Walking contains all of the necessary qualities that you need to lose weight and become healthier. It exercises the major muscles and gets your heart rate up, which can, in turn, boost your metabolism and help you lose weight.

Starting a walking program is easy, no matter what your age or current level of fitness. Some consider walking to be the perfect exercise because it is low impact and you can increase your level of exercise as your strength grows. All you need to get started is a good pair of walking shoes and some determination.

If you haven't exercised in a while, it's best to start slow. Most people find that a 15-minute brisk walk is enough to get their heart rate up and their muscles moving. Even though you'll want to walk for longer periods of time in the future, this can be enough to get you started with a walking plan.

Once you've done 15 minutes per day for a week to ten days, you can start increasing your distance and your time. Stretch yourself further each day until you've built up to 30 minutes of walking time. After the first five minutes of walking, your body moves out of the warm-up phase, and then you can move into calorie burning territory. When you walk for 30 minutes, you'll have plenty of calorie-burning time in your workout to make it worthwhile.

While you are walking for weight loss, it's important that you keep up the proper intensity level. One good rule of thumb: you should be exercising at an intensity that allows you to carry on a conversation, but if you are able to speak comfortably for long periods of time without taking a break or if you are able to comfortably sing a song, ramp up your intensity a bit. You should break a sweat during your 30-minute walk and you should keep the same pace until you do a 5 minute slow down at the end of the walking.

Once you've started your walking program it's important that you keep going. After the first week, you're bound to see a remarkable difference in your energy level, which will help you to keep going.

To stay motivated, mark a date on your calendar three weeks from when you begin and make a deal with yourself. If you keep walking each day until that date, reward yourself with something special. To stick to your weight loss goals, make sure to reward yourself with a non-food item, such as a shopping trip or some new music to work out to.

Walking can be an effective way to lose weight and to improve your health at the same time. Because it's accessible to everyone and easy to do, it's the perfect way to start exercising. With persistence and determination, you can make walking a part of your life.