Is walking actually beneficial for weight loss?

[ygrittesnow5]

I hate exercising and rarely have time for the gym (although I could weight train at home I suppose). But I am and have been making a conscious effort to walk more for the last few months. With the school run, a lunchtime walk and an evening dog walk along with general pottering throughout the day, I am averaging at least 10,000 steps a day more usually more.

But will this actually do anything for weight loss? I know diet is the key factor by miles but I hope all this extra walking might help somewhere.

This is completely true (sadly). The research is really clear.

Unfortunately the evidence is also pretty bleak for losing weight long term with diets too.

Best thing is to eat well (as in less UPFs) and move as much as you can and try to relax a bit about your weight.

I lift weights twice a week and run 3 days a week and swim and I feel fantastic compared to 10 years ago when I was much more sedentary (I'm nearly 50) but my body isn't hugely different. My arms are more toned and my thighs are larger. I am probably MORE wrinkly from all the running.

I don't care, I consider fitness its own reward!

You can see on an Apple phone that walking 10000 steps will burn (for me) 200-300 calories depending how much is uphill. So a couple of biscuits-worth.
Diet makes more difference than exercise, but that 200-300 helps tip you into deficit.
I always think it’s amazing how much you have to exercise to burn off a really small amount of food though. And as soon as you eat one biscuit a day too much the weight piles on.

You can't walk off a poor diet. Walking will help but it needs to be at a reasonable pace and distance to burn any meaningful calories. Walking is good for digestion, especially, after meal fart walks.

This is what I’ve experienced so far.

Exercise makes no difference to weight loss. If anything exercise will make you eat more.

There must be around 80 official studies on this, it's been proven many times.

Exercise does have benefits but they don't relate to weight loss.

You can't outrun a bad diet (outwalk?) but it is so good for you, and does contribute to fighting obesity.

The only times in my life when I have lost weight without trying have been when I was doing large amounts of walking.

The first, I was a teenager, and kept missing the hourly bus to a friend's house, so walked the ~2 miles most days instead rather than wait.

The second time, due to the cost and unreliability of the buses, I walked 3 miles each way to work, for around two years.

Both were made really easy by circumstances, and absolutely led to weight loss. I never understand the acknowledged wisdom that says it is all diet - I've never lost much weight through diet.

As a qualified fitness instructor, I can tell you that walking is a brilliant form of safe, low impact, weight bearing exercise, which when combined with a good, healthy diet can lead to weight loss. In 2020, both my wife and I were out of work, so from March to September, walked around two hours a day in a local nature reserve. We both lost around six kilos each in weight and felt great.

I do think the 'exercise for weight loss' is part of the campaign by fast food companies to justify their aggressive marketing of UPF and high fat food and push the blame onto consumers while they have developed ultra high palatably and addictive foods, hence all the sponsorship of sporting events. If they could push the narrative that they are just innocently providing a service and if people weren't so lazy they wouldn't be fat then the blame is pushed onto the public. I swim daily because it really helps with my mental health. I didn't lose any weight until I started trying to control my eating.

@ygrittesnow5 My experience is it really depends on your metabolism and your age. I walked quite a lot for 3 months and did not lose any weight at all. But it can be a stepping stone to something else and also if you enjoy it, it’s always a positive thing.

It will make a difference, balanced with food intake (critical) but feeling fitter and healthier may also motivate you to eat healthily and the time spent on walking limits snacking windows too.

Primarily though walking will help your overall fitness, muscle tone in legs and mental health. Don't underestimate how important those things are. People will say but you also need to lift weights, but you need to do cardio too, blah blah, but if walking is something you enjoy and will keep up, it's a million times better than nothing! Better than joining a gym and not going because you can't face it ...

I'm a walker OP and I find that walking (whether I'm actually hiking or generally doing errands near home) really makes a difference to how well I sleep at night. For me the improved sleep is the big thing that helps me make better food choices, have a bit more energy for thinking of better choices and then actually preparing them! So yes walking - but also quality sleep for me are key. Also, it's easy to develop more fitness than you think with regular walking, in a much less macho/competitive way than many other forms of exercise. Good luck!

Older people that walk just 20 mins a day have 400% greater bone density. It’s absolutely vital.

Sorry but this is false. Have a read of latest research. You don't burn off what you eat - it's a myth. Research might update but for now, it is very clear. It is entirely about food.

