Trying to shed a few pounds? The cold weather can help you lose weight faster!
Jodi Davis
| 2 min read
Have you walked yet today? If not, I just have that feeling that you’ll want to … soon!
Now we all know that walking is good for you. A brisk-paced walk can help you look and feel better, increase energy, and pick up your spirits. Walking can work to improve your health by helping lower cholesterol, strengthen your heart and reduce the likelihood of serious health problems like heart disease, certain cancers, osteoporosis, arthritis, type 2 Diabetes and more.
Walking also does something else that essentially contributes to each of the features that I mentioned above. Walking can help you lose weight. What I’ve recently learned surprised me. You can lose weight at an increased rate while walking and it does not take any extra effort on your part.
Actually, Mother Nature is going to be doing most of the work – all you have to do is visit her. Since she is giving us cooler temperatures now that autumn is here, it means we can burn more calories while walking outdoors and lose weight at a faster rate. How? Well, our body reacts rapidly to heat loss that comes from being exposed to the cold. When we walk in the cold weather, our body will immediately try to raise its BMR (basal metabolic rate) in order to compensate for body heat loss and thus, burn more calories.
And the best time of day do this is after a meal. Researchers found that if you take a walk after a meal in the cooler temperatures, your body will be burning even more calories. Why? Scientists claim that the “good” brown fat is activated by cold temperatures. This brown fat burns calories – the “bad” white fat, which functions largely to store up fat. Activating brown fat is a great way to speed up weight loss… and they have found the the cool temperatures surely seems to have a way of doing that!
Don’t let me keep you any longer. In fact, I’ll keep this short and sweet: Enjoy a healthy meal, tie on those athletic shoes and take a brisk walk in the cool autumn air. You’ll be burning calories and trimming that waistline with every step you take!
Photo credit: Out of Chicago
