Walking

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misstangieb2012
misstangieb2012 Posts: 24 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hey MFP,

I want everyone's input on walking for exercise. I have this huge track in my neighborhood and I love to go and walk it. The rack is so big that 4 times around it is 7 miles, it's more like a trail lol. How much fat am I burning by walking? Is there a certain way I should be walking? I don't have a heart rate monitor so I don't know what my heart rate level is. I do know that once I get to my second lap I'm sweating so I guess that's good. I guess what I want to know is am I wasting my time walking or are there benefits to it in the long run. Any insight would be great.

Replies

  • kkmarie11
    kkmarie11 Posts: 114
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    walking is definitely helpful if your not quite up to the ability of running I would say its really great exercise and if you love it its even better make sure you have large arm movements to burn more calories!
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,124 Member
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    Lots of great benefits. Many people lose significant weight using walking and calorie-counting.

    Do it often, and walk as fast as you comfortably can.

    It's great exercise! Keep it up and you'll have success. It's all about being consistent over a period of time.
  • StacyPervis
    StacyPervis Posts: 32
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    I walk for exercise too. My knees hurt from running. I use a HR monitor and keep myself in the zone at least 60 minutes per day 6 days a week. 3 days on 1 day off. Before using the HR monitor, I judged the distance and time to help determine the level I was achieving. My route is 4 miles. When I first started, it took me 62 minutes. 4 mph. Now I'm walking at a very fast pace and the same 4 miles takes 45 minutes. I've also added 1-2 more miles each day. Using the HR monitor, I can stay in my zone 118-154 beats per minute for 62-68 minutes on the 6 mile walk. That's about 1000 calorie burn.
    The HR monitor helps you keep the pace you need to keep you in your zone.
    Set yourself a goal such as 4 miles in 1 hr. if you can't do it to start, work to it. Then add more distance with the same time limit or add 15 minutes at the same pace. Just getting out and pushing a little more each day will show results.
    Remember exercise is important but diet is crucial.
    Also, I used google earth to give me a close estimate for distances walked.
  • Shayztar
    Shayztar Posts: 415 Member
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    Walking for exercise rocks. I use a HRM to track now tho. But before I had one, I would put on my iPod and walk to the beat of dance/pop music. When I tracked the same walks on rainy days on my treadmill, I was usually walking 2.5 to 3.0 according to the MFP database. Sometimes, a real fast song might take me to 3.5, but I couldn't maintain that for long. Anything higher than 3.5 and I was jogging.
  • sazzyp1973
    sazzyp1973 Posts: 517 Member
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    Walking is great and is possibly better for the knees than jogging. I find it is a great stress relief too going off for a walk with the ipod on! Sounds like you are doing a great thing. Hard to know on the calorie count but MPF should give you a guide based on your weight and speed you walk etc.
    Get those tunes on and enjoy!
  • CherokeeBabe
    CherokeeBabe Posts: 1,704 Member
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    I'm about to take up 60 mins a day of walking, and combining it with at-home circuit training and light-moderate weights. I'm amazed by how many calories some people burn just by walking 60-90 minutes a day, they inspire me!
  • StacyPervis
    StacyPervis Posts: 32
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    I forgot to add, before I used a HR monitor I based the time and distance and tracked the 4 mph with MFP exercise diary. After getting the HR monitor, accurately measuring your heart rate and your weight, the monitor will reflect a much higher calorie burn. For instance, MFP said my 60 minutes walking at 4 mph burned 550 calories. The HRM said 950 calories for same time and distance. Which is correct? I feel the HR monitor sees how much effort your body puts out during the walk and it knows that you averaged 147 beats per minute for 60 minutes where MFP wasn't with you and didn't take any readings.
  • supplemama
    supplemama Posts: 1,956 Member
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    I walk 10 miles per day at 5 mph. I break it up into 3 walks:

    2 miles morning (24 minutes)
    3 miles afternoon (36 minutes)
    5 miles evening (60 minutes)

    I usually walk to my Leslie Sansone DVD which makes it easy because she keeps you going at the 12 minute mile pace, but I have trained myself to walk that fast on the track. If you are new to walking you may have to work up to that speed. But even 4 miles and hour (15 minutes mile pace) will have you sweating, at least for me it does.
  • heatherterp
    heatherterp Posts: 239
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    This is a nice article about exercise intensity. I hope it helps!

    http://exercise.about.com/cs/cardioworkouts/a/ex_intensity.htm
  • Eleanorjanethinner
    Eleanorjanethinner Posts: 563 Member
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    I just use the MFP 'Walking 3 miles per hour, walking dog' setting if I'm going fairly quickly of 'Walking 2 miles an hour, slowly' if I'm wandering round in no hurry.

    And I try not to eat all of my exercise cals to give a bit of lea-way (although I fairly often do eat them all).

    Don't sweat the small stuff, just do it, log it and get on with your weight loss!
  • jacque1129
    jacque1129 Posts: 113 Member
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    i've lost all my weight walking. i love it! pump your arms and power walk like you're in a hurry. take long strides and keep on moving :D
  • QUEENPINKSPARKLE1965
    QUEENPINKSPARKLE1965 Posts: 64 Member
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    I love walking its truly my first feets love :love:
  • misstangieb2012
    misstangieb2012 Posts: 24 Member
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    Thanks for this info. I think I need to invest in a HRM real soon. I'm gonna continue walking and doing some other exercise as well, but the walking is a great stress reliever.
  • CherokeeBabe
    CherokeeBabe Posts: 1,704 Member
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    i've lost all my weight walking. i love it! pump your arms and power walk like you're in a hurry. take long strides and keep on moving :D

    Would you recommend weights? I have some 2 and 3 pound soft-grip dumbbell weights that are easy to carry in my hands, and I imagine with arm-pumping that would work my biceps at the same time. It wouldn't feel like much at first, but it would probably add up after a couple miles.
  • StacyPervis
    StacyPervis Posts: 32
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    I've considered adding weight to my back pack and increasing the load but I won't do that until I'm at a point that it's hard for me to raise my HR at my walking pace. Remember you have a HR zone that you should stay in to be safe. It doesn't hurt to go over it some but it is a guideline to keep you on target. If you add weight to your walk, you may not be able to walk as far or as long. In my opinion if you are following your HR monitors zone for BPM and getting in 45-60 minutes in the zone, you're doing good. Overworking yourself will put you into the strain or injury situation which results in days lost healing. Steady work will get you there. Increase slowly and be consistent.
  • STrooper
    STrooper Posts: 659 Member
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    There are a couple of ways to do this. Figure on a minimum of 3 mph and a max of 4 in terms of walking. My first steps (pun intended) towards weight loss were all about walking and my first 16 pounds were lost that way, though a bit haphazardly.

    Howerver, in April 2010 I got serious. I started the year at 232 with some walking and by early April I was at 228. I measure steps with a pedometer...an Omron that measures both total and "aerobic" steps (defined by Omron as 10 minutes or more contiuously at more than 60 steps per minute). I started with an inital goal of 16700 steps per day (to complete more than 1,000,000 steps in 60 days. By July 2010, I was down to 200 pounds and by the end of 2010 down to 190-195.

    I spent most of 2011 at around 185-190 doing 20,000 steps per day (average, with 10,000 as aerobic). For 2012, i've bumped that up by 10 percent to 22,000 steps per day (11,000 aerobic). I'm now down to 178....70 pounds from where I first started and 50 pounds since I started walking consistently.

    I walk 7 days per week, broken up into three different periods. I'm now 3 pounds away from my goal where I go to "maintenance". If you aren't in a hurry and you are willing to put in the time, goals are achievable.

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