Walking
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I average 13,000 or so steps a day (always try for the minimum 10,000). Some is on treadmill, some outside. Some is only at 2 mph, other times 3. Really depends on my mood and how I am feeling. That has helped me in this journey, but what it mainly does is help tone up my muscles and has a positive impact on my blood pressure. I do get exercise calories from it, but I sync fitbit with MFP and take whatever it figures, I don't add it in as separate exercise. I eat them back when I feel like it, but I always try to make sure net is 1200. The kitchen scale is tremendous help--when I weigh, I can lose. When I went back to trusting myself to eyeball portions, I gain. Log everything, set a reasonable calorie goal.3
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I walked 20km a day five days a week on 1200 kcal a day (5’4” 30 yo female) and dropped weight every day. 2010kcal a day for someone with arthritis and limited activity seems a bit high to me. Do you weigh your food? Eyeballing is incredibly erroneous.5
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I have seen my primary & a physical therapist who said to go walking, use the elliptical & too start changing my eating habits. If walking wasn’t going to help lose weight, why was I told that with changing my eating & adding exercise would? Like I mentioned I cut down on sweets as to not binge later on them. I’m not the best eater, never have been. I don’t know what is meant by what level I’m eating at?? I have changed my goals in MFP and now my intake is 1740.
I appreciate all the advice.
Thank you.9 -
kelliclark805 wrote: »I have seen my primary & a physical therapist who said to go walking, use the elliptical & too start changing my eating habits. If walking wasn’t going to help lose weight, why was I told that with changing my eating & adding exercise would? Like I mentioned I cut down on sweets as to not binge later on them. I’m not the best eater, never have been. I don’t know what is meant by what level I’m eating at?? I have changed my goals in MFP and now my intake is 1740.
I appreciate all the advice.
Thank you.
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kelliclark805 wrote: »I have seen my primary & a physical therapist who said to go walking, use the elliptical & too start changing my eating habits. If walking wasn’t going to help lose weight, why was I told that with changing my eating & adding exercise would? Like I mentioned I cut down on sweets as to not binge later on them. I’m not the best eater, never have been. I don’t know what is meant by what level I’m eating at?? I have changed my goals in MFP and now my intake is 1740.
I appreciate all the advice.
Thank you.
Calories determine weight loss. Based on your numbers and your experience over the last few weeks, your body is burning @ 2100 cals per day. So you need to eat less than that, which is what your MFP calorie goal is telling you.
You were told to walk most likely because it can burn a few more calories, it's good for your cardiovascular health, and it's a great starter exercise to keep your joints and muscles limber.
Get a food scale. Log your food accurately and consistently, hitting your new calorie goal. Keep walking. Check out the Most Helpful Posts threads pinned to the top of each sub-forum, lots of great info there. Good luck!11 -
@kelliclark805
Please click this link and scroll/read some of the threads. They will be very helpful.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300331/most-helpful-posts-getting-started-must-reads#latest4 -
kelliclark805 wrote: »My weight is currently at 214 I’m 5’ 4” and maybe my intake isn’t burning enough. My activity level is lightly active. Maybe I need other exercises, like the elliptical. I’ve heard how it’s easier on the knees, but I’m not sure. I am thinking of going to the gym soon and get some help.
If you haven’t already, consider talking to your doctor about your desire to begin exercising a little more. They are familiar with your body and arthritis and might be able to refer you to a physical therapist to help you increase activity safely.
I have back issues and need low impact activities myself.
ETA: Are you active in your daily life outside of the 1-1.5 miles? If not, 1-1.5 miles a day might not be enough to put you in “lightly active.” Consider enabling Negative Calorie Adjustments so MFP will remove some of your daily calories available if you don’t move enough that day to meet your activity level.3 -
Consider lower resistance activities like swimming as well1
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kelliclark805 wrote: »My goal is to lose 30-35lbs by May next year for a vacation trip. I have started with food, reduced my sweet intake since that is the hardest for me to do. My current calorie intake on here is 2010. I walked anywhere from 1-1.50 miles. I have arthritis in both knees, there are days I can increase my speed & others I have to back off. My husband cooks for me and know all the portion sizes. I don’t go for seconds.
Sorry but ... 1 to 1.5 miles won't burn off many calories. At 3 mph, if you walk for an hour, you might get 200 calories. So half that (or less) burns 100 calories or less.
