I’ve mentioned this in the past… the most important factor for getting results is consistency… no matter what you do.

If you can’t stick to it you can’t get any results.  It’s that simple.

In think one problem is that too many people associate exercising with pain and suffering.  Traditionally people think exercise involves going to the gym, lifting weights or running on the treadmill, sweating, grunting… huffing and puffing.  And although that can be the case… it certainly isn’t the only way.

In fact, the person that comes to mind is my mom.  She’s in her mid-70’s and she’s in great shape.  She’s in great health, has an active lifestyle but none of it involves traditional exercising.  I don’t think she’s ever set foot in a gym… at least during the time I was growing up.  She was an avid runner for decades but stopped running in her fifties… not because of any health issues like an injury… but because where they live in Japan, there really is no safe place to run outside.  The streets are very narrow and there aren’t any side walks and so you’re literally sharing the road with cars, truck and bikes.  Not her idea of enjoyment… especially since running was her form of escape from the daily stresses of life.

Anyway, even though she couldn’t run anymore, it didn’t stop her from being active.  She switched up here main activity to walking.  She tries to walk everywhere, she walks to the local grocery store which is about 20 minutes away, she walks to the train station which is about 30 minutes away and regularly takes the train to visit her friends who live another 20 - 30 minutes from the train station.  She also takes her art classes which takes her about an hour and half one way - including about 45 minutes on the train and 45 minutes walking.

Note:  If exercising isn’t an issue, but you’re wanting to get more suggestions on how to lose weight and burn fat more effectively, stick around because I’m going to show you a powerful tip later on that will help you bust through any weight loss or fat burning plateau.

She eats very healthy… not because she needs to lose weight, but because she says eating healthy gives her energy to be able to to all the activities she likes to do.  She enjoys her activities and hence motivates her to be healthy… not the other way around.  She’s not French (...duh) and she’s never lived in France, but she follows a very similar health philosophy.  And ultimately I think that’s the key.  Eat to enjoy, eat real meals (not snacks), eat for health but most of all eat in moderation and find something you enjoy and if it’s not physical in nature… involve walking as much as you can.  Walk to do you errands, walk you dog, walk with friends, walk to meet your friends, walk to work, walk at lunch, walk while working (if you have a walking desk treadmill)... if and whenever you can walk!

If you can adapt that type of lifestyle… eating in moderation and making walking a large part of your day… you may never need to “exercise”.  Some experts claim that you need to walk about 10,000 steps (5.5 miles ) as day and if you want to keep track of how many steps you’re taking a day you can get a pedometer to keep track.  In fact, getting a pedometer is probably a great idea so you can find out how much you’re walking now.  If you live in the US and you are part of the “car culture” you’ll be quite surprised at how little you me be walking.  If think the figures are somewhere between 3000 - 5000 steps a day for the average person living in the US… which is 1/3 - 1/2 of the recommended 10,000 steps.  It all starts to add up when we look at the obesity and diabetes rate in this country.  The sedentary rate of this country is much too high… people need to get off their seats and start moving and walking is something you can start today not matter what shape you’re in.

Here are some of the health benefits walking can provide you:

• Walking can improve aerobic fitness

• Walking can decrease blood pressure

• Walking can increase longevity

• Walking can increase immune function

• Walking can help with lose weight

• Walking can help reduce stress

So if you’re having a difficult time sticking to any fitness program because you simply don’t enjoy it.  Try finding something you enjoy doing and include walking in the process.

OK, as I promised before… if you who don’t have trouble exercising but are always on the look out for tips and tricks to improve your physique… I’ll show you how you can accelerate your fat burning process simply by including a little walking into your fitness routine.

Here’s how…

Walking is a great way to burn body fat because the level of intensity is low.  I know it seems like it should be the other way around… but here’s the deal.  Your body has a few different energy sources but the 2 main energy sources are glucose and fat.  Anytime you exercise above a moderately low intensity your body uses glucose for energy… but anything lower than that and your body starts to use fat.

Basically the less intense the exercise the more your body depends on fat for energy and the higher the intensity the more your body depends on glucose for energy.

So how come I’m such a huge fan of high intensity exercises?  Well, during the intense exercise session the body uses glucose for energy, but the high level intensity enables your body to burn more fat AFTER the exercise (EPOC).  This is why working out with high intensity helps you increase fat burning so effectively.

So how does walking fit into this?

Well, since walking is an effective (low intensity) fat burning exercise you can combine the it with the short high intensity workout to totally maximize the rate of fat burning in your body.

Here’s what it would look like…

Perform a 5 - 10 minute high intensity workout followed by a 30 minute brisk walking session.  The 5 - 10 minute high intensity workout helps your body “mobilize” the stored fat into your blood stream and then the brisk walk helps burn it off more quickly and effectively.

Give this combo workout a try if you’ve been stuck in a rut with your fat loss… or if you’re simply looking to change things up.