Maintaining without exercise, is walking alone effective?

eardabac18

I’m an 18 year old, 5’6, 120 pound female. I used to run 6 miles, 5 days a week, but the last 3 weeks of college I’ve barely run at all. I’ve been aiming at 1300-1400 calories a day. My weight has stayed consistent, but I’m worried it may be bacause I’m loosing muscle mass and it’s evening out the scale. Can I maintain if I’m sure to stay relatively active (Walking 4 miles daily)? I plan on returning to running after thanksgiving break. Anyone else able to maintain without so much exercise? Will I gain weight back? I’ve attached two files: the first is my weight over the last three weeks (no running, but maintaining), and the other is my weight overall for three months.

spiriteagle99

As long as you watch your calories, you should be able to maintain your weight. Exercise for health and the mental uplift it gives you. For years I was able to maintain my weight just walking a few miles every day. As I got older, that got harder and the pounds crept on. Not so much because I was exercising less, but I was eating out more, which packed on the calories. Bottom line, it's the calories that matter most.

TonyB0588

Yes. If you can't increase the exercise, simply reduce the food a bit. It should have the same net effect.

heybales

Running doesn't take a lot of muscle mass - you may have increased some, but mainly what you had was improved to be used aerobically for endurance.

You'll lose that of course merely walking. But should be able to get it back.

Actually, the likely problem will be the muscles will be much better than the aerobic system, that'll be the choke point.

Your muscles with no need for endurance may start dropping glucose stores, with attached water - so you should have weight drop for that reason, but it's slow to be lost, same as it's slow to be gained when improvement is asked for.

Oh, as far as weight - diet is for weight.
Exercise is for heart health and body improvements.

Only thing exercise does for weight is allow you to eat more than if you didn't exercise.
Exercise usually has side effect of water weight gain for several reasons.

So your response was correct - eating less since you are doing less.
Life lesson there as far as weight control.
Do more you eat more.
Do less you eat less.

Oh, being female - your BMR literally changes through the month, with as you know water weight changes.
You won't be able to discern anything on the scale until you go over a month.

Start the measuring which is a much better indicator anyway - start with where you know you gain fat first, or lose it last. For most that is tummy.

sgt1372

You do not have to run to lose or maintain weight.

I lost 38# from 196 to 158 over 6 months and have maintained my weight at 158 (+/-- 3#) over the past 12 months w,/o ever running a foot.

I lift heavy and my principle cardio activities were rowing and Stairmaster both done at a slow or moderate rate. I've recently added 3-8 mile walks and hikes but my pace never exceeds 2.5 mph iss is considered very slow.

So, yes, walking when combined w/sensible diet control (of course) can be effective in helping to maintain your weight w/o doing any running.

kenyonhaff

Fun fact: running OR walking the same amount of distance burns about the same amount of calories. A 3 mile run is about the same as walking the same distance.

I lost a lot of my weight walking, and I maintain with walking. I can run, but I really prefer walking.

jessicapk

It's totally possible to lose weight or maintain weight without exercising BUT I have read studies that show people who lose weight are better able to keep it off long term with exercise.

sijomial

kenyonhaff wrote: »

Fun fact: running OR walking the same amount of distance burns about the same amount of calories. A 3 mile run is about the same as walking the same distance.

I lost a lot of my weight walking, and I maintain with walking. I can run, but I really prefer walking.

@kenyonhaff
Except it's not a fact!
Running is a far less energy efficient movement than walking (you are accelerating your mass upwards when running, but not when walking).

These are very common formulae for normal speed walking and running.
Net Running calories Spent = (Body weight in pounds) x (0.63) x (Distance in miles)
Net Walking calories Spent = (Body weight in pounds) x (0.30) x (Distance in miles)

The reason it feels easier to walk 3 miles than run 3 miles is because it is easier.

MegaMooseEsq

jessicapk wrote: »

It's totally possible to lose weight or maintain weight without exercising BUT I have read studies that show people who lose weight are better able to keep it off long term with exercise.

I've read similar studies, but luckily for the OP, I'm pretty confidant that the most common form of exercise reported was... walking!

cwolfman13

Of course you can maintain...but less exercise means less calories you need coming in...it's just a matter of balancing that out.

eardabac18

Thanks for the replies! My next question is: how accurate is the bathroom scale? When should I be concerned I’m truly gaining weight again?

heybales

eardabac18 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies! My next question is: how accurate is the bathroom scale? When should I be concerned I’m truly gaining weight again?

As a woman - 2 months.
And you mean fat weight right, not just water weight?
Unless it's purely from increased sodium or stress cortisol, the increased water retained has increased metabolism to manage it - so that's good.

