Truth be told, if I could get every benefit of exercise without the exercise, I would take it in a heartbeat. I think most of us would.
There is a long list of things I would rather do with my time, and sweating is nowhere near the top of it.
So why do I choose to move my body every day? Because it is the cheapest thing going — it costs almost nothing and gives me one of the biggest bangs for my buck.
I am not going to claim walking beats every fancy workout out there. But what you get back for it is out of all proportion to what it costs you. The answer has been under our feet the whole time.
Walking is good for a whole lot of things. Here are just two of them.
✨ It can make you look younger. That one comes from a McMaster University study (yes — my alma mater!), published in the journal Aging Cell. People who exercised regularly had thicker, more youthful skin under the microscope than their sedentary peers. The difference held even in adults well into their sixties, seventies, and eighties. No cream or filler can do that from the outside.
🧠 And it keeps your mind sharp. The memory center of the brain is supposed to shrink a little every year once you pass midlife, and for a long time doctors called that inevitable. Then researchers ran a randomized trial, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Older adults who simply walked regularly for a year grew that part of the brain instead, while the group that only stretched kept shrinking. For years, that kind of change was considered impossible after a certain age.
It is not glamorous. But it works. And it fits a life you already have — I get most of mine just walking to the gym.
I like to tie God’s Word into everything I teach, so look at what Paul says:
“For physical training is of some value …”
1 Timothy 4:8
Paul wrote that to a younger man he was mentoring, and I love how honestly he names it. The body is worth caring for — real value, kept in proportion.
So take care of the one you were given, and keep it simple. A walk is about as simple as it gets.
This is what our Get Active month is all about at Weight Loss God’s Way. All September we are getting active together — gentle, doable movement we can actually keep, instead of punishing programs. Walking is where we begin.
This Month’s Practice — Just Walk
Weight Loss God’s Way is not a diet or a weight loss guide. It is a movement — changing the way women approach their health and their weight-releasing journey.
Your one step this week: get a walk in by folding it into something you already do.
Walk to the store instead of driving. Take a lap before your coffee. Park at the far end of the lot. Keep it short, and make it part of your day instead of something extra. Then notice how it feels — less the effort, more the ease. This is noticing, not a vow.
Not sure where you are on your journey? The free Breakthrough Assessment shows you where you are in the five stages and what to practice first — not a plan, a place to start.
This is how we do it here — one principle at a time, little by little.
The most powerful thing you can do for your body this week is also the cheapest. So this week, just walk.
Walking it with you,
Cathy