I'll be honest I have invested a fair bit of time on walking in the past. I never noticed any extra weight loss. I even bought a walking pad that's now gathering dust!

YANBU to ask, but yes, walking is, for most people, excellent exercise, and can help wit weight loss

Walking definitely helps me, especially walking fast and if it's good hour a day.

Walking helped me lose weight (along with a calorie deficit and less carbs).

I don’t know how many calories I burned an hour - probably not many.

But if I was walking I wasn’t eating - so a stroll in the evenings or on weekends meant that I didn’t make myself a cup of tea or have a snack out of habit/boredom.

Exercise makes you feel so much better too.
And fresh air and sunlight make you feel so much better.
And when you feel better mentally, you lose weight easier.

It also helped with sleeping - another massive thing for weight loss.

It’s also good for your muscles and bones.

The fittest I have ever been was when I worked at spoons. 20,000 steps a day almost daily, lifting kegs, putting away deliveries and all that good stuff. Also think I burned a few calories seething at customers. Now I do the gym and all that, but I’m not hitting the same levels of activity.

Walking is a good start. I also hate exercise but I do have to do it now and I just think of it in terms of I need to stay strong so I stay young. My mum is 65 and physically fit while her sister is not. My aunt is very frail and menopause also seemed to hit her much harder. For me the best way to ensure I exercise is to scare myself.

Hey - yep, agreed. Would modify 'diet' to 'unrealistic' diet or 'unsustainable' diet. I dropped 2.5 dress sizes (nearly 3 in the end) due to a change in my diet. And while I'm a healthier weight now I added a bit back on, I'm still the slim size I originally aimed for and still wear a small. I made lifestyle changes in my diet, rather than following fads. So, fad-dieting doesn't work, but realistic and sustainable changes in diet do work long-term. I'm the proof! 🥳

do you have a Fitbit or some kind of fitness tracker?

If you can walk and and stay in a heart rate zone 2 for 20-30 mins each day the weight will fall off.

10000 steps a day is a minimum and unless you're getting your heart rate up in won't do much other than grease the wheels.

This isn’t accurate.

Olympic swimmers need something like 10,000kcals a day just to maintain their weight because of all of the exercise they do.

Exercise does burn calories and increases muscle mass - which helps with weight loss.

But more than that exercise is good for mental health, energy and sleep - which are vital for weight loss.

But you can’t outrun a bad diet - if you’re eating 10,000kcals a day but not an Olympic swimmer, then you’re going to be the size of a house.

As everyone has said, its the deficicit that loses the weight.

If you are over weight becuase you eat 3000 calories per day when you only need 2000 calories, then you will not lose weight by walking which will use at most 400 cals per day. You would actually continue to gain weight, but more slowly.

If you are just a couple of hundred calories over what you should be eating each day then the walking calories could certainly push you into deficit and would help weight loss.

Either way, walking gets you heart rate up without killing your joints, so its always going to be good for you irrespective of calories.

I do lots of walking, generally out and about and a lot of hill walking. I’d consider myself pretty fit and I was running for a while which I like but occasionally I was having a rest if my knees or hip hurt. I’d noticed people at the gym walking on the treadmill which bemused me then Instagram started feeding me all these incline walking shorts and I thought I’d give it a go and I think it’s made a difference to my fitness. I never run on treadmills, much prefer to run outside, but setting an incline on the treadmill in the gym and listening to a podcast is brilliant. It’s all uphill so feels like consistent effort, feels like a proper work out but don’t feel like am doing anything dodgy to my joints. It’s also something I don’t feel that I can’t be bothered to do.

For weight loss, as long as you have a calorie deficit alongside walking, it is one of the best things you can do. Higher intensity exercise can increase appetite more, making a calorie deficit harder.

However, for heart/cardiovascular health, you definitely need to get a bit of a sweat on too. So either up the intensity a few times a week with pace, walking up hill, or walk/jog.

For bone health and overall longevity, weight training is vital too. Thinking along the lines of walking up stairs, going to the toilet, etc in old age. Muscle strength decreases over time and needs stimulation to just maintain. Doesn't necessarily need to involve separate weights, could be body weight squats, press ups, dips, but small weights might be easier to start with on some exercises.

Overall, a combination is best, but you also need to start somewhere so if this is working for you now, don't stop. Just try and add in other bits as you go.