Walking to lose weight.

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vjles
vjles Posts: 89 Member
edited July 2020 in Fitness and Exercise
Thats 22lbs gone since January 2020, from 250lbs to 228lbs in 6 months. Was stuck on a plateau for 2 months apart from one dip. Now starting to drop again, finally! The main reason, I've walked 472 miles since January according to Strava.

I took up running to help me stop smoking in 1992 after 23 years of smoking. I became a prolific runner and ran 10 half marathons (in the 90s) with the best time of 1 hour 28 minutes. In 1997 I ran 52 races, a club record. I also did my first and last marathon in October 2017. September 2018 I had some medical issues, after an operation, my weight increased steadily, partly because I couldn't run and partly because of the meds I take. In January 2020, when my weight hit 250 lbs I decided enough was enough, as I was too heavy to run the next best exercise would be to walk regularly. My target is to exceed 100 miles per month. The results are as above. Onwards and downwards. :-)

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  • AwesomeSquirrel
    AwesomeSquirrel Posts: 632 Member
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    Wonderful! Keep up the good work!
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
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    Impressive running record, are you planning o taking it up again?

    Keep up the good work!
  • vjles
    vjles Posts: 89 Member
    edited July 2020
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    BrianSharpe wrote: »
    Impressive running record, are you planning o taking it up again?

    Keep up the good work!
    Thanks. That was the plan, I tried jogging 3 miles a few weeks ago and I hit a heart rate of 181bpm!!! ...and I'm 69 in a few weeks! That made me decide to hold back a bit longer and lose some more weight. Prior to my medical issues, the previous few years I was running 100-150 miles per month. So, for now, I shall continue walking 100+ miles per month. ;-)
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,521 Member
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    I think walking is always a great option and it sounds like you've really done an incredible job this year! Once an athlete, always an athlete, I say. Meaning that you know exactly what to do as you have done it before: keep exercising consistently at whatever level works for you currently.

    As my body has aged, I've found that I need to vary my workouts as much as possible to help prevent overuse injury. May I recommend cycling and/or swimming. I also like kayaking, SUPing, hiking, and a number of the lower-impact cardio machines. Its all good!

    Best of luck for continued success. Life is more fun when you're feeling healthy!
  • E7mack96
    E7mack96 Posts: 63 Member
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    Congrats on your success in dropping the excess weight.. I think walking is a great way to shed excess weight and stay fit too.. I just started back with walking myself with a daily goal of 10 miles. I'm up to 6 miles a day, adding a mile a day. Trying to drop another 20 lbs.
  • jtechmart
    jtechmart Posts: 67 Member
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    vjles wrote: »
    ***Update*** Last night I reached 506 miles walking since March and have lost 24lbs, lowest weight since March 2018. My ultimate goal is to lose at least another 50lbs to get me below the BMI 'overweight' category. So, that means I need to walk at least another 1,000 miles lol. Oh well, my trainers will be worn out by then and I'll need a new wardrobe. ;-)

    That's great progress. Walking is part of my regular routine and whenever I get to maintenance where I don't need to cut or gain, walking will be the main exercise I do. I love going for walks and listening to music. Never really gets old and burns more calories than one would think.

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