Has anyone had success with walking for exercise?
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When I got my fit bit zip I weighed 155. I have tweaked my diet (cut out cokes and junk food) and all I do is walk. I can walk up to 10 miles a day. Two years later I'm 125-130. Overall I'm down 55+ pounds.0
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aeharvey36 wrote: »When I got my fit bit zip I weighed 155. I have tweaked my diet (cut out cokes and junk food) and all I do is walk. I can walk up to 10 miles a day. Two years later I'm 125-130. Overall I'm down 55+ pounds.
Awesome!!!! Your story and the others, totally give me hope, and I'm going to continue doing, what I have been doing, counting steps, and not eat back my exercise calories, it truly seems like the longer you stay with it, you can have days were you eat more calories, and it's not a devastating blow to your diet.
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All I am able to do is walk; and at times not even that due to pain. I have been walking and tracking with MFP and have lost just over 50lbs in just under 6 months. It can be done...my motivation is to stay as healthy as I can given the circumstances...and the fear of serious health conditions such as diabetes and heart disease ( both run in my family)...and of course being here for my beautiful children and amazing hubby! 0
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shizmcnally wrote: »Yes! I started my diet March 1, went on the elliptical everyday until it got warm enough to walk and now I walk at least 10,000 steps a day. Usually more like 13k (stopped using the elliptical altogether, unless it's too hot out). I'm down 115 lbs as of today-eating 1200 calories. I'm 5'8 and 28 years old. Here's my before and after.
SW: 299
CW: 185
GW: 160
Great work !
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I supplement walking with other exercising (lifting and kickboxing) that I do on a daily basis. Walking doesn't need instruction, a membership, etc.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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Yes, I have been successful, although it depends on how much weight you have to lose as to how hard your body needs to work in order to walk, and therefore how many calories you burn doing it. I am 6'2", was about 5kg overweight and lost 10kg in 10 weeks.
BUT - weight loss is 80% nutrition, 20% exercise. I was on a diet plan at the time called the CSIRO total wellbeing diet, which is basically low-ish calorie, high-ish protein, moderate carb diet plan by Australia's government science body, so I'd already cut out the processed rubbish which helped enormously. I think the calorie restriction/diet is what made me lose weight, but the walking kept me going. Walking is amazing and in my experience made me feel really positive and invigorated and motivated, because it was something I was good at (hah! Well I ought to be, because I'm a human and it's my primary form of locomotion!), and being outdoors in the fresh air (or even in the rain!) feels great. I think the very achievable half-hour walks on weeknights kept me on track with my diet, because it felt good and got me fit enough to do 1-1.5 beach walks on Saturdays and Sundays, and THOSE walks were probably enough to start burning real calories towards weight loss.
Walk every day. Definitely do it. But as they say, you can't outrun a bad diet - nutrition is important, too.0 -
islandgrrrl wrote: »shizmcnally wrote: »Yes! I started my diet March 1, went on the elliptical everyday until it got warm enough to walk and now I walk at least 10,000 steps a day. Usually more like 13k (stopped using the elliptical altogether, unless it's too hot out). I'm down 115 lbs as of today-eating 1200 calories. I'm 5'8 and 28 years old. Here's my before and after.
SW: 299
CW: 185
GW: 160
Great work !
Thanks so much!0 -
78 pounds lost here and I pretty much only walk for exercise.0
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I dropped 100+ lbs. For the first 80 lbs, walking was my main activity, as my knees cannot take running. For the remaining 20 lbs, I joined a gym, and jumped onto the elliptical, and hit the weights. I also did a long walk on weekends.
Most importantly though, I maintained an overall calorie deficit.
Walking as exercise is great, but regardless of the exercise you do, without an accompanying net calorie deficit, you won't lose weight.
ETA- See profile for before/after pics0 -
Another walker here! I use the Leslie Sansone Walk Away the Pounds DVDs six days a week, and I supplement them by carrying and using small hand weights. Although losing 53 pounds has lightened up the load on my bad knees, it's the only exercise I feel "safe" doing (I have a recumbent bike, but I feel I get more of an all over workout with the DVDs). I agree that it's mostly been diet that has helped me lose the weight, BUT, I do eat my exercise calories back: I bank them for the weekend when my husband and I go out, or we have a family dinner with our daughter. Still lost weight, because even doing that, I was/am still at a deficit.
I love it! Good luck to you!0 -
Walking is pretty much all I do, except 30 mins of cycling on an exercise bike each evening. I've lost 55lbs in 7 months.
I do around 2 hours walking with my dogs each day.0 -
queenliz99 wrote: »I work for an orthopedic surgeon and every day he tells people that walking is good for the heart but bad for the knees. While it provides a cardio burn, it does nothing for strengthening your legs. You'd be better off on a bike or an elliptical.
Oh my fricken stars! Are you kidding me? We've been walking on two feet for millions of years and now we have to ride a bike or use a elliptical because of some supposed expert. Not buying it.
Our ancestors did not walk on the kind of surfaces we do. There is a stark difference between the kind of walking we were evolved to do and the kind we do now. Ask any soccer player or marathoner what crazy amounts of walking/running can do to your knees.
