What Happened When I Started Walking.

Having suffered a variety of age-related illnesses over the last three years, plus a serious accident when I broke my left hip and leg, I have piled the pounds on somewhat. The main problem has been not only the inordinate amount of time in a hospital bed, but also what is called a sedentary lifestyle. In other words, too much time sitting on my arse doing next to no physical activity. It wasn't always like this.

Pretty much all of my life I have been physically active with a wide variety of physically demanding jobs and sporting activities. However, due to my illnesses, I basically got out of shape.

Over time I developed a beer belly, without touching a drop of amber nectar. My problem is carbs. I know I consume too many, and that doesn't help. So, the answer is to try to burn off more calories than I consume. And a very good way of doing that is by walking.

The more I looked into walking and its health benefits, the more I realized that I really needed to get stuck in and do some serious mileage on Shanks's Pony.

Fortunately, I have a health app on my cell phone which allows me to keep track of a variety of health-related activities, like walking. This is a great help as it allows me to set targets and keep track of my walking history.

Doing some research on the net, I discovered that although 4000 steps a day is beneficial, it will only increase your life expectancy by about ten percent. However, double that distance and your life expectancy increases by fifty percent! It gets better.

Research has shown that doing a certain number of steps a day will help you avoid all manner of serious health problems, like Type 2 diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, dementia, and cancer, to name but a few life-threatening illnesses.

Walking will improve cardiovascular fitness, strengthen bones and muscles, improve muscle endurance, and increase energy levels. Stepping out will also improve your mood, cognition, memory, and sleep. It will also improve your balance and coordination, strengthen your immune system and reduce stress and tension. Not only that, it is a great way to burn excess carbs and reduce your weight.

My aim is to reduce my calories until they are less than my intake. I can also do that by being careful what I eat and by avoiding what are called empty calories, which are calories that serve no good use at all.

A useful indication of what number of steps are needed to maintain a healthy life are as follows.

Less than 5000 steps are classed as 'Sedentary'.

5000 to 7500 steps are classed as 'Low Active'.

7500 to 10,000 steps are considered 'Somewhat Active'.

!0,000 steps are considered as 'Active'.

About two weeks ago I started with just 4000 steps a day. Gradually I increased that distance up to between 7000 and 10,000 steps. And I have to say, the effect has been quite dramatic.

Already I have got my weight down from 91 Kilos to 87.50kg. More than that I feel a great deal better, more relaxed and I have greater reserves of energy. I am also more fluid in my coordination, have better balance and I have seen a significant reduction in my blood pressure.

As for my chronic illnesses, medication helped to stabilize the various conditions. Which basically means they stopped getting any worse. However, I wanted to get better rather than just be happy with not getting worse.

I realize that I still have a long way to go, but the important thing is that I made a significant start on this journey. And it is a journey I fully intend to see through to a much better quality of life.

I will try to keep you all posted here with the occasional progress report. And I sincerely hope to inspire those of you with similar problems, such as being a few kilos overweight, to take steps towards a much better way of life for yourselves.