I don't know how tall you are, but I gain weight eating anything over 2000 calories a day. Ah, I've just seen that you're 5'4". I'm 5'6" and I need to eat less than 1500 calories/day to lose.
The fact that you've lost 5 lbs is amazing!
You may need to either increase your walking so that you're walking for 1-2 hours a day or cut back on your calories. Or both.11 -
Speaking of exercise machines, you may want to look into a recumbent bike. Yeah, it doesn't get much respect, but for the right person it can be a game-changer. I have back issues, and tore my Achilles tendon stupidly overdoing it on a treadmill a few years ago; it partially healed but is very, very weak. As a result there's little I can do cardio-wise, so I got a recumbent. Very easy, very low to no impact on the joints, prop up a tablet and watch Netflix. With varying intensity levels on the machine I can coast along or go to 70-80 % of maximum HR for a real workout with sweat and everything. It's well suited for people with arthritic issues. Plus, did I mention you can watch Netflix while you work out? LOL You wouldn't believe how fast time goes by on a recumbent while watching TV. Least boring exercise I've ever done. This month I'm re-watching Tudors, 35 minutes at a time.11
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Well this thread hits home! Hello OP who seems to be starting at a similar level to where I started... albeit while facing much different challenges!
First of all congratulations on starting to walk and on pushing yourself within reason to find more ways to become more active.
I had to chuckle when you said 5 lbs in 4 months. Because when I started walking to improve my health back in
January 2014, my starting goal was not having a single day with less than 3000 steps during a month. It took me several months to get there. And by April I was finally hitting 5,000 steps a day and had managed to shed somewhere around 10lbs and go from ABOVE the top of my then scale to the very top, which was 280.
But the real progress towards losing weight: started in May when I started controlling my food intake.
Oh don't get me wrong. I was a total idiot and made every single mistake one can possibly make! With healthy breakfast choices such as blueberry muffins and Subway foot-long meatball sandwiches with BAKED chips and water so as to avoid the diet pop monsters, it is a small miracle I lost 40lbs over 6 months before discovering MFP <-- And yes, I do realize now how ignorant I was back then. I didn't even understand back then that CALORIES were what was driving my weight gain, or loss and that healthy is a relative term that needs context.
So I urge you to continue to find ways to increase your daily activity and exercise levels.
In terms of weight loss, there is noting wrong with your weight loss to-date! But if you want to achive faster results, all you have to do is reduce your intake by an additional 2-300 Cal a day as compared to today while keeping your activity level constant.
I echo others when they say that currently you only have an approximate idea as to how much you're eating.
While personally I found it liberating to actually know, to the gram, what I had eaten since it allowed me to maximize my food intake while still meeting my goals--you don't actually need accuracy!
You only need consistency in logging in order to be able to make meaningful adjustments and meet your goals!
Let me add that with weight loss walking became much more enjoyable... and easier. I went from several days a month with less than 1000 steps during a whole day... to now having a goal of over 15,000 steps a day which I generally substantially exceed.
Each forum has a "Most helpful posts" thread. Have a go at them, especially the first few posts in each of the threads.17 -
kelliclark805 wrote: »I have seen my primary & a physical therapist who said to go walking, use the elliptical & too start changing my eating habits. If walking wasn’t going to help lose weight, why was I told that with changing my eating & adding exercise would? Like I mentioned I cut down on sweets as to not binge later on them. I’m not the best eater, never have been. I don’t know what is meant by what level I’m eating at?? I have changed my goals in MFP and now my intake is 1740.
I appreciate all the advice.
Thank you.
You were told to start walking because walking is great exercise that almost everyone can do and it requires minimal equipment. It also helps with weight loss, however 90% of weight loss takes place in the kitchen. You need to start weighing all solids and semi solids and measure all liquids and log everything you eat (even the schnibbles and bits, aka tastes). It sounds like your new calorie goal is reasonable for your height/weight, activity level, and weekly loss goal. Start with that and tweak the numbers if you need to.
You mentioned you have a gym available. Does it have a pool? Water aerobics, water walking, and swimming are all good exercises that are much easier on the joints.11 -
kelliclark805 wrote: »Hi. I’ve been walking almost 4x a week for over 4 months as consistent as I can. I hear all these stories how people walk off weight. In 4 months I have lost only 5lbs!!!! I’m angry, frustrated, pissed off & motivation all in one. I don’t understand how this works for other but not me. I ready to just say 🤬 & quit, however that won’t help anything. Please somebody give me some advice or guidance. I know there is no quick fix though I thought I would have lost more. I can’t seem to get anyone to help me. This is one reason I quit on here before.
