Walk it Off: Walking and Diabetes Control

In our last newsletter, we shared with you tips for preventing Diabetes through exercise. But what can you do to reduce your weight and increase your health if you already have Type 2 Diabetes? You can walk it off.

Walking is an excellent way to get a cardiovascular workout no matter what shape you are in. When you walk, you will not only improve blood circulation throughout your body, but you will also burn those fat-producing calories. As you know, less fat is healthier for your heart and metabolism and will help you maintain control of your Diabetes.

Plus, you can walk anywhere! If it’s raining, head to a mall or a gym. If you’re taking a lunch break from work, walk around your office campus or lace up your sneakers and walk to lunch rather than drive. Walking is a natural behavior that will not stress your body unless you want it to in order to burn more calories.
Here are some tips and facts about walking that will get you motivated and moving:

On average, you will burn about 100 calories for every mile you walk, no matter what your pace. Keep in mind that if you walk quickly, you will burn more calories in a shorter amount of time, whereas if you walk slowly, it will take longer to burn the calories, but it will also take longer to complete a mile.

Yup – each pound of fat has about 3500 calories in it. For a visual motivator, put four sticks of butter in a plastic Ziploc bag and let them melt to room temperature. That’s about what a pound of fat looks like. Now imagine that fat distributed throughout your organs, muscles, and flesh. Pretty gross, huh? That’ll get you moving!

Walking up an incline can turn your aerobic walking into anaerobic exercise pretty quickly. Keep in mind that aerobic exercise burns fat while anaerobic exercise burns calories. Combining both exercises into one workout will boost your metabolism while also giving your body the kick it needs to burn calories and build muscle throughout the day.

You can see real results with just 30 minutes a day. But be patient. In those thirty minutes, you can burn about 200 calories, if you walk at a pace of 15 minutes a mile. 200 calories is roughly the amount of calories in that banana and glass of orange juice you had for breakfast! Or that candy bar you snuck in at lunch.