How Much Should I Walk a Day? The Movement System That Actually Sticks

If you want to get healthier but you keep starting and stopping workouts, this episode is for you. Today on Wholeness Wednesdays from Completely Whole, we are building the Movement System, a simple walking routine that fits real life. Walking is not a placeholder until you do a real workout. Walking is the workout.

How much should I walk to be healthier?
A practical goal for many adults is 150 minutes of moderate intensity movement per week, and brisk walking counts. That can look like 30 minutes five days a week or shorter walks stacked across the day. Start where you are and build consistency.

In this episode you will learn:
• Start Small, Stack Steps, Strengthen, a simple movement system
• How to use walk snacks for busy days
• How to build a walking routine that actually sticks
• A 4 week progression plan without burnout
• A live setup you can follow today

Download the free May Resource: The Body Reset Packet- Module 2 (week 2) here: https://api.leadconnectorhq.com/widget/form/ac9E5XC6c0EoJLltRMYL

Comment below: What is your walking minimum, 5, 10, or 15 minutes?

Subscribe for more Wholeness Wednesdays episodes on mind, body, spirit, and finances.

Check out our video podcast: @Completelywhole

Check out our podcast on stations below:
Buzzsprout
https://wholenesswednesdayspodcast.buzzsprout.com   (website)

Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wholeness-wednesdays-podcast/id1768154040

Podcast on Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/show/24Lpm8XgWHOx8yccPJzBhT?si=271d325d34264b50

iHeartRadio
https://iheart.com/podcast/214320907/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Completely Whole
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/saxtonhutcherson

To shop our aromatherapy and skincare products, visit us @ https://completelywholestore.com/

For essential oils, go to:  https://www.myyl.com/beatrice-hutcherson

Interested in learning more about Partner.co and our products, visit: https://myagelessbody.com/overview
To Join my team, go to: https://enroll.partner.co/s/Y2VmOWFmZDQ2

Shop our Self Care & Aromatherapy products at my Shopify Store-   Get your Bath Salts there--https://completelywholestore.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

If you keep telling yourself, I need to start working out, but the idea of a gym, a program, or a perfect schedule makes you quit before you begin. Listen up. Walking is not what you do until you do a real workout. Walking is the workout. Today I'm giving you a simple movement system built around walking that actually fits real life. No shame, no extremes, just a plan you can keep.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

Good morning or good afternoon, or maybe it's evening. It doesn't really matter what time it is, and it doesn't even matter where you are. We want to welcome you to Holeness Wednesdays. So grab a cup of coffee or tea and join our host, Beatrice Hutcheson, as we explore and experience our journey to complete wholeness.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

