Walk yourself slim and happy: How taking more steps can change your life.

By Lies Helsloot

Walking to lose weight or get fit? That doesn't work, does it? I will do that when I'm "old"... In this book, Lies Helsloot, the world's first TAKE YOU TIME-expert, entrepreneur, influencer, health and walking coach, puts an end to all the prejudices about walking. Because she, like many, leads a busy (and sedentary) life, Lies developed a metho

• Language: English
• Publisher: Green Fit Beauty Concept bvba
• Release date: Jun 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9789463938273

Lies Helsloot

Lies Helsloot is a Belgian entrepreneur and author of, "A Complete Guide to Healthy Hair. 3 steps to heal your hair" (Borgerhoff & Lamberigts, February 2017). Based on her personal hair story in which she damaged her tresses with out-of-control stress at work and as a new mother, Lies offers a three-step plan to get the hair you desire, highlighting the importance of brushing. The plan includes balanced nutrition, stress reduction and hair-care tips. More information about the author on www.lieshelsloot.com

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INTRODUCTION

Walking? To lose weight? To get fit? That's something for old people in ugly sportswear, but not for me. It doesn't work, does it? You have to jog, run marathons or do intensive sports if you want to get slim and fit. ’

I have heard this prejudice many times. My answer is clear: NO! At the time of writing, I am 43 years old. I do not feel like an old aunt and I am certainly not wearing worn-out hiking boots or a boring outfit.

When I was younger, I loved running and could do just about any exercise in the gym or dancehall. But over the years, parts of my body began to crumble: I suffered from lower back pain, which turned out to be a hernia, resulting in painful radiations and stiffness. In terms of fitness, I can still do the sports I love, but unfortunately I have to pay for it the next day with a sore back and stiff limbs. My body gave the signal that it needed a more gentle approach.

I felt more and more like I was outrunning myself and my mind was in desperate need of a rest. Walking seemed more and more to be the perfect outlet to let go of things. Mental well-being is therefore an important chapter in this book.

I needed softness and, as I said in my first book, to like myself. I also wanted to stay fit, healthy and slim, but no longer had time to go to the gym every day or to spend hours in the kitchen to cook healthy meals, something I could do when I was still working as a chef in a restaurant but now running 2 businesses things have changed. Slowly but surely, I found a method that worked for me and that miraculously fitted into my busy life which had evolved from an active daily job to a sedentary job. I also noticed that I was not the only one who needed this. I experienced this through the many reactions I received after reading about my hair book, where the question always came up: How do you do that? How do you manage to be healthy, have so much energy and stay slim? What is your secret? This was exactly how I started my first book: I suffered from severe hair problems and was looking for a solution, which I then shared with everyone in keynote speeches and a book. Ever since I was a child, I wanted to make the world a little better and help everyone. Once again, I stumbled upon a problem, a challenge for many people I could help solve: staying slim and fit with a method that fits seamlessly into our busy, sedentary lifestyles.

What I did for myself, I later began to test out on others: first for free and later as paid coaching. I found that my method worked for everyone, even the non-believers. I often tell my followers on social media: 'I'm just an ordinary lady, like you, with a predominantly sedentary life. I don't run around in sportswear all day and my kitchen is not a professional restaurant serving up Instagram-worthy dishes.’ Because I was also working hard growing my high-end handmade hairbrush brand Delphin & Emerence and my fledgling coaching business, I was in fact my own target audience and I knew perfectly well that this just worked. It was so simple that sometimes I could not believe how effective it was! I was on to something good and great! The many success stories in my Facebook group, but also from friends and clients I coach, bear witness to this.

But anyone who thinks that this is a walking book that will motivate you to put on your walking shoes every weekend to go for a hike, is missing the point. My method is a lifestyle. I will not encourage you to go hiking. Now you must be thinking, oh, then why should I read this book? Well, that's exactly what I want to show you: you don't have to do anything and you don't have to go hiking to be healthy and fit. So please, do not throw away this book, but give me the chance to convince you, just like those thousands of readers and clients who are already convinced by my method.

