the intake of food to 1,500 calories. The remaining 500 calories will be absorbed from the fat already available in the body. Regular morning walks will be a bonus in your journey to stay fit as a fiddle.

Those who wish to flatten tummy can walk in brisk paces for 30 minutes three to five times a week, which can be gradually increased to one hour. It is foolish to fix an ambitious target to shed excess fat in a matter of few days or so. Plan realistically so as to give the body the opportunity to tone down. Initially, you can start off with small sessions with regular walks for 10 or 20 minutes and gradually raise the duration. Going for long walks with a weighted backpack can ease the intensity of making the paces. The amount of energy utilised while walking largely depends on the individual's height, age, gender, walking speed and surface and metabolic rate of body. Walking is undoubtedly an effective means to flatten your abs provided there is an intelligent management of burning calories. For instance, a controlled intake of food after burning out 200 calories in one hour of walk will enable the body to take chisel out the excess energy stored in the form of fat.

However, if walking is the only physical activity in your life the body does not get the right amount of exercise to keep the key muscles active, though it helps to improve the health of heart and lungs. In such cases resistance training is the best method to make up for the deficiency. It can be done at the comfort of your home without having to hit the gym. Building muscle endurance can done using any weighty objects at the house such as water bottle or a backpack. There are several resistance workout methods using one own body weight, such as push-up, pull-up, squat thrusts, lunges, glute bridges, ab crunches and Russian twist. The best way to make them interesting is to gel the workouts with daily walking routine.

Walking is perceived as the best choice for anyone who wishes to make a fresh entry to the fitness world. It also serves as an ideal filler on days when you skip daily workouts. Although taking brisk paces can help reduce the abdomen fat there is a possible risk of gaining the fat if the exercise routine is confined to walking. Ideally, packaging resistance training and strict diet regime along with daily walk is an excellent way to drive away tummy fat forever. So let’s walk towards our goal of a fitness world and free ourselves from chronic ailments.

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