Walking for weight loss
charbabe7602
Posts: 28 Member
Has anyone lost weight from doing a daily walking regimen? How has it worked for you?
3
Replies
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Yes, aced my physical after a year of walking only. Lost 30# and my blood panel was stellar in all markers. I started at a mile every day, no matter the weather (my dog was a great motivator), but started dropping weight easily when I walked 3 miles daily. Weekends I often walked 5-10 miles. I kept it at least a 4mph pace. Change your footwear often!9
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Well yes and no. Weight loss comes primarily from eating right, being in a caloric deficit. Walking helps and helped me feel healthier and I believe it helped me lose weight to a certain degree. I walk my condo complex and it's very hilly so it's a pretty good workout. I do intermittent jogging to now. I'll walk the first lap around, then I'll walk a quarter, run a quarter and switch back forth. Feels great, I like it a lot.5
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charbabe7602 wrote: »Has anyone lost weight from doing a daily walking regimen? How has it worked for you?
Weight loss occurs when you are in a calorie deficit. If walking helps you to burn more calories than you consume, you will lose weight.8 -
Walking does not make you lose weight. Only a calorie deficit will do that. You can increase the deficit with walking if you like.5
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We all know weight loss is deficient but do think there is something about exercises beyond the calorie burn that keeps you focused on your goal and makes it easier to stick to your plan. Mainly, it is a physical commitment that for me, I don’t want to blow the time or work I put in. It’s too darn hard to make that time or do those workouts. I started with walking and even if that was all I did, it made it much easier to stay on track.13
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Walking definitely helps with overall health and well being and if you would like to increase your calorie deficit. I did that for first several months of my journey and lost the first 50 some lbs that way.4
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I've lost a lot of weight with walking as my main, and occasionally only, form of intentional exercise.
Walking helps as much for weight loss as any other exercise. Unless you're speed-walking, it'll be less calories per minute than some other things you could do, but it's also much easier to do for longer periods of time. I've had 3 and 4 hour walks, whereas nobody does cardio machines for anywhere near that kind of time.
If you keep up a decent pace (3.5 mph or thereabouts) you'll get a decent cardiovascular workout, and whether you walk slow or fast, you'll burn plenty of calories per mile for it to contribute to weight loss.
An hour long walk each day will, depending on your age, height, weight, and gender, contribute 1/2 a pound per week to your weight loss efforts*, which, if you're aiming to lose a typical 1.5 lbs per week, will constitute a third of your total weight loss, the other 2/3 coming from eating less food. So it's a very, very worthwhile thing to do, which could end up being responsible for a third of all of your weight loss.
* the math:
typical net calories burned for walking 1 mile: 70
net calories burned walking 3.5 miles in one hour: 245
times 7 for the # of days in a week: 1715
% of a pound of fat that 1715 calories represents: 49 %, or half a pound5 -
Walking is paramount to overall health and fitness--along with calorie deficit. I have lost 25 plus pounds since May because I have been doing considerable amounts of walking since having my hips replaced earlier this year--along with calorie deficit, which I actually only started monitoring again less than three weeks ago! That's my view and I'm sticking to it 😝3
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Thanks for the input! I was doing crazy workouts/sweating/even felt the muscle aches from doing a combo of HIIT, weight training, cardio, but didn't change much of my eating habits. I often found that if I did have strenuous workouts, I would eat more, thus, eliminating the calorie deficits. Walking has helped me with movement and eat less because my body is doing more of a low impact exercise. I just have to stick to it. There are days when I want to go back to my tendency to comfort eat and I must stop that.5
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Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my post, this has been extremely encouraging!4
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I have to say that I found walking the most enjoyable exercise, however it tends to use a lot of time. Great form of exercise if you are time rich, not so good if time poor.4
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We all know weight loss is deficient but do think there is something about exercises beyond the calorie burn that keeps you focused on your goal and makes it easier to stick to your plan. Mainly, it is a physical commitment that for me, I don’t want to blow the time or work I put in. It’s too darn hard to make that time or do those workouts. I started with walking and even if that was all I did, it made it much easier to stay on track.
