How walking extends life

Here’s what you need to know

For years I shied away from walking for fitness because it didn’t seem strenuous enough and because we walk all the time and my weight would still increase, I just dismissed it.

However, since 2020, and we all know how the world changed, I, like many, have been working almost entirely from home. Which both means easier access to food all day long and less ‘reasons’ to walk.

Sadly my weight and blood pressure started to rise and for the first time in my life my doctor put me on blood pressure medication. I personally hate being on any kind of medication, but as a stop gap measure, I’ll follow my doctor’s orders.

Walking and blood pressure

I track my walks with the GPS in my phone (no need for a smart watch), set myself monthly walking goals, be they distance, duration or speed/time. I then put this information into my spreadsheet and this allows me to see my numbers at a glance and discern trends

Perhaps this is a surprise to no one but me, it became clear rather fast that when I don’t walk for 4 or more days, my blood pressure starts creeping up again, even on meds. I start walking again and by the 3rd or 4th day, it starts to come down again.

To help it stay down you really need to lose weight, and if walking is your exercise method of choice, read on. The great thing about walking is you can do it at any age or any fitness level. One side note here. If you walk daily and then eat junk 3–5 times a day, the walking won’t be enough to help lose weight or lower your blood pressure.

Walk for 30 minutes a day

You likely have heard you should walk 30 minutes a day for health, but you may or may not have heard this in relation to weight loss.

If you are physically able to walk, then 30 minutes a day, should be your baseline. Even if you walk at glacial speeds, it’s the habit of walking that’s important, the speed will eventually come.

In fact, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends 30 minutes a day for general cardiovascular health and fitness. They say it should be at moderate intensity. To me this means you can hold a conversation while walking but will get winded if walking and talking at the same time.

Walking for weight loss

The ACSM recommends 200–300 minutes per week if you’re obese and looking to lose weight with walking. Remember, if you are obese, your legs are used to carry you at your heaviest weight, as you start to lose weight, those muscles will find it easier and easier to carry your lighter frame. Something to look forward to and by default, your blood pressure will naturally drop too!

That 200–300 minute ACSM goal works out to be about 4–5 walks a week of 1 hour duration. I personally prefer 45 minute walks, 6 days a week (270 minutes).

Walking intensity

Before I carry on, I’m not a medical professional and if you are in poor physical health, you need to speak with your doctor before following this or any other advice online.

It is said that a 60 minute walk of moderate intensity is equivalent to a 30 minute jog. I think that’s ambiguous at best but as a very rough guideline, it’s something to work on.

This is assuming that on a scale of 0 to 10, 0 is couch surfing and 10 is navy seal training, moderate should be in the 5–6 range and 7 is where the vigorous activity begins.

The best way to monitor this is with a heart rate monitor. I understand some of the new smartwatches have this feature built in, but I’ve never tested any of them so I cannot speak to how accurate they are.

My rule of thumb for something like that is this. It may not be the most accurate to begin with, but likely is reasonably accurate as you move forward, meaning you have a baseline (accurate or not) and can see reasonably accurate increases or decreases moving forward.

Nutrition and fasting

Calorie restriction does not work long term, look at the 17 seasons of the NBC show “The Biggest Loser”, all but one of the contestants have regained their weight and more. Why? Because they completely messed up their metabolism and when their bodies became used to eating far fewer calories than they need, every extra calorie is then stored as fat.

Tracking your meals in an app or on paper is a great way to keep you on track and has been shown to promote greater and longer sustained weight loss.

I personally am a huge fan of fasting, be it time restricted eating or alternate day fasting (ADF).

Fasting has many health benefits including generally consuming less calories overall (very different to calorie restriction diets) and keeps your insulin levels low.

Have you ever noticed that diabetics often gain weight when they take insulin, even though they may be doing everything right? It’s because everything they eat after taking their insulin is then stored as fat.

Again, don’t start a fasting regime without first speaking with your doctor. I started years ago by delaying my breakfast by 30 minutes and having my last meal 30 minutes earlier, effectively adding 1 hour to my daily fasting (you fast every night while sleeping). I cannot remember the last time I had breakfast, it’s been years.

Bottom line

Starting a daily walk, ideally after dinner (it’s worked for the Italians for many years, they even have a name for it. It’s called “the passeggiata”, loosely translated it means to take a short pleasurable walk after meals) is a great start and the act of walking has been shown to blunt the insulin spike to various levels, further promoting weight loss.

Delaying your breakfast and eating a little earlier, is also another great way to aid weight loss while walking.

It takes a lot of time and research to put these articles together. If you like my content, hit the follow button and give me a clap. Thank you.