My method consists of 3 pillars:

walking and taking more steps

making healthy and pure, but above all tasty and simple dishes

Do muscle-strengthening exercises that are gentle but effective

Walking is an important part of my method, the basic pillar in fact, and a very effective means of breaking through our sedentary existence. We are all getting sick of sitting still! Everything around us is becoming increasingly automated. We don't even have to jump out of the sofa to dim the lights in the room and elevators and cars take us anywhere we need to be without that good old-fashioned leg-wagon (my name for those two long limbs at the bottom of your body). The numbers don't lie, more and more people worldwide are overweight, with all the possible consequences: heart problems, diabetes, mental problems, loss of zest for life and low life quality, cancer, vascular disease, decreased libido, osteoporosis, relationship problems, snoring, sleeping problems, depression ...

Most of us know deep down that sitting too much makes us fat, unhealthy and lifeless. But did you know that sitting still also has far-reaching consequences for our mental health, especially in times when we are overwhelmed by too many stimuli? As I write this book, there is also that nasty virus that has a grip on the whole world resulting in an extra mental challenge for everyone. In recent months, I have noticed in myself, in my surroundings and also in the people I coach, that many are on the verge of a mental breakdown. Is that because of the impact of COVID-19? Maybe... but more often it was/is a release of pressure, because people suddenly got/get time to ‘feel’ their real feelings. Again, walking is one of the ways to heal your heart.

My method is built around walking and my principle that you should generally take more steps in your life and it can be a gentle but effective means of bringing relief to many areas of your life. With my principles of walking you can :

lose pounds slowly but effectively;

maintain a healthy body weight in the long term;

get that belly fat off and keep it off;

strengthen your body and get slimmer, more toned legs;

get more energy to do your job well and achieve your dreams;

reduce stress and improve your mental well-being.

About healthy food. We are so overwhelmed with all kinds of crazy diets, contradictory information, shakes, pills ... that I notice that many people just can't see the wood for the trees anymore. And yet it is so simple! Healthy nutrition does not mean eating boring rabbit food, drinking shakes or spending hours in the kitchen. We make it far too complicated. With a few simple changes to your diet, you can solve your weight and health problems in the long term and also avoid the gradual and dreaded weight gain in the run-up to menopause.

Muscle strengthening and stretching are also important. Research shows that we lose muscle mass and muscle tone every year as we get older. This results in a lower metabolism and therefore extra pounds on the scale, less resilience and energy and a limp and shapeless body. Anyone who loses flexibility will also be more inclined to avoid exercise and will be more prone to injury, even if you decide to put on your walking shoes after reading this book. Making your body longer and more supple is therefore just as important.

How long will this take? Of course, that depends on how many pounds you want to lose in order to reach your natural (target) weight. Do I promise you that you will lose 40 pounds in one month with my method? No. Will you buy from me that magic tea, those miracle pills or fantastic shake that will make the pounds melt away in no time? No, I won't. I am an ordinary lady that grew up in the countryside and I like to keep things plain and simple. I like to give honest advice. After all, my mum always taught me: Honesty goes a long way. It's the same with health tips. Just walking and taking more steps will go a long way towards a healthy, natural weight and are the basic and main pillars of my method. If you supplement this with the rest of the method, you will make progress even faster in terms of weight loss, but you will also gain improving your overall health and longevity. This book is not only for those who need to lose weight, but especially for anyone who wants to maintain a healthy weight, no matter what their age is. This is not a diet book and it is not just about losing some excess pounds. It is the beginning of a new lifestyle that will benefit your health in every way possible: physical and mentally.

In this book, I take you with me, literally step by step, towards a healthy and happy life.

Enjoy it!

Greetings,

Lies Helsloot

TAKE YOU TIME™ EXPERT

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK?

