Anybody Having Any Luck Walking

ME TOO!!! Something always comes up. I don't know how to carve out time for myself.:ohwell:

I use walking as my form of cardio. I use the walk away the pounds DVD's for indoor walking and I use my local colleges indoor walking track for when I want a change of scenery. I have had success over the past two years. My weight started out at 297 and today I am at 258. I watch what I eat and walk at least five times per week but try to do it seven days a week. During the week I walk about 3 - 6 miles a day and during the weekends I try to walk at least one mile. I am unable to do any high impact aerobics because I have severe asthma and an auto immune that causes a lot of joint pain so I have to stick to low impact. On my good days I will use the elliptical at a rather slow pace but I still use it.

Now that the weather is getting cool enough for me to actually be outside for more than a few minutes a day, I walk for 45 minutes a day 6 days a week (I figure walking around Walmart for a couple of hours on Sunday is a whole different thing) as well as doing my 1 hour of aerobics. Out here in the San Bois mountains, the roads have plenty of inclines and declines to make it more challenging and one of the many blessings of living out here in the country is that it's relatively safe for me to go on walkabout by myself. The worst thing that's happened to me is one of the neighbor's bull calves was on a walkabout of his own one day and decided he wanted to tag along :laugh: Black angus calves are quite adorable but having one right on your heels, slobbering down your back and butting your behind with it's head while you're trying to walk can be a whole different set of challenge :noway:

I have no problem being consistent, I love walking, but I have issues with it's effectiveness. Because of where I live, there are literally 'bumps in the road'. That barking dog that charges the fence, rock-strewn sidwalks, cars blaring their horns, uneven pavement, things like that tend to be pretty unnerving and it breaks my stride, which makes me wonder how efficient the work is. So I only walk outdoors on an early Sunday AM. Other than that, I'm on my tready.

Having said that, variety is the best friend of your exercise regimen, and if there's anything you can do so that when you don't FEEL like walking, or CAN'T walk outdoors, you have an alternative. A calisthenics routine is free. Video workouts are good, paired with some light freeweights. If you conduct a search on YouTube, using words like Zumba, Yoga, TaeBo, workout, you will turn up quite a bit, and it's all free - you just maximize the screen so that it's a good view, and work out.

I find the best way to put walking in my day is to make it functional.

So I walk to college and home again, to the supermarket etc.. Whenever its possible. Time wise Im lucky I live a 30 minute walk from college so by the time I walk to the bus stop, wait for the bus, get on the bus, wait while the bus stops and starts, Im only ahead by about 5-10 minutes from the walking me (if that makes sense! :ohwell: )

The other option is to park your car a 10 minute walk away and save $ on parking... then there's a 20 minute walk return, or get off the bus at an earlier stop.

Hope this gives you some ideas.