Walking for weightloss?

[Movingforward123]

Is anyone walking for weightloss? If so what have your results been so far?

I never walk anywhere, so
I'm thinking walking for an hour 2-3 times per week to start off will help to improve my shape (and get rid of the muffin top) am boost my fitness levels!

And hopefully progress from there. I would love to hear inspiring stories from others

Anyone?

I wrote off my car when DS was 2, so for 6 months I walked everywhere as I was too poor to afford another car!

Walked to work and back everyday (6 days a week) approx 1 hr 10 mins

Walked to supermarket and back 3 times a week - 1 hour

Went from 10st 8 to 8st 4!

3 meals a day, not espcially healthy, but no snacks as too poor

Wow that's amazing I bet you were over the moon with the weightloss (but not the lack of car)

Did you manage to keep it off?

That's defintly an incentive to walk! I am thinking of starting kat walking in the mornings so will be just under 1 hour 5 days a week at the moment. But if my results are anything like yours I would be over the moon

I'm walking too, but havn't fully committed, doing it some days, not others! My weight loss has stopped but I can feel the leg muscles getting a bit firmer. I need to commit to both a diet and proper walking.

NoRain NoRainbow, tell us more!.

Was it 1 hr 10 mins each way or in total?
Were you doing about 10 hours walking a week?
Sounds doable.

Well done!

Did you feel amazing?

It's was about 35-40 mins each way to work

And half hour each way to the shops

The poorness made me do it rather than motivation! I didn't actually notice until my jeans fell down

When I got my new car and started to be able to afford snacks again I went up to 9st 4.

But I've found it is really easy to get back into and has fast results, esp. If you walk quite fast.

It toned my legs and bum nicely but not really stomach and arms.

I'm starting a new job in two weeks that will involve a half hour walk each way to the train station so I'm going to get back in the saddle by doing one hour every week day then
On the weekends Ill walk to my mums instead of driving with will be about 45 mins each way. So hopefully will get back down to 8st 10 as 8st 4 was a bit to skinny and no boobs

And for the toning....I've brought the 30 day shred....but I'm scared!

My go to diet is just something I made up:

Raisin wheats and yakult for breakfast
Hummus, carrot, cuecumber, plain chicken breast and brown pitta for lunch
Homemade veg soup and whole meal roll for dinner

Snacks if I'm hungry are:

Apples
Grapes
Couple slices malt loaf
Activist yog

Seems to work but I have no idea if its nutritionally balanced!

Molly how long are you walking for when you do walk?

Perhaps we should have this as a walking support thread

Norain - how all are you? As 8.4 stone is tiny. I would r EUR happy at your current weight of 9.4, I'm currently 10.5 and go upto around 10.7 I really need to shift the weight.

Your diet sounds good for weightloss to me, I eat way too much chocolate and sugary stuff and need to stop. . But I'm hoping walking will help me loose some weight and tone me up abit.

I walk loads. Last year I was walking about 10 miles a day. I have never lost weight walking, even with a good diet. But it's addictive, easy and can cure any form of depression (that I've had).

wow 10miles per day sounds alot. how long did that take you?

Why do you think it cures depression, is it just the thing of moving more and releasing endorphins etc?

I walk for weight maintenance and also to lose the few pounds I bounce back up. I lost 110 pounds over a year and half, which included all different exercise including running. But now, due to injury, the only thing I do is walk. But I walk a lot. I have a fitbit and walk on average 7 miles a day. Sometimes more. I do what NoRainNoRainbow said and add it to journeys I need to make anyway. I live in London with no car so I walk to a lot of places I go, or get on and off the tube many stops earlier than needed and walk the rest. Walking takes a lot more time as a form of exercise than running for instance, so to add a walking session into the day can seem very time consuming. But just adding it in throughout the day into what you are doing anyway makes it much more manageable.