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I didn't mean for that to come across as discouraging. I meant is more like this - walking is excellent for you provided you supplement it with other workouts. Excessive walking/running may damage your knees and in general, you'd do well to keep surprising your body with different workouts.0
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I lost my first 45 pounds primarily by tracking my calories and walking (4-6 miles a day).
Eventually, I honestly just got bored and one day just started jogging during my walk. It was then that I learned just how out of shape I was. Since then I've picked up a Couch-2-5k program, do some HIIT a couple days a week and am incorporating more strength training. (I still go for walks during my work lunch).
So yes, you can have success with walking as your only source of exercise, but you might find that success to be defined as a higher level of fitness that lets you enjoy other more strenuous forms of exercise0 -
Yes is it my main form of exercise usually on the treadmill or pushing my baby in the stroller around the neighborhood. It doesn't burn a lot of calories (only about 100 in 30 minutes or so), but it motivates me to eat better too since I am being active.0
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Most of my exercise is walking / hiking, up to 40 miles in a day many times over hills etc.
It's good for you, gets you some fresh air and can definitely help. What I would be careful of though, is vastly over estimating the exertion and calorie burns. Find an amount that works for you. As you improve , you will burn less so bear that in mind. I use mapmywalk to keep track of distance / time and have clocked over 2k miles so far this year
I would recommend doing some resistance training also as it can really help keep your LBM
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I have lost a little more than 50 lbs and I mainly walk. I have a treadmill at home that I do "speed" days and "hill" days. I walk outside in my neighborhood and when boredom hits, I also use the Leslie Sansone Walk-Away-the-Pounds series to break up the pattern.0
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PeachyCarol wrote: »I've lost 16 more pounds since this was taken, but this before and during needs a bit of explanation. The before isn't really a true before. I weigh about 190 there. I was 210 when I started on MFP. That 190 is without exercise, though.
I'm 163 in the during picture, and that's with a lot of walking and some strength training. But mostly walking. I've now started running, but still primarily walk every day.
The bathing suit bottom in the picture? It's too loose now.
Dont' mean to derail this thread but. Oh my. You are doing a great job and looking fabulous. Your boobs look great in those tops... I don't know why I felt the need to state that. lol. Congrats! I love seeing diaries and success with people close to my age.
OP, Yes, I've walked for losing weight also. It's relaxing and stress relieving (sp).
Best of luck!0 -
yardprincess wrote: »I would encourage you to walk (I love it for more than physical exercise - it's one way to think, breathe, connect with the outside world and if a friend comes along, you can maintain a conversation). BUT I would also encourage you to not eat back any calories you spend from walking AND I would also encourage you to mix things up a little bit with light weight training - if you can. I used to only walk as I dislike running, but lately I have added some weight training (push ups, body squats, etc). and that has made a great difference in how I feel in both muscles and metabolically. Good luck!
Great advice here! I lost the first 90 pounds with walking and staying in my calories. The next 50 pound loss was due to walking, staying in my calories, and adding whatever sounded fun or interesting. Body weight exercises like squats, planks, pushups (I couldn't squat until after I lost the first 100, it hurt my knees too bad), adding elliptical, TRX classes, online videos, hiking, swimming- anything that sounded different but fun, I gave it a try. I think mixing it up was very helpful. :-)
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queenliz99 wrote: »I work for an orthopedic surgeon and every day he tells people that walking is good for the heart but bad for the knees. While it provides a cardio burn, it does nothing for strengthening your legs. You'd be better off on a bike or an elliptical.
Oh my fricken stars! Are you kidding me? We've been walking on two feet for millions of years and now we have to ride a bike or use a elliptical because of some supposed expert. Not buying it.
With arthritis in both knees, walking can aggravate them and sometimes be very painful. Cycling is much easier on the knees which I can sustain for longer periods of time. The expert is right. (and cycling does strengthen the quads)
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115 lbs down, and my only activity is walking, and pretty leisurely walking at that. I have been using a fitbit to track activity during the majority of my weight loss, a little over a year now. I walk anywhere from 10k-25k steps a day. Usually 15k.
I attribute my weight loss to controlling my calorie intake, but Fitbit has motivated me to move a lot, and syncing it with MFP has helped me understand that I can eat more and still lose quite a bit at a steady rate than I originally thought I could. It actually took me a while for that idea to compute.
I also think my legs, butt, and obliques have benefited physically and aesthetically from walking. Though I'm sure a weight program would produce superior results, I think walking has produced some noticeable results, more than doing nothing at all would have, anyway.0 -
Rehobobound wrote: »queenliz99 wrote: »I work for an orthopedic surgeon and every day he tells people that walking is good for the heart but bad for the knees. While it provides a cardio burn, it does nothing for strengthening your legs. You'd be better off on a bike or an elliptical.
Oh my fricken stars! Are you kidding me? We've been walking on two feet for millions of years and now we have to ride a bike or use a elliptical because of some supposed expert. Not buying it.
