Lose some weight just walking three days a week

On many occasions over the recent years people have disproved that cardio is a much, much better method for losing weight compared to just walking. Today, we’ll show you why walking is better for losing weight, and not running. Here are the reasons:

When doing cardio exercises, for example running, you burn calories from muscle and fat. The body can’t pick to burn the calories that you would like burn, and thus by running you actually decrease your muscle mass. You don’t want to do that because muscles are more metabolic and burn more calories.
Too much cardio exercises increase the production of a stress hormone called cortisol. As a result, this to bigger food cravings because your body wants to overcompensate for the burned calories. And in the end, you end up consuming more calories than you have burned.

**Doing too much cardio exercises makes you leptin-resistant, which is the same hormonal effect as sleep deprivation. That way your body is unable to tell if it’s full or not. As a result, you get very hungry and eventually develop insulin resistance due to the high amounts of cortisol and you get back to weight gaining.

**Cardiovascular exercises can a have negative impact on the thyroid function. In order to have a properly functioning metabolism, the thyroid produces a hormone called T4, which then is converted to T3 to help the metabolism. However, by creating too much cortisol in your body, the thyroid is unable to produce T4 and you end up with dysfunctional metabolism, decreased ability to burn fat and loss of energy.

It’s commonly believed that running has a low impact, and the further you run, the more you bang your feet into the ground. This can be bad for your knees and other joints if you’re overweight.

Summary

To sum up, cardio can cause reduction of muscle mass, less efficient metabolism, hormonal imbalance, which in turn can lead to more weight, and it can have a negative impact on your knees if you’re overweight.

While, walking on the other hand can be a much healthier and a more balanced alternative (even though it doesn’t provide the same amount of calorie burning effects as running). When walking you decrease the amounts of cortisol, which is much better on longer term. It also makes you more sensitive to insulin, which enables better calorie burning from other exercises and doesn’t create cravings and unmanageable hunger. It produces serotonin and dopamine as well, which in turn will make you feel motivated and happier and lead to overall wellness.

Walk as much as possible. Start by taking 30 to 60 minute-walks at least three days a week, then increase this up to six days. Choose walking instead of cardio, and do other activities that relieve stress to the body as well. However, if you want a firm and good looking body, you’ll might want to do some weekly metabolic resistance exercises for 20 or 30 minutes. Couple this with a well-though diet and you won’t have to run ever again.