Has anyone had luck with just walking as cardio?

I'm walking my subdivision, very hilly, a 2.3 mile loop, 3x per week, and I have lost 34 lbs since Feb 9 - also watching my calories. I am having major issues with my joints that I will hopefully have an answer to here soon, but my rheumatologist said this was the best exercise for me, at this time. I tried Zumba last week for the first time, and loved it and felt great after...until the next day. I had a two lb weight gain due to inflammation that took 6 days to resolve, and lots of pain. Not worth it. At all. Walking is great, especially if you can find a path that is flat and hilly, and listen to your body, and push. There are days when I power-walk it, some that I go a bit slower, and then one day I actually jogged a bit - because I could handle it that day. And try something else...Zumba and aerobics are out for me for now. But you won't know until you try!

I've had a bit, usually walk around 3.5 miles at a time, at a pace that it is difficult to carry on a conversation.
I have better luck on an eleptical.

I just burnt 438 calories on a Matrix treadmill for 45 minutes of level 5 intervals with a 5 minute cool down at speed 1.8. I get my heart rate into the cardio zone just fine on this program. I have horrible arthritis in both knees and am not able to run. This was the alternate suggested by my trainer. I am working my way up gradually to higher intervals. It is working for me. Some days I also up the spped of my walking. So you increase the speed and the level of intervals as you train. Hope this helps you.

That's pretty much all I do right now, occasionally the elliptical. I love walking though (on the treadmill), right now I aim for 45-50 min at 3.8-4.0 and 3-5 incline. I walk on incline the whole time except for a little warm-up and cool down. I'll increase as I get stronger.

Yup, walking works too!! But you have to be careful if you are eating back your cals because you may overestimate if you don't have a HRM.

ANY exercise is constructive. You do as good as you can do and that is great, don't let anyone tell you different!

I go hiking/walking about once a week for and our or two and burn a hundreds of calories (according to my Polar Ft4).

walking a mile burns as many calories as running a mile. the only thing that is different is how fast the calories are burned. As far as cardio benefits there would only be some if you can get your heart rate higher and sustained to see any benefit there. so I guess the question is are you trying to burn calories or increase stamina and cardio endurance.

I am burning fat with walking, but found when walking outside I wasn't keeping my pace up to 4 mile per hour. someone suggested the couch to 5k program: http://www.c25k.com/podcasts.htm I have no intention of running a 5K, but this downloaded to my ipod kicked my walking up the notch I needed. I do this 26 minute walk, then continue at a 4 mile/hour pace for another 34 minutes. It is a workout!!

Whith the propper diet and a few small other exercises I have walked 126 lbs of me since 08/14/11. So yes walking does work very well. At least it has for me!! I do do a few other things like run the stairs at work for ten minutes a day but for the most part I just walk!!

I love the Leslie Sansone's walking dvd's, Get's you moving and it goes so quickly, before you know it you have done 45-60 minutes. A must have!

Walking is great exercise, and when I walk I don't get the crazy hungries like I do after a run. If you need to make a walk more challenging add some handweights or a weighted vest, change pace and stride.

Someone else mentioned swimming which is very low impact but you can get a really high burn. I hate the elliptical machine so I can't recommend it to another human. :P I love doing Just dance on the wii and you could modify most of the moves since the remote is in your hand.

Good luck!

I joined MFP on January 9th of this year weighing in 188lbs. I'm 5' 4". I've lost 16lbs so far & all I do is walk & watch my calories. It works for me. I walk between 3.0 & 3.5 for 60mins on my treadmill, 5 days a week. Instead of splitting it up, I walk for a full hour.

My doctor and my trainer BOTH say walking is as good as jogging and much easier on the knees, therefore I WALK alternating fast/slow/fast. Keep up the good work. :drinker:
"
I also agree with Jennyisbusy about swimming and dancing. I was in a dance class for a short time that was designed for seniors and if someone was just coming off knee surgery or something like that, they did the "dancing" while seated in a chair. They continued to lose weight.

I have lost 30 pounds with just walking/hiking as my exercise! start slow, do maybe 2 miles a day to start and work your way up! Im up to 8 mile hikes on the weekend in less than 2 hours! so you can lose if you stick to it!! (started 3 days a week, now obsessed with 5 to 7 days a week!!!!)

I've been walking at least 10k steps a day in March - 153 miles to date since 3/1
Not a lot of calories burned (according to my ipod not quite 4lb worth) but my endurance has definitely gone up. Walking 2+ miles to the store and back with a backpack full of food is nothing to me now, where this time last year I would have balked at walking one mile. I count my walking as NEAT - Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. Something I do to ensure that even if I'm not 'exercising' I am still keeping my fitness level up.

Plus, it's fun to go out and walk, think about the day and relax a little.

The public transit system where I am sucks. I walk everywhere. I walk 9 miles or more some days. Pretty sure this has done nothing but benefit me. Also pretty sure the numbers my Polar HRM are giving me are pretty accurate too. I burn ~100 calories/20 minutes. If I do nothing, I burn ~50 calories/hour.