How I lost 13 lbs in 8 weeks "effortlessly"
Walking is more than just physical training
Hello, friends of Yours,Yan,
Just like that again, July greets us again. Wait, which year is it? 2021? 2022?
These days, I feel like I am living outside of “Time” yet she still has her way of casting her impact on me when the bills arrived end of each month.
Perhaps it’s the groundhog day effect over the last 8 weeks.
Sleeping,
Logging onto a full-time digital marketing course,
Studying, and
Completing back-to-back group projects.
Along the way, I added “mindset recalibration” and paired it with super long walks daily (up to 180 mins at my peak).
It’s pretty nice for a change until one day all my clothes became too loose. Each morning and evening, I would weigh myself and did a mirror check and clothes fit test. But I did not realize how much the amount of weight and body frame I have lost, just through sheer taking super, duper long walks.
For a 5’1” frame, a 5 lbs loss is significant, let alone 13 lbs in 8 weeks. Initially, my goal was to lose the Covid-weight in 2021 caused by a severe lack of active movements as a result of my recurring lower back pain which caused me to balloon to 125 lbs and a size 10-12.
Little did I expect that I “got more than what I wished for”!
Isn’t life amazing sometimes? She is constantly throwing at us curveballs to keep us on our toes.
But why do long walks seem to work so effectively when it comes to weight loss and getting positive well-being?
Celebrities like Rebel Wilson have reported having lost half her body size over a year just from their daily hour-long walks and better eating.
Sounds simple but it works so effectively, especially for women who are chronically “stressed”.
Based on my knowledge and experience, one of the main reasons behind the effectiveness of long walks lies in how it is a form of “active rest” for the body, especially if the weight gain is due to hormonal imbalances.
For stressed-out women, when cortisol levels are out of order, it has a direct negative impact on one of the female hormones - progesterone. Higher levels of cortisol in the bloodstream basically reduce progesterone levels, a phenomenon which is also known as “progesterone steal”. Through a series of biological events, the body basically starts to store fat and burn muscles to keep the body in survival mode.
Definitely not healthy in the long run for sure.
This also applies to some women during their pre and post-menopausal years, when progesterone levels start to drop.
Natural walking helps lower the stress hormone cortisol, which is often all over the place in a chronically stressed body, thus regulating and restoring the overall hormonal profile, and improving overall metabolism.
For others, walking may not work as effectively if their metabolism does not support a “long steady-state cardio” form of exercise or if their nutrition intake is not designed to heal, usually due to consumption of either too high or low daily calories or poor nutrition intake.
3 Secret Weapons to Keep Walking
If you need some “motivation” to get walking, here are the 3 secret weapons that have worked so well for me during the past 6 weeks.
Playlists - this can be a combination of music on Spotify, your downloaded mp3s or audiobooks, or a series of favorite videos on YouTube. Because of my recent uptick in long walks, I decided to subscribe to YouTube Premium. This has been a life savior as I can now listen to my list ad-free. Most of all, I have the ability to keep the app playing in the background, saving tons of battery and enabling to take my walks further. Taking long walks with my curated YouTube playlists also trained my mental endurance and focus.
Earphones or headphones — these can be wired or Bluetooth. I toggle between both forms, depending on my health and how often my earphones or headphones are charged. Wired earphones have shown to be healthier and kinder to the body due to lower radiation as well.
Good pair of shoes, socks, and cloth tapes - This goes without saying to protect your soles and toes with good pair of walking shoes and thick socks. If you want additional protection, you can tape all your toes to prevent chaffing. Blisters are real when you start clocking 20k - 40k steps a day.
Maintaining a positive mind, body, and soul/spirit with super long walks has now become my newfound focus to ride through this current pandemic and global crisis.
Share with me how many steps do you clock on average per day or how long do you walk?
Earlier pieces from me
Till my next (soonest) post,
Yours,
Yan ❤️
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Looking forward to hearing from you. Have a great week ahead.
Headphones are a game changer. I’ve rediscovered running during the pandemic, and playing music has extended my runs a ton.
I gained back what I lost. So the secret is don’t stop. Else the devil will return with a vengeance. Good job Yan!