Keeping up the momentum
Photo: Charlie Headley/Countryside Agency
It’s all very well starting out with a burst of enthusiasm but how do you keep walking when the novelty wears off? How can we change deeply ingrained habits and make walking a part of our lives?
For many of us a good degree of determination will be necessary as well as a commitment to spending some time on getting into the new habit. But don’t lose heart for there are some helpers at hand.
Get started by using the 10-week plan. This plan is for people who want to do their walking in their own time, either alone or with friends or family. Or you might prefer to walk with a group: see Ways to Walk.
People who take a “daily dose” of walking, even if they begin by being quite puffed after a short and slow walk, are often surprised and encouraged by how quickly they gain strength and stamina.
It can also be helpful to use a pedometer which counts the number of steps you take. Current thinking is that to be healthy we should be walking 10,000 steps a day. People who are students or who work at home or drive to sedentary jobs tend to have a very low daily pace score, perhaps around 2,000–3,000. Those who use public transport and/or have jobs which don’t involve sitting down for long periods score higher, perhaps around 6,000-7,000 paces a day. Pedometers can provide an encouraging support to your own efforts and are available from sports and outdoor gear shops or from the Walking the Way to Health Initiative. Look out for special offers on the front page of our website.
Remember too that
- being unfit is now thought to endanger the health of more people than does smoking
- if you’re dieting, you are more likely to keep the weight off if you are also physically active
- if you walk a mile you will use roughly the same number of calories as if you run a mile (and which would you rather do?)
- fit people have half the risk of heart disease as unfit people
- walking one mile burns about 100 calories – that’s about two digestive biscuits
- you can test your fitness by timing yourself on a favourite walk – as you get fitter you’ll be finishing it quicker and feeling less tired
- although walking at any speed will burn calories, in order to gain stronger muscles and more lung capacity you will have to puff a bit – the ideal pace is one that makes you feel a little breathless but leaves you still able to talk as you walk.
Pages in Take30
See also
First steps: more help and advice to get you started walking.
Take30 is a Ramblers promoting walking project. Read more about promoting walking work in Great Britain.
