Should I do all my walking at once or spread it throughout the day?

seaglassmermaid
seaglassmermaid Posts: 3 Member
edited November 19 in Fitness and Exercise
I'm wanting to walk 5 miles per day in addition to any walking I do at home/work/etc. Should I take one long walk at the beginning or end of the day or should I take several shorter .5-1 mile walks throughout the day to equal the 5 miles? Is one way more beneficial than the other in any way?

Replies

  • laurenebargar
    laurenebargar Posts: 3,081 Member
    I think whatever works better for your schedule. I do little to no walking during the day (I work in an office and some days I have to work through lunch) When I get home my husband and I take our dog hiking or on a long walk, and im losing exactly what I expected too. I wouldnt think it matters
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,522 Member
    There are some differences:

    If you did a fasting spirited 5-mile walk in the morning it would promote weight loss.

    A late-afternoon 5-mile walk might help you sleep better.

    Spread through the day, you would burn the same number of calories as the other two, but you wouldn't build stamina.

    I recommend you add intervals to your walk. If it makes it too hard, walk a bit less. Intervals promote overall health very effectively.
  • DresdenSinn
    DresdenSinn Posts: 665 Member
    What he or she said ^
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    What is your goal with walking?
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    seaglassmermaid wrote: »
    I'm wanting to walk 5 miles per day in addition to any walking I do at home/work/etc. Should I take one long walk at the beginning or end of the day or should I take several shorter .5-1 mile walks throughout the day to equal the 5 miles? Is one way more beneficial than the other in any way?

    Swings and roundabouts

    If you're only interested in burning calories then it doesn't matter. If you can walk at pace then a series of 20-30 minute walls will give you some improvements in stamina and aerobic capacity.

    On the other hand there is some evidence that it helps your musculoskeletal system to break up periods of sitting/ standing with some activity.

    As ever it's really about what you can sustain. For most people walking at 3-4 mph you're talking about a fair commitment of time to do a continuous 5 mile walk. If that's something you can fit in then that's good, but is it sustainable?
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,727 Member
    Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »
    There are some differences:

    If you did a fasting spirited 5-mile walk in the morning it would promote weight loss.

    No more than doing it any other time of day.

    OTOH, doing 3x 1.75 mile walks spread throughout the day will maximize your EPOC or afterburn.

  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,522 Member
    stanmann571 wrote: »
    No more than doing it any other time of day.

    I also see your point about keeping up your metabolic rate by spreading the exercise out. No question that you burn the same amount during the exercise no matter when you do it.

    To be a bit more precise about my point: there is some evidence that fasting exercise promotes fat burn and weight loss. One way to do it is in the morning:

    https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/phys-ed-the-benefits-of-exercising-before-breakfast/

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/26/well/move/the-best-thing-to-eat-before-a-workout-maybe-nothing-at-all.html?_r=0
  • DresdenSinn
    DresdenSinn Posts: 665 Member
    I do 20-30 minutes of fasted cardio first thing in the morning then another 30 minutes of cardio in the afternoon after weight training
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    stanmann571 wrote: »
    OTOH, doing 3x 1.75 mile walks spread throughout the day will maximize your EPOC or afterburn.

    I'm not sure that the extra 4-5 calories will make a huge difference
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »
    stanmann571 wrote: »
    No more than doing it any other time of day.

    I also see your point about keeping up your metabolic rate by spreading the exercise out. No question that you burn the same amount during the exercise no matter when you do it.

    To be a bit more precise about my point: there is some evidence that fasting exercise promotes fat burn and weight loss. One way to do it is in the morning:

    https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/phys-ed-the-benefits-of-exercising-before-breakfast/

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/26/well/move/the-best-thing-to-eat-before-a-workout-maybe-nothing-at-all.html?_r=0

    Sorta yes and no...you will use more fat as fuel when exercising fasted...but the body is constantly cycling between fat oxidation, fat storage, glycogen use, glycogen storage, etc. If one requires 2800 calories to maintain weight and one eats 2,300 calories, they will lose about 1 Lb per week regardless of fasted or not fasted exercise.
  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
    Personally, i don't think it makes a lick of difference. Do what you'll stick with. I spread out my 16k steps over 3 walks and bring the dog on one. For me, that's almost 9 miles.
  • seaglassmermaid
    seaglassmermaid Posts: 3 Member
    Chieflrg wrote: »
    What is your goal with walking?

