Walking

Can I hear from people who walk to lose weight? How long and how far do you walk and how long to it take to notice a difference? I’m dieting and walking.

Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    edited April 2019
    eiei2019 wrote: »
    Can I hear from people who walk to lose weight? How long and how far do you walk and how long to it take to notice a difference? I’m dieting and walking.

    Your diet is going to have a far more profound impact on your weight loss than walking or any other exercise. Regular exercise, including walking is good for your overall cardiovascular health and your overall well being.

    I walk my dog pretty much every morning for about 1 mile and I regularly get in 10K+ steps per day just with general movement. I also enjoy riding my bike, doing a little hiking, some rock climbing here and there and playing around in the pool. I lift weights 2-3x per week. I have lost weight, maintained weight, and gained weight doing that...the difference is always my diet, not my exercise.

    ETA: when I first started back to fitness and losing weight, walking was the only exercise I did
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    I walk for its health benefits, as I'm not a big fan of exercise other than that and casual biking. I don't even factor it into my daily allotment because it's so little burn, so focus on what you're eating. I do have more stamina now, and that's mainly the reason I picked up walking regularly during lunch.
  • Roobyzooby
    Roobyzooby Posts: 189 Member
    I walk daily, usually about 8 kilometers. I logged and counted my calories and lost 8 stone and kept it off for almost 2 years now. I do think the walking helped me loose some of the weight, but mostly for me it helped me to look better, the walking kept me toned as the weight dropped off.
  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
    I started walking 25 minutes a day. Now I shoot for 2 hours. If I get at least 90 minutes in, it's "good enough". When the weather doesn't cooperate or it gets dark early in winter, I have a GazelleEdge glider in my basement that I use instead.

    I should probably point out that as a shortish (5'3") woman, the 250 or so calories I burn per hour of walking at 3.5mph help me stick to my calorie deficit a bit better. I'm on 1340 to lose 1/2 lb per week before exercise and I find that if I don't exercise, I miss not having more to play with.
  • PapillonNoire
    PapillonNoire Posts: 76 Member
    I started walking for maintenance purposes because I wasn't happy with the amount of calories I got, and I'm not someone who really enjoys most exercise. I average about 15k to 20k steps per day and it's added several hundred calories to my TDEE. Walking has made a huge difference in making my weight loss sustainable.
  • rickiimarieee
    rickiimarieee Posts: 2,212 Member
    I recommend using Map My Walk or something along those lines to see how many calories you burned but weight loss happens from your diet. Calories in, calories out. As long as you stay with your calories you should lose, walking will help you with your health and give you some extra calories to eat.
  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,244 Member
    edited April 2019
    I walk. For about 100cal to 300cals a day.

    Your question about how long it took to make a difference is not correctly stated and doesn't make sense. You lose weight if you consume less calories than you burn. Burning comes from existing plus from intentional movement like walking. You can walk all day long for a month and still gain if you eat more calories than you burn.
  • lindamtuck2018
    lindamtuck2018 Posts: 9,837 Member
    Right now I have a 2 pound a week loss set and this gives me 1200 calories a day. I have a 100 pounds to lose still. Walking is not only good for me but it allows me to eat more calories. So to answer your question does walking make a difference to me. If I didn’t have those exercise calories staying at 1200 calories would be difficult.

    When I started walking at the beginning of February I could only go for about 10 minutes. Today I walked for an hour. When you ask how long did it take to notice a difference, do you mean stamina wise or how you look?
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    I get up and go for walks throughout the day. I can go almost a mile in a 15 minute break. It's both a lucky and unlucky thing that my job has tons of downtime. I submit a code change, it's an hour until I get the result. I try to multitask but a lot of things can only be done after another thing is finished. So I'll walk up to 5 miles a day sometimes, which is 400 calories burned at my weight.
  • williamjohn8811
    williamjohn8811 Posts: 2 Member
    How many walk need for daily I weight Body 175lb please guide me schedule. I am very upset.
  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
    Why are you upset?

    There's no one-size-fits-all. Technically, you don't "need" to exercise at all. But it's good for you.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    How many walk need for daily I weight Body 175lb please guide me schedule. I am very upset.

    You burn about 60 calories for every mile you walk.

    You have to walk enough to burn the right number of calories to eat enough food for you to feel ok. If you're eating a lot of broccoli and lettuce, that stuff can be filling. If you love iced cream, it's a lot of calories and doesn't make you less hungry. Days when you have treats like that, you should walk more.

