Does walking count as exercise!

Studies have shown that men who stare at boobs for an extended period of time will have better heart health and live longer. Any activity that increases blood flow is beneficial.

Thanks for that info. I'm off to flash my boobs at hubby. I'd love him around longer!

I can't believe this was even a question asked. Why the heck would walking not count as exercise? I try to walk for at least an hour a day just to get my heart going and to burn off some of those extra calories. I also use an online calculator when I walk, I don't trust the calc on a treadmill, they are set standard for a 150 pound man. A lot of us burn a lot more calories than that when walking. I also use a pedometer when I walk outside, but I try to walk at a 3mph pace at the least.

Hi guys!!

Well Someday's I run for about an hour and sometimes I go for long walks generally a couple of hours! But does walking count as exercise or not? Cause generally the days I'm walking I don't run!
Anyone??

Thanks

Yes! walking is exercise and is great cross training (along with swimming or cycling) when you need a break from running.

Once I got my Fitbit and started wearing it to work, I found out I've been averaging two miles on my feet every day, five days a week. Calculated over the amount of weeks I spend teaching, I average 360 miles per school year. And ever since I got the Fitbit, I've had 120 calories logged into MFP at the end of each day just by walking on my job. I'm totally counting that.

Some of these calorie estimates are way off the mark if all you're doing is casual walking. Intense power walking perhaps but definitely wrong estimates for your casual walking speed.

Curious where you all got your degree in superior calorie burning knowledge.

Things like this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respirometry

Which can in turn be used for things like this

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/diet-and-fitness/scientific-method-to-weight-loss-20110722-1hryb.html

HRM's are wildly inaccurate. Metabolic chambers are by the second accurate. So what they say is fact, is indeed fact. And I have yet to see one go higher than 16cal/min for someone doing cardio, and that was from a elite level athlete, which most everyone here is not, so their calorie burn will be far less. (not saying it can't happen, just haven't seen it yet)

so when you sit here and try and claim similar calorie burn to elite level cardio athletes from going for a walk, well, insert whatever word you want for it. but accurate is not one of them.

Funny how the experts have only been here for ten days! I wish I could learn all that infinite knowledge about strangers' calorie burns in ten days!!! :sad:

:laugh:

But I do agree that someone claiming close to 900 calories burned in 80 minutes of walking seems highly dubious unless you're doing something insane like carrying a 50 lb pack through the mountains and stopping and doing some air squats every 10 minutes.

edit - maybe it's close if you're like 300+ lbs and pushing at least a 4mph pace .... and if you're able to pull that off then kudos

I actually do all of that... except for the mountain portion of your example I replaced the "air squats" with "knee or waist deep snow", and my pace for "regular" walking was closer to 3MPH, but I was also on ice so even with my YakTrax my strides were inefficient.

and the more weight I lose, the heavier I make my pack for my hikes.

if you are unfit then yes. personally if my heart rate is below 150 i don't count it as exercise. while walking my heart rate is usually 90-100. that's too low for me to count.

Crap I'm in trouble. My HR stays at about 130-140 when I'm walking normal... yep normal. Yet that' not exercise. I'm hardly unfit.... quite the opposite in fact. Wow under 150 & it's not exercise? Over 150 for walking or most working out & you are kinda unfit more than I could be. Or you are just not walking fast. Average HR should get to about 120 while walking.

Funny how the experts have only been here for ten days! I wish I could learn all that infinite knowledge about strangers' calorie burns in ten days!!! :sad:

Ah yes, cause obviously the truth of linked facts don't become real facts until a set number of days pass on a weight loss website..

Let's not shoot the messenger folks! It takes someone who actually cares about others to say something unpopular that is actually helpful if you listen.l

Walking increases your tdee which means on the same food you will lose more weight.

But heart rate monitors are not good at estimating calorie burns from low intensity activities, and as stated above it is the calorie deficit that results in weight loss, not the activities you do.

One of the best things you can do for yourself is intense exercise, and for most of us walking simply does not qualify. You will lose weight as long as you run a calorie deficit, but to get fit you really need intense exercise. Can't run? Swim, jump rope, cycle, do circuits, whatever! Just get that heart rate up!