And I'm your host, Beatrice Hutcherson. And this month we have been talking about the body reset. Physical wholeness without the hustle. Last week we did, which was the first installment of this series, we talked about an energy audit. And this week we're building the movement system. And next week we'll talk about the nourish system. And then in the last week, in week four, we'll talk about sleep and recovery. So let's answer the big question right up front. Let's talk about it before we even dive in. Let's answer the big question that everyone wants the answer to. How much should I walk to be healthier? A practical target for many adults is 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity per week. Embris walking counts. That can look like 30 minutes, five days a week, or broken into smaller chunks across the day. The key is consistency and progressively increasing what you can sustain. And if you really want to get high impact, you can look. There's some apps out there that could help you look at your age and your height to really get the exact number of steps that you need to get in, right? And so, but the idea is to be consistent. The CDC and the federal physical activity guidelines commonly recommend 150 minutes per week of moderate aerobic activity for adults, as we mentioned, right? But we want to, of course, build build up to that. So if you're starting from zero, you do not start at 150 minutes. You start where you are and then you build from there. So let's talk about why walking works. Walking is really, really, it's it's underrated because it is accessible and sustainable, right? So we often take it for granted, but it is powerful. Harbor Health notes that walking is associated with health benefits and can improve cardiovascular fitness and reduce disease risk when done regularly. And research reviews consistently show physical activity supports mood and energy and overall health. Walking is a simple free activity that you can use to improve your health. Now let's talk about the movement system. I call this system the start small stack steps strengthen system. So we start small, we stack the steps, and then we strengthen. So start small is so that it's doable, right? So if you immediately say 150 minutes, then oh that's a lot, right? So we want to start small, we want to do what's doable, and then we stack the steps so it becomes a routine. We're gonna talk about what that means, and then we want to strengthen by progressing gradually. So you only need these three parts. So you need a weekly target, a daily minimum, and a progression plan. So now let's really dive in and go a little bit deeper on what these steps mean. So step one, start small, right? So it's your minimum. The minimum matters. It don't discount it. It matters. So here is your minimum. Choose one. It can be five minutes a day, it can be 10 minutes a day, it can be 15 minutes a day. And so I know that those seem really small, right? If you're really trying to walk to do uh if it's for your health, to improve your health or weight loss, I know it seems really minimal, right? But every little bit counts and it helps. So you can identify what your minimum is. Your minimum is your is the habit. It's the maximum that is the bonus, right? So minimum is your habit. And then whatever else you do outside of that, the maximum, if you're able to go up to that, then that's your bonus. If you only walk five minutes a day, you still win because you kept the system alive. You were consistent, and consistency is what pays off. So let me talk to you about so the walk snack idea. So walk snack is a short walk you do like a snack. Like you would go and grab a snack the same way. You take a quick walk three to ten minutes multiple times a day. So an example would be five minutes after breakfast, you get up and you walk. Five minutes at lunchtime, or maybe five minutes after dinner. And so the point here is that you do it as a snack. Like you, after you eat a meal, you grab a dessert instead of getting up and grabbing a dessert or a snack, you get up and you walk. So it's the walk snack. Three small walks can equal 15 minutes, right? If you're doing three small five-minute walks, you can get 15 minutes without even needing to block off your time, right? Five minutes here and there can add up, but it really doesn't impact the time spent or really does not uh cause you to spend a lot of time. Step number two, stack steps. This is where you want to attach walking to your life. So to make this stick or to make any habit stick, you attach walking, in this instance, you would attach walking to something that you already do. So you use an if-then plan. So an example would be if I finish lunch, then I walk for five minutes. If I get home from work, then I walk to the mailbox and back. If I feel stressed, then I take a three-minute walk break. When you stack it to or any habit that you're trying to implement, once you stack it to an existing routine, it becomes automatic. Much easier for you to be able to make a habit or to have it be consistent in your life. Step number three, this is the area, this is the step where we strengthen. So this is progress without burnout. So this is the area where you want to build toward results. So in week one, consistency. That should be your main goal. You just want to be able to be consistent. You just want to show up, do your minimum, but be consistent. In week two, you can add time. So now you started out with your minimum, which was maybe five minutes a week. Now you want to add some time to that. So you add five minutes to two walks in the week, right? Maybe increase it to two walks, and so now you have uh, and then you increase it by five minutes, now you have 10 minutes, or you can do the 10 minutes, five minutes to what your already existing walk, or