Welcome to Start TODAY. Sign up for our Start TODAY newsletter to receive daily inspiration sent to your inbox — and join us on Instagram!In late 2021, Jessica Miller, then 44, had a physical where she recalls, “Nothing was good. My cholesterol was terrible. My blood pressure was terrible. I needed to lose some weight.”

Her doctor asked if she was thinking about getting any exercise. “I said, ‘I was going to try to do something when I get older,’ and he said, ‘Older is today. It’s knocking. It’s here. Maybe you should jump in on that,’” she tells TODAY.

She says, “He wanted to put me on medication for blood pressure and cholesterol, but I don’t like taking medicine, and I’m not good at remembering to take it. So, he said, ‘Let’s try walking and see how it goes.’”

As a virtual teacher, Miller spends a lot of time sitting every day, and she needed something to counteract her inactivity. She had been what she calls a “stalker” on the Start TODAY Facebook page for a few months, and seeing how group members improved their lives through walking motivated her to give it a try.

Within six months, she:

• Saw significant drops in her blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
• Lost 25 pounds and has maintained that weight.
• Greatly improved her mental health.

Here’s how she did it.

She worked her way up to 10,000 steps a day

Miller was walking almost zero steps: “As many as it takes to get from my desk to the coffee machine.” When she started walking, she didn’t count her steps. She walked for 10 minutes, then 15 and then 20. After that, she started tracking her steps and worked up to 10,000 — sometimes more.

Most days, she wakes up around 5 or 5:30 a.m. and gets her steps in first thing in the morning. She uses audiobooks as motivation — she only plays them when she’s walking. “If I want to hear what happens in the book, I have to be walking to listen to it,” she says.

In the winter, when it’s cold near her Connecticut home, she switches to indoor walking at the mall. She tries to finish 10,000 steps in the morning, but if she doesn’t have time, she walks more in the afternoon or the evening with her boyfriend.

She’s also started walking to places like the grocery store, a friend’s house or a frozen yogurt shop. “I used to think, ‘I’m not walking someplace, that’s weird. I don’t want anyone to see me walking. They’re going to think I can’t drive or something,” she says. “Now I try to do it, and if I walk someplace, I have to walk home. That forces me to walk more.”

She turns to the Start TODAY group for encouragement. “If I don’t feel like doing something, I look on the Facebook page, and people are walking. They have all these other problems, but they’re still getting their steps in. If they can do it, so can I,” she says. “It’s motivating to see so many people going for walks and doing some exercise, and I have friends I’ve met through the page I keep up with.”

Miller also tries to do the Start TODAY monthly challenges, but she says walking has been the constant for her. “I know that’s what helped me,” she says. “I try to eat better, too, but I like to eat. Mostly, it’s the walking.”

In June 2022, she had the opportunity to appear on TODAY with Stephanie Mansour. “I was walking 10,000 steps a day by that time. My cholesterol had gotten better. My blood pressure was lower, and I had lost 25 pounds,” she says.

She kicked a heavy caffeine habit

Miller’s virtual teaching includes motivational classes for young girls from across the U.S. and around the world. “I have to be energetic. They want to talk and socialize. I don’t want them to be bored,” she says.

She turned to coffee for the caffeine boost. But she was overdoing it. She was starting her day with a pot of coffee, then adding mugs from her Keurig throughout the afternoon and evening — 20 cups a day.

She gradually shifted her intake down to about two cups of coffee a day. She had to take it slowly because cutting back too quickly gave her headaches.

First, she mixed regular coffee and decaf 50/50. “I had to trick myself into thinking it was regular, because I can’t tell the difference in the taste,” she says. Once she adjusted to that mix, she transitioned to only decaf in the afternoons and evenings. She also makes iced coffee, which lasts longer, since as the ice melts, it gets watered down.

She drinks a bottle of water before she has her first cup of coffee in the morning. “It’s the worst bottle of water ever, but it helps because then I don’t feel like I need to drink the whole cup of coffee really fast. When I have water first, I’m not as thirsty,” she says.

She also stopped drinking soda and alcohol. She felt like alcohol was affecting her sleep, and she didn’t want all the sugar and empty calories: “It wasn’t helping me with my stress. Exercise was doing a better job with that than sugary margaritas. It was easier to have water and go for a walk.”

