Walking the weight off

A counsellor recommended hiking and I thought I would try it even though I have a heel spur. Sure sometimes my foot gets sore but mostly I have improved endurance and fitness and last night the sunset was so beautiful I was so glad I was out enjoying the trail! We saw a group of deer too! I needed something to replace my warm weather cycling and hiking fits the bill. I figured the walking would keep the Christmas calories at bay too, and it has.

TheLadyBane wrote: »

If you enjoy walking you might enjoy http://www.walking4fun.com/my-walk/. You can log in and choose a virtual trail to walk. You log your distance every time you walk and it will show you pictures of what you would have seen if you had been walking the trail you chose. It is a neat way to see different places and I found it motivating. I was excited to do a lot of hiking this past summer just so I could finish the trail, which was 140.7 miles!

Thank you for that link, I have signed up and started on a trail. Bonus: it syncs with my fitbit automatically!

When I started walking this last time I was in bad shape and could hardly get out of a car without help. Due to stability issues when walking on a trail I moved to the paved county road down a steep hill to the state highway that is an 1/8 mile walk one way or 1/4 mile round trip. It took a lot of stops to make it back up the steep hill at first so the dog had time to chase deer, rabbit, etc.:) Most days now I can power walk 1/2 mile (two laps) but I do at least one lap regardless of when I get home.

What I love about walking is if one is mobile at all you can start walking even if it is 10 feet at first. Earlier in the year I was back up to 250 again and then got down to 230 just by not eating late at night and not pigging out at the many dinners like at church and other places mainly by leaving of desert and not drinking sugar water drinks. Then I got down to 220 so as the pounds go down walking is easier and my legs are much stronger and thinner.

Walking out in the open and any time I wish is great. Not real big on gyms and the funky smelling locker rooms. Besides walking is most anyone needs to do to get into better shape and is very doable. This time around I am only eating and working out in a manner I can do it the rest of my life. In the past I have stopped walking in the winter but this time around I plan to walk if there is not ice on the hill.

My motivation: My Fitbit back on July 4th of 2013 (first Flex, then Force, then when Force died, back to my Flex and now Flex & Garmin Vivofit). I use Runkeeper as well. Reason I continue to use Fitbit is the perks (rewards/$$). I walk at least an hour a day sometimes more. Started walking to push the weight loss to and then over the 100 lb mark. Now I walk to maintain my loss/stay at goal weight.