Can I actually lose weight walking?
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The simple answer is yes you can lose exercise walking as long as you eat less calories then your body Burns.
To put things in perspective I'm a 56 year old male approximate weight is 210 lbs. Based on the calculations out there if I walk a mile I burn approximately 140 calories / mile, give or take.
Using those numbers if I wanted to lose a pound a week I could do it either two ways I could be totally sedentary and lower my calories 500 calories per day which would equal 3500 calories. The other option is I could walk approximately 21 miles a week which would roughly translate to 3500 calories burnt. Both of those will cause me to loose a pound a week.
Over 8 months I lost approximately 80 lbs.
That means I would have had to walk approximately 50 miles per week. My suggestion is to a combination of both limit your calories and do the walking and you will eventually get that cute figure and there's nothing wrong with wanting to look good no matter what your age is5 -
I never eat back my exercise calories. I eat 1200 calories per day and measure and weigh and RECORD everything. I have lost 35 pounds at a rate of 2-3 pounds per week. I walk 45 minutes a day and do zumba 3 times a week.4
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As to my activity, I am usually walking twice a day and swimming once a day. I am determined to look less "beach ball-y" *le sigh. According to my MFP I usually "earn back" anywhere from 200-800 calories back- some days I use the extras, other days I do my best to ignore them, that's hard, because, donuts. *winky face*
What are you using to find out you are "getting 200-800 calories back"?
I use a FitBit to track on MFP and with my activity I "earn" extra calories (like so far today with my walk I earned 138 calories)
I am on the fence about whether or not I should allow myself to use them, KWIM? Most days I don't, but some days, for the safety of others I do use them.
I always think you have to test it out. I have my calories set low and then eat back what I workout. I use an Apple Watch, I'm not sure how accurate fitbits are.
I'm 5'8, 171 pounds, 36 years old. My calories are set to 1350 and then I use exercise calories.
And I'm with you, sometimes for the safety of others I eat over my calories! Haha
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Honestly, probably the biggest problems are:
1. comparing myself to my frienemy
2. expecting faster results.
I am averaging 38 miles of walking a week and this week I have added 4 hours of water aerobics.
Slow. Steady. (hoping for patience.)
One day I'll get there. Slowly. But. Surely.1 -
Ive lost most of my weight for my goal by walking. Started to add more when my body got use to it and got easy for me. Had a step counter took about 10k steps a day. started two months and a week ago.Lost 33 pounds Im about 17 pounds from goal of a health bmi not my final goal but a starter goal. Im 4'11 and only 200
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2 lbs a week is a bit fast. I am very obese and did it at the beginning but I started having really bad delayed onset muscle soreness from workouts. I also was chronically tired. It was a mistake even in the morbidly obese range to lose that fast IMHO. 1 to 1/2 lbs of weight loss is better for a lifestyle change.
Back on topic: Yes walking and calorie deficit will lead to weight loss. So will just a calorie deficit. The walking part just helps increase overall health at same time.
DOMS is normal even in those who arent losing weight fast or even at all.2 lbs a week is fine(not fast at all its actually a healthy range) for those with 75 lbs or more to lose.2 -
Absolutely you can! There are tons of forums and communities dedicated to "walking yourself thin". And it's good you have Fitbit since all of their group challenges and solo adventures are based on steps (good motivation for a walker).
I don't know your overall fitness level, but to make sure you're *really* burning as much as you're awarded so that you can confidently eat back some of those calories... randomly stop every now and then and do 10 squats and keep walking... then "step up" on benches if you're in a park or walking track. Add a few push ups... stop and jog in place. A few lunges. Whatever you can do. And don't log the extra exercises separately. Then you are burning more calories and can feel confident in your walk-burns. Plus adding body weight exercises help you achieve a "cute body" easier than walking alone.1 -
Walking is my only form of exercise, and without it i would seriously struggle to stay in a deficit! Walking everyday get's me out of the red (in my diary), and in to the green.0
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I'd like to be losing 2lbs a week. So far it seems about .5 lb/week.
