Walking as only exercise?

I only walk. And I walk sloooooow. But I walk an hour a day, and have been feeling much better, I think it could be bad to just jump into an intense workout regime if you're not ready for it, I plan to just walk until I've lost 30-40 pounds and there's less stress on my knees....I have the knees of a 95 year old.

I think just walking can be great, especially at first. If anything, it;s better than sitting on the couch.

In my opinion, any exercise is better than none. However, your body is very used to walking (you aren't challenging yourself, so you won't see results all that quickly). Moreover, variety is extremely important to fitness. Not only will it keep things interesting, but it will keep your body guessing which will lead you to see results more quickly. Try adding in a minute of walking lunges, jogging, butt-kicks and the like every once in a while. It will increase your heart rate and maximize the benefits of your workout. Good for you for fitting in exercise with so little free time!

All I did was walk the first few months and as the lbs shed I began to incorporate other exercises and am now doing Jillian Michael's 30 day shred in the comfort of my own home.I say as long as you are moving you are on a road to succcess ^u^ Good luck doll!!

My sister shrank from a size 22 to a size 14 in about 8 months just through walking and eating even more crap than usual. Of course, her walking was all up VERY steep hills and she tends to do it for like 3hours a day walking from one town to the next with the dog to tend to the horses... And she does not have a fast motabolism, she was always fat before, from infancy! So yes, slimming using only walking is possible, but you'll probably see a much slower loss than her...

When I first started, I only walked. It seemed so hard. I didn't walk very long or very far. In fact, I had to break it up into many short walks during the day to get anything out of it. As time went on, I wanted to challenge myself more. I added different things at different times to my routine. I started to wake up earlier so I could do Zumba or Wii Fit. I bought a weight bench. I do all my workouts at home now (except the walking), but all I did was start waking up earlier. Build up and push yourself to different levels. Even if you want to stick with only walking- walk faster, further, find some hills or stairs, but for progress you have to keep pushing yourself.

Walking is a great way to lose weight.

Another way to make it challenging is to carry a set of weights with you (3lb - 10lb) depending on how much you can hold. When I walk and carry my weights I slowly lift my arms to the side, hold for 10 seconds, lift straight up above my head, hold, then pump one arm up and down at a time (almost like a shoulder press) about 15 times on each arm, take my arms back out to shoulder height, then drop down to my waist. I alternate between that and pumping my arms in front of my body cross my chest and straight out. Gets my heart rate up and helps tone the muscles in my arms. I repeat the motions for as long as I can, then I quit. Rarely do I count them as reps or anything.

For the first 7-9 months all I did was walk. I lost around 70-75 lbs but ended up hitting the wall. That is when I started to jog. I would walk from 30 to 120 mins 4-6 times week. Its one of the best low impact workouts you can do. Im down 123 lbs and still have yet to step 1 foot in a gym.

Good luck!

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Up until 2012, I spent 2 years in bed, per doctor's orders. I walk, and that's pretty much the only exercise I get, except for the occasional session of yoga. I lose just fine.

You can, but eventually you are going to get fit, and have to walk longer and longer distances just to keep the same calorie burn as before.

I personally reccomend a mix of walking and strength training.. since strength training helps retain lean muscle mass, and keeps your metabolsim up.

There are two issues to think of apart from your body getting more efficient in walking and losing less calories.

1. Reduced burn as your weight drops. If I go for a walk today I'm carrying 30lbs less than April, so I burn less calories for the same walk, unless I carry a backpack with 30 pounds of rocks - so I have to walk for a longer time or try to walk faster.

2.Available time. Right now it's hard to find more than 1 hour a day when I can walk.[I'm on call 16 hours a day, and can't be away from my home office a lot of the time]. Some days I can get 2 hours- but its random. So maybe I have to find something that burns faster then walking and add more strenous weight workouts. I can't run outside - I have an ankle injury that puts my at risk - I do have a treadmill that hasn't been used for years and may have to push/motivate myself to try low impact jogging on it. I am motivated for outside walking, treadmills make me cringe. I do see people that are doing over 40,000 steps a day - no idea how you find that time for that since my max was 20,000, and I have to push to find the time for 10,000.

Any exercise is better than none at all...you are lapping everyone on the couch!

I'm 51 and I walk for 20 minutes 4 times a week also at work on break and it has worked just fine for me. Your biggest thing will be your calorie intake so enjoy your journey