Thank you Walking

lakshva wrote: »

Awesome! Thats my only exercise and still trying to make it a habit. Can you also tell how much you walk/Cals burned daily?

I have a Polar V800 that tracks all my activity. When I do my power walks I wear the heart rate monitor. It calculates my calories for all my activities, and I average 500 to 1,000 calories per day between my power walks and other activities each day. I don't eat near that many back, and now I am training myself to eat right without logging. I am 1 lb. away from the top end of my healthy weight range, and 19 lbs. away from my goal weight.

Thank you everyone for the replies.

Over a year ago I had to have surgery to remove about 8 inches of my colon from diverticulitis. My surgeon (and other doctors) told me I had to lose weight, and recommended walking.

So, I started walking my butt off, and have been doing it ever since. I was obese, and now I'm not, and I think walking actually saved my life.

Pre surgery, I was told I had COPD, an enlarged part at the bottom of my heart, high cholesterol, at risk for diabetes, and other things related to being obese and out of shape. Mostly all the doctors recommended exercise and that walking was about the best exercise a person could do.

now, all my blood work is normal, and I can walk at a cardio pace (even in zone 5 for short times) for up to 7 miles, and I'm 58 years old.

I feel middle aged again...

tincanonastring wrote: »

Nice progress, OP. Did you make any other significant changes to your lifestyle? Have you tried incorporating any other types of cardio or explored strength training?

Yes. I started biking and kayaking in the summer, but mostly just walking. I recently got a Weider version of the Total Gym which I am starting to do a couple times a week for muscular exercise.

tincanonastring wrote: »

bcalvanese wrote: »

tincanonastring wrote: »

Nice progress, OP. Did you make any other significant changes to your lifestyle? Have you tried incorporating any other types of cardio or explored strength training?

Yes. I started biking and kayaking in the summer, but mostly just walking. I recently got a Weider version of the Total Gym which I am starting to do a couple times a week for muscular exercise.

Nice. I used to stick with only cardio and didn't realize what I was missing with the strength training. I can't say enough good things about it. What about nutrition? Did you change your diet at all when you started increasing your physical activity?

When I first started I had to lay down for an hour after walking 1 mile at a slow pace, I was so out of shape, I couldn't even get a training effect, so I had to log all my food because I was not burning all that many calories. After months of paining my way to being able to get a training effect I was burning a lot more calories because I could do it faster and longer, so at that point I just started ball parking my calories. Now I am training myself to eat right without logging. I had a couple lb. hiccup but am back on track with losing a lb. a week without logging.

I have always liked nutritious foods, and just keep the treats to a minimum. Over all I eat more now than I used to, and don't have to feel hungry all the time.

I take the army approach... stay fit... eat a variety of food (to get all your body needs)... and you will be healthy and maintain a healthy body weight.