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Walking is an activity that most people do on a daily basis without much thought. However, as a form of cardiovascular exercise it has many benefits, according to the Mayo Clinic. It can help improve your cholesterol and lower your blood pressure. Walking will reduce the risk or help youmanage your type II diabetes. You can also improve your mood and manage your weight, all with this basic activity.

To create weight loss you need to burn more calories on a daily basis than you consume. Calories are a form of energy that is needed by your body to function properly. Food is energy. Too much food, though, and you will gain weight in the form of excess body fat. Walking will burn calories, but you will need to do adequate amounts at the right intensity to produce lasting results, according to the American College of Sports Medicine, or ACSM.

If you want to lose weight, ACSM recommends that you perform purposeful exercise five or more days per week. Exercise not only increases your metabolism to burn more calories while you are doing it, but also elevates the metabolism for a few hours upon completion.

Walking is a great form of exercise because you can control your intensity. Walk on a flat surface at a slow, easy pace and your intensity is low. Increase your pace, add hills or walk on sand, and you have increased the intensity. How hard you work is directly correlated to how many calories you burn. For weight loss your intensity should be moderate to hard. If you are new to exercise, start easy and gradually increase the difficulty of your walks.

When you first begin exercising you may notice that you lose weight even if you are only walking 20 minutes per day. This is because your body is unaccustomed to exercise and is working very hard. Increase to 30 minutes, five days per week and you will achieve modest weight loss and improve your health. Modest weight loss may not be enough, though, to reach your goals. According to an article by Dr. Len Kravitz of the University of New Mexico, greatest weight loss is achieved by a total of 225 to 420 minutes per week. Increase the duration of walking slowly until you are within these recommendations.

Walking is an easy form of exercise that does not require any equipment other than proper shoes. However, resistance training should not be left out of a weight-loss exercise program. The 225 to 420 minutes of exercise each week does not have to be just cardiovascular exercise. Resistance training two to three days per week will add lean muscle to your body and increase your metabolism to burn body fat. Adding this component to your plan will help you achieve your goals faster and improve your health.