adding walking as excersize

I started doing it cause I almost went over and I actually DID walk today but it just sounds so lame lol im sorry

whats everyones stance on adding walking or light excersize? it technically counts but its so light.

Why would walking not count?

I don't really do it for exercise. I do it for recovery or because I have something to think about or because I'm bored or because it's a nice day and I want to be outside. That doesn't mean it's not exercise for someone else.

I try to walk for 30 min every day at a pace of 3 to 3.5 mph. I love being outside. Today I worked out at the gym on a treadmill for the first time because it's strangely cold and rainy here. It was soooo boring being indoors. I prefer the fresh air. I think it's excellent exercise.

Walking can be exercise and I don't personally feel it should be overlooked. It may not burn as many calories as say running, but it still has an impact (just a smaller one).

I love walking and it's an easy exercise for me to do with my 2yr old son. I try to walk at least 3 miles everyday when the weather is nice. Sometimes my walks end up being 5+ miles.

How significant is this in your daily activity? Is it considered as part of your base daily calories as "light activity"?

I'll give you an example: I don't register my daily commute to work by bicycle. It takes about 35 minutes, round trip, easy pace. It is insignificant compared to the 60-240 minutes of moderate/hard riding that I actually record accurately, so I simply ignore it.

If your walking is significant compared to the rest of your activity, by all means record it! I have friends who were very overweight and that is all they could do - and went from walking a city block to 1 hour, to jogging, to running. Without those early steps there would have been no progression.

Walking is great! Even when I'm tired, I find I always have enough energy for a walk. I can do an hour at a time on the elliptical runner, but that can feel like drudgery. When I go outside and walk I hear birds chirping and children laughing, feel the breeze on my skin, and notice that the trees are leafing out and the flowers are starting to bloom. And the best part... everyone once in a while I find money in the gutter!

Do you mean like....walking to and from your car, walking from the bedroom to the bathroom, walking through the grocery store? Or walking as in....I'm going to take a 30 minute walk? If it's the latter, I don't see why that's a problem. If it is the normal walking you do throughout the day, don't log it, it's already worked into your activity level.

Do you mean like....walking to and from your car, walking from the bedroom to the bathroom, walking through the grocery store? Or walking as in....I'm going to take a 30 minute walk? If it's the latter, I don't see why that's a problem. If it is the normal walking you do throughout the day, don't log it, it's already worked into your activity level.

I don't recall any questions about whether I walked or drove to the grocer's when setting my activity level; there was one about how much activity I did at work, and one about how much exercise I do in a week (which doesn't influence the calorie allowance MFP gives, since they expect you to log that as you do it).

Where in the process did it as about how much of your commuting about town was walking?

I checked my activity level as sedentary because, aside from some strength training, I pretty much am.

My rule as to whether I log a walk or not is the following:
If it's a walk anyone would do, it's part of my normal daily burn and I don't log it. Otherwise, I log it.

For instance, my grocery store is ~15 mins away and I figure anyone would go there on foot, so I don't log it. On the other hand I walk to/from work 3-4 times a week and it's a one hour walk to get there, so I log that since most would take public transportation.

Been working for me.

I have a FitBit, which calculates my daily activity, most of which is walking. I set my MFP to lightly active and I generally burn approx. 200 calories over that. So yes, walking can make a real difference.

I don't know about 'light'. I can burn 350 calories or more in one hour on the treadmill at the gym (I even reached 425 two weeks ago). I'd rather walk outside though, but even then, I do 3 miles in 45 minutes and there are some hills... it's still pretty good exercise. And I do it every day. Clearly, it's helped me.

I walk roughly 3 miles a day as part of my usual daily routine and the vasty amjority of this is at a quick pace. I deliberately underestimate it and I log about 1/3 of this so it recognises that I am doing the excercise, but I don't feel that it's a comfort zone of net calories this way.

walking is how I have lost most of my weight. i walk like six miles or more a day. i make it my new thing now to walk to my local mcdonalds for their yummy parfait. it is 2.6 miles away. Plus i go for a second walk after dinner too. walking is great. :drinker:

I walk 5 miles per day at 4.0-4.5 mph. I log that as exercise. I also try to maximize the walking about I do during the day - I move quickly, I always take the stairs, I deliberately park at the back of the parking lot, etc. I don't log any of that.

Fitness walking (which is my 5 miles per day) is excellent low-impact cardiovascular exercise. Don't dis it.

I log walking - of course it is exercise.

I don't mean I log walking to the car etc - but if I walk to work or take the dog for a walk then I log it, anything 10 minutes or more of continuous walking.
It doesn't burn a huge amount of calories for the time taken, I think it is 34 calories for 10 minutes medium pace - of course something like running for 20 minutes would burn more than walking for 20 minutes - but it still counts.

One of the biggest promotions in Australia in terms of getting the population healthy was to encourage 'incidental exercise' like walking up the stairs instead of taking the lifts, parking further away in the parking lot and walking to the shop entrance etc - in other words for people who do no exercise, every little additional bit helps.

Like PP said, some of us are not trying to body build or become elite athletes.
but taking an 'all or nothing' approach to exercise (ie if Im not going to run a marathon or join a gym, its not worth doing anything) is counter productive to those people.