Has anyone had success with walking for exercise?

Osiris275

Walking is pretty much all I do, except 30 mins of cycling on an exercise bike each evening. I've lost 55lbs in 7 months.

I do around 2 hours walking with my dogs each day.

krithsai

queenliz99 wrote: »

MsElphaba wrote: »

I work for an orthopedic surgeon and every day he tells people that walking is good for the heart but bad for the knees. While it provides a cardio burn, it does nothing for strengthening your legs. You'd be better off on a bike or an elliptical.

Oh my fricken stars! Are you kidding me? We've been walking on two feet for millions of years and now we have to ride a bike or use a elliptical because of some supposed expert. Not buying it.

Our ancestors did not walk on the kind of surfaces we do. There is a stark difference between the kind of walking we were evolved to do and the kind we do now. Ask any soccer player or marathoner what crazy amounts of walking/running can do to your knees.

krithsai

I didn't mean for that to come across as discouraging. I meant is more like this - walking is excellent for you provided you supplement it with other workouts. Excessive walking/running may damage your knees and in general, you'd do well to keep surprising your body with different workouts.

jeffd247

I lost my first 45 pounds primarily by tracking my calories and walking (4-6 miles a day).

Eventually, I honestly just got bored and one day just started jogging during my walk. It was then that I learned just how out of shape I was. Since then I've picked up a Couch-2-5k program, do some HIIT a couple days a week and am incorporating more strength training. (I still go for walks during my work lunch).

So yes, you can have success with walking as your only source of exercise, but you might find that success to be defined as a higher level of fitness that lets you enjoy other more strenuous forms of exercise

TobyTimmyNala

Yes is it my main form of exercise usually on the treadmill or pushing my baby in the stroller around the neighborhood. It doesn't burn a lot of calories (only about 100 in 30 minutes or so), but it motivates me to eat better too since I am being active.

markiend

Most of my exercise is walking / hiking, up to 40 miles in a day many times over hills etc.

It's good for you, gets you some fresh air and can definitely help. What I would be careful of though, is vastly over estimating the exertion and calorie burns. Find an amount that works for you. As you improve , you will burn less so bear that in mind. I use mapmywalk to keep track of distance / time and have clocked over 2k miles so far this year

I would recommend doing some resistance training also as it can really help keep your LBM

mommyof4cpa

I have lost a little more than 50 lbs and I mainly walk. I have a treadmill at home that I do "speed" days and "hill" days. I walk outside in my neighborhood and when boredom hits, I also use the Leslie Sansone Walk-Away-the-Pounds series to break up the pattern.

spicy618

PeachyCarol wrote: »

I've lost 16 more pounds since this was taken, but this before and during needs a bit of explanation. The before isn't really a true before. I weigh about 190 there. I was 210 when I started on MFP. That 190 is without exercise, though.

I'm 163 in the during picture, and that's with a lot of walking and some strength training. But mostly walking. I've now started running, but still primarily walk every day.

The bathing suit bottom in the picture? It's too loose now.

Dont' mean to derail this thread but. Oh my. You are doing a great job and looking fabulous. Your boobs look great in those tops... I don't know why I felt the need to state that. lol. Congrats! I love seeing diaries and success with people close to my age.

OP, Yes, I've walked for losing weight also. It's relaxing and stress relieving (sp).

Best of luck!

KarlaH9801

yardprincess wrote: »

I would encourage you to walk (I love it for more than physical exercise - it's one way to think, breathe, connect with the outside world and if a friend comes along, you can maintain a conversation). BUT I would also encourage you to not eat back any calories you spend from walking AND I would also encourage you to mix things up a little bit with light weight training - if you can. I used to only walk as I dislike running, but lately I have added some weight training (push ups, body squats, etc). and that has made a great difference in how I feel in both muscles and metabolically. Good luck!

Great advice here! I lost the first 90 pounds with walking and staying in my calories. The next 50 pound loss was due to walking, staying in my calories, and adding whatever sounded fun or interesting. Body weight exercises like squats, planks, pushups (I couldn't squat until after I lost the first 100, it hurt my knees too bad), adding elliptical, TRX classes, online videos, hiking, swimming- anything that sounded different but fun, I gave it a try. I think mixing it up was very helpful. :-)

Rehobobound

queenliz99 wrote: »

MsElphaba wrote: »

I work for an orthopedic surgeon and every day he tells people that walking is good for the heart but bad for the knees. While it provides a cardio burn, it does nothing for strengthening your legs. You'd be better off on a bike or an elliptical.

Oh my fricken stars! Are you kidding me? We've been walking on two feet for millions of years and now we have to ride a bike or use a elliptical because of some supposed expert. Not buying it.

With arthritis in both knees, walking can aggravate them and sometimes be very painful. Cycling is much easier on the knees which I can sustain for longer periods of time. The expert is right. (and cycling does strengthen the quads )

Lourdesong

115 lbs down, and my only activity is walking, and pretty leisurely walking at that. I have been using a fitbit to track activity during the majority of my weight loss, a little over a year now. I walk anywhere from 10k-25k steps a day. Usually 15k.

I attribute my weight loss to controlling my calorie intake, but Fitbit has motivated me to move a lot, and syncing it with MFP has helped me understand that I can eat more and still lose quite a bit at a steady rate than I originally thought I could. It actually took me a while for that idea to compute.

I also think my legs, butt, and obliques have benefited physically and aesthetically from walking. Though I'm sure a weight program would produce superior results, I think walking has produced some noticeable results, more than doing nothing at all would have, anyway.

queenliz99

Rehobobound wrote: »

queenliz99 wrote: »

MsElphaba wrote: »

I work for an orthopedic surgeon and every day he tells people that walking is good for the heart but bad for the knees. While it provides a cardio burn, it does nothing for strengthening your legs. You'd be better off on a bike or an elliptical.

