ost fitness gurus and diet doctors agree that the way to lose substantial amounts of weight is not by diving into crazy fad diets. Fad diets can ruin your health because most of these diets do not give you the necessary nutrients, vitamins, and protein that a healthy body needs to keep functioning. Fad diets can lead to dizziness, nausea, intestinal problems, anemia and in severe cases even diabetes. One thing that all of these experts agree on is that walking and weight loss are two very compatible behaviors that complement each other very well.

A good diet combined with a steady, regular regimen of walking will lead to substantial weight loss without leaving you feeling depleted. A good diet that many experts recommend is one that incorporates all of the necessary food groups, starting with fresh fruits and vegetables. Add lean protein like white meat chicken or fish like salmon which has recommended levels of Omega-15 fatty acids which promote artery health, and you will have the beginnings of a healthy diet. Add some walking and weight loss will come naturally.

Walking is arguably the best exercise there is. Anyone can do it and they can do it just about any time, in just about any weather. A good thirty to sixty minutes per day, three days a week is all it takes. This amount of walking and weight loss will be the result in just a matter of weeks. You need to be steady and regular with the walking in order to achieve the best results. If you combine it with a good diet, you cannot help but lose weight, and you will do so with increased energy and a positive mental attitude.

Walking and weight loss can be accelerated by walking up hills. Hill walking is one of the most low impact and highly recommended exercises by experts in the field. Get some comfortable walking or running shoes and find a track with some stairs, or just find a decent sized hill that you can walk up to the top of without getting too winded. The point is that if you get too winded you will stop and you need to continue for at least thirty to sixty minutes. The key is to keep going because walking and weight loss require long periods of hill walking in order to get the heart rate up but not so much that you get too tired too quickly. Many times walkers will graduate to light jogging and even running if they are in good enough shape. Just be careful if you have arthritis or suffer from hip pain or joint pain. Running can be a bit too much pounding for people that are not athletes or just out of shape.

As with any diet or exercise program you should consult with your doctor first and get his approval. Keep going for at least four weeks and you should see some dramatic results from walking and weight loss programs like this one.