To make the most of this book in your health journey, I recommend that you read it in its entirety first and don't start moving just yet. This may sound strange coming from a health and walking coach, but it is not. I want you to first work on a number of calculations that you will find in this book. That way you will see even better why this method can make a difference in your life. My method is also not another competition: work with your own body and not with someone else's. This way, you avoid ending up in a dead-end situation after a week. That way you avoid having to give up after a week due to an injury. At the end of this book, you will know why I give this advice. So, make a cup of tea and get to work!

CONVINCING FACTS, FIGURES AND THE PRINCIPLES OF WALKING

Walking: the prejudices

The word says it all: pre judgement (pre being Latin for ‘before’), that is judging BEFORE you give something a chance. I challenge you to read on. Let me convince you...

When I was younger, I used to love running. You know the drill: had a busy day, earphones in, Lady Gaga or Madonna on and letting off steam. I loved it. But over the years, I noticed that after a brisk run, my lower back started to ache more and more and that an old injury that I had sustained on my left foot in a blind-spot crash with a truck when taking a bike ride had reappeared, causing me to easily sprain my foot.

I also noticed that my legs became very muscular during the period when I was running a lot. My calves and upper legs in particular became heavier, which meant that I was unable to put on many trousers and boots. (Of course, this was also due to fashion, which wants to squeeze our beautiful female bodies into tight, low-waist, skinny trousers... Nothing for my body.) When my daughter was little, I often used her as an excuse not to go for a run. Walking with a sporty buggy or a comfortable baby carrier was ideal for both of us to get some fresh air and fill up on vitamin D in the fresh air.

Walking also gave me more varicose veins, something I suffered from at an early age despite my active lifestyle. The dermatologist I was seeing confirmed that theory and made me think about the long term: I wanted to be able to walk around in shorts and bikinis without more unsightly veins.

In short: I used to run, but I noticed the following:

I developed strong muscles in my calves and thighs, which resulted in a bulky body and trousers that strained at the calves.

When I had a child, I had less time, but I could walk anytime, anywhere and my baby could come along.

I also got more varicose veins from walking. The skin doctor advised me to go for a walk.

I saw the impact of running on the knees of many runners. I want to be active over 60 as well!

With a clever approach and the right walking method, you can, as I said in the introduction:

lose weight;

get slimmer more toned legs;

gain fitness;

reduce stress;

get more energy.

And these are just some of the benefits of walking. For me and many others, the biggest benefit is almost always becoming and staying slim and fit. And that is perfectly possible with walking. You don't have to run a marathon or spend hours in the gym. If you give it a chance, the effect of a daily walk and taking more steps in general will amaze you.

No matter what body type you have, you too can get fitter and leaner by going for a walk. What's more, if you combine this walking plan with some smart, muscle-strengthening exercises that work the deeper muscle layers (and make you look slimmer) and make some small adjustments to your diet and eat healthier, you will not only be more fit and sleek but you will also have lots of energy and your health will improve in no time.

Is this method for me?

Is this book for you? I can't decide that for you, but there is a reason why you decided to pick this book from the shelf. Let me give you some reasons to read on:

REALLY TIRED of those extra kilos? Do you want to lose weight?

Do you find yourself huffing and puffing when you have to do a little sprinting to catch your train or chase your dog (or that pretty girl/boy)? Do you want to do something about it?

Would you like to exercise more, but don't feel like losing time every week by going to a sports club? Do you want a form of exercise that you can do anywhere and anytime?

Do you want to follow a program that you can really stick to in the long term?

Do you want more energy for the pursuit of your dreams, for all those you love, for your work...?

Do you, like me, suffer from back pain that makes walking not a healthy option anymore?

Do you have knee or hip problems due to age or obesity and is running too intensive?

Are you worried about your health?

Have you been advised by your doctor to exercise more and adopt a healthier lifestyle, but don't know how to do it?

What are your reasons for reading on and flying into this hiking programme? Write them down on a nice post-it and hang it on your bathroom mirror. Writing down your reasons will help you to take action.

I want to start this walking programme because I: