Walking/Jogging, sucess stories?

Six years ago, I lost around 70 pounds by watching what I ate, logging it, and walking.....and walking.....and walking. I probably walked around 20 miles a week during the school year, and closer to 30 in the summer. I have gained some back, and am now working to re-lose about 15 pounds.....and THAT is tough!

After I had lost the weight, a guy friend asked me how I had done it. So I told him, "I walked my *kitten* off!" He turned me around, and whispered in my ear, "Literally!" Dave died about three months later, and this is my fondest memory of him. He was a big guy, and I think I was inspiring to him wanting to get healthier.

Kaye

I'd HARDLY call mine a success story, more of a work in progress, but here it goes:
When I started (January 1), I could barely run for 15 seconds without stopping and my heart rate getting to 195 bpm. Seriously. I mean, out of shape...to the max.
So I did treadmill time as long as I could (walking, walking at an incline, speed walking) as fast as I could for about three weeks when I started couch to 5k.
On Valentine's day, I did 6 miles of walking/jogging using couch to 5k week 3 (I did it three cycles to do all six miles). I can run for about 7 minutes straight now which is something I never thought I'd be able to do - especially not in 4 weeks time.
I've lost 24 lbs in almost 8 weeks, but I've also been lifting a lot of weights.

I started off in December 2012 at my highest weight of 86-87kgs and Now after three months I am 77kgs. All through walking and watching what I eat. I realized that there is no need to kill myself, I am bound to give up if I start to hate the idea of doing something so I stuck to just walking. I really enjoy walking at my own pace with a lot of music and different places. I walk from college to home which is about 30 minutes if I walk fast or 45 minutes if I walk slowly. I would walk everywhere whilst my friends would wait for the bus.
It really does help and guess what? You don't even realize your exercising, because walking is a basic life event :P
I would highly recommend walking and ditch the gym. I hate running or jogging, I have ankle problems. I would rather walk 4 hours than jog for 10 minutes and get tired!

I wouldn't quite call myself a success story (although pretty happy with 13lb in 6 weeks), but walking is the only exercise I do at the moment. To give you an idea of how much walking I do, I've just hit 100 miles for 2013 so far (only 28 days - don't walk every day), so I guess I'm only averaging out about 3 miles a day.

Other than that I have (mostly) given up alcohol and I'm (again mostly) careful about what I eat.

The only other thing I would say is that when I walk, I WALK - as fast as I can. I was really unfit before and my mile split on day 1 was 17 minutes plus. It's now a little over 14 minutes. Got to say I feel a lot better for it I'm using Endomondo on my Android phone and it's a brilliant motivator (plus syncs to MFP) ...

Good luck, hope this helps!

just a 30 minute walk can be beneficial. I am walking inside right now with a Walk It DVD and hoping this snow we have will melt soon so I can get out and about. I am really hesitant to walk outside now because of the icy patches and having fractured my ankle in 2 places a couple of years ago. The fractures are still healing. A clean break would have been better.
But yeah - go for it. I always feel better after a walk. There is a lot of people here on these boards that have lost a tremendous amount of weight by literally walking it off

I went to an amateur/semi-pro MMA meet a few months ago. I was surprised to look on the ticket and see the name of a good friend from high school. Last time I'd seen him, he was about 360 lbs. He was/is a pretty muscular guy--we played football together and boxed--but he also had a good gut going and some extra fat-baggage. Anyway. At the fight, he was fighting at about 250-260. I caught up to him after the fights and asked him what he was doing. He said he lost a good deal of his weight walking steep inclines for an hour or two a day and watching what he ate. I was simultaneously surprised and inspired. If I had more time to dedicate to walking, I'd do that. However, since I don't have much time during the day, I'm just doing things like JM 30 Day Shred and other short, high-intensity workouts.

Good luck to you.

I started walking at the beginning of this - April 2012. That turned into running and now I am training for my first 10K and then first half marathon. I have only lost 26ish pounds, but I stalled for about 3 months. And, I have gained a lot of muscle in my legs. Running is not for everyone and it really is a love/hate relationship. Just do it a little at a time when you feel like it and you will figure it all out. In June of 2012 I could not run a mile and last week I ran 5 and could have gone farther but was afraid to push it. Walking does wonders all by itself too. And, if you have children, it is something that they can do with you. My oldest rides his bike and I push my youngest in a stroller when I walk.

Keep up the excellent work. I have a number of friends that have started walking, which has turned into jogging, then running. We're all in our 60's and looking at doing a half marathon in June. My son started running last year (he's only 32). The first 5ks run/walk was completed in over an one hour. Now he's completed his first half marathon in under 2 hours.