Top 5 tips for adding walking into your daily routine

You may remember that last week I posted about how I was joining in with Westfield Health's Walking Lunch Campaign. A week has passed now and I am pleased to say I have managed to keep up the routine of walking for 20 minutes in my lunch hour so I thought I'd update you with how it's been going and give you a few tips too.

1 - Make sure the footwear is right!

I headed to Hotter shoes to pick up some super comfortable shoes that I can wear every day. It's not always practical to wear trainers and I can't walk around the house in heels never mind for 20 minutes in my lunch hour. The last thing you want is blisters so your footwear is very important. If you aren't in a position to buy any new shoes just yet, you can always take your trainers to work with you. Being unprepared is not an option :-)

2 - Take the time to notice nature

One way in which walking has really increased my happiness this week is opening my eyes and taking in the signs of spring. It is lovely to just notice the small things like Queen bee's searching for a new home (I've spotted three this week), blossom appearing on the trees and the beautiful blue skies. Taking time to notice nature is one of the aspects of mindfulness that I enjoy practising and it really lifts your spirits.

3 - Get to know your local area

This week I have walked around parts of my home town I have never set eyes on before. It's like I have been a tourist in my own home. There is a lovely park right next door to where we do our food shopping. As we visited over lunch time instead of just heading straight home like we normally would we decided to walk around the park and do you know what it was beautiful. Why had we never visited before I do not know. Probably because we were too busy. When your 20 minute lunch time walk is a priority, it forces you to get out, explore and find a few hidden gems. 

4 - Use Map My Walk for motivation

Using Map My Walk (a free app) really motivates me to get out there and hit the streets over lunch time. It measures how far I've walked, at what pace and how many calories I've burned. It links directly to My Fitness Pal (which I use to count calories) so if I burn an extra 200 calories during my lunch time walk, I know this gives me a few extra calories to put towards a treat later and I don't feel guilty as I've 'earned' them.

5 - Join in with the fitness community

I love sharing my experience with others, being inspired by other people's achievements and learning about what they've been doing too and the health and fitness community is fantastic for this. I have been searching #WHwalkinglunch on twitter to read about how others are squeezing in a 20 minute walk into their lunch hour and have started a new blog linky where other bloggers can link up their health and fitness posts. Reading posts like this and the achievements of others really helps me to stay inspired and keep going. 

I would love to hear if you have any tips for adding walking to your daily routine or how you stay inspired. The weather has been lovely this week and I do worry if I'll be so positive if it was raining outside. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it though. I have my first weigh in and measurements on Tuesday so pop over to my Life As Mrs R Facebook Page then if you are interested to hear the results. Eeeeek!