The fitness and weight loss business is a large, multi-billion dollar industry. There’s no shortage of companies ready to sell you each product, supplement, wonder drug and fitness kit available – all guaranteed to help you lose weight and get ripped within a short period of time. The large majority of such products are a waste of your money and your time. However, there are some items that are worth investing in if you want to lose weight, get fit or both.

First of all, get yourself a comfortable pair of exercise shoes. Whatever form of exercise you select, with the exception of swimming and some martial arts, you’ll need suitable footwear. Walking for example, is a great way to get in shape and lose weight. There are numerous health benefits over and above weight loss and it’s best for anyone who hasn’t exercised for a while and wants to ease themselves back into a regular exercise regime.

However, if your shoes aren’t comfortable then you won’t be able to keep up your walking program. Be certain to choose the ideal and most comfortable fitness footwear that you can find. You can even make use of modern technology by choosing the latest design of exercise footwear which boosts the effectiveness of your walking exercise program by increasing the amount of work done by your lower body muscles whilst walking normally. Currently, Reebok Simple Tones, Skechers Shape Ups and Fit flops sandals are available on the market, all of which claim to be scientifically engineered to reduce impact stress and increase the effectiveness of your workout.

Once you get into your walking routine, or possibly even progress to jogging or running, you’ll probably want to monitor your progress. A good pedometer is best for this. It can store and display your results in terms of the number of calories burned, the time taken, the number of steps taken or the total distance covered. This will help to keep your motivation level high.

Be sure to select a good quality pedometer. There are some very cheap ones available, but paying just a few dollars more for a good quality device is well worth it. Some of the very cheap pedometers can be completely lacking in accuracy. A good quality brand such as Tanita or an Omron pedometer will be more accurate and will probably last a lot longer.

A heart rate monitor is also a good idea – although you might not need this at first when you’re just starting your exercise program. Depending upon a number of different factors, including your age and what your goals are, you may wish to keep your heart rate between certain predefined values during your exercise session. You can get heart rate monitor watches which are easy to use and are relatively affordable these days.

An mp3 player is another worthwhile investment if you don’t already own one. You can listen to motivational tracks if that helps you keep going. Or, if you prefer, listening to your favorite band whilst you exercise will probably be just as effective. The miles and the time will fly by much more swiftly when you’ve your favourite band playing in your ears. You can pick up mp3 players very affordably these days - or you can pay several hundred dollars for a top of the range model - but even an entry level one will probably be all you need to keep motivated.

If you want to spend your hard earned cash on the latest and greatest, zero effort ab master or some wonder shake made from crushed Amazonian woo woo berries then go for it. However, the four items mentioned above should be more than enough to get you started – and they’ll nearly certainly be beneficial to you in your fitness program.

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