Is walking a legitimate exercise?

I sure hope the 98 miles I walked last month was an exercise, or I sure wasted a lot of time!

Funny. Nope, you didn't waste any time. However, having to explain how walking could be exercise may be a waste of time.
And kudos on 98 miles - wow.

Yes

I don't consider it to be on the same level as running for my body and I don't independently log it. However, I aim to get ~10,000 steps a day with my FitBit which inputs some of this back into MFP as exercise.

I have Fibromyalgia and running is really hard on my body on certain days. Walking is an alternative to sitting around watching Netflix because I feel too ****ty to do much else.

I don't consider it to be on the same level as running for my body and I don't independently log it. However, I aim to get ~10,000 steps a day with my FitBit which inputs some of this back into MFP as exercise.

I have Fibromyalgia and running is really hard on my body on certain days. Walking is an alternative to sitting around watching Netflix because I feel too ****ty to do much else.

I disagree with that part. I can't do much running right now. Doctor's orders because my knees have been replaced with a bunch of junkyard scrap metal. Initially I thought walking was stupid. I now walk 10-12 miles, uphill, 6 days a week. Even at my best there's no way I could run that. Does walking take longer? Yes. Given how long I can sustain either exercise, does walking burn more calories than running? You bet it does.

Race walking is an olympic event. There are thousands of people around the globe who are in great shape, and use walking as their primary form of exercise. You can walk for a stroll, but if you want to you can REALLY push walking into a conditioning exercise that will challenge the hell out of you. Speed or race walking works your body in a completely different way than running or jogging. Two of my best friends are runners, both are lighter than me, yet they can not keep up with me when I'm walking at a fast pace (and that's slower than my full on exercise pace). Other speed walkers have similar stories.

For those interested in walking as a form of serious, challenging exercise, check this site out:
http://www.racewalk.com/howto/introduction.asp

But you do not have to take it to the point of speed walking in order to get many of the benefits of walking. It's a great form of exercise, period.

I have met far too many old people (I mean, like... *really* old people) who credit loads of walking with their continued abilities to do things like live independently and, ya know... continue being actually alive, to think that walking isn't good enough as exercise. If all you do is walk, you're still way better off than you would be if all you do is hang out watching TV.

My grandmother, who is 88 this month, has had walking as her sole form of exercise for several decades. I was told she actually use to be heavier but, along with her older sister, went on a diet back in the 70s and slimmed down. Walking is the only exercise she does.

She's in better shape, and is more active and agile, than the majority of her 10 children.

That's how I lost 30 pounds along with a diet deficit. It wasn't even super fast. I put both kids on their bikes, the Chihuahua on a leash and we would walk 2 miles around the neighborhood every evening.

I think it's a great place to start. I push myself on my walks, and at some point pushing myself is going to get me into jogging and then into running.

Thats what did it for me! walking.... but I would get impatient and started jogging. NOW I walk for pleasure and jog and run to push myself. Walking is a GREAT form of exercise, as long as it is raising your heart rate. To tone or sculpt you need other exercises but walking is a great cardio work out.

I'm sick and tired of people saying "walking won't get you in shape", and "that's not exercise". What's your view on this subject? I walked two miles today. Was that exercise?

Did you push yourself? For some people walking two miles is work. For others it's not. I don't call it exercise for me. For you it may be. It depends.

What I was gonna say.

I walked my first twenty pounds off after surgery; it was all i was allowed to do. starting with five minutes a day and working my way up to an hour and gradually increasing the pace. I have lost thirty pounds so far and while I doing more intense cardio now, I still walk everyday. Some days, like today, it is the only exercise I get.

Yes, it is exercise. Yes, it improves your cardiac and general fitness. And yes, you can lose weight through a combination of calorie intake management and walking, without any other exercise.

Yep! It's how I stayed in shape while preggers with both boys. I didn't want to kick box or overheat myself with a traditional workout. BTW, that was a personal choice every woman needs to make her own.

I walk 6 hours a week minimum. It probably despite 3 gym sessions a week the walking probably burns the majority of my calories. The faster the pace you go the more you will burn to be sure. But you will still burn as long as your not pc plodding along.