The New Year is often a time where it feels like everyone is signing up or re-joining the gym to get into shape or drop a few festive pounds. However, this isn't the only way you can lose weight. Getting in 10,000 steps a day isn't just a myth, it can actually aid weight loss as well as boost your mood at the same time.
Walking can get a bad rep for being a less exciting workout but you don't have to be lifting heavy weights or running 10K every day to get a kick out of your daily exercise. In fact, getting a long walk outdoors in nature can be really liberating - as well as benefit your health such as improving your cardiovascular health. You can also switch things up and get your steps in on the best treadmill - adjusting the settings to try out the 12-3-30 workout for weight loss.
A study published in the Brazilian Journal of Physical Therapy revealed that walking 10,000 steps a day can significantly lower body weight. To reach these findings the researchers recruited 30 overweight participants to walk 10 000 steps per day for a twelve-week period.
The final results recorded all participants lost weight and lowered their BMI. In addition to the weight loss results, the researchers also noticed improvements to the participants' moods such as reduced feelings of tension, depression, and anger.
Finding exercise that can benefit both your physical and mental health is a win-win situation. Especially at the beginning of a new year when the January blues can dampen people's mood a bit.
Some skepticism has been raised over how effective striving for 10,000 steps a day is for our health and fitness with some people thinking it can be more of a commercial idea to promote various fitness trackers. However, the study above proved that accruing this number of steps per day is an effective weight loss strategy, if regular and consistent with it. And, using the best Fitbit is a great way to record your steps and stay on track.
If you do find yourself walking regularly, you might want to get some of the best supplements for joints and spend time regularly stretching (on the best yoga mat) to ensure your joints are in a good condition as you rake up your daily steps.
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