Walk your way to fitness. You don’t need fancy expensive exercise equipment or even a gym membership. You can walk your way to progressive healthy weight loss and shed those unwanted pounds.
Did you know a moderate brisk walk may even reduce your stress level and lower your blood pressure?
Oddly enough, my first post of the New Year isn’t a recipe. It’s about how I walked my way to fitness and health. It’s about how I developed a healthy habit that gets me moving and burning calories is an added bonus.
Happy New Year and 2021 to you all! I hope you all had a beautiful holiday season.
Continuing the 2020 theme in true fashion, I’m not even trying to make resolutions. If we think 2020 was bad, I’m not convinced the clock rolling over is going to magically fix all that is wrong in this world.
There is however, a lot of right in this world, and that’s what I intend to focus on. Specifically me, and what I can change.
It’s rare that I get very personal on here. I share bits and pieces of my life here and there. From what I’ve read and seen on the nets, people hate when food bloggers talk about themselves.
Just the recipe ma’am! Speaking of getting to the recipe quicker. You guys and gals can find a “Jump to the Recipe” button now at the beginning of my posts. The button isn’t on all the posts because I was using an old recipe app which I haven’t switched over to on the older posts.
So deal with it I guess or you can call Shirley.
Did you guys also know if you have a complaint about my posts or recipes, you can now call the “Your Content is Terrible Hotline?” It’s true, Shirley the operator, is standing by and happy to file a report on your behalf.
Let’s move on to my story and how you to can walk you way to weight loss and health. No gym membership or expensive workout machines required!
Walk Your Way to Fitness & Health:
It all began back in 2014. I attended my niece’s out of town wedding and took a lot of photos. When I looked at a particular photo of me and my kids, I didn’t like what I saw.
I know they say the camera adds 10 pounds, but I don’t think I had ever seen myself this heavy. Frumpy is probably a better adjective.
By no means did I view myself as obese. I just personally didn’t like the way I looked and knew if I didn’t get it under control that I could easily keep packing on the pounds.
I was 48 in that photo and headed into my 50’s. I’ve never experienced a weight problem until I hit my 40’s.
I was super skinny most of my life. My mom and aunt’s used to call me “Skinny Minnie.”
In middle school, I couldn’t even fill out a pair of Jordache jeans. Remember those? Gloria Vanderbilt?…Anyone? Guess I’m older than I thought.
I was so self conscious of how skinny I was that I would wear another pair of jeans under my jeans just to fill them out. How nutszo is that? I don’t know how my mother never figured that one out.
Gym days at school were brutal because I couldn’t get changed with the rest of the girls at the locker room benches.
I hid in the bathroom to change into my gym shorts and then again to don my double jean concoction after class.
I never appreciated my metabolism until I had my kids and realized how fast I dropped the baby weight without even trying! Man, what I wouldn’t give to still have a fast metabolism. *sigh
I’ve had a perpetual muffin top since my early 40’s. Once menopause hit a couple years ago, my metabolism has all but stopped.
After I saw that photo, Terry and I joined a gym. We were pretty religious about it too. The only thing I ever did was the elliptical. I would go every night after work and ride the elliptical for 45 minutes.
On occasion I would do some weight machines at the nudging of Terry. After about 8 consistent months, I could really see a difference in my physique.
I had even lost most of my muffin top. After our year membership was up, we decided we would just buy some weights and work out a home. I even purchased an elliptical and used it somewhat regularly.
But then I got bored staring at the bedroom wall while exercising. I began walking outside and from there got hooked. I had even starting getting into speed walking.
The one piece of equipment that really shot my walking into overdrive was purchasing a knock off Fitbit. That cheap step counter kept me more accountable and active than my $800.00 Nordictrac elliptical.
Then my horse riding accident happened a few months after my 50th birthday in 2017 and I suffered a traumatic knee break that prevented me from walking for almost 4 months.