you can increase the walks as well. For week three, you want to add some intensity. So turn one walk into a brisk walk, and then have your other walks be your regular walks, right? But then have one become a brisk walk. And then for week four, you want to add structure to it. So this is where you would implement or try some intervals. So one minute of brisk walking with one minute of easy walking, right? So one minute of brisk, one minute of easy, and you want to do that for 10 minutes. Or hill walking if you have a hill nearby. And so something you want to think about here is that it's progress. You want to highlight or focus on progress and understand with the understanding that progress should feel challenging but not punishing. Now, let's talk about walking for real life results. If your goal is weight loss, mood, blood pressure, uh, energy, or stress relief, walking supports all of it. But the most important benefit is this walking is a gateway habit. When you start to move, you tend to hydrate more, you sleep better, and you make better food choices. Movement creates, if nothing else, it creates momentum. All right, so here we have it here. So this is the actual toolkit that I mentioned. Uh, so we have the body reset toolkit, and so this is what we are working from each time that we come together for the month of May. So this week we are talking about the movement system. Uh, so let me move us here. Yes, so movement system, right? So this is what we want to talk about, and this is we talked about the walk snack already, right? So that gives you just a little menu there to help you along. And then your walking plan, that's what we want to do together right now. So the walking plan, let's create one together. So, daily, what would be your minimum? How many minutes do you want to walk per day, right? And so remember, we're not starting at the 150 minutes. Uh, we're gonna start at our minimum. What we're able to do. If you have, if you are a person who has not been physically active, then you're you're starting at zero. So you want to choose a minimum that is going to be doable to you. Because remember, you don't want to over-exert yourself, overwork yourself, and then you're sore and you can't do it the next day, right? So you want to do something that's minimal, right? That you can do and it not put a lot of stress on your body and also your time, right? Because you want to this to become a habit and something that you do long term. And so with that being said, we want to choose a minimum, start where we are, what feels comfortable. That's where we want to start. And so choose your daily minimum. What is that going to be? And for me, I'm gonna say that's gonna be 10 minutes daily, right? Because that's what my time will allow. I'm just gonna say I start there, right? My goal really is to do uh 40 minutes daily. Um, but we're working on that, we're working on the schedule. But just for the sake of this demonstration, I'm gonna say 10 minutes daily, right? And then the days that I want to walk is I want to start off with Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. And then uh my stacking trigger, and so that's the so that's what I'm going to attach it to, right? So that my stacking trigger is going to be I'm gonna say after meals, right? So that's the area. So after I have a meal, that's gonna be my designated time to begin to walk, to do my walks, right? So then the next area is the if then that we talked about, right? And so after I, so I'm gonna say after I have, and then for me it's gonna be breakfast and um I'm gonna say and dinner, right? Those are the two times that I want to designate. I will walk for 10 minutes, right? So that gives me a total of 20 minutes per day, not quite the 40 that I want, right? But it gives me the 20 minutes, right? Because I'm doing that twice after breakfast and after dinner, I'm gonna walk for 10 minutes each. And then my progression goal for week two is that I'm going to add five minutes to each walk, right? So instead of doing just the 10-minute walks each, now I'm adding five minutes, which makes it 15 minutes each. So after breakfast, after dinner, I'm walking for 15 minutes, right? And then my preferred walk time, what is that going to be? Uh, so for me, I'll say that that's um preferred walk time is mornings and evenings, right? That's why I chose the breakfast and the dinner time because that's outside of the work hours. So I'm able to utilize that time to do that, right? So that is what we want to do. So for you, I want you to do that. I want you to fill that in and make sure you go and get the access the link in the description below so that you can get this tool as well. This is what we're working from, but this will allow you to be able to download a copy and to put your information in there, right? So that you have it. Uh you're able to write the vision, make it plain so you're able to stick to it because you have it written, right? So then I want you to go fill this in, put in your daily minimum, put in the days that you will commit to to walking, and then you want to identify what your your stacking trigger is going to be. What are you attaching this to? And then your after I, whatever it is, then you will walk for a certain amount of minutes. And then your progression for week two, adding minutes or maybe some intensity to it, you can do that. Um, or even put some structure to it, as we talked about, putting in like reps and intervals and things like that. Um, and then what is your preferred walk time? When is the easiest time of the day for you to be able to accomplish this? And remember, you're putting it into times of the day or activities that you already do throughout the day, which makes it easier. All right, let's talk very quickly about a four-week walking plan. We'll also do