Weight Loss Through Walking..Should I even bother?

I'll start by saying that walking is good for you, and so I do think you should continue doing it. Exercise has lots of amazing health benefits. Unfortunately weight is lost in the kitchen. A 45 min walk really won't help for weight loss if you are still eating too many calories.

You don't need to starve yourself. If you pick a reasonable goal, you shouldn't be starving. You didn't mention your height or current weight, but unless you are particularly short, I'd suggest no more than a 1 lb per week rate of loss. Enter your stats into MFP, set a goal of 1 lb per week loss, and see what they suggest for your intake. Eat that much.

I, too, find logging and measuring tedious (I've never bothered weighing food). My preferred method is a LCHF diet (been doing it for three years now). The food keeps me satiated and so I end up eating less without having to count calories or log food (I did log at first to get a sense of how many carbs were in various foods, but after a time I found I didn't need to do that anymore). Lost 50 lbs without counting calories, or even logging beyond the first six weeks, and have kept it off easily. That said, some people don't like the idea of restricting any foods. If that is the case for you, then you likely will need to track and measure, and possibly start weighing, your food everyday. You already said it was tedious and your found it overwhelming, so that sounds like it would be unsustainable for you. Maybe try focusing on eating for satiety (usually this means more protein, fat, and fiber). There are lots of dietary frameworks that can help you create a deficit without counting every morsel you consume.

Tldr - keep walking, it's good for you, but you will still need to find a way to limit your intake if you want to lose weight.

Sorry, but you do have to weigh everything. And make sure you are accurately as best as possuble counting your walking burn. Fast walk, 4 mph, = about .53 x your weight. You might try recalculating your weight loss goal based on your lower weight, too. Once I dropped 30 pounds I had to recalibrate and eat even less.

krichard08 wrote: »

Hi All,

I have been on this weight loss journey for quite some time now. It's been a loooonnnnggg slooooow process (due to my own fault). I started at 215 lbs. a few years ago and managed to go down to 185 where I have been hanging out and stuck for a couple of years. I start one thing, try it for awhile and become discouraged and give up. I tried the Beachbody thing for a while with the 21 day fix and the 22 min. hard corp but I was not getting results at all. I became so frustrated that I stopped everything for a couple of months and decided to stop obsessing over losing weight and counting every single calorie and to try and use a common sense approach as of 3-4 weeks ago. I started brisk walking on my lunch breaks at work because I knew it was a routine that I could easily keep. I have an hour lunch break and I typically eat within the first 15 minutes and walk for the remaining 45 minutes. In that time I am averaging 3 miles. I do this every day M-F that it doesn't rain, and when it does rain, I take it to the treadmill that evening instead. In this time I have lost ZERO. I weighed myself this morning even though I REALLY REALLY didn't want to because I didn't want to become discouraged. Even though I am not strict and obsessive about my calories I am tracking them and log it in my diary. There are days that I do go over but not by HUGE margins. Do I need to starve myself? Do I need to go back to counting out every single thing that I put in my mouth? Because that became overwhelming and just tedious. Should I keep up with the walking or am I completely wasting my time? Is there anyone out there that has had success with moving the scale and fat cells this way?

If i were you i'd start actually getting serious about my logging. You cannot log half-heartedly and have days where you "go over" but "not by much". As far as i'm concerned, it is way too easy to completely undo a weeks worth of hard work (and calorie deficit) by these little days here and there.

Sounds to me like you need to shift your mindset from this frantic "i've got to lose all this weight right now or i'm just giving up!". This is both unhelpful and creating a negative self-fulfilling prophecy. I can tell by the way you've written this post:
"Do i need to starve?"
"Overwhelming and tedious"
"completely wasting time"
"stop obsessing"
"frustrated and obsessive"
etc.


These mind sets are not going to get you where you need to be and they are going to make this process absolutely miserable for you. If i were in your shoes this is what I would do.



Set SMART goals.

