To the people who think that walking cannot make an impact on your weight

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you were at the lower end of healthy BMI for most of your adult life and you carried the extra weight for less than a year, you don’t surprise me. You also are not a typical weightloss story. Most people carry more extra weight longer.

Sorry you had to be less skinny for a few months. Glad you are better now.

So angry...sad

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That other post ridiculing walkers made me so mad. I’m overweight and have been trying hard to lose it. Doing 2 walks a day, about a mile each, which includes some hills and I also do bursts of speedier walking to get my heart rate up. It’s nothing impressive but people have to start somewhere. And then I see a post dedicated to making walkers feel stupid? What is the point? Why kick people when they’re down? This approach has never made anyone get healthier quicker.

As for OP, I can’t seem to get past 8k steps a day. I don’t get how you have time for 20k!

I started walking last year and what pushed me past the 5-7K steps a day barrier was getting a fitbit and turning on the sedentary alarm. It vibrates every hour if I haven't walked at least 250 steps that hour. I have it turned on to alert me from 6am-6pm. Initially, I managed to get my 250 steps in during the 6am hour because it's my workout time, and the 5pm hour, because it's after work and I'm rushing around pulling dinner together. But during the work day, I was almost completely motionless. I gradually started identifying times during the day when I could walk, meetings I could walk during, little breaks where I could do a quick couple minute walk outside or around my house to clear my head. That boosted my steps significantly. I regularly break 15K steps a day now, and I haven't significantly changed my workout routine (I have added a hike on my weekends, but that's just one day).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That other post ridiculing walkers made me so mad. I’m overweight and have been trying hard to lose it. Doing 2 walks a day, about a mile each, which includes some hills and I also do bursts of speedier walking to get my heart rate up. It’s nothing impressive but people have to start somewhere. And then I see a post dedicated to making walkers feel stupid? What is the point? Why kick people when they’re down? This approach has never made anyone get healthier quicker.

As for OP, I can’t seem to get past 8k steps a day. I don’t get how you have time for 20k!

There are a lot of arrogant jerks on DCUM but lots of supportive people, too. Two walks a day, on hills, with intervals of speed, is a great start to getting in shape. Try adding 5 minutes to your walk each week. You have already done the hardest part-- which is just getting started and creating the habit.

[Anonymous]

Actually it’s probably your fasting schedule that did the trick. Either way, great accomplishment!

Signed, intermittent faster. (Read Delay Don’t Deny).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That other post ridiculing walkers made me so mad. I’m overweight and have been trying hard to lose it. Doing 2 walks a day, about a mile each, which includes some hills and I also do bursts of speedier walking to get my heart rate up. It’s nothing impressive but people have to start somewhere. And then I see a post dedicated to making walkers feel stupid? What is the point? Why kick people when they’re down? This approach has never made anyone get healthier quicker.

As for OP, I can’t seem to get past 8k steps a day. I don’t get how you have time for 20k!

There are a lot of arrogant jerks on DCUM but lots of supportive people, too. Two walks a day, on hills, with intervals of speed, is a great start to getting in shape. Try adding 5 minutes to your walk each week. You have already done the hardest part-- which is just getting started and creating the habit.

Agree 100%. Ignore all the people in this thread that are being negative. They suck, and they can take their smug attitude and shove it.

I posted earlier in this thread about how I started with walking. And it was not easy at first, at all. I was so beyond a normal weight; my lower back was killing me. I started with 1-1.5-mile walks whenever I could around April of last year when I started working from home because of the pandemic. Usually early in the morning. Continued that throughout all of last year and into the fall. Fell off the wagon with the hooch and food very specifically twice, and the data shows that. During this time, I also got a Fitbit charge 4 to track my steps all day, since I can wear that and work at the computer vs. an apple watch or similar where I cannot. I found that I could hit 10,000 or so with one to two walks and also pacing around while on conference calls etc... in my home office. Other stuff like yard work helps get the step count too, and also the increased HR counts.

The last time I fell off the wagon in October / November when it got cold and I didn't want to be outside to walk, I got myself a treadmill (admittedly a Peloton Tread+, which I appreciate was a very expensive purchase). On that, I started with the power walking and hiking programs in late December / January. From there, I progressed to walk + run classes, and now I am almost exclusively doing running classes except for days where I really need a lower impact. I think I am at a point where I could probably do a 25-minute 5k on the tread at 1.5% to simulate running outside. I am even sprinting at like 11mph, which is ludicrous. I also do the strength / circuit training classes and boot camps on there.

