walking

Raw07

My friend and I have decided to start walking every morning with our dogs. We have only gone twice and I forgot to bring my HRM watch >_<

My question is will walking 8 KM ( almost 5 miles) for 5 days a week, will that help us loose weight? With of course watching what we eat. We are also thinking of doing either zumba or bootcamp twice a week. Our most troublesome spot is of course our bellys.

It took us about 1 hour 40 minutes to walk it this morning, our goal is to walk it in an hour.

Any other tips or input will be very helpful.

Thanks

AmyBecky74

I'm by no means an expert but I believe walking is a wonderful excerise and if your just starting out I think walking is the best exercise to do. I do believe walking that much 5 days a week along with watching what you eat plus the additional exericse your thinking about will help you alot in losing weight. Good luck to you, it's hard work but it feels so good when you do it. :happy:

marsviolet

I lost my first 12kg or so doing nothing but walking and eating healthy. I then introduced Zumba, yoga and gym, only to add a bit of toning in because I'm worried about skin. Walking is fantastic

BrianSharpe

Walking 8km/5mi 5 days a week will help with weight loss inasmuch as you're burning extra calories. A number of years ago I dropped about 20lbs just by walking and cutting out snacks.

Having said that, diet is responsible for weight loss and exercise promotes improved fitness (which, in my opinion, is probably more important in and of it self than just weight loss). Your goal of walking 8km in an hour may be a bit ambitious (especially walking dogs, I don't know about yours but mine both like to take their sweet time and sniff every bush, fire hydrant and telephone pole on the route) and walking at 6km/h (4mph) is a pretty brisk pace.

Good luck & have fun!

lacroyx

walking is wonderful exercise. It was all I did when I started and I still do it to this day.

RealWomenLovePitbulls

walking most definately is good exercise!!

drgndancer

Short answer: Yes

Long answer: It's complicated. It's inevitable that someone is going to jump on this thread and give you some variation on "you don't have to exercise to lose weight" or "Exercise doesn't burn fat, a calorie deficit does." These are both true statements. You lose weight by burning more calories than you consume. You could do this by eating very little and sitting on your butt. That said, when it come to weight loss, exercise gives you one huge benefit. It increases the number of calories that you burn. You can use that one of two ways. You can either eat more and still lose weight, or you can lose weight faster while eating the same number of calories. Beyond this exercise has its own rewards, as fitter people tend to live longer and more healthy lives regardless of weight.

As a very rough estimate, an average person burns around 80-90 calories a mile walking briskly. So on average, after your walk, you have an extra 400ish calories to play with. Additional exercise will give you additional caloric benefit. If you are very heavy, you'll burn more calories doing whatever you do (it take more energy to move more weight). You decide whether to eat those calories back or let them contribute to your calorie deficit. It generally doesn't matter which one you do, but there are two times that I'd personally recommend eating them:

1) If you work out very hard, or very often, then I'd recommend eating at least some exercise calories. This doesn't affect you now, but if later on you decide to train for a distance run (like a 10K or half marathon) or start one of the more intense Boot Camp style programs (Like Insanity or P90X), it's something to keep in mind. Intense training requires fuel, even when you're trying to lose weight.

2) If you are already on an extreme deficit (like you set MFP up to have you lose 2 pounds a week), you probably don't want to go any further into deficit. Starving yourself reaches a point of diminishing returns pretty quickly. Eat your exercise calories for sure in this case.

Stark105

My Dr told me that walking was great, however he did tell me that he wanted to see me walking with 30lbs of weights. Was told to get weights that velcro on and weight plates to insert in them. Start of gradually, but in the end 10 lbs each leg and 5 lbs each arm. Have fun!!!!

deb3129

Yes, walking is a GREAT way to lose weight. I lost over 100 pounds a long time ago and never did any exercise except walking. And this time I am down just over 80, and it has all been just walking.

sterphy

I lost my first 10 lbs with walking 4 miles a day/6 days a week. Now that my body has adjusted to that I've incorporated running/walking intervals. It is amazing how strong I feel now and how much more energy I have from a little exercise. Also I have a heart rate monitor and when I walk I always try to stay in the 150-168 range and burn more cals that way. In my opinion, it's a great form of exercise. Good luck!

Raw07

Thank you all for your input! Its really encouraging to hear that people have walk away the weight
8 km (5 miles) for me is awesome and a very nice walk. Just for those of you who are wondering my dog is a 6 month old german shepard cross. Once i hit a certain point out of town i let her run free and she is still not tired by the time we get home lol I cant wait to try running/walking intervals!

Thanks so much, I really hope walking will help me it seems to be the only thing I wake up in the morning to do and dont feel like its a chore!

Good luck to all your weight loss!