Melanie Toye’s walking for health

Image by Martin dalsgaard from Pixabay   There are plenty of great walking tracks all around Australia. You can see my travel blog here that includes great places to go walking:  https://melanietoyetravels.blogspot.com/?m=1 . I am assuming like Australia there are great walking places around the world as well.  Here are 7 things to look for in a walking track: Lighting is important for walking tracks I find it’s good to walk in a well-lit space in the early evening. I just find it feels safer and more considerate to have a walking space where it is well lit. I don’t tend to walk at night but if I do, it almost adds a romantic feel to it. Especially on a beach waterfront.  Toilets are a must have at walking tracks  The second really most important aspect to any walk is having toilets. Honestly, walking gets things moving and sometimes we need to duck to the toilet quickly and urgently. It can’t wait an hour walk back to the car and then drive home.  Differe...

  Image by  Amore Seymour  from  Pixabay So as my readers know, I have been struggling to get into a walking routine since the holidays. I thought my mindset would change at the beginning of January with New Year goals. Sadly, it’s been a whole downhill steep of not walking and in turn putting on weight.  So I am proud to say, this week I have finally returned to walking 9,000 or more steps a day. What made the difference?  Huge weight gain put on quickly over the holidays and a wake up call that I put nearly half the weight back on that I worked so hard to lose and maintain its loss over a year.  Plus, I found some cool new walking tracks because my area, it’s noisey with traffic, so it becomes difficult to hear podcasts through my headphones with loud cars driving next to me and it’s just full of houses, which isn’t as enriching as other locations.  But I have been walking in new areas, which in itself is more exciting because it’s new. I feel s...

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay Most people when they start an exercise plan, they spend money on new clothes so they feel good when exercising. However, if you are going to spend money, spend it on good quality walking shoes.  So when I am wearing cheap shoes, I notice after a long walk my feet are hurting and sometimes that pain extends up through my calves as well. Because cheap shoes do not provide support to your feet while walking.  Think of it this way, cheap shoes should only be worn for short outings. Like thongs (the shoes) should be worn to the beach so you can take them off once you reach the sand. But wearing thongs for an hour walk and I admit to doing this, I actually got really sore feet and legs and had to get a half hour massage just focusing on my legs because I could barely walk afterwards. And my legs hurt for days. Plus I got blisters on my feet, which lasted about a week. So all this extra pain when I could have just worn proper joggers for th...