I have lost 50+ pounds doing this, along with diet and overall lifestyle changes. I also have gotten my resting heart rate down to between 53-55. This also started because of a high blood pressure scare, and I don't even bother checking it, because I know it continues to improve. And I am a lawyer at a big law firm - to give some perspective on work commitments. Admittedly, I am a 40-year-old male, which changes the calculus here, but not by much.

So, in closing, walking definitely can make an impact on your weight. And it is like an entry level drug to fitness, which is even better! And, even if it is where you chill and crank, good for you! Just do you and be confident!

[Anonymous]

My Dad walked the Appalachian trail. He walked. He ate so much food and he came home 40 lbs thinner. He did not have 40 pounds to lose. He could not eat enough to keep weight on. Walking works people.

[Anonymous]

It was the diet, not the walking.

I'm not sure why people think that diet alone would have exactly the same impact on weight as the same diet, plus 5 miles of brisk walking daily?

I did a very relaxed version of IF (8 or 9 hour window) plus the walking, eating 3 meals a day, plus a snack or two and not counting calories or anything. My goal was to drop from 160 to 125. When I reached that goal, I started eating more outside the window and more food in general and kept up the walking. I currently weigh 116 and probably eat around 1800 calories most of the time. I never came close to 20,000 steps a day, but I do walk several miles at 4.2 mph on an 8 to 10 incline.

The continued weight loss is slower, but I assume that I am still at a deficit because of the walking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

It was the diet, not the walking.

I'm not sure why people think that diet alone would have exactly the same impact on weight as the same diet, plus 5 miles of brisk walking daily?

I did a very relaxed version of IF (8 or 9 hour window) plus the walking, eating 3 meals a day, plus a snack or two and not counting calories or anything. My goal was to drop from 160 to 125. When I reached that goal, I started eating more outside the window and more food in general and kept up the walking. I currently weigh 116 and probably eat around 1800 calories most of the time. I never came close to 20,000 steps a day, but I do walk several miles at 4.2 mph on an 8 to 10 incline.

The continued weight loss is slower, but I assume that I am still at a deficit because of the walking.

If you are a woman, how did that incline affect your leg shape?

[Anonymous]

20K steps is around 500 calories burned. If OP also watched her calories, she was easily reducing her intake by a 1000 calories per day, due to walking.
Hence caloric reduction became much easier due to walking.
And she wasn't exhausted from a hard core work out that would make her hungry.
People are just not smart about nutrition in the U.S. Around the world, the very first advice about weight issues is to get up and walk.
Other than FIL who walks due to his job, I rarely saw people walking here. Apart from one older guy, who lost a ton of weight due to walking! He started some 6 years ago, he walked and walked.
You buy a Peloton, a treadmill, a bike, sign up for a gym, all these are great. But, for most of the world the wisdom of exercise and not gaining weight is much simples than that. Take a walk.

[Anonymous]

I'm petite and I love walking to maintain my weight. I really struggle with calorie reduction; too much reduction and I miss nutrients. I do enjoy running but it makes me really hungry and I feel like I end up eating whatever I burned. So I walk more, sometimes briskly, and it works

[Anonymous]

What do you do to keep from getting bored while walking either indoors or outdoors? I can handle about 45 mins of walking but then I am bored and impatient and ready to move on to something else. Help me, please!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s admirable that you lost weight but I think your IF and improved diet was responsible for most of your weight loss. That said, getting 20,000 steps is good for you too. Beats sitting on a couch.

I hate it when people claim they are being healthy by walking their dog but remain fat because they don’t change their diet.

I am always baffled by this. Why do you care?

And to other posters thinking the window is extreme, I do IF and technically my window is 11-7 but after a year of doing this I frequently get to 1pm or beyond without even thinking about it. Today I ate at 1:30, and I was hungry so definitely could have eaten earlier but I like to get my cardio in pre food and got delayed today. I ate a yogurt and a pack of sausage biscuits (2 small ones). I will eat a totally normal dinner. It is basically just skipping breakfast and not snacking at night. It is great, but this is not starving myself. I would have thought it was before I did it though!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do you do to keep from getting bored while walking either indoors or outdoors? I can handle about 45 mins of walking but then I am bored and impatient and ready to move on to something else. Help me, please!

Try plogging - learned about this on dcum. I’ve been doing this for years but now it has a name

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do you do to keep from getting bored while walking either indoors or outdoors? I can handle about 45 mins of walking but then I am bored and impatient and ready to move on to something else. Help me, please!

I listen to audiobooks, podcasts or music. If I am doing a hike sometimes I like to just enjoy the scenery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do you do to keep from getting bored while walking either indoors or outdoors? I can handle about 45 mins of walking but then I am bored and impatient and ready to move on to something else. Help me, please!

Podcasts! There seems to be one for every subject in the world. Get some headphones and start walking.