Her lifestyle changes improved her mental health

Miller didn’t realize how her lifestyle habits were fueling stress, anxiety and negativity. “I didn’t think it was all connected. I just thought I had a lot of anxiety, and I was stressed out and hyper. On top of that, my clothes weren’t fitting, and I felt like I was lazy because I wasn’t working out,” she says. “I feel like all that negativity goes away when I’m walking. When I can get my steps in, I can clear my mind, and I feel better.”

She has noticed how her healthy habits all combine. “Exercising makes me feel better about myself and improves my mood, which makes me not want to eat junk food or drink coffee. I can change my mood by walking, and it changes my whole day. It gives me a chance to expend some energy and feel good about myself. Starting my day doing something positive makes my whole day better. It all comes together in a cycle.”

Her improved mental health is also helping her come to terms with aging and the changes that it can bring: “Losing the weight helps me feel better. I feel like I have 20 pounds to go, but that’s because I’m comparing myself to Jessica in 1995. I have to remind myself that I’m not going to look like I did when I was 16. I’m almost 50, and I need to put my expectations in perspective.”

Improved heart health, lowered stress, stronger joints, happier moods…the benefits of walking are plentiful! Just ask fitness icon Denise Austin, who is a huge fan of daily walking for physical and mental health. “I am a true believer in walking,” Denise recently told FIRST in an interview for her July cover story. (You can watch a fun behind-the-scenes snippet from this photoshoot in the video above!) “Even if you just fit in a morning walk, you’ll get sunshine and movement — and it’s so good for your overall well-being.”

What’s more, recent research reveals you can multiply the benefits of walking by simply walking with loved ones. The fitness trend of “wellness walks” is popular right now — and they’re something Denise swears by. Keep reading for more easy walking tips! For additional expert workout tips, grab the latest summer issue of Denise’s Fit Over 50 magazine here or order a copy of her latest cover story in FIRST. And keep an eye out for the September 23 issue of FIRST, which features even more walking advice from Denise, and the surprising way you can power up your daily stroll to make it healthier!

Denise Austin’s walking exercise tips

Denise’s go-to combination when it comes to walking: Walk and talk! “Walking is always the best medicine…period,” Denise tells FIRST. “It makes you feel good, keeps you fit and improves your mood. If you can get out for just 15 minutes in the morning, it sets your day up in a nice way.”

But to expand on these benefits even more, she says all you need to do is schedule a walk with a friend or loved one. “I’ll walk with my sisters, my friends. I also love walking with my daughters. We just walk and talk about everything. There’s a sense of freedom and camaraderie that comes from these group walks — and I love that!”

To find a walking or activity meet-up with people your own age, search for walking groups near you on local Facebook groups or on sites and apps like MeetUp. Or you can start your very own neighborhood group with friends and family! No friends nearby to walk with? Call a friend and chat while you stroll!

The benefits of walking and talking

Walking and talking with your loved ones is more than just a good time — it’s actually study-proven to promote longevity. Research has shown that making friends and being social can be beneficial at any age, but it’s especially so in your golden years. In fact, in a study published in Frontiers in Psychology, researchers reviewed studies looking at the relationship between adult friendships and well-being and found that both are vital to our physical and mental health and overall longevity. Not only does socializing lower depression, anxiety and stress, it also boosts overall life satisfaction. And it can help you lose weight!

Denise uses these group walks as something social to look forward to each week. Her routine? “On Sundays, I call my sisters or my girlfriends to see who’s around for the upcoming week and then I schedule it. We all catch up on our long walks and it feels great,” she says. “I’m a big believer in friendship walks! It’s such a great bonding experience. When you’re out on a walk you just talk and I love it. The physical benefits of walking are so beneficial, but the mental benefits are just as impressive. I always say walking is gymnastics for the mind!”