Oh my fricken stars! Are you kidding me? We've been walking on two feet for millions of years and now we have to ride a bike or use a elliptical because of some supposed expert. Not buying it.

With arthritis in both knees, walking can aggravate them and sometimes be very painful. Cycling is much easier on the knees which I can sustain for longer periods of time. The expert is right. (and cycling does strengthen the quads )

That is good that cycling is your form of exercise. Protecting the knee is important, they need last a lifetime. I get that. The poster in above quote said that walking is good for the heart but bad for the knees and cycling would be better. Not everyone has access to a bike and ellipticals, unless you own one or belong to a gym, are not that great for you either. Ellipticals cause repetitive use injuries. So her comment was a sweeping statement and wanted to point that out.

Patttience

queenliz99 wrote: »

I hike daily and have been for years but to lose weight you need to be in a caloric deficit. Walking is for heath and well being. It took me 20 years to figure that out, you can not out exercise over eating.

This is also what I've learned.

I used to do a lot of exercise to lose weight. This last time realising that the old strategy always let me down eventually, i took exercise out of the equation. Exercise of the kind i used to do which was mainly a lot of running or even long walks.

I lost most of my weight without exercise.

I am exercising now but for health primarily. I also do a little running for fitness but not very much. I love my routine so i'll explain it. I have a 3km long beach. I also have a dog now who needs to walk every day. So we go to the beach in the afternoon. I don't do this every day but sometimes i might run for a stretch. When i started the running i just did short bursts as fast as i could. Like interval training i think. And after a while i can run at a good pace for a longer distance. So this strategy has definitley improved my fitness. Also note when i walk, i do try to walk fairly fast most of the time.

I would suggest that a routine of this kind is a really good routine. To make it work long term, you probably want to make sure you have somewhere nice to walk. For me, i have a beautiful beach but its the dog that motivates me to go every day. If i didn't have the dog, i wouldn't go every day.

I think about 30 minutes a day is enough. If you want to learn more about the sprinting theory there's a program on you tube you can watch by Michael Mosley called Exercise. This is the idea that inspired my exercise regime. Its called HIIT but my version is a little more relaxed than his.

Patttience

MsElphaba wrote: »

I work for an orthopedic surgeon and every day he tells people that walking is good for the heart but bad for the knees. While it provides a cardio burn, it does nothing for strengthening your legs. You'd be better off on a bike or an elliptical.

Well who can argue with a doctor. I will. Yes its bad for your knees if you are overweight. This is why i say get the weight off first then start your exercise.

So walking for a normal weight person is not bad for hte knees. And its good for your bones. Better than bike or elliptical. If you are carrying a lot of weight, and you want to exercise then do something that is not so demanding on your joints like walking.

Jilliankosto

I love this thread! I hate running and have always tried to like it but I just don't. I hate it! Ha. Anyway, I was also curious about the responses to the OP and so far I am encouraged and informed.

To add my two cents I would encourage weight lifting/strength training to the routine (if possible) it has given me favorable results so far and I only started a few months ago.

Asallings323

I have lost a total of 12 pounds since June 1St by walking. I still eat what I want I just do it in smaller portions. I am 5FT tall and stick to 1420 calories per day. My weight loss is slow but I am doing it in a very safe and happy way.

Frozenmango

I love this thread! Thanks to the OP for asking and for all the great responses. I have tried to start running, though I don't really enjoy it so I do find it hard to get motivated to do it. Walking however is something I can do, even when I'm tired. I think pacing is important, too leisurely will burn calories but not a lot. So I try to walk very briskly when outside, even slog ( = slow jogging) if I have the energy and try to find a hill or two to add some resistance. I also like to ride my bike, though I'm out of practice so it really challenges me ATM. I'm saving up for a treadmill so I can still do my walking on those colder days coming up in the winter when sidewalks will get icy and slightly treacherous. I'm hoping it'll be enough to show all the work I'm doing with weight training (which I love = seriously, I could lift all day) and get the scale to go down as well.

scolaris

Wow! This is all so inspiring! I'm about 5 weeks in on my program & informally I know I've lost at least 10 lbs because I jumped on the scale midday & wearing shoes at one of my school sites where I was subbing this week. (I'm only weighing every 10 weeks because it's better for me to just enjoy the process right now...) And walking is my thing. I do know I have to go above & beyond 10k because I'm habituated to that as a school sub. So I do 100k a week and that last 30k paired with calorie awareness & cleaner eating seems to be working very well.

beverlyjlarson

queenliz99 wrote: »

MsElphaba wrote: »

I work for an orthopedic surgeon and every day he tells people that walking is good for the heart but bad for the knees. While it provides a cardio burn, it does nothing for strengthening your legs. You'd be better off on a bike or an elliptical.

Oh my fricken stars! Are you kidding me? We've been walking on two feet for millions of years and now we have to ride a bike or use a elliptical because of some supposed expert. Not buying it.

My ortho told me that walking is a wonderful way to get exercise.

queenliz99

beverlyjlarson wrote: »

queenliz99 wrote: »

MsElphaba wrote: »

I work for an orthopedic surgeon and every day he tells people that walking is good for the heart but bad for the knees. While it provides a cardio burn, it does nothing for strengthening your legs. You'd be better off on a bike or an elliptical.

Oh my fricken stars! Are you kidding me? We've been walking on two feet for millions of years and now we have to ride a bike or use a elliptical because of some supposed expert. Not buying it.

My ortho told me that walking is a wonderful way to get exercise.

I know. My orthopedist told me the same thing. It was a strange statement from the previous poster.