    Increase my calorie deficit (it's the only exercise I'm allowed to do right now because I recently had surgery). As I recover and build up to more intense exercises I'll probably still walk the same amount though because my job is sedentary. I know walking isn't a strong enough exercise to really burn fat (at least not at the pace my doctor told me not to exceed), but I also need steps since I sit all day at my job. Once I'm healed i plan on working up to running so there will be more calories burned but that will be several weeks away.

  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,727 Member
    seaglassmermaid wrote: »
    Chieflrg wrote: »
    What is your goal with walking?

    Increase my calorie deficit (it's the only exercise I'm allowed to do right now because I recently had surgery). As I recover and build up to more intense exercises I'll probably still walk the same amount though because my job is sedentary. I know walking isn't a strong enough exercise to really burn fat (at least not at the pace my doctor told me not to exceed), but I also need steps since I sit all day at my job. Once I'm healed i plan on working up to running so there will be more calories burned but that will be several weeks away.

    Since you're limited by pace, The only other limit is your schedule. If you have the ability to get up and walk 8-15 minutes every hour or 2, that's probably going to get you the best bang throughout the day as far as building those active habits.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »
    To be a bit more precise about my point: there is some evidence that fasting exercise promotes fat burn and weight loss.

    The problem with using mass media blogs as sources is that hey don't really reflect the appropriate caveats.

    The increased reliance on fat storage at low intensity and fasted is negligible in comparison to the gross calorie expenditure. Essentially a similar situation to the observation I made upthread about EPOC being negligible.

    There may be behavioural contributions to sustainability as a result of directed exercise being a first activity, but the physiological benefits are negligible.

  • StealthHealth
    StealthHealth Posts: 2,417 Member
    Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »
    stanmann571 wrote: »
    No more than doing it any other time of day.

    I also see your point about keeping up your metabolic rate by spreading the exercise out. No question that you burn the same amount during the exercise no matter when you do it.

    To be a bit more precise about my point: there is some evidence that fasting exercise promotes fat burn and weight loss. One way to do it is in the morning:

    https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/phys-ed-the-benefits-of-exercising-before-breakfast/

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/26/well/move/the-best-thing-to-eat-before-a-workout-maybe-nothing-at-all.html?_r=0

    Fasted exercise promotes fat loss because, when fasted, you will often/usually need to metabolize fat to fuel the exercise. But, the total energy expend during that exercise will be the same regardless of fuel type and the loss/maintain/gain in body mass will be dependent upon net energy (CICO) for the day, week, month etc.

    There may be some very, very small energy differences relating to fasted/fed states for exercise but I would be highly skeptical of any claims that these were significant in real world application (rather than as an academic point of interest).

    Note: I've not read the linked NYT blogs in detail but did notice that they are from 2010 and that the study linked in on was an n=18 study from that year.

    for a more extensive and recent paper (2016) see http://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/8/6/354/htm (which is a meta study of studies >6 months using just under 1000 subjects, with some but not all of the studies containing exercise protocols).

    Their findings (edited to summarize by me)

    "with results indicating neither intermittent or continuous energy restriction being superior with respect to weight loss... The effects of intermittent energy restriction in the long term remain unclear.... Blood lipid concentrations, glucose, and insulin were not altered by intermittent energy expenditure in values greater than those seen with continuous energy restriction."
  • StealthHealth
    StealthHealth Posts: 2,417 Member
    A hopefully more helpful (than my post above) comment for the OP - either little and often or one big long walk is just as effective. Do whichever fits into that day the best for you.
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