Melanie Toye’s walking for health

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...

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay It may not come as a surprise that walking more means losing more weight but I was surprised to learn the following.  For a week, I did around 9,000 steps a day. I lost 400g. Now this may not seem a lot but the week before I put on two kilos for not walking. Plus that is how I lost 14 kilos, a little every week. Don’t trust the mantra, “you must lose one kilo to be on the path of losing weight.”  The week after, I had a busy week and walked around 5,000 steps a day. Guess what? It wasn’t big and some might argue it was water weight but I still lost weight. 100 grams. Not much.  It proves that whether you walk a lot or maybe just half the amount of 10,000 steps you can still lose weight. In addition, I didn’t change my food diet or eating. I’m still eating what I want, when I want because I am a foodie and I feel like if I give up eating the foods I love then the weight I drop, won’t last long till I eat again.  So I’m trying to los...

Image by Ryan Doka from Pixabay have to say, I stopped walking for a couple of weeks due to swooping of birds and the weather and put on weight. I knew I had to do something so I could walk again.  So I bought myself a treadmill. I placed it in front of my TV and have been walking every day on the treadmill.  There are huge advantages for having a treadmill, such as: If it’s dark outside you can walk inside.  If it’s raining outside, you can walk anyway. You can watch your favourite TV shows and walk.  You can go on your treadmill at any time of day or night.  There are also some disadvantages:  Treadmills are bulky. They are sort of, in the way and are heavy to move out of the way, but not impossible.  For some reason I walk less on a treadmill than if I was walking around outside. At the beginning my legs hurt after the treadmill and I also felt a bit dizzy but after a week this went away.  Do you have a treadmill? What is your favourite part o...

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay I am thinking of purchasing a treadmill? I am finding the swooping of birds puts me off walking and I just do not feel relaxed while walking outside because of the potential of swooping birds. In addition, when it rains or storms I do not want to walk, even though I really want to walk.  But if I had a treadmill, I wouldn't have this problem. Although, the amount of treadmills for sale on MarketPlace on Facebook is concerning. Why are people selling them? One friend said, everyone buys a treadmill and doesn't use it. But here me out. I will be able to listen to my podcasts easier without getting parts blocked out due to the traffic going past.  I will be able to watch movies. I may be able to have it located in front of the TV and even after a big walk, can do a ten minute or thirty minute walk while watching a movie/TV show.  I actually think it is a good idea and these days, you do not have to buy a super expensive one or a bulky one....

Image by Gab_riel from Pixabay What time of day do you walk? Some people find they have to wake up in the early hours to exercise. There is a reason to this and that is, because by the end of the day, you have coped with so much, it is very easy to say, “Instead of walking today, I will just do extra tomorrow.”  Then tomorrow comes and it’s another hectic day and now instead of enjoying the health benefits of walking after a hectic day for your body and mind, it’s decided that it will be fine if you leave it one more day.  Two missed days leads to a week. Your energy and mood start to fall. Your motivation drops. And now you are lucky if you even consider walking as a goal.  So that is one thought process.  On the opposite end, you could be an early riser but want to get ahead of the day and just do whatever you do each day, such as work as an example.  Then to unwind and to think about circumstances or to listen to a pod cast, you make time at the end of the w...