Walking for weight loss
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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 -
Today was definitely a challenge in the sense that I will go on my walk.... actually what's great is that my fiancé is joining me on that walk which is encouraging.... I just have to go through the mindfulness of not eating so much especially the type of stress eating I tend to do. I almost went overboard with it but am trying to control it.1
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So, ultimately, I need to figure out how I can commit to that deficit... it's much harder than I thought, but I can't be so discouraged, because look at how much it has helped so many of you!0
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charbabe7602 wrote: »So, ultimately, I need to figure out how I can commit to that deficit... it's much harder than I thought, but I can't be so discouraged, because look at how much it has helped so many of you!
If this is all new to you the best thing is to ease into it. When I first started losing weight the first thing I did was get into the habit of eating regular meals, and tried to make my meals out of "real" foods as opposed to convenience foods. I didn't worry about the deficit, I just wanted to get into a routine instead of eating anything I wanted, any time I wanted to eat it. Once I was into a routine (and lost 20 lb in the first 6 weeks), I started to pay attention to my calorie target and macro breakdown.
You are re-learning how to eat. Don't expect a wholesale change immediately but do it in baby steps. Same thing with any exercise, including walking. Do what you can when you can and build on it. At first, I was not even able to walk a city block. I went as far as I could (making sure I could also get back home) and just tried to do more each week. Eventually I was walking 5-6 miles daily and was able to walk 24 miles with my hiking club.5 -
Walking has literately saved my life. I have lost over 80 pounds and kept all off for over 6 years and walking has been my main source of exercise.
For weight loss and maintenance however, I keep a close eye on my calorie intake everyday. But for health and fitness, walking has been a huge part of my journey.
At first I couldn't do much but walk short distances. I dreamt to be able to climb stairs and walk far without huffing and puffing and sweating.
The more I walked, the easier it became and I was able to go further and longer.
As my fitness level grew I discovered Youtube workouts, including Leslie Sansone's Walk at Home channel which improved my fitness level even further since it's more then just walking in place.
I went from walking at a regular pace to incorporating brisk walking, fast/slow intervals and walk/jog intervals and I worked on increasing my walking time and distance.
Then I introduced weights and other form of workouts. The combination of walking and strength training was just what I needed for my goals of losing fat and inches.
Not only did weight loss happened, but my body composition was slowing improving, my blood pressure along with my rested heart rate was steadily decreasing, my cardiovascular, stamina and endurance was improving and it was easier for me to do regular things and move around more easily.
For me, one of the best parts about walking is that it doesn't make me hungry. A lot of other workouts tend to make me ravenous so I have to plan my meal times around those workouts. With walking I can get up and walk fasted or at night and not have any issues.
I went from barely being able to walk a 1/2 mile non-stop to currently working on getting in 200 miles for the month of September! (It has taken many years to get to this fitness level). Also my resting heart rate started in the mid-90's and currently it's in the high 40's!
It has been an amazing experience losing so much weight and going from super sedentary and overeating to that healthy and fit girl. Walking has definitely a major key to my success.
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Weight loss is CI<CO, and nothing else. How you achieve that is up to individual...3
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Yup. Lost 40+ pounds and part of my workout routine was walking. It has a lot of things going for it, including it isn't as hard or damaging on the joints as other exercise--and if you're heavy a lot of exercise like running is really hard on a heavy body. It can hurt or be uncomfortable in a way walking isn't. (And some of us are not 21 anymore). And it isn't usually too sweaty (at least at cooler temps) which means it is easier to fit into a busy schedule because you don't usually have to shower immediately...you can walk during a lunch break for example.
Just as others have said, be sure you aren't over-estimating your calorie burn.
But what I did learn was that if you eat according to the MFP plan guidelines, you don't have to go crazy doing Crossfit or Bootcamp or something to lose weight if you don't want to. You can lose weight with a nice pleasant walk on a nice day if that's your thing.
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I started walking 4 weeks ago. I walk/jog 6.08km every evening with an average pace of 9 min/km. That alongside tracking my calories on the app, I have lost 23lbs in 5 weeks (started a week before the walking).
I disregard the calories I "earn" from walking and normally eat about 1500/1600 calories a day.
It's a combination of smart eating, plenty of water and daily exercise!0 -
The only exercise I do is daily walking with my dogs. In combination with eating at a deficit Ive lost 35 kg so far over 2.5 years so far and I'm still going (had a lot to lose!)2
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scarlett_k wrote: »The only exercise I do is daily walking with my dogs. In combination with eating at a deficit Ive lost 35 kg so far over 2.5 years so far and I'm still going (had a lot to lose!)
Congratulations on your loss so far. It looks like you found a a way to change your lifestyle and sustain it for the rest of your life. Dogs are great motivators, they NEED those walks.2 -
charbabe7602 wrote: »Today was definitely a challenge in the sense that I will go on my walk.... actually what's great is that my fiancé is joining me on that walk which is encouraging.... I just have to go through the mindfulness of not eating so much especially the type of stress eating I tend to do. I almost went overboard with it but am trying to control it.
Regular exercise (including walking) has mostly eliminated my urge to stress eat
During periods of increased stress, I increase exercise.3
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