That kinda put a damper on my walking for several months. Even when I was able to walk again, it hurt to walk and the pain made it difficult to walk for very far, let alone walk fast.
Since I wasn’t walking as much I had put back on a few pounds. I slowly began to build up my stamina and during the last 3 and a half years have recovered from 3 knee surgeries.
I’m pretty much back to my normal walking routine and can average anywhere from 7,000-20,000 steps per day. No expensive gym membership required.
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My son and his fiancé got me a Fitbit Ionic in 2018 for Christmas. Just in time because my knock off step counter sh*t the bed.
I added the Fitbit app to my smartphone. One of my fellow food blogger friends invited me to join a Work Week Hustle group which I’ve been part of a few years now.
Side note. I’d really like to upgrade to a Fitbit Versa.
I like how my Fitbit keeps me accountable and awards me badges when I hit milestones. I can log my meals and water intake as well.
It tells me how many miles I’ve walked. Reminds me to walk at least 250 steps every hour. I don’t always listen, but it tells me anyway. You can set the parameters you want on it.
It also logs my sleep and tells me the number of hours I get, the quality and stages of sleep I’m in. I honestly don’t like sleeping with my watch on though. I like to take a break away from it at night.
Benefits I’ve noticed from walking:
It’s amazing how once you develop a habit that it becomes second nature. When we began quarantine back in March is when I really focused more on walking.
It was a great stress reducer at the time. I think we were all so confused and stressed to the max when quarantines began. The information on the Pandemic was and still is so confusing.
I even got Terry to start walking with me. It got us out of the house. He was working from home and monotony began to set in. We needed fresh air. Outings consisted of essential item gathering.
I have noticed a slight weight difference in both of us. Most of our weight is carried in our bellies. I’ve lost my love handles. He too has lost a portion of his belly fat. We’re tying to clean up our diet more also.
We walk the mostly the same path everyday around our neighborhood for an hour. Roughly 2.5 miles/day.
It’s good to have a walking buddy if you can. We also keep one another accountable.
If one of us isn’t motivated to walk, the other will encourage or even say “Ok, I’m going myself then.”
Uh, oh! I can’t have FOMO! (Fear of missing out.) So that will usually get my a$$ off the couch to sneaker up and put on my walking fanny pack!
Yes I wear a fanny pack while walking. I’m that lady! Don’t knock it till you try it! It has a great space for holding my large water bottle and like 3 pouches to put stuff. Like my phone, money or credit cards, mace, etc.
Another benefit of when you walk your way to fitness is finding free money! It’s the only money you don’t have to “legally” pay taxes on.
I’m not kidding. You’d be surprised at how much money is actually on the ground.
I’ve noticed certain patterns over time and know where to look for and find money. I even find money on the beach in the sand!
I pick up every coin I see and I keep it separated from my other money.
I come home, wash it, and throw it in a jar. I count it at the end of the year and put is aside to use one day for something related to walking or fitness.
This year I found roughly $13.44. Mostly in pennies.
I’ve noticed nickels are a rare find. Dimes and pennies are the most common. Quarters are more popular than nickels but not as common as dimes and pennies. I even scored a 1970 something 50 cent piece at the end of someone’s yard.
I was looking back through some photos recently. I was pleasantly surprised to see a difference in my physique. These pictures were taken a year apart. The first was from my daughter in law’s wedding shower and the last from my nephew’s wedding this past August.
You might not see a big difference but I can see a slimmer, trimmer me. Even my face looks thinner. And I’ve worn this dress now to 2 big events and I think it’s time to retire it.
I’m turning 54 next month and want to be in even better shape for my daughter’s wedding summer 2021.
No I won’t be joining a gym. I’ll drag out my hand weights and kettle bells and workout to some HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) 7 minute YouTube videos.
I’m thrifty and efficient like that.
No gym membership required! Maybe I’ll take some before and after photos. Ya’ll wanna see my bat wings? *Blech!
Happy New Year! I wish all a happy, healthy, prosperous, (& maskless) coming year.