Hence the recommendation to measure also - which frankly is more meaningful anyway.
Weight can jump around for all kinds of known reasons quickly.
Measurements not so fast (though some known reasons again).

Stomach if that's where you gain fat first like the majority.

And not on days you feel bloated obviously - that would be just as useless as jumping on the scale after a big meal and drinking a lot, and hoping the weight would be meaningful at all.

LivingtheLeanDream

To maintain muscle you need to be doing some resistance training. While walking helps keep muscle in the legs/glutes your upper body will be getting no workout as such.

I have been in maintenance for almost 5 years, until last year I was a high steps gal until knee pain took hold.
Now I maintain eating 1950-2000 calories a day doing 30 mins of biking a day and 2 times a week 20 min sessions of strength/resistance training. I'm only 5ft 2". I have a lot of muscle. The biking keeps my lower half lean and with muscle definition and the lifting keeps sorts my upper body for muscle tone.

LivingtheLeanDream

eardabac18 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies! My next question is: how accurate is the bathroom scale? When should I be concerned I’m truly gaining weight again?

The bathroom scales especially if digital are pretty accurate, are you a daily weigher? if so then you will learn when your fluctuations happen. Fluctuations are normal but some fluctuate more than others. Personally I swing up and down by 2lbs around TOM or having eaten high sodium meals e.g chinese takeaway. The best thing is to have a maintenance range of +/- 5lbs e.g and when you get to either side of that range after 3 or 4 weeks then its time to adjust intake accordingly.

maybe1pe

RunRutheeRun wrote: »

eardabac18 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies! My next question is: how accurate is the bathroom scale? When should I be concerned I’m truly gaining weight again?

The bathroom scales especially if digital are pretty accurate, are you a daily weigher? if so then you will learn when your fluctuations happen. Fluctuations are normal but some fluctuate more than others. Personally I swing up and down by 2lbs around TOM or having eaten high sodium meals e.g chinese takeaway. The best thing is to have a maintenance range of +/- 5lbs e.g and when you get to either side of that range after 3 or 4 weeks then its time to adjust intake accordingly.

You could use an app like Libra or happy scale to track weight averages.

Also don’t be surprised if you jump more weight. I can jump 5-10 lbs up around that ToM but now that I’ve tracked my weight enough to know that I just stay off the scale for a couple days before and after so that I don’t see the water gain.

LiftHeavyThings27105

Maintaining weight is effectively a calorie in - calorie out thing. Yes, that is a very simplified statement. Understood. Lots and lots of people manage their weight simply by ensuring that caloric intake is either the same as or less than caloric output.

Now, I used to run 13 miles a day (did not start there, of course....started walking, then started to jog a little bit and walk a little bit....over several months that changed to running 13 miles along the Greenway in Roanoke, VA) and was in pretty decent shape. I have always had great stamina and while I was running it just got better. My body composition did not take off until I started lifting weights (I was not training back then, I was simply lifting weights).

But, can OP manage weight just via nutrition? Heck yes!

And, walking three of four miles will DEFINITELY help with that. Well, sorta.......

Now, is "cardio" necessary? No, ma'am! We all know that the sole purpose of the human body is to survive and that the human body is very good at adapting (to a point, you can only rob from Peter to pay Paul for so long....). And we all know that if you constantly do the same thing over and over (like walking or running) that the human body becomes more and more efficient at that activity. Which means that you will eventually need to do a little bit more to achieve the same results, and then a little bit more and then even a little bit more.

If OP is worried about 'muscle' loss then a good resistance program is on order. But, I do not see anything in OPs initial post about resistance training. I am guessing that OP is more likely referencing quad and glute 'muscle mass' (I know that when I was running 13 miles a day my quads and glutes were strong af.....and I was a 45yo dude at that time).....

I took the liberty to run OPs "numbers" via my favorite TDEE on-line calculator. So, for a 18yo woman who is 5'6" and weighs 120lbs here are the numbers:

Basal Metabolic Rate 1,341 calories per day
Sedentary 1,609 calories per day
Light Exercise 1,844 calories per day
Moderate Exercise 2,079 calories per day
Heavy Exercise 2,313 calories per day
Athlete 2,548 calories per day

So, as I always state - the numbers from an on-line TDEE calculator are not specific to anyone and should be viewed as a start. OP would have to play with nutrition to determine her actual numbers. But, this is likely a really good start.

So, if OP is eating 1,300 - 1,400 Calories a day, then OP is really close to her BMR (again, according to the on-line calculator....).

Does this make sense?