Why do people disregard walking?

the only exercise I do is walking and I don't care what people say about it

I expected rudeness.....you are the ignorance I speak of.....THANK YOU for proving my point.

Where was the rudeness? You asked a question and I gave you the answer from my perspective. Surely you did not think everyone would think that Walking DVDs are great?

As for ignorance, I think you are confused about what that means. I actually think walking (actual walking outside, not a treadmill or DVD) is a great way to get in some cardio, relax, and get to know your neighborhood.

Sorry if you already covered this but there are too many pages to go back and read. Why do you think that walking on a treadmill or to a DVD is not a great way to get in some cardio?

It is not that you cannot get in cardio in those ways, but rather that you are paying money for something so basic and natural to human function. I can understand specific instances why these two methods would be preferred to actual walking, but outside of those reasons it is a bit of a head scratcher.

Allergies or asthma could make walking indoor prefereable. Having small children, living in a dangerous neighborhood, liking to watch TV as a distraction, living in a climate or terrain that makes outside not pleasant, I can think of dozens of reasons, including simply different strokes for different folks.

I walk by myself and with my kids. I think walking is great exercise. Anytime you get out there and commit yourself to some kind of exercise its good. I do try to mix it up but walking is just another tool to stay fit and lose weight.

Fantastic! I am aiming to lose 50 lbs and am happiest to walk, not jog. I do use the elliptical at the gym sometimes but not happily! I love walking in the neighbourhood and am worried as winter is coming.

Hi, there. I too am a walker, I walk every morning & try to get another walk in every evening & am upping the mileage every day. I will say that from a recent appointment with my doctor, she informed me that a new study came out stating that leisurely walking does absolutely nothing for weight loss. She suggested walking leisurely for 1 minute, then a brisk walk or jog for 2 minutes & repeat, or something like this, depending on how long you can briskly walk/jog comfortably & still feel motivated enough afterwards to keep doing it. Just a thought.

Keep it up, fellow walkers! Get that heart rate a-goin'!

Don't pay them any attention, walking is a good way to exercise. If it's something that you enjoy doing and stick with, that's what's important.

Are you getting the results you want? I love walking and have been getting the results I want, but I don't feel like it can continue to be my only source of exercise.

There are merits to walking every day, but resistance training and other cardio is really going to help you as you get closer to your goal. I'm just to the point where I have started doing those things again.

Again if you are getting the results you want, ignore negative outside forces.

I think if you're counting walking around your house as exercise it's a cop out but if you didn't exercise, and you started going on hour long walks every day and you are walking a lot more that you were in your previous life etc. then why isn't it exercise?!?

From what I've seen, this can tend to be one of the reasons some people scoff at the idea of walking as exercise.

Sometimes you'll get people who will want to count their "incidental" walking- walking done for the sake of accomplishing other things, such as chores and shopping. This isn't bad, because any additional activity is good when you're trying ot be active. The issue is how you categorize and log it accurately because the stop-and-go nature of the activities means you can't use the total time to determine the duration of the exercise. Because it's hard to quantify, it means you're at greater risk of overestimating what you've burned.

I may be at the grocery store for an hour, but that doesn't mean I was walking for an hour (especially on crowded days). That's why I like to use a pedometer to measure my walking during the course of my normal day.

On the flip-side, you have dedicated walking that is done specifically as a workout in its own right. This kind of activity is much more easily quantified and, therefore, easier to log with a greater degree of accuracy. When I walk for exercise, I know I walked X distance in Y minutes without stopping so I have an average speed to use when calculating my activity.

Everybody walks every day. It's just that the other 7 billion of us don't call it "exercise."

Perhaps. But then we look at nations (or cities) where folks walk a lot. Not huge obesity problems there....

Does it matter if it's called exercise? The mantra here is: eat less move more. Walking is moving.


fwiw: I alternate running, cycling and walking. I don't disregard any of them (nor my weight lifting).

Everybody walks every day. It's just that the other 7 billion of us don't call it "exercise."

Perhaps. But then we look at nations (or cities) where folks walk a lot. Not huge obesity problems there....

Does it matter if it's called exercise?

What matters is I that get my typing calories.

ditto!:drinker: