Melanie Toye’s walking for health

Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay So I had this brainstorm moment. I have put on weight and I need to lose weight. I have had a gut full. (Mind the pun). Walking is becoming hard to fit into my schedule. Because I basically have to walk 1-2 hours a day and I just can’t fit that time in. It’s also swooping bird season, which I dread.  So I did some brainstorming.  1. Ask ChatGPT for a fitness plan  First, I went into chatGPT and asked for an exercise program to lose weight over a year. It was pretty standard, nothing fancy. However, I was still impressed it did give me a fitness workout. But it was boring and not something I really wanted to do. Maybe if I was a bit more detailed in my question, maybe I would have got a different answer.  2. Find a local gym  Then I went to look for local gyms but seriously the price a week was just out of my price range and again I would face the “time” problem. I leave early in the morning and get home late most nights so ...

Image by Shelley Evans from Pixabay It’s interesting isn’t it. Today I sat on the couch and around the early afternoon, I felt absolutely exhausted. Sure, I went out in the morning but I barely walked. Under 1,000 steps.  And yet, here I am, exhausted.  It’s been a few months and I haven’t been able to achieve 10,000 steps a day. Some times I get close and then I have a cheat day, which never works and then I struggle to get back into it for a few more days. And I go up and down in steps.  When I was walking 10,000 steps for about four months straight, I was losing weight and I had more energy. I could feel it. So it’s frustrating, how do we get more energy when we are tired to begin with?  I feel like when you are starting or re-starting like me. You get moments of energy. So you may be laying on the couch for an hour and you will get up and go to the bathroom and realise you have this very small burst of energy. Don’t sit back down, just yet!  Use that little...

Image by 健恒 廖 from Pixabay It’s an interesting concept. We want to walk more for health benefits and yet walking can turn to a feeling of annoyance or frustration. Why? Because once we start to walk every day at least 10,000 steps. In your mind you will either love that you are succeeding. That your health is improving and you can start to see the results. But at the beginning of the transition from doing nothing to now walking a lot, every day. It can feel like exercise (which it is) and it can feel like it’s a drag to walk. We start to not really want to walk so we don’t and then our health and goals stop and not improve and then we get angry with ourselves for not looking after ourself and still being the same since you started. It can definitely be a mental game, you may give up before you even properly get started. You may also thrive. The point is to this is if you just focus on each day. One day at a time to meet your goal of 10,000 steps. Then by focusing on just the day, you ...

Image by Jan Vašek from Pixabay It’s one thing to walk to lose weight or keep your weight or just walk for your mental health. But I’m finding the struggle to walk because of time.  Time is so precious in our lives and sometimes finding time is difficult. So it’s about getting savvy with finding time to walk for your health. Here are 6 ways to fit in time to walk for your health: 1. If you have children and they play a sport, while they are at training, walk laps around the soccer field or walk around the outside of a basketball indoor court. Find a way to move your body like walking when taking your child/children to training. That way you aren’t just sitting for an hour or longer and then go home cook dinner and prepare for bed. You are utilising that hour to benefit you for walking for health. 2. Get up thirty minutes before your normal alarm and walk on a treadmill or go for a walk. The benefits to waking up early before you normally start the day, is impressive. First you wil...

Image by simardfrancois from Pixabay So most of us know about what goals are but do you know how to make them work and achieve them?  As I have blogged about before, I lost 14 kilos just by walking. The goal walk about 9,000 steps a day and not miss a day and you will lose weight without changing what you eat. Impressive huh?!  That’s why I created this blog to share with you my journey and help you achieve your walking for health goals. So whatever your goal is, you have chosen to walk daily to try and achieve your goal.  When setting up a goal it’s important to create a start date and if you are competitive with yourself you can set an end date or if you are more laid back and want this to be a lifestyle choice, then you don’t need to set an end date. But setting a start date is very important. And it’s really important to set it within the week of setting your goal. Because that’s when you are most motivated to try to achieve your goal. So you have your walking for he...

Image by 💚🌺💚Nowaja💚🌺💚 from Pixabay So this week, I was excited because I had a week of walking planned. Sixty minutes separated by two times. So two thirty minute walks in a day. As I walk this thirty minute path, I have noted there is a possible shortcut to get to my destination and every time I think, maybe I should look this shortcut up, I instantly tell myself, “No, because you want more steps to walk, not less.”  And then I discovered another short cut, the bus. Instead of walking thirty minutes, I could probably spend between 10-20 minutes on the bus and get there quicker. It’s so easy to use and with Queensland’s 50 cents public transport fares in Australia, you can easily justify the cost. So why not take walking short cuts?  Well that’s really easy and you can tell yourself every time a shortcut arises. It’s simple, the point of walking for health is to walk as many steps a day as needed to see a result. For me, it’s 9,000 - 10,000 steps a day at a minimum but ...