    But you can't just walk 16 hours a day. So you'll have to find balance.

    You can do this. It sounds like a lot at first, but you wind up easing into it.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,254 Member
    edited April 2019
    How many walk need for daily I weight Body 175lb please guide me schedule. I am very upset.

    I really don't understand the question.

    You lose or gain weight based on the BALANCE between how many Calories you eat and how many Calories you spend.

    Calories IN are determined by the food and drink you consume and have the biggest impact because you can consume a lot of calories in a very small amount of time.

    Calories OUT are determined by your activity and exercise. They are important, of course, but it takes a lot of time and effort to make a large change to your calories out, and you can easily out-fork and out-spoon your attempts to out-walk your food choices.

    For good health, you should exercise, at least moderately, for at least 150 minutes a week according to the WHO. More than that will be even better for your health. A fast walk qualifies as moderate exercise.

    A person who walks less than 5,000 steps in total during a day is considered by most standards to be fairly sedentary.

    A person who walks up to say 7,500 steps in total during a day is considered by MFP activity setting standards to be fairly active.

    A person who walks up to say 12,500 steps in total during a day is considered by MFP activity standards to be active

    And a person who walks more than say 15,500 steps in total during a day would probably be exceeding the MFP very active setting.

    Personally, when I first started out, I tried to go for a 20 minute walk before work, during my lunch break, and after work. My walk times and duration changed substantially over the years and I no longer structure my walks that way, but the "three times a day" structure helped me out when I was building up from completely sedentary to lightly active.
  • lalalacroix
    lalalacroix Posts: 834 Member
    I walk, actually hike, 3-5 days per week. I earn about 150 calories per mile hiked but I am hiking miles in the mountains, up and down, wearing a pack. I've been doing this for 7 months. I usually hike 4-10 miles each time.

    The difference it has made for me is stronger legs, core and lungs. It doesn't really help me with weight loss because I eat my earned calories.
  • eiei2019
    eiei2019 Posts: 6 Member
    Thank you everyone for their input. I think some people did not think I was clear enough and maybe I wasen’t . I started walking about 2 weeks ago and I feel wonderful all day after. It puts me in a better mood and helps me sleep . I was wondering how long it takes to see a difference in weight or the way you’re clothes fit. Let me just say I DO understand about diet and keeping your eating under control but was just looking for some insperation from people as to when the noticed weight loss . 3 months? 4 months? Just wondering is all
  • lindamtuck2018
    lindamtuck2018 Posts: 9,837 Member
    eiei2019 wrote: »
    Thank you everyone for their input. I think some people did not think I was clear enough and maybe I wasen’t . I started walking about 2 weeks ago and I feel wonderful all day after. It puts me in a better mood and helps me sleep . I was wondering how long it takes to see a difference in weight or the way you’re clothes fit. Let me just say I DO understand about diet and keeping your eating under control but was just looking for some insperation from people as to when the noticed weight loss . 3 months? 4 months? Just wondering is all

    I have been eating within my calories and walking since beginning of February. I have lost 25 pounds. I do have another 80 to 100 to go. So far I have noticed a difference in the way my pants fit. I had to buy a size smaller. I think everyone is going to be different as we all have different rates of weight loss and amounts to lose.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,254 Member
    I started walking because I realized that I was extremely sedentary. There were many days where I wouldn't even move 2000 steps.

    So my first goal (took three months to achieve) was not a day in a calendar month with less than 5,000 steps.

    By the 4th month I was feeling better and could fit in my size 48 pants and no longer needed to go out and buy size 50, or risk the dreaded ripping sound!

    My belief is about 10lbs starting at ~290; but never got on my scale!

    By May I was at the 280 mark when I finally started using my scale again.

    Of course the real weigh change happened when, starting in May, 2014, I started adjusting my food intake.
  • hungrywombat
    hungrywombat Posts: 47 Member
    Now that the weather is less miserable, I walk a lot. I walk to and from work, to the gym, to meet friends or run errands - on an average day I walk about 20km. It's helped my weight loss progress in the sense that it adds a few hundred calories to my TDEE, but I do it because I enjoy it, because it makes me feel energised, and because it contributes to my overall health and wellbeing. My motivation for walking isn't weight loss (I live in one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, so why wouldn't I take advantage) - that comes from my diet.