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...

Image by Olga Lobko from Pixabay Holidays are great! Fun, relaxing and sometimes even adventurous. And my holidays over the Christmas period were exactly that.  I know over Christmas every year, without fail, whether I am tiny or large, I put on two kilos. I also know it takes about two months to then lose it.  So guess my surprise when after my holidays, ready to start the New Year with my aim to lose the final 10 kilograms. Oh yes, my surprise. My surprise was I put on 5 kilograms over my fun holidays. Let me just say that again, 5 kilograms.  If I gained an extra two kilograms, I would have put half the weight on I had already lost. This was absolutely sad.  The other annoying factor is when I was my pre-holiday weight I actually felt like I was getting thinner. My face was thinner and my stomach not as round.  But now, my face is visually fatter and my stomach is much bigger and protruding out. Sigh. I can’t even hide it. I already wear those flowing dresse...

  Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay So for me, I feel like I keep breaking my walking routines. I guess every day is filled with different aspects, which means I can’t always set a routine I just have to try and find time to walk and sometimes I just can’t walk that day due to other commitments.  However, I have worked out if I break up my walking into at least two segments, then if I can’t make one than at least I have done half the walking steps that I am wanting to do, rather than nothing at all.  What I haven’t decided yet is if I am going to wake up at 5:30am and lose thirty minutes of sleep and walk for thirty to sixty minutes pending on the commitments that day. Or wake up at 6am and start my day later with everything else. It’s a tricky one. But I need to choose and I need to do it every day so it becomes a routine.  A routine is what creates your goals being met.   I guess what I am trying to say, is flexibility is key. Maybe the routine is just...

Image by kalhh from Pixabay   So the New Year has started and welcome to it.  To be honest, I had my goals preset just before the New Year and when the New Year hit, I didn’t start straight away like I was expecting to.  So what are my goals and how am I going to achieve them?  Basically, this year I want to lose my remaining weight of 10 kilos. (I did put on 4 kilos over Christmas so chuck on that extra weight and I have to lose 14 kilos).  I have literally lost an extra 14 kilos previously just by walking. I didn’t change my eating habits, I just walked. It took a year because I only walked 10,000 steps every fortnight so I was only losing weight every fortnight. Not weekly.  Again, I feel this is pretty good considering I didn’t focus on eating only carrot sticks to lose weight.  So however you plan it, just note it the time to lose the weight may take longer. So do not get discouraged. Because, for me, once the weight is off, I am culling my bigge...