Has anyone lost a lot of weight just walking for exercise?

lizk17
lizk17 Posts: 10 Member
edited September 22 in Fitness and Exercise
I started this journey (again) about 7 weeks ago and am committed to conquering this battle
once and for all! I tried to start slow by first logging every day and then added in reducing calories
a little bit more each week to ease into it, I have been doing well so far and have lost 18 pounds!

Two weeks ago I added exercise into the mix and am trying to walk 30 minutes at least 5 days
a week and also make sure that I get over 10,000 steps in on my walking days. I know I will probably
have to add in some strength training at some point down the road to build muscle and tone up
but, I was wondering if there is anyone here who has lost a lot of weight (I have over 100 to lose)
by just doing walking.

I have been reading the posts and it seems that so many people burn 600 - 1000 calories a day
with exercise. Even on the days that I am super ambitious and walk for an hour I only burn a few
hundred calories.

Replies

  • ZeltaFrost
    ZeltaFrost Posts: 21
    im pretty sure if u walk almost everyday and keep a good diet ull loose weight. tho ive been walkin wit my dad and he says he gained 5lbs. but then again he eats alot more then he walks
  • kthom
    kthom Posts: 175
    You are doing great. The thing about exercise is that the more you do the more you can, and want to, do. You keep adding to the intensity until you are burning hundreds of calories a session. When I started I could not have ran on the treadmill for ten minutes at 5 mph now I run 40 minutes at 6 mph regularly. Keep walking and as you get more fit and lose more weight you will find that you want to add more intensity to your workouts. Walking is great exercise and lots of people lose lots of weight doing it.
  • modernfemme
    modernfemme Posts: 454 Member
    According to Dr. Weil, brisk walks is super healthy for you. Keep on keeping on! I do half my workouts with brisk walks and the other half yoga.

    The reason for this is that if you strengthen as well as lose weight, you're going to tone up, lose itches, and avoid that flabby skin problem some people have by avoiding strength training. You can get some pretty inexpensive yoga dvds on amazon. I recommend anything by Ana Bret.

    Have fun!
  • vickiele1
    vickiele1 Posts: 394 Member
    When I started my journey, June 25th, I didn' t know about MFP. so, I just began by reducing my food intake (as best as i could). I avoided all alcohol, wheat products, and most beef. I started walking 2 miles in the morning and 2 miles at night with my newly adopted dog, Willow. It took me nearly an hour to walk 2 miles to begin with. I am 56 years old, and have arthritis in both knees. I continued to use walking as my sole form of exercise until my dog became ill - she got a virus and I was worried about her, so wouldn't go walking because I didn't want to leave her alone and I didn't want to make her walk either. So, then I got a recumbent bike in September. But by that time, I had already reduced my weight by nearly 30 lbs. Since then, I have added a few exercise DVD's (Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred - a really tough workout), and a few others. I have found now that I can walk over 5 miles in about 70 minutes. So, walking does work. It is a great exercise - works many major muscle groups in the body all at the same time, provides variety (if you can walk outside anyway) which is important to most people, and it burns calories decently. Just push yourself a little harder each time and you will continue to see results.

    Vickie
  • lkwilkey
    lkwilkey Posts: 56
    the only exercise I get is walking.....Ive lost 31lbs to date....
  • qwho
    qwho Posts: 157
    I lost my weight by counting calories and walking, and I have lost 30 pounds, it shows it can be done. You record everything you eat and meet your calorie goals and continue to walk and you will be successful, wtg!
  • turbojanem
    turbojanem Posts: 285
    there are many ways to lose. and there are many that chose to exercise more, so they can eat more. there isn't a formula that works for all people...different body types, chemistry's, health issues.

    can you lose all your weight with just walking. maybe. but you are correct that to get toned, you will need to strenght train. for me, almost 60 pounds down over the course of 3 years, and carrying a good bit in my belly...i really wish i had been doing a serious ab workout all along. wow...it moves more than Santa's belly. i'm only about 10 pounds away from my "goal", have had no children....just self induced stretched abs from all of my emotional eating.

    with all that said, i strongly suggest that you start toning with light weights for your arms and ab work when you are able to. the weight will come off easier and you will be happier with the end result.

    cheering you on!
    Jane
  • Holton
    Holton Posts: 1,018
    Walking is my primary form of exercise. I just try to really push myself harder and after 3/4 of a year of this have added some 1 min. jogs within my walks. Walking is a great form of exercise to lose weight. Just be sure you are walking briskly, swing those arms and push yourself to do a little more week after week. Enjoy the beauty of nature while you are outside too!
  • Ckonner
    Ckonner Posts: 101 Member
    How do you know you are just burning a couple of hundred calories on your walks? Are you using a Heart Rate Monitor? You might be under estimating your calories burn.
  • BernieMBurke
    BernieMBurke Posts: 206 Member
    Most of my exercise has been walking. Over the last 8 months, I've picked up pace from 3.0 miles per hour to 4.25 miles per hour (walked 8.5 miles in 2 hours this morning). I have been doing a small bit of running, a little elliptical, and I climb anywhere from 20 to 50 flights of stairs during the work week. Still, a good 80%+ has been walking.
  • Pandemonium
    Pandemonium Posts: 63
    I can happily say that I have lost 35 pounds by cleaning up my diet and walking on my treadmill.