Denise’s favorite walking shoes

Denise loves helping women look and feel their best. And her most recent venture taps right into her love of walking! “Collaborating with Easy Spirit on a line of fitness sneakers has been a great experience! The reason I chose Easy Spirit is because they care about women’s feet, they really think about comfort and they are affordable,” says Denise. “We had the best meetings with all the women designers prior to collaborating. Like me, they’ve done it for 40 years, and I just thought that was really cool. I even get to be a part of the design process where we sit and think about why a woman needs a good walking shoe! They make walking even more fun.” To check out Denise’s collection, visit EasySpirit.com.

For more information and wellness tips, pick up the summer issue of Fit Over 50 at grocery stores and on newsstands now!

Keeping fit requires consistency, motivation and discipline – establishing a routine and sticking with it. But building fitness also involves regularly breaking that routine and getting enough rest. Choosing when not to work out can be as important as the exercise itself.

“Recovery is part of the process,” says Justin Santos, a head coach at the Academy of Lions, a fitness club in Toronto. “Neglecting rest is just as bad as skipping out on a month’s worth of training.”

Getting fit is a cycle of fatigue and repair. And as we adapt, our bodies become stronger, faster and more powerful.

For the average gym-goer, it can be difficult to know exactly how much rest is right. What constitutes a proper rest day?

Are you resting too little or too much?

Exercise causes microscopic tears in our muscle fibres, and as we rest, those fibres are repaired, adapting to become bigger and stronger. This process of adaptation, called super-compensation, is what allows us to run faster, jump higher or lift more weight.

“It’s during the fatigue phase, as the body recovers, that we adapt to the training,” says Giles Warrington, a professor of human performance and innovation at the University of Limerick.

Without adequate rest, the muscles don’t have time to adapt, stalling progress and preventing improvement. But not all fatigue is the same, and neither is all recovery.

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For aerobic exercise, such as running or using a skipping rope, “the adaptations are relatively rapid” and could happen overnight, says Warrington. After a light jog, your body will probably be ready for another run the following morning.

For more powerful or explosive power training, “the process of recovery is longer,” and may require a day or two. “Generally speaking, you wouldn’t want to do consecutive days of strength training,” he says.

That said, you don’t need to wait until you’re 100 per cent recovered to work out again, says Santos, especially if you are training toward a goal, such as running a marathon. Some smartwatches and wearables that track the quality of your sleep can score your readiness level, though accuracy varies.

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If you’re just exercising to keep up with the children or age gracefully, he recommends staying at what feels like 80 per cent – where you might feel your previous workout a little, but it doesn’t affect performance. If you’re training for a race or to climb a mountain, he recommends working through some soreness to push your body to improve more quickly. If you want to, say, run a faster 10km, shorter recovery times are better.

If you are exercising three or fewer times per week, you likely don’t need more rest days – you may actually need to work out more often. Try to implement other forms of physical activity into your routine, whether that’s playing a game of frisbee or taking a brisk hike, says Scott Panchik, a former CrossFit Games athlete who now runs a gym. “If you want to get better at something, you need to be getting four or five days in.”

Your rest days should not be completely sedentary. “Recovery doesn’t mean doing absolutely nothing,” says Warrington. Active recovery, which includes low-impact cardio, such as a light jog, long walk or a game like pickleball, has been shown to be very effective at promoting recovery.

Panchik says his recipe is three days on, one day off, followed by two days on, one day off (then repeat). On his days off, he goes for long walks or does light cardio. “I’ve tried resting less,” he says “and it leads to overtraining and to injury”.

Another way to tell if you need more rest days is your overall disposition.

“Mood seems to be the most reliable marker of overtraining,” says Christie Aschwanden, author of Good to Go: What the Athlete in All of Us Can Learn from the Strange Science of Recovery.

If you wake up feeling irritable or cranky, or if you suddenly find yourself reluctant to do a form of exercise you ordinarily love, it’s probably time for a day off.

For people who love working out, it can be tough to take a break. “Rest can be really hard for some people,” says Arielle Loewen, a professional CrossFit athlete. “It can be hard to feel like you’re doing enough. It takes a lot of patience.”

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Forcing yourself to take a rest day is critical to sustaining a long-term exercise habit. “If you don’t take a rest day,” says Loewen, “your body will force you to take one”.

Last, it’s important to get to bed early enough before and after training. “Sleep is probably the most powerful tool in our recovery tool kit,” says Warrington. – This article originally appeared in the New York Times