Here's my take, for what it's worth. You're five pounds lighter than you were sometime in March. You're a bit stronger in your lower body and your knees have benefited from "vitamin M" [motion lotion for osteoarthritis]. If you are walking outside, you get bonus points for some vitamin D absorption and the lowering of stress hormones that occurs when spending time outside. By all means, look at your daily food intake and make some adjustments there to accomplish a deficit to promote weight loss. Add additional exercise if your body can tolerate it and you want to.8 -
kelliclark805 wrote: »I have seen my primary & a physical therapist who said to go walking, use the elliptical & too start changing my eating habits. If walking wasn’t going to help lose weight, why was I told that with changing my eating & adding exercise would? Like I mentioned I cut down on sweets as to not binge later on them. I’m not the best eater, never have been. I don’t know what is meant by what level I’m eating at?? I have changed my goals in MFP and now my intake is 1740.
I appreciate all the advice.
Thank you.
Walking is good for health and for someone just starting out it and the elliptical are exercises one can add that won't put stress on the joints, etc.
The first thing I did when I decided to lose in 2014 was decide I would walk a lot more (I already walked a lot, because I am in a big city and so walk in connection with my commute and for errands, but I decided I'd watch steps and walk whenever possible). I also did some treadmill walking and elliptical at first, as well as stationary biking, because it was a very cold and snowy Jan. I love running but hate treadmill running, so I only really got back into running that March.
But that was for health and because it did increase my TDEE some (only a mile of walking likely won't add that many cals, unfortunately). The MAIN thing I did to lose weight was calculate a calorie goal based on my size and goals and then carefully stick to it. 2040 would not have been low enough for weight loss for me until I got much more active (I lost most of my weight eating around 1400 net). Changing your goal to 1740, since you are losing slowly at 2070, and then keeping up or increasing the activity seems like a good start.
Usually "changing your eating habits" is an indirect way of saying "eat fewer cals," especially because some medical or dietitian types are skeptical about people's ability to track cals. But tracking cals worked for me.4 -
I'm losing approx .63 pounds a week, my calorie goal is 1640. I walk for 4 or 5 days a week, anywhere from 2 to 5 miles per walk. I do go to the gym and do weights for an hour once a week. It's worked well for me. I'm 50 years old and 5'1" inches tall. I usually "eat back" about half my exercise calories.1
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kelliclark805 wrote: »My goal is to lose 30-35lbs by May next year for a vacation trip. I have started with food, reduced my sweet intake since that is the hardest for me to do. My current calorie intake on here is 2010. I walked anywhere from 1-1.50 miles. I have arthritis in both knees, there are days I can increase my speed & others I have to back off. My husband cooks for me and know all the portion sizes. I don’t go for seconds.
This would indicate that at your current calorie level, you are in a very slight deficit. Walking won't magically make you lose weight...no exercise will. It comes down to calories and the size of your calorie deficit. If exercise defaulted to weight loss, everyone who exercises regularly for their health and fitness would ultimately wither away and die.4 -
Thank you everyone!! I’m going to look over my food intake, take some suggestions & try harder. I appreciate you all taking time to post some great advice.10
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Exercise is good for your body and is an aide in weight loss, but not a necessity. In order to lose weight it’s all about calorie intake, which means you need to weigh and measure everything you put in to your body. If your husband cooks only carrots, but prepares them in generous amounts of oil, you have to count the oil. If you eat a healthy salad, but drench it in calorie heavy salad dressing, you have to count every drop of dressing. Maybe you should be involved in the food prep, so that you know every bit of what you’re eating, and then lower your daily calorie goal if it’s not working. I have to imagine it’s hidden calories that is keeping you from loosing weight more quickly.
You can eat nothing but donuts all day while exercising moderately and still gain weight.
You can eat nothing but spinach all day while never exercising and lose weight. Calories are key.1 -
OP you’ve made a couple of inclinations toward taking some of the advice but have you committed to logging everything you eat, as accurately as possible, ideally using a food scale?
That’s likely the single most impactful change you can make toward achieving your goals.6 -
I log everything to the best of my ability & I count all hidden calories. I google things also if I can’t find any info. I have not gotten a scale as of yet. I understand you can eat & still gain , regardless of what it is.3
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