Exactly. "If I eat this piece of cake, I'm blowing that 2 hour walk I did this morning".3 -
I have to work on that.... I love to snack and blow my calorie deficit, especially if I'm stressed out. However, I do find that walking has been a helpful method to manage that stress...
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I don’t always stay within my calorie limit, but I try to walk at least 5 days a week. It does help with weight loss, by burning calories.We need to eat a healthy diet and one important thing that I do is try to use portion control as best as I can. Walking is still one of the best exercises that one can do.It helps us mentally and physically. I also understand that not all people can do a walking exercise regimen daily, but any amount of exercise is good. I wish you well. 4
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I just realized on the app, i had put that i am active but in actuality, its more lightly active and maybe that is part of the reason why i wasnt losing weight as well.... so im definitely going to get my steps in!3
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Eat for weight loss, exercise for fitness.
While walking will increase your daily calorie burn as you'll be more active the increase is relatively minimal. Losing weight is all about creating a calorie deficit and that is far easier to achieve by reducing your calorie intake than trying to burn it off by walking.
Achieving a 500cal/day deficit via eating only requires some pretty small changes. A smaller portion here, a lower cal substitution there and you're done. For example. Switching 2 cans of soft drink for a zero cal version and slightly reducing your portions at breakfast, lunch and dinner (by just 50cal each) would create the required 500cal deficit to reduce body fat by 1lbs per week
Creating that same calorie deficit via walking requires (depending on stats) a daily walk for between 1.5hrs-2hrs at a brisk pace. Keep in mind that increasing your activity level most often comes with a corresponding increase in appetite to fuel this extra activity so any extra calories consumed to satisfy this hunger reduces, negates or even reverses the calories burned.
You're far better off seeing walking as a path to health, wellbeing and fitness rather than weight loss.4 -
Yes. Walking was the only thing that I planned, did on purpose. But as others said, I also ate less because of the awareness. My family ate ice cream together most nights, and I walked while they ate their ice cream. That helped, too.4
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I was really thinking about it these past few weeks, and didn't think to utilize the community boards until now. You all have been IMMENSELY helpful with guiding me to understand what my next goal will be: to really work on that calorie deficit.... and I like that idea of thinking of exercise for fitness... I had been doing it all wrong for a LONG TIME and did not see a difference even though my workouts were intense. I figured that I would be able to see results that way and not change my eating habits by much.... boy was I wrong!! I wish I had done this earlier, but I'm so glad I'm starting now!14
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From the beginning of my journey walking has been the exercise I do consistently. I lost 100 lbs. However I also dropped my calories significantly. Now at goal weight 5 - 6 miles/day gives me an extra 200 or so calories. As you can see that's easy to wipe out. I do find it reduces appetite some and also helps lower stress. So yes, it can help but if you eat more because you are exercising you won't lose any weight just because you are walking. I believe it has helped my arthritis tremendously though and for that reason alone it is worth it. Start slow and work up.2
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When I first got started creating a calorie deficit to lose weight, I incorporated walking into the program. To the extent that walking was a difference, I can say it likely helped. To what extent, I did not measure. It got me active, I improved my endurance and cardio ability while doing it, and I certainly felt better.
Walking is a means of increasing activity and will burn a moderate amount of extra calories, but it's generally harder to add 500 calories of activity to your energy balance than it is to take 500 calories of input from it.
Most do well with some combination of the two, with intake being the primary mover.3 -
charbabe7602 wrote: »I have to work on that.... I love to snack and blow my calorie deficit, especially if I'm stressed out. However, I do find that walking has been a helpful method to manage that stress...
Yes, regular cardio is crucial for my mental health, and I increase it in times of increased stress.
I also find that mild-moderate exercise like walking is a mild appetite suppressant for me.5 -
I lost 100 pounds just by a calorie deficit. Getting that weight off helped my knees a great deal, as you can imagine. Started walking more, and went on to lose 40 more pounds. A calorie deficit is what you need to lose weight. Exercise for health benefit.2
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There are so many positives about walking:
- It can help burn some calories.
