Intermediate Walking Program

As with any exercise program, if you have any concerns or existing medical conditions consult a doctor before starting.

The Intermediate walking program is intended to help you go from being able to walk for 30 minutes, to gradually increase that to 60 minutes, while also getting your body used to really putting in the miles in a regular walking exercise program. By the end of these 8 weeks you will not only be walking for 60 minutes at a time but doing it 5 days a week!

This is an awesome way to start shredding those calories. Imagine running a half-marathon every single week, you’d start to loose weight pretty quick right? Well by the end of these 8 weeks you will be burning almost the same amount of calories each week as if you were running a half-marathon….don’t believe me? See for yourself:

 200 lb person Half-Marathon once a week:

running at 5.2 mph over 13.1 miles

= 2,100 calories burned a week

200 lb person 60 Minute Walk X 5 days a week

Walking at a fast pace (3.5mph) for 60 minutes

= 410 calories burned per walk

X 5 days per week

= 2050 calories burned per week 

Take a look at our Calories Burned Walking Calculator to see how many calories you could be burning based on your weight.

Right then, here’s the plan, the red values show how many minutes each day to walk for, you have two rest days a week, make sure to keep these as rest days and give your body a bit of recovery time. If you need to move days that’s fine but don’t do any more than 3 days together without a rest day in between.

Try to keep to a nice steady speed go as fast as you feel comfortable but focus on the exercise routine, do not sacrifice distance for speed…slow and steady beats the Hare every time, you will burn far more calories doing every day slowly rather than Monday fast and not being able to complete the rest of the week.

If you find yourself unable to complete one week just repeat it again the next week before moving on.

Walking Program For Beginners

As with any exercise program, if you have any concerns or existing medical conditions consult a doctor before starting.

Within 5 weeks the following program will take you from sofa to walking 2.5 hours every week. That gets you to the point where depending on your weight you could be burning an extra 750 - 1000 calories per week! (check your own calorie burn with our calculator using your weight, normal pace & 150 minutes)

Once able to walk 150 minutes per week, if you combine this with a reduced calorie diet, cutting back by just 350 – 500 calories per day you could expect to safely and consistently lose 1-2 pounds per week.

The red values show how many minutes each day to walk for, you have two rest days a week, make sure to keep these as rest days and give your body a bit of recovery time. If you need to move days that’s fine but don’t do any more than 3 days together without a rest day in between.

If you find yourself unable to complete one week just repeat it again the next week before moving on.

Don’t worry too much about your speed, the main thing to focus on getting into the routine of exercising and maintaining a sustainable pace. Concentrate on being able to go out on each activity day rather than pushing yourself to go to fast and causing an injury.

Right! Don’t delay starting your walking program for beginners, there is no day better than today to start! Make sure to come on over to our Facebook Page and tell us how you’re getting on.

Ultimately to lose weight you need to eat less calories than you burn, to be precise 3,500 calories less for every pound of weight you want to lose. The thing most people find difficult about weight loss is staying the course, they either end up eating too much or losing motivation to keep exercising.

1) Keep Track of What You Eat

The key to avoiding over-eating is to be aware of what you are eating. It sounds simple but managing your eating starts with being aware of what you are eating.

Make a record of everything you eat and drink; if you want to record the calories each item contains then great, but the main thing is just to record everything.

The act of keeping a food log will:

Help you ensure you don’t eat more that you do today

As you exercise more your metabolism will increase and your body will naturally increase your apatite.

Help you realise how much you are eating

It is very common for us to “graze” on food without really being concious of everything we are eating, stopping to make a note of everything you eat or drink, makes you much more conscious, lets you look at your full days intake all together and ask yourself “do I really need to eat this?“.

Keep you motivated to keep exercising

This again is because taking the time to log what you eat or drink makes you much more conscious, it helps to maintain your motivation for exercise. “I’m going to exercise because I’ve worked so hard eating well” and “I’m going to eat well because I’ve worked so hard exercising”

Do NOT fall into the trap of, “I’m going to eat rubbish because I’ve worked hard at exercising“. This can be a slippery slope that does NOT end in weight loss!

2) Measure How Far You Walked

There are several ways to track the distance you’ve walked. Tracking the distance allows you to compare one route with another and help you gradually increase your distance, which will help you increase the calories you burn… crucial if you are walking to lose weight.

Drive the route in your car

Very easy – reset the odometer / mileometer in your car before driving your walking route, however if you are walking off the beaten track or just off road this is not going to be possible.

Route Mapping Websites

There are a number of websites that allow you to plot out your route on a map and see the distance, geodistance.com is one good example.

Pedometers

A pedometer is a device which counts each step you take by detecting the movement of your hips. As everyone’s stride length is different you typically need to tell the pedometer how long each of your strides are, it then uses this to calculate the distance you have covered. These are some of the most popular pedometers*

You’ll find once you’ve tracked your distance a few times you will get to know your walking speed and can pretty accurately work out any distance just from the time it took you to walk it.

Say you walk 2 miles in 40 minutes, this means you average walking pace is 1 mile in 20 minutes (3mph), or put another way, every 10 minutes of walking you cover half a mile. Knowing this you can workout if you went on another route walking at the same pace that took you 30 minutes you would have done about 1.5 miles.

3) Keep a walking log

As mentioned above, keeping a food log helps keep you motivated to eat well and realise how much you consume; keeping a walking log does exactly the same thing. In addition it lets you track your progress as you increase your walking distance and speed.

These are some common stats you could enter in your log:

• Exercise date
• Distance
• Time
• Speed (Distance / Time mins * 60)
• Calories Burned
• Weight

4) Set SMART Targets

Set yourself targets. There is nothing which boosts your confidence and motivation like setting a target and then achieving it. On the flip side nothing is more demotivating than having lofty targets you never achieve.

Make sure your targets follow the S.M.A.R.T guidelines:

• Specific – Decide very precisely what you will achieve
• Measurable – You must be able to measure it, if not how do you know you achieved it
• Attainable - Start small make sure you can achieve it then start to push yourself gradually with harder targets
• Relevant – Make sure that your target will lead to you exercising and losing weight?
• Timely – There must be a date for target completion not just an endless ambition.

Lastly base your targets on the direct things you can influence day to day, rather than things which are a consequence and take longer to appear. For example set your targets based around the mileage you will walk or the number of times a week you will get out, the distance you will cover this month, don’t set targets around loosing X number of pounds…this will happen as a by product just focus on the things you control each day.

Some examples of SMART targets:

• I will walk 20 miles during March
• For the next 2 weeks I will not eat any puddings
• By the end of June I will increase my exercise routine to 30 miles a week

5) Tell People You’re Walking To Lose Weight

This final point is once again about helping to keep you motivated. Once you’ve set your targets tell your friends and family about them, share your progress and successes.

There is nothing as effective for keeping you going when it gets tough, as the support of those around you. It also makes it much more likely that you will follow through and achieve your targets, telling other people about them makes them real and you will feel much more committed to the target if you’ve told everyone it’s something you’re going to do!

• Talk to people about your targets
• Tell them about your progress
• How far have your walked
• How many calories have you burned this week / month
• How is your weight loss progressing

Now you know the secrets of walking to lose weight don’t delay, get yourself out as soon as possible and make use of our calorie calculator to track those calories burned and come see us on our Facebook Page to let us know how you’re getting on.