Question about walking

66maryellen

would it help on my lunch break if I went for a stroll? I do have an hour but I thought maybe a half hour stroll would maybe help me start with my weight loss.

Please comment.

OnTheGround

Anything helps. And getting up and moving is certainly better than sitting for an hour.

parkscs

Walking is great but just make sure your attention is focused on your diet first and foremost. Focusing on your diet and learning good habits (such as logging/weighing everything) are the best ways to get started.

Exercise burns a pretty paltry number of calories when it comes to fat loss - we're talking something like an hour of strenuous exercise 6 days a week just to lose 1 pound/week through exercise alone. There are lots of good reasons to exercise but it won't do you a lot of good when it comes to weight loss unless your diet is in check. So, take a walk when the weather is nice, but make sure you keep your attention focused on your diet.

66maryellen

Thank you very much for the input. I guess I should look at my diet and check that first.

Scott_2025

I agree with park. Don't sabotage your weight loss by eating back too many calories just because you burned some. I believe MFP overstates calories burned for most activities. So, I try to eat back only 50 to 75% of my cardio burns.

ValeriePlz

Walking totally helps. I walk at lunch most days to earn back some calories, but I combine it with more serious cardio every other day, as well as two days of strength training.

ktsmom430

Most weight loss comes from eating less. I think the statistics are 80% calorie deficit, 20% exercise. Walking is a great way to start, the price is right and you can do it anywhere.

djprice_69

Definitely focus on diet, but taking a brisk walk after eating will definitely help! Quick little boost to your metabolism, gets you in the habit of moving more, and honestly it just feels good to move. The mental benefits of moving more will really help in your weight loss journey.

DavPul

Moving >>>not moving

LessIsMoreCB

Walking is great! Gets the circulation going, deep breathing releases the stress of the day as well!

UmmSqueaky

Walking is fabulous. I've taken a long walk over my lunch hour since December. The key though is not to fall into the trap as I've done so many times before, and that is to waaay overeat because I think oh yes, I went for a walk, now I can eat a bigger lunch. Track your food, stick to your calorie goals AND walk, and you'll be good to go.

STrooper

Yes. I will differ in my opinion on focusing on diet, though. I made very slight changes in my food intake for the first couple of years. Slightly smaller portions, gave up carbonated drinks, reduced the amount of sugar in my coffee, dropped the flavored creamers, used the small dessert dishes for ice cream (but DID NOT give up ice cream) just had the one small bowl. And walking/hiking with a gradual increase in steps.

Get a pedometer, it will help you keep track of your steps per day and will help you focus on a target. I went from 12,000 to 14,000 steps per day and then 17,000 steps per day. I gradually ratcheted it up to 20,000 steps per day (10 miles). That involved a half-hour walking in the morning, half-hour at lunch and whatever I needed at the end of the day to meet my daily average.

All that dropped my weight from a high of 252 to 190 pounds. I was down to 232 when I got serious about tracking my walking and took me from April to December to drop to 190 from 228. And I sat at 190 for an entire year (my body, however, was still changing where I shedding inches, not pounds). It took actually logging my food through MFP and eventually weighing it to get the serving size correct to come down to the 170 pounds (I range between 169 and 171).

Walking can do a lot.

Oh, I run marathons now. I never did that before nor could I have until I took that first step back to a reasonable weight and food intake.

jim180155

I agree with the others that diet has to be your first priority. Start with MFP's diary section. Log all your food. ALL of it. It might be hard to stay within your goal at first. That's okay. Start with logging. The process will quickly get easier and shouldn't take more than five or ten minutes a day. Along the way you'll start to understand some of the tradeoffs between different foods. You can still have pizza or ice cream, but you're going to pay for it in giving up other foods. You will eventually find a happy balance where you're meeting your goals without feeling hungry all the time.

You can start exercising anywhere along the line, and walking is excellent exercise. I try to get in an hour of strength training every morning, and if the weather would ever quit pretending to be winter, I'll be bicycling most evenings and weekends. During the day I walk. I walk whenever I can. I pretend like I'm taking smoke breaks but they're really walk breaks. (I quit smoking a little over a year ago but never told anyone at work.) I walk during my 30 minute lunch break and then eat lunch at my desk in the afternoon. I find excuses to walk to the other side of the big building I work in. I walk the dog when I get home. At the end of the day, I've usually put in 7 or 8 miles, which means I get to eat an extra 700 or so calories. (That's from walking alone. Strength training and cycling calories are extras.)

Note: I didn't walk much before getting my Fitbit. The first day I got it I saw that it was already deducting calories from what I get to eat because I was sitting in my recliner not doing anything. It got me up and going, and I've been going ever since.

yycjaron

The benefits of leaving your office for 30 minutes to stroll go far beyond weight loss! You may only burn less than 100 calories, but the activity adds up over time. Plus a little bit of exercise helps improve your mood and can help reignite your brain after a stressful or dull morning.

cuinboston2014

I run or walk almost every single day on my lunch break. I'm also in Milwaukee and with the weather getting nicer it's SO refreshing to get outside halfway through the day and just chill out. I normally snack all day so my lunch food is a protein bar or drink or a lean cuisine or something I can easily eat at my desk.

