In praise of walking

In my last blog I said that as I lost weight in the last couple of years, I managed to rediscover the great feeling of walking, which I had lost when I was very heavy. Almost immediately after writing that blog, Ann and I went away for three days, hoping to walk a bit.

The weather was perfect for walking - nice (but not too hot), and flat walking (but interesting). The picture is me on the Nickey Line, a ten-mile walk along a disused railway line. It was an amazing mini walking holiday, with more than 70,000 steps over the three days - about 28 miles. It was hard work at times, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. As a bonus, I did so many steps that, for once, I avoided the usual big weight gain on our trips away, and gained only half a kilo.

I often see people on the Nutracheck forums saying that their 'only' exercise is walking, but I don't think that's a bad thing at all. Certainly that is all the exercise I do, but it's worked very well for me. Apart from anything else it is convenient, because it fits into my everyday life, and it is very cheap. It is also great for the geek in me, because I can keep my pedometer in my pocket all the time, and record my steps every day to make sure that I am keeping my activity levels up. In fact I have just recorded my 200th consecutive daily step total, giving me over 2,000,000 steps (750 miles) in 2015 so far. That's a daily average of over 10,000 steps.