Has anyone had success with walking for exercise?

Day 80, walking 2.5 miles every morning. Lost 15 lbs, 6 inches and down nearly 1 size. Started at 18/20 and now into 16. I disagree about the knees. My knees were buckling under my weight and popping out of joint and I was struggling with stairs. Take ostobiflex every day and my knees and weak ankles are in great shape. I can run down the stairs now no problem. We are meant to walk a lot. World health organization recommends 10,000 steps A Day for optimum health. When I first started this felt like a huge hurdle but now, 2 months later no problem. Also when you walk every day your body knows how to trim the inches in the hips, thighs and waist because you are using those muscles for better balance as you walk. I am 100% a walker, with balance ball and yoga. That's all I do. Watch me lose this next 100 lbs.

Happy Stepping everyone!!!

blkandwhite77 wrote: »

Where do you all find the time to walk so many miles??? I can barely squeeze out an hour 3-4 a week to go to the gym! Once it's no longer 110 degrees outside I want to start walking at home but I'm going to be lucky to get in a half hour a day to walk.

I am not an outdoorsy/nature person, near 100% of my miles take place indoors. I do park far away in parking lots to get more steps but that's about the extant of my outdoorsy adventures.

I'd say 3-5k is what I get from just my every day living steps. The rest is deliberate stepping, typically pacing around in my living space for an hour or two while watching tv or playing on my phone or tablet (and I am fortunate that my space is quite large and has a layout/flow that makes walking/running around not too dissimilar from a small walking/running track at a gym).

I just don't do a lot of sitting during my screen time much at all anymore, and I never sit when talking on the phone.

I personally would find walking (and running too) whether inside or outside to be super boring if my screen time wasn't practically married to the activity. I don't think I'd be able to sustain setting aside some special time to just go on a walk, like in my neighborhood or in nature or whatever. Not more often than once in a very great while, anyway. That's just not me, I'm not big on nature or being outdoors for its own sake so I'm not motivated in the least to make time for it. That may change but I really seriously doubt it.

And that's really what matters, I think, knowing yourself well enough to know what you will and will not adhere to.

I walk around 25-35k steps per day, I started with c25k program but would get tired easily so I shifted to a mix of walking + cycling + elleptical almost every day. I went from 3-4 k steps per day to around 30k . Walking really helps but the duration needs to be around 1 hour or more as the heart rate will not be that high. I lost 47 pounds but the last 20 I have achieved with walking a lot and I was losing faster than before. I spend around 3-4 hours walking.

I'll add my two cents. I have psoriatic arthritis and osteoarthritis in my lower spine - walking is my God-send and saving grace. I would rather run, but that's not in the cards for me at this point. My Ortho, Rheumy and GP ALL recommend walking vs being on an elliptical or bike. That's in large part due to my circumstances. However they recommend I walk on a treadmill or an actual walking track for the shock absorption as it is easier on my joints and spine.

Generally speaking, yes you burn more calories being on an elliptical or bike vs FLAT walking. However once you start adding in incline percentages, that changes the game. I can burn more calories walking at an incline (and not killing my joints or spine) than I can being on a bike or elliptical.

You look great!

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

DeeDiddyGee 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

You started your diet on March 1 and are down 115 lbs?!? Wow! Is that March 1, 2015? Regardless, you look GREATTTTTT!!!

Thanks so much! And yes, March 2015! I was extremely determined and never went over 1200 calories for 6 months. Now I'm at 1500 calories with about 23 lbs left I want to lose.

<--- Walks 5 miles a day, and not much else. I LOVE walking.

blkandwhite77 wrote: »

Where do you all find the time to walk so many miles??? I can barely squeeze out an hour 3-4 a week to go to the gym! Once it's no longer 110 degrees outside I want to start walking at home but I'm going to be lucky to get in a half hour a day to walk.

With a pedometer, it's quite surprising how much one can actually walk in a day.

jamesha100 wrote: »

I bought a step counter about six months ago and it was an eye opener. On days when I was working from home and not walking my daughter to school I would average less than 3,000 steps! Even on more active days I would rarely break 5,000 so pretty sedentary.

I worked up to 10,000 a day and now do this every day (apart from days that I do significant other fitness activities like cycling). I feel being more active has helped me with my weight loss. The great thing about walking with a tracker is that I can do it at any time without putting on special kit or getting so sweaty that I have to shower.

Another benefit is I find walking elevates my mood. I normally walk for 40 minutes before breakfast and it sets me up for the day. I am thinking about starting running and feel that my walking has given me a good base for this.

Love this! WTG. I am 68 years old and most of my activity is walking. Have lost 40 lbs and now I walk so fast that I even break out into a "jog" occasionally. I jogged 10 mins in a row a day or so ago.

Walking has been very effective for me. I've lost 55 lbs+ in the last 11 months with walking as my only real exercise. I started at 270, I'm down to 215, and my initial goal of 180 looks attainable now.

The nice thing about walking is there's no time wasted on prep-work. I grab my dog and shoes, and out the door we go. If I went to the gym, I'd have to drive 15 minutes, go to the locker room, and get changed into my gym clothes. By the time I hit the floor I'd have probably wasted about 20 minutes. After the workout, I'd need to shower, fix my hair and get back into street clothes, then drive home, another 30 minute commitment. So going to the gym to work out for 1 hour would entail 50 minutes of completely wasted time. With walking I don't need special clothes, and (except for really hot days) don't get sweaty enough to necessitate extra showers, although on hot days I'll do my shower post-afternoon-workout every day anyway.

The point is, in the amount of time I waste getting to/from the gym and changing and the like at the gym, I could've walked 3 miles!

Bump

I've been increasing my walking since Jan 2015, and started CI<CO in April 2015. I do about 18,000 steps a day.

I started running in September, and can now do a 5K.

I eat back 50-75% of my exercise calories, which is about 500-750 extra a day. I'm never starving!

My latest progress pic:

Power walking is my favorite/main form of exercise. I've lost 35 pounds, but mostly from calorie deficit. But walking 4-5 miles at a quick pace (13 min. mile) has not only helped kick up the calorie burning, but also has given me legs of steel!

Walking really helped at the start of my weightloss journey, but I don't think its helping me now. I feel like I eat way more on walking days :-( I tend to do better when I do a quick intense workout (half an hour to an hour) instead of two hours getting my 10,000 steps.