    So, yes, you can loose weight by walking.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,412 Member
    Yep, I lost most of my original 52 pounds by walking. It's free. . .I agee that it is excellent exercise and that you will naturally begin to go faster and walk longer. If you have hills where you live, start walking up and down them, it works as well as flat-ground running.

    Good job on the exercising!
  • fitnesspirateninja
    fitnesspirateninja Posts: 667 Member
    I lost 30 pounds last year by walking and counting calories. I gained some back because I stopped doing both!

    Walking is my main form of exercise, and so far I've lost six pounds. I think it's really good for you!
  • AmandaR910
    AmandaR910 Posts: 991
    Brisk walking is great. For my warm up at the gym, I walk a brisk uphill mile and I definitely feel like it helps.
  • EmmieSu
    EmmieSu Posts: 136
    Yes, you can. I started using Leslie Sansone's walk at Home DVDs, 13 days ago, and have lost 5 lbs. It's enjoyable and you can do it at your own pace. You can find the dvds t Wal-Mart. Good luck on your new journey. ( i eally love Walk at Home)
  • halobender
    halobender Posts: 780 Member
    About 15 years ago my mom decided that she wanted to begin living a healthier lifestyle, so she changed her diet and she and my step-dad bought a treadmill. She walked regularly, at least five miles a day, and in only a couple of months she lost 40 pounds.

    In reflection she says at that time she was starving herself to get to that goal, but now-a-days she runs several miles a week (she was running far more regularly, but she's attending school again, so she doesn't have time, unfortunately) and has competed in half marathons.

    So it's entirely possible. Just remember not to starve yourself. But who knows, maybe in a few years you'll be running, too.
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
    I am writing this without reading all the other responses, so forgive me if I missed something cause I am simply attempting to answer the question. :drinker:

    After my mom gained a lot of weight from having me, she actually stayed kind of big for a few years. It wasn't until we moved from IN to NC when she started losing weight, and that was when I was 7 years old. At any rate, what she did was watch her calories, watch her sugar intake, cut out the coffee (she was a big time coffee drinker, and that was tons of extra calories from the sugar, creamer, etc), and walked around the neighborhood we moved to. Our neighborhood is basically a big circle with a couple of hills, and a couple of times around is a mile. She would talk this everyday.

    I have no idea how much she weighed back then, but I can honestly say that by looking at her pictures, she literally dropped half of her original size.

    She started doing other things later after dropping the weight, though. When you lose as much weight as she did without doing some sort of resistance training, you see some extra skin just hanging there. I convinced her to do Power 90 with me since that is how I started losing weight back in 2007. It worked for me, so I let her borrow my DVDs. Power 90 has cardio training as well as weight training. She used that to tone up her body and is now about a size 10 (she's 5'11" tall) which is what she was after dropping all the weight. The difference is, other than having toned muscle, is that her labs at the doctor have vastly improved.

    So, yes, I think you CAN definitely lose weight by dieting and consistently burn calories just walking for exercise. However, I also believe that once you drop the weight and get into better shape, it is important to broaden your horizons when it comes to exercise so you can not only improve your weight, but your overall health.
  • lizk17
    lizk17 Posts: 10 Member
    Wow...This was my first question that I asked on these boards and I can't believe so many people took time to respond! Thank you all so much for the advice and encouragement! So it sounds like I can keep walking for now and as I lose weight will probably be able to increase the intensity and add in the toning...These boards are great :-)
  • biglazydog
    biglazydog Posts: 15 Member
    I have lost 8lbs with walking. I started the last week in September. I walk three times a week, but at a very brisk pace thanks to my lab.
  • mamastuck
    mamastuck Posts: 131
    I just started Leslie Sansones walk at home. I feel better let me tell you. I can feel the difference in just one week. Its a struggle but I am happy to be struggling
  • sharenj
    sharenj Posts: 4
    Keep up the great work and need to know...how's your dog now?:smile:
  • catrinpersephone
    catrinpersephone Posts: 30
    Ooh I walk about 3-4 (sometimes five) times a week, for either half and hour or an hour with only one gym session per week and just eating healthy and I really have been losing! Good luck :)
  • lyntart
    lyntart Posts: 1
    I read an article mentioning tt e difference btw calorie loss for running and walking is not big. What really matters is e duration . So just pick ur most preferred exercise and increase e duration ! I'm sure ull lose alot of weight! Good luck!!
  • srcurran
    srcurran Posts: 208 Member
    A friend of mine walks many miles a week and has lost over 50 pounds so far. It can be done.
  • BoresEasily
    BoresEasily Posts: 582
    lyntart,

    I can go one step further. Runner's world posted an article on a study between the calories burned between walking and running and at 5MPH walking you actually burn more than you do while running and at 5.5MPH it's even more. The reason for this is because the body is pushing itself that much harder to sustain the pace.

    Here's the article.
    http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-242-304-311-8402-0,00.html
  • BoresEasily
    BoresEasily Posts: 582
    Not many people are able to move quite that quickly though, it's very difficult to do.
  • mrsewert
    mrsewert Posts: 430 Member
    I lost 55 lbs after I had my youngest daughter just walking and doing walk away the pounds DVD's. I was also on WW's at the time. :)
  • superwmn
    superwmn Posts: 936
    I only burn about 200 calories each day. Do what you love. Do it daily. Repeat forever. That's all that matters :)

    Charmagne
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