With arthritis in both knees, walking can aggravate them and sometimes be very painful. Cycling is much easier on the knees which I can sustain for longer periods of time. The expert is right. (and cycling does strengthen the quads)
That is good that cycling is your form of exercise. Protecting the knee is important, they need last a lifetime. I get that. The poster in above quote said that walking is good for the heart but bad for the knees and cycling would be better. Not everyone has access to a bike and ellipticals, unless you own one or belong to a gym, are not that great for you either. Ellipticals cause repetitive use injuries. So her comment was a sweeping statement and wanted to point that out.0 -
queenliz99 wrote: »I hike daily and have been for years but to lose weight you need to be in a caloric deficit. Walking is for heath and well being. It took me 20 years to figure that out, you can not out exercise over eating.
This is also what I've learned.
I used to do a lot of exercise to lose weight. This last time realising that the old strategy always let me down eventually, i took exercise out of the equation. Exercise of the kind i used to do which was mainly a lot of running or even long walks.
I lost most of my weight without exercise.
I am exercising now but for health primarily. I also do a little running for fitness but not very much. I love my routine so i'll explain it. I have a 3km long beach. I also have a dog now who needs to walk every day. So we go to the beach in the afternoon. I don't do this every day but sometimes i might run for a stretch. When i started the running i just did short bursts as fast as i could. Like interval training i think. And after a while i can run at a good pace for a longer distance. So this strategy has definitley improved my fitness. Also note when i walk, i do try to walk fairly fast most of the time.
I would suggest that a routine of this kind is a really good routine. To make it work long term, you probably want to make sure you have somewhere nice to walk. For me, i have a beautiful beach but its the dog that motivates me to go every day. If i didn't have the dog, i wouldn't go every day.
I think about 30 minutes a day is enough. If you want to learn more about the sprinting theory there's a program on you tube you can watch by Michael Mosley called Exercise. This is the idea that inspired my exercise regime. Its called HIIT but my version is a little more relaxed than his.
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I work for an orthopedic surgeon and every day he tells people that walking is good for the heart but bad for the knees. While it provides a cardio burn, it does nothing for strengthening your legs. You'd be better off on a bike or an elliptical.
Well who can argue with a doctor. I will. Yes its bad for your knees if you are overweight. This is why i say get the weight off first then start your exercise.
So walking for a normal weight person is not bad for hte knees. And its good for your bones. Better than bike or elliptical. If you are carrying a lot of weight, and you want to exercise then do something that is not so demanding on your joints like walking.
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I love this thread! I hate running and have always tried to like it but I just don't. I hate it! Ha. Anyway, I was also curious about the responses to the OP and so far I am encouraged and informed.
To add my two cents I would encourage weight lifting/strength training to the routine (if possible) it has given me favorable results so far and I only started a few months ago.
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I have lost a total of 12 pounds since June 1St by walking. I still eat what I want I just do it in smaller portions. I am 5FT tall and stick to 1420 calories per day. My weight loss is slow but I am doing it in a very safe and happy way.0
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I love this thread! Thanks to the OP for asking and for all the great responses. I have tried to start running, though I don't really enjoy it so I do find it hard to get motivated to do it. Walking however is something I can do, even when I'm tired. I think pacing is important, too leisurely will burn calories but not a lot. So I try to walk very briskly when outside, even slog ( = slow jogging) if I have the energy and try to find a hill or two to add some resistance. I also like to ride my bike, though I'm out of practice so it really challenges me ATM. I'm saving up for a treadmill so I can still do my walking on those colder days coming up in the winter when sidewalks will get icy and slightly treacherous. I'm hoping it'll be enough to show all the work I'm doing with weight training (which I love = seriously, I could lift all day) and get the scale to go down as well.0
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Wow! This is all so inspiring! I'm about 5 weeks in on my program & informally I know I've lost at least 10 lbs because I jumped on the scale midday & wearing shoes at one of my school sites where I was subbing this week. (I'm only weighing every 10 weeks because it's better for me to just enjoy the process right now...) And walking is my thing. I do know I have to go above & beyond 10k because I'm habituated to that as a school sub. So I do 100k a week and that last 30k paired with calorie awareness & cleaner eating seems to be working very well.0
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queenliz99 wrote: »I work for an orthopedic surgeon and every day he tells people that walking is good for the heart but bad for the knees. While it provides a cardio burn, it does nothing for strengthening your legs. You'd be better off on a bike or an elliptical.
Oh my fricken stars! Are you kidding me? We've been walking on two feet for millions of years and now we have to ride a bike or use a elliptical because of some supposed expert. Not buying it.
My ortho told me that walking is a wonderful way to get exercise.0 -
beverlyjlarson wrote: »queenliz99 wrote: »I work for an orthopedic surgeon and every day he tells people that walking is good for the heart but bad for the knees. While it provides a cardio burn, it does nothing for strengthening your legs. You'd be better off on a bike or an elliptical.
Oh my fricken stars! Are you kidding me? We've been walking on two feet for millions of years and now we have to ride a bike or use a elliptical because of some supposed expert. Not buying it.
My ortho told me that walking is a wonderful way to get exercise.
I know. My orthopedist told me the same thing. It was a strange statement from the previous poster.0
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