• SPECIFIC- Not "i want to lose weight", not "i want to get in shape", but VERY specific goals. "I want to be BMI X, 115 pounds, 18% body fat" , etc.
• MEASURABLE- I will lose x pounds, x inches, workout x times per week, and this is my plan to track these statistics. I.E. Here's a calendar, every M-W-F I workout, Every Sunday I weigh myself, Every 2 weeks I re-take my measurements, etc.
• ATTAINABLE- Your goal must actually be something you BELIEVE you can acheive and is actually something that's possible. For example, if you think you're going to lose 30 pounds in 30 days, sorry, that's not an attainable goal.
• REALISTIC- Is your goal realistic? Can you actually stick to working out 3 days a week? Can you actually eat the calorie goal needed to lose x pounds/x inches? Is it realistic to expect yourself to stick to these changes? What changes need to be made to your daily lifestyle or routine so you can actually maintain this? This is the step in which you look really hard at yourself and make any necessary changes to your plan.
• TIMELY- How long is this going to take? If you started right now, how long would it take for you to reach your goals? How often are you going to re-evaluate this goal and make sure you're on track?

What workout plan are you going to do? how many calories are you going to eat? What kind of foods do you need to purchase/stock up so you can stick to your plan? What days/time do you have available for exercise? What about cooking, how often are you going to do that? Are you going to get a food scale? Are you going to pre-log these items to ensure you know how many cals are going to be eaten that day?


This is what is needed for you to reach your goals. You need to decide if you're actually ready to reach them or not. Here's a favorite quote of mine:
“Change happens when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.”


― Tony Robbins


From reading your post it's unclear whether you actually want to change or if you're just happy, content, or complacent with where you are. If you were serious and ready to change the option of "just give up" and "taking 2 years off" wouldn't even cross your mind. So hopefully this can be a wake-up call for you. Decide now if you actually want to go all in and if the end goal is even worth it to you.


This process is not going to be easy. It's going to suck sometimes, but you are going to need that internal motivation and drive to make SMART Goals, follow through with them, and make any sacrifices you might need in order to reach your goal.


Now... to answer your question. If your goal is health, happiness, and so on... why would walking EVER be a waste of time? Or any exercise for that matter? Humans have not evolved to be sedentary, period. The general recommendation JUST FOR general health is 3x a week of intense cardiorespiratory exercise (jogging/running) for 20 minutes (60 minutes total) -or- 5x a week of low-moderate intensity cardiorespiratory exercise (walking briskly) for 30 minutes (150 minutes total). This is just to be a healthy human being, not to be physically fit.

Hope this helps

Walking has worked for me. I also started weight watchers at the same time, which really teaches you a balance about foods and incorporating eating more fruits / vegetables/ protein. Take the suggestions everyone says about nutrition here. I want to focus on the walking. It helps the body on the inside for sure just by doing it regularly. For me, what really helped me start lose pounds was to increase my walking. I bought a Fitbit HR and joined in on the challenges, for fun, and to motivate me to put in more steps daily, during the week, and over the weekend. It doesn't necessarily mean you have to go outside for this. You can stand in place, watching the news, or a favorite show, and just walk in place. Tune into a walking or exercise program on Youtube. This is a great way to build up those steps and to build muscle/stamina. When I began, my legs wore sore as I increased the steps, but they got stronger. I would intensify the goal, do 10,000 steps one week, and then maintain that. Then reach for the next badge you can earn, which is 15,000 steps. Take a rest week, lowering it back down to 10-13 thousand steps. Then try again to accelerate it. Let me say, when you do that, and watch what you eat, you begin to lose slow and steady, a pound here, two pounds, maybe three, a week at a time, Best way to do it too! I weighed 198 when I started about 8 weeks ago and have now lost around 13-15 lbs. I feel better and my clothes fit better. I still have a long way to go to reach my goal, but this works for me, and I think it can benefit you too.