{"id":7413,"date":"2009-04-16T13:10:39","date_gmt":"2009-04-16T18:10:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/?p=7413"},"modified":"2009-04-16T13:10:39","modified_gmt":"2009-04-16T18:10:39","slug":"walking-can-be-the-first-step-toward-weight-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/04\/walking-can-be-the-first-step-toward-weight-loss\/","title":{"rendered":"Walking Can be the First Step Toward Weight Loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"walking\"<\/a>When I first decided to try to lose weight<\/a>, I knew that I had one big problem.\u00a0 (Well, maybe TWO big problems, if you were to count the size of my behind.\u00a0 Ahem.\u00a0 Maybe let’s not go there just yet.<\/em>)\u00a0 I hadn’t exercised in so long that my physical condition was appalling.\u00a0 Laying in bed that first morning, I thought about my exercise options.\u00a0 Being that it was January, and I didn’t have access to a pool, swimming was out.\u00a0 I had a stack of exercise DVDs<\/a>, but I’d tried those in the past and hadn’t really been successful.\u00a0 (Note to self:\u00a0 Actually MOVING along while the DVD is playing is the secret, I’ve since discovered.\u00a0 Who knew?)\u00a0 I was completely broke and home with both a one-year-old and a two-year-old, so taking classes outside of the home wasn’t feasible.\u00a0 I finally decided to start walking.\u00a0 Laying in bed that morning, I had visions of myself RUNNING, hair flying in the breeze, passing other runners like they were standing still.<\/p>\n

Yeah.\u00a0 I have a good imagination.<\/p>\n

The first time I went out for a deliberate walk, I plotted a course. It was about three miles long, and I thought that if I wasn’t tired at the end, I’d repeat it again.\u00a0 Only, the first part of it consisted of walking around my block, and I was completely exhausted<\/em> when I finished just that part.\u00a0 I made it back to my house in ten minutes – no, that is not an exaggeration\u00a0 – and I sat on the curb and cried.\u00a0 How had this happened?\u00a0 How had I gotten into such bad shape that a walk around the block exhausted me?\u00a0\u00a0 I thought back to all of the times that I’d made bad choices – taken seconds (or even thirds!), sat on the couch rather than chase after my kids in the backyard, picked donuts and a frappuccino for breakfast over yogurt and fruit.\u00a0 Every one of those choices added to the previous one had contributed to my appalling physical condition.<\/p>\n

I stood up from the curb, more determined than ever to get myself into some kind of physical shape – and yes, round is a shape, but I wanted to be in a DIFFERENT shape.\u00a0 Starting from that pathetic attempt, I worked myself up to walking and running a half marathon.\u00a0 If I can do it, you can do it.\u00a0 I pinky promise.<\/p>\n

If you have weight to lose, why not\u00a0 investigate walking<\/a>?\u00a0 It’s an exercise that you can do virtually anywhere, with very little supplies to buy other than good sneakers and socks.\u00a0 I’ve walked in Mexico, the Bahamas, Canada and all around my fair city. It’s good for you, getting you outside and in the fresh air.\u00a0 It’s easy on the joints, you can take your kids, and if you walk with your spouse, it gives you both a great opportunity to catch up on each others lives. Or walking can be your own version of alone time.<\/p>\n

Are you a walker?\u00a0 Or did you find a different exercise that jump started your exercise habit?<\/p>\n

See how Carmen’s weight loss<\/a> journey began.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I first decided to try to lose weight, I knew that I had one big problem.\u00a0 (Well, maybe TWO big problems, if you were to count the size of my behind.\u00a0 Ahem.\u00a0 Maybe let’s not go there just yet.)\u00a0 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[67,1061,74],"class_list":["post-7413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fitness","tag-diet","tag-walking","tag-weight-loss"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7413"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7420,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7413\/revisions\/7420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}