walking!!

For me that small amount of exercise helps maintain my motivation to go to my once-a-week aerobics class. If I didn't do a bit of walking everyday, I suspect I'd easily find excuses to miss the class.

Don't make the mistake I did today though and go for a brisk walk up a steep hill, with baby on back, feel really proud of yourself, then get home famished because you've done so much exercise and then tuck into a bacon sandwich... kinda defeats the object!

I'm new here. I've tried the diet thing before, but lost the will power to do it soon after starting. This time i am committed to losing weight. I was wondering if walking at a medium pace is workout enough. I heard that walking is the best excercise, but has it paid off for anyone? I can't afford a gym membership right now, so I think for me it's the best thing. Any input is great!! Thanks!!

I walk home from work a couple of days a week rain or shine and it's a great stress reliever. I do prefer a bit more intensity i.e. jogging/running which I do on my actual workout days with my trainer. I would suggest walking at a medium pace to start off and then building up to a brisk pace. You wanna break a sweat . Try different terrain, go uphill, etc. And if you're brave, you can start jogging too!

Oh and you don't need to join a gym to get a good workout. If you can get a couple of free weights to do resistance training at home once or twice a week, you're well on your way. Park benches, stairs....there's so many things you can do outside!

I used to walk my dog 5-6 days a week about 3 miles a day, I wasn't walkng fast, it would take us about 45 minutes to that distance, and I would say i lost about 10 lbs in a six week time period, and that was all I did. Good luck to you!

Yes! Walking is great. A 30 minute walk 4 times a week was the ONLY exercise I got for the first couple months I was here and I lost about a pound a week consistently. I really think if I had started out at the gym or something, I would have burned out too quickly and gave up like all the other times. But walking started me out slow, and got me in better shape to try other exercises.

I started by going for a 30 minute walk on my lunch break at work. It was a nice escape to get away from my desk and enjoy some fresh air and sunshine. I would pop in my Ipod and just forget all my stresses. It became something I actually looked forward to doing. At first my shins really hurt, at the end of my walk they hurt really bad and I couldn't go very far, but within a few weeks I noticed the pain lessening and within a couple months the pain was totally gone. I've since done an 8K and a 10K and I can keep up with people when we're walking a long ways.

Then I started walking at a local park on the weekends and I saw a lot of bikers, so that inspired me to buy a bike from Target and start riding.....so then THAT became my main source of exercise and it was fun. Now that winter is here I joined a gym, and I do the stationary bike, the treadmill (running, I never thought I would run more than a minute) and circuit training, but I can't wait for warmer weather to walk and bike again.

So yes walking is great because it raises your heart beat, helps tone a lot (especially if you pump your arms and/or use some small weights) and its low impact so it won't do any damage to your joints. So get out there and walk, and ya never know what other exercises it could lead to, but even if it doesn't, walking is still a great work out.

but to make sure that you loose weight you have to do at least 45 minutes of cardio 5 times a week but even little exercise can keep new weight from coming on

I dont necessary believe this at all. I lost about 40lbs with hardly exercising, just walking somedays if i felt like it, do a video if i felt like it, some weeks i'd do nothing, just changed my diet, and none of it came back for the first time!! When I worked out a lot a few years ago and lost weight, as soon as i stopped working out the weight all came back on!! So my believe is fix the diet first, then add exercise into it!!

When I started walking, for the first several months, I walked at Wal-Mart or Target. There is not a mall nearby and it was too hot to walk outside. I would get a basket and push it as quickly as I could (which was NOT fast by any stretch of the imagination!) After awhile I felt stronger and was walking better so I added 100 pounds of Kitty Litter to the basket and pushed it for about an hour.

You asked if walking by itself was "effective."

My ticker tells the tale. I lost 50 lbs. in 8 months using walking as my only exercise. During the summer I was doing 24-30 miles per week. I am now doing strength training for toning, but walking is still my cardio exercise of choice. I don't belong to a gym and don't plan to join one. I am not a fan of walking in the rain, so during the rainy season, I have been walking in a shopping mall. When weather permits, I walk with my three pesky little doggies. Their pace isn't as fast as me walking on my own, but I still do ok.

The two most important points to walking are a safe place to walk, and good shoes. Then, "just do it." A pedometer can help you keep track of things, but I don't use one. I drive the routes that I walk in my neighborhood. By keeping track of my time when I walk, I can figure what my speed is, which allows me to use the exercise database to calculate my calories.

Good luck with your walking program.