Walking for Weight Loss: Not a stroll in the park!

Fitness walking is easy, safe and inexpensive. It’s aerobic, it burns calories, and it’s an ideal fat-burning activity. It conditions the heart, improves muscle tone and strength, relieves stress, and can help with back pain, osteoporosis, respiratory problems, diabetes, arthritis, cardiac rehabilitation and a variety of other health problems. All you need is comfortable clothing to suit the weather and a good pair of supportive shoes.

Walking is easy: you can do it anywhere, anytime with no special equipment. There's no learning curve and it's something you can incorporate all day long. However, a study about walking for exercise found that only 26% of the people in the study walked briskly enough to achieve the intensity level recommended by the U.S. surgeon general.

So, how do you know when you're going fast enough? Use the checklist below to make your walking workout more effective.

Your walking checklist:

• Pump your arms. Keep your elbows at 90 degrees and swing your arms back and forth in a natural motion to add intensity.

• Shorten your stride. When you increase your speed, take shorter, quicker steps.

• Stand up straight. Are you slumping? Good posture helps you breathe easier and you put less stress on your back, shoulders and neck.

• Walk briskly. What is brisk? It means walking fast enough to cover at least 3.5 miles in an hour.

• Monitor your intensity. Pretend as though you're late for an appointment or hurrying to catch a bus. That should be your pace throughout your workout.

• Walk long enough. Your walk should be between 30-60 minutes.

• Spice things up. How about adding some hills, speed-walking or even jogging to boost intensity? This is no time to stop and smell the roses (although you can enjoy their lovely color as you whisk by).

Walking is an excellent way to meet your cardio needs as long as you work hard enough. A leisurely stroll certainly has its place but, if you're going for fitness and weight loss, save the strolls and pick up the pace.