this, and then the other tools you can just use at your leisure. Um, so for the walking plan, week one, you want it the focus is consistency, right? We want to just show up. And so you put your minimum in there, right? What your actual minimum is going to be. And then for week two, you're adding time. You add the five minutes. That's what I chose to do, add five minutes to each of the walks. I'm doing the two walks. Um, and so the minimum plus the five minutes times two. And so what does that total for you? And it doesn't have to be the five minutes, it's whatever you choose. And then also for week three, it's add the intensity, one brisk walk, right? So instead of uh the two walks being regular walks, you want to add some brisk walking to one of those, or maybe walking up a hill, right? If you have access to one, so that would be what you would do, your one brisk walk for the for the week, or maybe walk uphill, some someplace that has an incline, right? Once a week. And then for week four, right? So you see how we're building and we're progressing each week. And then for week four, then we add the structure to it. So then we add the intervals to it. So an example would be a one-minute brisk walk and then a one-minute easy walk, right? And then you do this 10 times, and so then you have your your 10 minutes, right? And so then, of course, you would adjust that to however long the time you designate for your walking, right? And so that concludes what we are doing together today. But then also you have here a seven-day habit tracker, gives you some affirmations as well to be able to include there to really help get you moving, uh, get help you to implement this movement system that we are talking about. So, do make sure that you go and use the link and get your own tool. And so I hope that that was helpful to you. I'm hoping that you were able to glean something from that because it really is helpful. Really, really helpful when you're able to put it into a plan and you have that plan available to you so then you can follow it, right? It will help you to be able to implement it. And if you could do me a favor, just comment walking uh down below and tell me what your minimum is, whether it's five or ten or fifteen minutes, whatever it is, drop it in the comment section below. I'd love to see what it is. Now let's talk about some common barriers and fixes. How do we fix these common barriers? Because, truthfully speaking, there are some barriers, right? So we're going to talk about the common ones. It's not an exhaustive list by any means. Um, but barrier number one, no time. And so how you would fix this would be this the walk snacks that we talked about, right? Three minutes or two-minute walk. Doesn't matter how small it is, it adds up and it does count. Another barrier could be no motivation. How do you fix that? So you make it your identity. I am someone who walks, make it a part of who you are. Another barrier could be weather. So instead of going outdoors, you could do some indoor walking or walking in the hallway, doing some laps there, the stairs, or walking video on YouTube, right? Any of those can help. Another barrier can be pain. So a way that you fix this is you walk at a slower pace, shorter duration, and contact a healthcare professional if you need to. And so, although there are barriers, there's always ways to overcome the barriers. So, if you want the system laid out for you, as I just showed you as we went through to create your own walking plan and then have also your progression over the four-week span, uh, make sure that you go down into the description box below and access the link so that you can download a copy and keep it for yourself. And so that is it, of course, includes what we talked about last week, the energy audit, but then it's going to also include for the rest of the weeks as well what we're going to be talking about. So please make sure that you do that. But for this week, it includes all of those different things that we went over. Uh, most importantly, it gives you the planning page, right? That you're able to plan how to intentionally incorporate walking as the workout into your life. So, next week, tune in. So, make sure that you subscribe so that you don't miss it. Because next week, we're gonna talk about the nourish system. We're gonna talk about protein and fiber and water, all of those things that help you to be healthy, right? Healthy eating made simple. That's what we're gonna talk about next week. And so, as we always do, we close in affirmations, right? Because we believe that our words have power. So please repeat after me. I honor my body with movement, I choose consistency over intensity, small steps build real strength, and I am becoming completely whole. Let me share this scripture in closing. First Corinthians, the ninth chapter, 24th verse, the NIV version. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. And my prayer for you is that you will find a way to incorporate this movement system that you'll be able to incorporate walk as the workout, that you'll be able to get some walking in, and it will be beneficial to your body, not just your body, but also your mind, your mood, uh, and also just spiritually overall, just feeling healthy. Right? So we want you to be able to be healthy. And so my prayer is that you will not only be made healthy, uh, but that you will also be made completely whole. And so until we meet again next time, be made whole.

SPEAKER_00 23:14

We thank you for sharing this time with us here at Holeness Wednesdays. Thank you for joining us to explore and experience this journey to complete wholeness. Please remember that we are only an email away. Your questions and input are welcome via bhutch at completely whole one.com. See you next time here at Wholeness Wednesdays.