Image by John Hain from Pixabay On your walking for health journey, it’s really easy to tell yourself silent judgements throughout your journey.  Silent judgements aren’t real but they feel real. They put us down making it hard to even just go for a walk. From being too fat, too big, finding suitable workout clothes for your body, your face is bigger, your legs are thicker, you have to walk slower because you’re not used to walking. All these silent judgements we place on ourselves is ruling our lives. They hold control over not continuing our journey.  Remember it might take 1-2 years to lose the weight you are seeking to lose and it might take longer but if you keep trying that’s one-2 years that you will be your ideal weight or just weigh less! Isn’t that better than never starting the walking journey because of the silent judgements winning? And then there is the silent judgements on others. They are thin, they are younger, they have more energy to walk and live life. I w...

Image by Alexander Fox | PlaNet Fox from Pixabay So I decided to run an errand and landed in the outer city so instead of catching the bus for a 12 minute trip, I decided to go for an hour walk in the rain. Yes, I did have an umbrella.  I was walking alongside main roads where it felt weird to have intersections because if they ran a red light I would be a flat cake on the road. I guess I seemed less trusting in the outer city area mainly because no one was around walking because it was pouring. And I have never walked this part of the city before. Thank goodness for Google maps.  And as I was walking at first I just stared at Google Maps and the street signs and also my battery charge on my mobile. I was scared the hour trip would kill my battery and then I wouldn’t be able to use Google Maps for the walk home.  Of course, if I was prepared I would have printed the street names of where I had to walk in advance but the errand was unexpected and needed to be done urgentl...

Image by Pexels from Pixabay If you haven’t thought of a goal or a reason why you are walking it may be harder to stay motivated for longer. So it is important to have a long term walking goal.  For example here are some questions to help you work it out:    What is your goal? Why are you walking?  What is the outcome you seek?  Why have you chosen walking as your activity?  How often will you be walking to achieve your goal?  When did you want to start walking and when do you want to finish?  Are you walking to achieve something?  Who is going to keep you accountable towards your goal?  To help you see someone else’s response, I will share with you mine:  What is your goal?  My goal is to walk 10,000 steps a day. Why are you walking? I am walking to lose weight and overall a healthier version of myself. I want to build stamina to also dance and put less pressure on my joints because of weight loss from walking. I want to wear...

Image sourced via: www.pixabay.com Yes, you read the title right. A cyclone is on its way to Australia. I had a week off and planned to do some fun stuff as well as more importantly getting into a walking routine. I have been slacking off and doing 10,000 steps here and there but not consistently.  And then Cyclone Alfred decided to present itself. My work week is nearly over and the most I have done is stay at home, eat and crochet. Walking has gone at the window. I do have a treadmill and it’s sitting there pretty wondering when I will get on and use it.  Sure the first two days I was in preparation mode for the cyclone and was bringing in everything from outside and tying things down. I was also drawn to social media and checked it every hour to see the latest news. And then the cyclone got delayed…  So I have been just enjoying my time crocheting and eating. I have been eating healthier with a lot more vegetables this week. But without the walking, I won’t be losing a...

  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 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 sourced via: Phoua Vang from Pixabay.com  So it happened, I got excited and bought all this fatty food such as bacon, mini sausages and rich chocolate and ate heaps over a few days (the week before Christmas) and I got extreme stomach pain in my whole stomach. In addition, when I stood up my lower stomach I had to hold as it felt so heavy and sore.  I ended up over three days eating bland food and drinking lots of water. Night time for the pain seemed worse.  It was such a wake up call to just not only over indulge but eat healthier foods. So far I have been eating what I want but I just went to the extreme this week and pushed my body over the edge.  Now I am thinking it’s best to eat wholesome foods such as vegetables and fruit and limit the oil when cooking foods. I also love chilli foods so not eating chilli or adding onion to my foods is a bit sad.  I am a huge foodie so this is a devastating blow. But also I have put on 3 kilograms because I have bee...

Image by Leonhard Niederwimmer from Pixabay The reason I put in weight over Christmas, is not just due to the one day of eating as much food as possible and also sitting for most of the day.  No, it’s because for the month of December, I am celebrating a month of Christmas. What does that mean? Parties for me and my children, where I sit around for hours and grazing.  Instead of the one day of eating and sitting, it is a whole month. And because of the holidays and due to the wet season in Australia at this time, being indoors and just watching TV or sitting down doing hobbies it does come at a cost. However, I do find if I don’t fight against this process and just accept it for a Christmas holiday and break from the regular routine of work and personal goals, then it is ok. Because in the New Year, I am ready again to go full force into routines and bigger goals to achieve.  Does the Christmas season of eating and sitting happen to you? Please comment below on if you ju...

Image by Enrique from Pixabay Trying to work on a routine where walking is a priority in every day, can be challenging when life gets in the way. I feel like I have been thrown so many challenges since I started my walking journey and the first thing to go out the window is my walking for health routine.  I know due to losing 14 kilos already that I did mainly by walking regularly. So I know losing the rest of my weight roughly another 10 kilos, can be achieved largely by walking.  I have given myself six months but because of such a roller coaster ride I have been on for nearly six months, my original goal of losing it in six months has taken a massive dive.  However, just because I haven’t lost weight and my weight has been up and down for months does not mean I am going to accept my current weight.  I need to get back into my routine of walking for health, my health. It’s not just losing weight, it’s a great time for mental health relief and development. I say de...