After completing 5 km a day in February, I set myself a new goal. It felt challenging, but in one way it was actually easier: I did not have to hit a target every single day. I could get ahead on stronger days or make up for missed progress later. For March, my goal was to reach 500,000 steps and 5,000 meters of elevation gain. I tracked everything with my watch, so it included not only workouts but all my daily movement as well.

Japanese interval walking has become one of the most appealing forms of exercise for me lately. That is exactly why I like it so much: it is incredibly simple, yet it still has structure and rhythm. It is not running, and it is not just an easy stroll either. It sits somewhere in between: a few minutes of brisk walking, then a few minutes at a more relaxed pace, repeated over and over.

If you’re overweight and looking to change your lifestyle, you may be wondering which type of exercise is most effective for you. Some people favor fast, intense workouts, while others prefer low-intensity, longer-duration sessions. But why is it beneficial to use your body’s fat to fuel cardio exercise, especially if you’re overweight? In this article, I will provide answers to that question! During cardio exercise, your body primarily uses two energy sources: carbohydrates and fats.

My highest weight ever was 127 kg, sometime in the mid-2000s. The picture on the left was taken in 2009; I’m the guy in the blue t-shirt. The photo on the right is of me in the summer of 2023. Of course, I tried a lot of things, but my weight yo-yoed up and down until in 2018, I got to the point where it became relevant to take a blood pressure medication regularly.

Unfortunately, I can’t do it without counting calories every day. I can maintain my weight by avoiding high carbohydrate intake and the calorie count I’ve experimented with. If I “go off track” because of a holiday, I don’t worry anymore because I know that as soon as I get back into the swing of things, I’ll pick up the pace again and adjust my weight again. Is this sustainable? I wonder if everyone wants to take the time.

Buy a heart rate monitor, a gym membership or a treadmill or an indoor bike and start moving slowly in your fat-burning range. Focus on getting your body to handle the load first, and get yourself to a point where you can move slowly for an hour: walking or cycling. If you have muscle soreness, you’ve overdone it. Take it easy. Be patient with yourself; just as the pounds didn’t come on overnight, they won’t come off overnight.