- It can help increase cardiovascular health
- It can help relieve stress
- It can be a format for meditation
- It can be a format for prayer
- You get to see things you can't when driving, biking, or running
- You can meet neighbors and maybe even make a new friend or two
- You get to know the neighborhood dogs
- You learn to appreciate sun, shade, breezes, snow, fresh air
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cheryldumais wrote: »From the beginning of my journey walking has been the exercise I do consistently. I lost 100 lbs. However I also dropped my calories significantly. Now at goal weight 5 - 6 miles/day gives me an extra 200 or so calories. As you can see that's easy to wipe out. I do find it reduces appetite some and also helps lower stress. So yes, it can help but if you eat more because you are exercising you won't lose any weight just because you are walking. I believe it has helped my arthritis tremendously though and for that reason alone it is worth it. Start slow and work up.
That's not exactly true. You're still expending energy and calories if you walk so if you're already in a deficit, you can eat some or all of the walking calories back and still lose weight.
N=1 losing 125 lbs on weight watchers and mfp while walking for exercise and eating every last point/calorie owed because I likes me my food.
Altho walking has caused me way more stress than other people around here. I've injured myself way more because of it and I'm convinced cars with tinted windows can't see out as well as not being able to see in.
And drivers are *kitten*.
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charbabe7602 wrote: »Thanks for the input! I was doing crazy workouts/sweating/even felt the muscle aches from doing a combo of HIIT, weight training, cardio, but didn't change much of my eating habits. I often found that if I did have strenuous workouts, I would eat more, thus, eliminating the calorie deficits. Walking has helped me with movement and eat less because my body is doing more of a low impact exercise. I just have to stick to it. There are days when I want to go back to my tendency to comfort eat and I must stop that.
For a lot of people (not everyone) one or more of the things in the bolded are things that can either noticeably increase appetite, or be so tiring (especially if you're a beginner) that they cause fatigue and sap calorie burn out of daily life activity (because we put off energetic chores, do less window-shopping, sleep/rest more, that sort of thing).
I'd point out that there is some middle ground! Walking can be very health-improving, but as someone else observed, it takes quite a bit of time to do a lot of it, plus it has very limited strength-building potential. Over time, you might find it fun or useful (and more manageable than previously) to mix things up a little bit with other activities.
A lot of beginners seem to choose to go straight from the couch to a very vigorous multi-modality every-day kind of program, when a more gradual ramp-up of activity mode/intensity/duration/frequency would be a better and more sustainable plan. If someone has been relatively inactive, but has reasonable mobility, regular walking is a wonderful starting point.
If walking is what works for you, that's great: Go for it! 4 -
cheryldumais wrote: »From the beginning of my journey walking has been the exercise I do consistently. I lost 100 lbs. However I also dropped my calories significantly. Now at goal weight 5 - 6 miles/day gives me an extra 200 or so calories. As you can see that's easy to wipe out. I do find it reduces appetite some and also helps lower stress. So yes, it can help but if you eat more because you are exercising you won't lose any weight just because you are walking. I believe it has helped my arthritis tremendously though and for that reason alone it is worth it. Start slow and work up.
That's not exactly true. You're still expending energy and calories if you walk so if you're already in a deficit, you can eat some or all of the walking calories back and still lose weight.
N=1 losing 125 lbs on weight watchers and mfp while walking for exercise and eating every last point/calorie owed because I likes me my food.
Altho walking has caused me way more stress than other people around here. I've injured myself way more because of it and I'm convinced cars with tinted windows can't see out as well as not being able to see in.
And drivers are *kitten*.
What I meant was you won't lose weight just because you walk if you eat more because you walked thereby ending up at the same daily intake once the extra you ate offsets what you burned. In other words if I eat at maintenance then walk and earn 200 calories but eat an extra 200 calories because I walked I still end up at maintenance.
Maintenance calories 1350
Walking earned 200
Intake 1550
This leaves you at maintenance even though you walked today. You will improve fitness but won't lose weight. Alot of folks think that exercising will make them thinner but they don't measure intake. It is a common frustration among those who say they are working out but not losing because often they eat more since they are working out thinking they are burning alot more calories than they really are. That may or may not be the case with OP.3 -
cheryldumais wrote: »cheryldumais wrote: »From the beginning of my journey walking has been the exercise I do consistently. I lost 100 lbs. However I also dropped my calories significantly. Now at goal weight 5 - 6 miles/day gives me an extra 200 or so calories. As you can see that's easy to wipe out. I do find it reduces appetite some and also helps lower stress. So yes, it can help but if you eat more because you are exercising you won't lose any weight just because you are walking. I believe it has helped my arthritis tremendously though and for that reason alone it is worth it. Start slow and work up.