I just hate that a friend of mine started 4 weeks after me and exercises less and just changed a meal for a shake and she says she's lost 13lbs in that time. It effing kills me. Can't wait for her to make it to stupid menopause, too. *pouts
Tell her you lost 15.
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WendyLeigh1119 wrote: »Absolutely you can! There are tons of forums and communities dedicated to "walking yourself thin". And it's good you have Fitbit since all of their group challenges and solo adventures are based on steps (good motivation for a walker).
I don't know your overall fitness level, but to make sure you're *really* burning as much as you're awarded so that you can confidently eat back some of those calories... randomly stop every now and then and do 10 squats and keep walking... then "step up" on benches if you're in a park or walking track. Add a few push ups... stop and jog in place. A few lunges. Whatever you can do. And don't log the extra exercises separately. Then you are burning more calories and can feel confident in your walk-burns. Plus adding body weight exercises help you achieve a "cute body" easier than walking alone.
Amazing! Thank you for this!1 -
Walking is great. It works. mOnitor your eating and keep doing it. As we age, losing weight is more challenging.0
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Tell her her colon will fill right back up once she starts eating real food again.
I second the exercises keep at it0 -
OP, did u ever found out ur maintenance caloric intake number? I did the calculation from a website n it says your maintenance number is at 1765
https://tdeecalculator.net/result.php?s=imperial&age=42&g=female&lbs=193&in=61&act=1.2&bf=&f=1
U r eating at 1650 n doing walking as exercise n losing .5lb a week ( an average of -250 cal a day) so it seems to be right. u can confirm the 1765 number by using diff tdee calculators n if it confirms then u either eat less n lose more or accept the current progress.
Good luck!
PS walking as an effective weight loss tool in ur BMI Category is PERFECTLY fine but u have to do it daily n for an hour at a time to achieve the progress that u like.0 -
The short answer is yes. I've been on MFP for 135 days now and walking has been my main form of exercise to back up my calorie monitoring. I usually walk 3 - 5 km per day (when I can) just by getting out of my workplace during my lunch break. I don't eat back the calories I burn and use the runtastic app to log my walks.
SW = 231 lbs
CW = 173 lbs
TW = 168 lbs1 -
I get a minimum of 10k steps daily- working hard, not strolling. Weekdays I am averaging 16k.
I am keeping my calories at 1650 most of the time, though I let myself use my "extra" calories some times when I make at least 15k.
This is so slow going- am I ever going to really see definable results? I just wanna have a cute figure. (Healthier lifestyle is a side-benefit, don't hate.)
Don't eat back your calories. You are almost certainly overestimating calorie burn from walking. A decent rule of thumb for calories burned during walking is
(0.3)*(body weight in pounds)*(miles walked).
I weigh 188 pounds. If I walked 5.7 miles (about 10,000 steps for me), that works out to 320 calories.
Walking doesn't burn many calories at all. It's great exercise and it's a great stress reliever, but if you're counting on walking to get skinny you had better be walking at least 10 miles a day.
* Edit to fix my bad math.0 -
DevilsFan1 wrote: »I get a minimum of 10k steps daily- working hard, not strolling. Weekdays I am averaging 16k.
I am keeping my calories at 1650 most of the time, though I let myself use my "extra" calories some times when I make at least 15k.
This is so slow going- am I ever going to really see definable results? I just wanna have a cute figure. (Healthier lifestyle is a side-benefit, don't hate.)
Don't eat back your calories. You are almost certainly overestimating calorie burn from walking. A decent rule of thumb for calories burned during walking is
(0.3)*(body weight in pounds)*(miles walked).
I weigh 188 pounds. If I walked 3.3 miles (about 10,000 steps for me), that works out to 186 calories. That's about one small scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Walking doesn't burn many calories at all. It's great exercise and it's a great stress reliever, but if you're counting on walking to get skinny you had better be walking at least 10 miles a day.
mfp is designed to eat back your calories which is why most eat back 25-50% so if they do overestimate exercise then that should cover it. since MFP has your deficit built in without exercise,any additional exercise will make that deficit bigger,which for some may not be a good thing especially not eating them back2
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