One of the easiest and pleasurable ways to lose weight is quite simply to walk! I know that every health and weight concious person will probably be aware of this, after all it has been well publicised in the last few years. In my part of the world in the United Kingdom, we have had a series of TV commercials extolling the benefits of half an hour's brisk walk, and the undoubted health and weight loss benefits to be obtained from doing this two or three times a week.

Well might they do so, because the benefits are enormous! The question that I am posing in this article however is, just how much does walking form a part of your exercise regime, if indeed it does at all! Hopefully after you have read this article, I will have succeeded in convincing you to make it a much more integral part of your daily life.

Did you know for example, that after 15 minutes of brisk walking, your brain starts to flood your body with endorphins, and in turn this will increase your sense of well-being and happiness. Many of the celebrities like Renee Zellweger and Courtney Cox-Artquette all just simply walk to lose weight. It is effort free relatively speaking, and if you follow the simple plan below, you could lose 10 pounds this month!

Let me set it out in much more detail!

The first thing you will need is a pair of shoes that you can walk comfortably in, and you will also need a pedometer to count your steps. You can purchase a pedometer from most sports shops, or if you keep your eyes peeled, you might find one being offered as a freebie, usually as part of a special promotion somewhere!

Day One - Clip the pedometer to your waist and then ignore it until the end of the day, at which point you can check to see how many steps you have taken. I must make the point here that if you find that your shins start to ache shortly after you have started walking, it probably means that you are walking too fast for your muscles, so slow the pace down a bit until you have started to get them more in tune with this (probably unaccustomed) additional exercise.

You can also help to strengthen up the leg muscles by walking for 30 seconds a day just on your heels. Naturally you should flex your feet upwards as far as you can when you do this exercise, so as to get the maximum benefit from it!

Day Two - You will ultimately be aiming to reach at least 10,000 steps a day, which will most likely be far far more than you currently walk in in any day at present! This does not mean that you need to go on a long hike each day,rather it just means taking some extra steps whenever, and wherever you can. For instance like using the stairs instead of the elevator,or parking in the furthest away part of the supermarket car park. Remember every step counts towards your total, and you will be pleasantly surprised at how much these extra steps contribute towards your overall target.

Day Three Onwards Plan your day to aim for an overall target of 10,000 steps!

Let's be clear about this, it is a target, and that target is 10,000 steps a day. Now I don't have statistics to tell you how far in distance terms 10,000 steps actually amounts to, and in any case it will vary from person to person as everybody takes a different length of step. I do know that it is further than you might think however, particularly if you were tackling it in "one go" so to speak, ie in a brisk walk. Hence the reason for making it an overall total, at least to start off with!

So that's the idea, pretty simple, I'm sure you will agree, but if you follow the plan every day for the next 30 days. you could easily lose up to 10 pounds. What really counts on this plan is how many steps you take, not how fast you take them, but you can tailor your walking activities to get different results!

Mood Enhancement - Try and walk somewhere with a lot of trees, or in public parks or gardens if you can. We do tend to feel much happier when we are surrounded by nature and pleasant surroundings!

Burning Off Fat - Walk at a nice steady pace so that you can start to feel your heart beat racing slightly. Judging this on a scale of 1 - 10 you should be looking at a figure of six.

To Super Burn Off Calories - Walk at a moderate pace for 3 - 5 minutes and then spend the next 50 - 60 seconds walking as fast as you can. Slow the pace back down again for another 3 - 5 minutes then speed it up again as before. Just keep repeating the process on a daily gradual build up basis.

To Tone The Upper Body - Walk holding hand weights if the situation permits. Let your arms swing back and forth briskly when you are doing this exercise!

To Get Fitter Faster - Plan to walk outside on a route with some hilly terrain, or at least with some reasonably steep inclines. The inclines will really help you to workout that bit harder, and you will really begin to feel fitter that bit faster as a result.

Some Ideas To Help Achieve That Daily Steps Target Total

While you are on the phone - 500 steps per 10 minute chat. Pace up and down whilst talking. Parking at the fast food restaurant - Instead of going to the drive-thru, you could take about 250 steps per trip extra if you pace around while waiting for your order.

When watching television - walk around during the commercial breaks. This could work out as much as 700 steps. Pacing while the kettle boils could add up to about 350 steps.

I am sure that you can think of many many more examples, but the point I am driving at here is, that you can really increase the number of your steps just by pacing while you are doing simple things.

Also one of the best things about the Walking Plan is that you can lose weight without dieting. This means for example that if you do feel guilty that you have over-indulged at any time, you can simply increase the number of steps to compensate. Every 20 steps burns off approximately 1 calorie, so you can do the maths accordingly.

I have listed below the amount of steps needed to burn off some foods as an approximate guide for you.

1 Packet of Crisps - 2600 Steps.
1Scoop of Ice-Cream - 3200 Steps
1 Can of Cola - 2800 Steps.
1 Handful of Peanuts - 2300 Steps.
1 Spoonful of Mayonnaise - 1600.
1 Bowl of Cornflakes With Milk - 3800 Steps.
1 Small Plate of French Fries - 4460 Steps.
1 Standard Bar of Chocolate - 4000 Steps.
1 Jam Doughnut - 4560 Steps.
1 1/4 Pound Hamburger - 8460 Steps.
1 Cornish Pasty - 11,360 Steps
1 Stick Celery - 60 Steps

You can see by these few examples, that the more fat content and sugar contained in the foods that you eat, the more you will have to walk to compensate. I would suggest therefore that if you are really serious about losing weight and indeed keeping it off, it will still come down to watching what you eat (there is no getting away from that unfortunately!) However a very good watchword for losing weight is "Eat Less, And Move More", so brisk walking and moving in the way I have outlined here, can only work wonders, especially for those of us who are not into disciplined "working out" sessions in the gym and suchlike.

Try it out for yourself, I am sure that you will notice a big difference pretty quickly!