What can i say? Umm... I lost most of my weight from walking. I think that pretty much says it all.

you lost it from eating less calories than you burned...

walking, not walking, doesn't matter. create calorie deficit and you'll see the same end result.

Yes, create a calorie deficit, and you lose weight.

But, according to you, we all massively over estimate the amount of calories we burn from exercise - by following those evil HRMs, instead of your superior knowledge. So, how do we lose weight?

For example: I burned 1099 kCal by walking for 2 hours yesterday, according to my HRM (probably about 55 kCal by your methods). I ate that back last night. I do this on a regular basis. Exercise, then eat the calories that my HRM said I burned back.... And yet, I still lose weight!!

If your way was accurate and mine wasn't, I should have put on about 100 pounds by now!!

But hey, anyone who has made 110 posts in their first 10 days here deserves to be taken very, very seriously...

I also have to disagree with some of his logic, mainly because I would assume an elite athlete burns less in an hour of exercise than an out of shape person, based on my own experiences getting more and more fit and now struggling to burn as many calories in exercise.

At the same time, you own logic boils down to "I have lost weight therefore my theory must be correct". Which, if you think about it, makes no sense, because if you cut your estimated burn in half, and ate accordingly, you would still lose weight, which would "prove" the opposite. In both cases, the evidence doesn't support the claim or contradict it.

Also, he hasn't attacked anyone, so making fun of him for posting more than the average person is uncalled for. I do similar things when I get excited about a topic, because my brain doesn't work like yours. I know that from most people, directly questioning or contradicting someone's reasoning is taken as a personal attack, but those of us who for one reason or another struggle with nonverbal communication don't make that connection at all and it is very difficult for us to do what comes naturally to you. Give us a break and maybe a reminder. No need to deride.

yes

Yes, walking counts.

sandy_gee burned 857 calories doing 80 minutes of Walking Kayden with HRM

Yes. It most definitely counts.

Thats a higher burn than marathon runners and tour de france riders burn going full out..

your actual calorie burn in that time is closer to 150 calories. Maybe 200ish if you were power walking.

I don't know where you getting your information from but an 80 min casual or about 2 mph walk would burn around 400 calories whereas a 4 mph walk would be about 700ish. I also weigh over 200 lbs so I know that I get extra burn for that.

metabolic chamber data.

you're also forgetting the 2-3cal/min from BMR.

So your 80min of 400 calories is actually 160 prob once you subtract your BMR data. which is about 2cal/min as I said.

edit: actually that would still be high. 2cal would be more for the 4mph walking. Regardless, 400cal burned from exercise from a 80min 2mph walk is way too high. Simply not possible.

Thanks for your ever so welcomed input. I however am going to continue to refer to my HRM which has all my stats inputted into it, and knows what it's dealing with. I'm also going to continue believing it's more accurate than your random stats due to the 22lbs I've lost since I started adding it to my daily activities a month and a half ago.
I'm not sure where you got 2mph from, or how you seem to believe you know if I was walking on a flat surface or going up and down valley trails, but as I said, I'm going to stick with my HRM.
Kthx.

Your HRM is wrong. If you want to continue believing in the fairy tale that your calorie burns are that high, thats not my problem. I'm simply saying 16cal/min is about the upwards level of calorie burn possible by a male human all out. This is tested data. You're claiming around than that from walking. It's simply impossible. Like impossible you're burning that much.

http://www.bicycling.co.za/race-news/tour-de-france/tour-features/eating-for-the-tour-de-france/
"Most riders burn 600 to 900 calories an hour, says Ketchall"

you're claiming you're exercising at a higher intensity than tour de france riders basically. so lets think about this logically. Are you really going at an intensity far higher than any human has been tested at, or do you think maybe you effed up your HRM.

Then please explain how someone (me) who has walked 178 miles in the last 4 weeks, who burns an average (mode) of 7.5 kcal/minute while walking (1.5 kcal/min lying down, I'm rarely sitting or standing still), who has eaten back 35,070 exercise calories in the last 4 weeks, who has a target deficit of 1,125 kcal/day, has lost 9.8 pounds in the last 4 weeks.

Do to my chronic pain all I can do to exercise is walk, and yes it counts and works!

due to my job I don't get much exercise so when I walk I count it. There are times like 2 days a week that I stand for up to 5 hrs straight and I even count that as well.