I see so many people walking on their lunch break where I work. You won't burn a ton of calories but you can burn a couple hundred depending on pace, distance, etc. If you just started walking at lunch and made no changes to your diet, you would start to see small results.

I can't say that I would recommend overhauling your diet first. If you can cut one thing out or make one simple change to yoru diet and incorporate walking, it could be a good place to start. Everyone is different in this aspect though.

I lost over 100 lbs and kept it off. I know what works for me. Just like STrooper, I'm also now running marathons and half marathons. I started by walking...

sweetcurlz67

do it...

that's how I started and has transformed from there.

eslcity

I have lost all my weight by walking... I walk at least one break a day (40minutes) during work... but I also walk in the evenings for about two hours a day...

I normally don't walk during lunch because it is important to eat at least 3 times a day... even if it is a light meal... skipping meals will only hurt your diet..

-ms

dopeysmelly

I started walking an hour every day when the ice finally went. I don't know how much it's helping my weight loss (I don't add back exercise calories but just look at the overall picture), but it helps me feel good and is a good habit for when I've lost the weight and want to maintain my loss.

But it's not a substitute for tracking what I eat.

Ftw37

I've steadily ratcheted up my walking from 6000 steps per day when I started, to a lot per day now. I found having a fitbit really helped me stay focused. I now do walk about 2km every lunch hour. I even have my boss doing it with me.

Timshel_

would it help on my lunch break if I went for a stroll? I do have an hour but I thought maybe a half hour stroll would maybe help me start with my weight loss.

Please comment.

That is what I do and I have lost weight doing it as long as I track it properly.

I do walks for both of my 2 15 minute breaks, then I get an hour for lunch so I do my workout then.

Every little bit helps.

Calliope610

Last Monday I started walking 2 miles during my lunch hour. I love getting out of the office in the middle of the day while other co-workers are just sitting in the breakroom playing with their phones. I love that I'm burning an extra 200-300 calories instead of just sitting. The only negative is that I sometimes get super hungry during the afternoons, so I have to make sure I pack a good snack (apples w/ cheese or peanut butter) for afternoon eating.

ETA: since I started, I have burned an extra 1750 calories - that's 1/2 lb right there!!

parkscs

I see so many people walking on their lunch break where I work. You won't burn a ton of calories but you can burn a couple hundred depending on pace, distance, etc. If you just started walking at lunch and made no changes to your diet, you would start to see small results.

I can't say that I would recommend overhauling your diet first. If you can cut one thing out or make one simple change to yoru diet and incorporate walking, it could be a good place to start. Everyone is different in this aspect though.

Unless you're tracking everything, you can't guarantee that your diet will remain the same when you add in exercise - for that matter, many people find exercise increases their appetite. And if you are tracking everything, then your diet is already in check so it's a non-issue (or at least I'll assume it is, since why track calories if you have no targets for caloric intake/macros).

Realistically, a 30 minute stroll at lunch is going to burn ~100 calories. If you do that 5 days a week, we're talking a pound every 7 weeks or so - and this assumes you don't eat any additional calories during this time period. If your goal is to lose 75 pounds, 1 pound every 7 weeks will leave you strolling 5 days/week for roughly the next decade. That's why diet has to come first and foremost if you want to see any realistic progress.

I'm not trying to make the case against exercise - far from it. I'm just saying exercise is relatively trivial when it comes to weight loss when compared to your diet and light exercise, while a great idea, is no substitute for a proper diet.

salevy

I used to walk on my lunch hour. I figured out that once around the whole building and back parking lots are one mile. So sometimes I did it once and sometimes I did it twice. I came back from my walk and had my lunch. Worked well.

Nedra19455

It's recommended that everybody get 30 min of vigorous activity (brisk walking counts) a day for weight management and a healthy heart. I would think that if you have an hour for lunch, a brisk 30-min walk would be a perfect way to help stay healthy and relieve stress during your workday. So jealous that you get an hour for lunch!

If you think walking will be your primary exercise, you might consider a fitness tracker. I have a Fitbit and it syncs directly with MFP and so I gain calories throughout the day as I am walking around. I eat back all my calories that I earn (the Fitbit is more accurate than MFP) and have still been losing weight.

ETA: when I say that I eat back my calories, I am still (usually) staying within the NET guideline for my weight loss goal from MFP. So I'm eating back my calories, but still have a deficit overall. I agree with others that tracking caloric input and maintaining a deficit is the most important part of weight loss.

DavPul

walking is not vigorous activity. it would have to be the briskiest of brisk walks to be considered "vigorous".