That's not exactly true. You're still expending energy and calories if you walk so if you're already in a deficit, you can eat some or all of the walking calories back and still lose weight.
N=1 losing 125 lbs on weight watchers and mfp while walking for exercise and eating every last point/calorie owed because I likes me my food.
Altho walking has caused me way more stress than other people around here. I've injured myself way more because of it and I'm convinced cars with tinted windows can't see out as well as not being able to see in.
And drivers are *kitten*.
What I meant was you won't lose weight just because you walk if you eat more because you walked thereby ending up at the same daily intake once the extra you ate offsets what you burned. In other words if I eat at maintenance then walk and earn 200 calories but eat an extra 200 calories because I walked I still end up at maintenance.
Maintenance calories 1350
Walking earned 200
Intake 1550
This leaves you at maintenance even though you walked today. You will improve fitness but won't lose weight. Alot of folks think that exercising will make them thinner but they don't measure intake. It is a common frustration among those who say they are working out but not losing because often they eat more since they are working out thinking they are burning alot more calories than they really are. That may or may not be the case with OP.
Phew because I knew you knew better!
And definitely a good point.1 -
continuous walking has not only helped me to lose weight, it's also added strength and flexibility to my legs. my cardio improved, too. of course, how long you walk for and intensity can make a huge difference. walking up a steep hill slowly will probably burn more calories than walking faster on a level.
when i lost weight a few years ago, i used to go to stores i knew well to shop; first, i quickly walked through the store up and down every aisle without stopping. then i walked through the store a second time fast, grabbing my groceries without stopping. it was surprisingly helpful. when done right, i could add 30 minutes of rapid walking in a store - more if i walked around the store first.1 -
cheryldumais wrote: »cheryldumais wrote: »From the beginning of my journey walking has been the exercise I do consistently. I lost 100 lbs. However I also dropped my calories significantly. Now at goal weight 5 - 6 miles/day gives me an extra 200 or so calories. As you can see that's easy to wipe out. I do find it reduces appetite some and also helps lower stress. So yes, it can help but if you eat more because you are exercising you won't lose any weight just because you are walking. I believe it has helped my arthritis tremendously though and for that reason alone it is worth it. Start slow and work up.
That's not exactly true. You're still expending energy and calories if you walk so if you're already in a deficit, you can eat some or all of the walking calories back and still lose weight.
N=1 losing 125 lbs on weight watchers and mfp while walking for exercise and eating every last point/calorie owed because I likes me my food.
Altho walking has caused me way more stress than other people around here. I've injured myself way more because of it and I'm convinced cars with tinted windows can't see out as well as not being able to see in.
And drivers are *kitten*.
What I meant was you won't lose weight just because you walk if you eat more because you walked thereby ending up at the same daily intake once the extra you ate offsets what you burned. In other words if I eat at maintenance then walk and earn 200 calories but eat an extra 200 calories because I walked I still end up at maintenance.
Maintenance calories 1350
Walking earned 200
Intake 1550
This leaves you at maintenance even though you walked today. You will improve fitness but won't lose weight. Alot of folks think that exercising will make them thinner but they don't measure intake. It is a common frustration among those who say they are working out but not losing because often they eat more since they are working out thinking they are burning alot more calories than they really are. That may or may not be the case with OP.
I would also caution that the calorie estimates for walking in MFP are high. I researched this independently and the best estimate I found was body weight (lbs) x .30 = per mile net calorie burn. This is for mostly flat surface. At my walking pace MFP will credit me 55% more than that. So I manually adjust it down.3 -
charbabe7602 wrote: »Has anyone lost weight from doing a daily walking regimen? How has it worked for you?
Walking is cardio-vascular exercise and cardio-vascular exercise done a few times a week helps make your heart, lungs, and blood system healthier.3
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