I'm 5'2" I think the healthy weights for me are between 7st 12 and 9st 7? I think? So I'm nearly at the top end, I'm a flabby size 8-10 and would rather be a toned 8

baking is spot on. I've had some low points and mild depression. It does make you feel so much better! The fresh air and endorphins I think!

Walking really lifts my mood. It's the fresh air, the blood circulating which you can feel so powerfully pumping through your body, and most of all its the time to think. For me, long walks gave me time to gather my thoughts and sort them out, to rationalise and to just be me. No cooking, no one to feed or iron for. Just me walking and looking at life all around me and feeling its going to be ok. Sounds so cheesy.

Like others, I incorporated the walking into my day. Two school runs and then a long park walk. And just like wiifitmama said, it takes a big chunk out of the day. This was ok when I could just put dc in a buggy and walk. But much harder to do daily now they are older.

I feel so strongly about walking/ exercise for helping with depression. It's the only thing that works for me.

Just to add - if you do have older kids out of buggies (I have 3), it is very good for them to get used to walking places. Kids today don't walk nearly enough. Their step count should actually be more than an adult, not less. Recommended daily steps for an adult is 10,000 and for children it is 12,000. You can build it up slowly for them, but they should be able to do it. Unless your kids are at school all day and you don't work (I home school so they are always with me), you will never get enough walking in unless they are doing it too.

Good point wiifitmama. I walk lots with my kids. We get to have a proper chat walking.

I'm doing this too, I've replaced all short car journeys with walking and I have a fitbit, it's addictive, I always do my 10,000 steps per day and often 20,000. I've linked my fitbit to mfp but don't count the extra calories. I'm eating about 1,400 calories a day and have lost 18 pounds in 5 weeks without it been difficult or feeling hungry.

I really enjoy the walking and hadn't thought about the effect it has on your mood until now but I think it does help if you're feeling down. I had a lovely walk in the rain tonight.

And I totally agree about it being mood lifting (though I also found that with running outdoors). If I have had a difficult day, I head out the door as soon as dh gets in from work for even a short walk and I feel much better.

Over the last three years (1.5 of weight loss and 1.5 of maintenance) I have bought more fitness gadgets and equipment than you can imagine. The only one that has truly transformed my fitness level on an ongoing and maintainable basis is the fitbit. I cannot recommend it enough.

What's a fit bit and what does it do?

fitbit

Fieldsofcorn - wow that's amazing weightloss, do you mind if I ask what you weighed to begin with?

And did you do much walking before the five weeks? Or was you like me and drove everywhere?

I use mfp but never stick to my calories I comfort eat and I feel bored a lot. Hopefully if I start walking and improve my mood I will eat less!

I do quite a lot of exercise now, but I've never been as thin as when I walked everywhere. And I think I ate more too. I used to walk briskly for about four miles per day and was half a stone lighter than I am at my currently healthy weight.

Movingforwad123 I usually walk fast for about 1 hour, but I find if I get out of the habit, I can let it slip for a few days/ a week and then it's hard to get back into it.

I really want to up my exercise levels for lots of reasons. I want peachy skin, at the moment my skin is dry and patchy. I agree walking is great for your mood and it also makes me feel healthy and like someone else said, you can feel the blood pumping around and you don't want to eat crap, you just feel overall fitter, slimmer, more health conscious. Just by doing the exercise.

I keep feeling very confined at the moment as im not working and looking for work. And that's why i think walking is a good idea right now.

I'm going to walk to a shopping centre today which will take about an hour, I NEVER do things like that, my dd seems very excited about it as she gets to scoot, do wish me luck

I hope my ankle is ok after, but my physio did recommend walking!

movingforward I was 14st 10 when I started, so a lot to lose, 10 st 6 is the top of my healthy bmi, so still a long way to go but I'm now 20 pounds down. I do worry because it's coming off quickly but guess it will slow down and I'm eating well, even discovered a love of cooking.

I love my walk to and from work - half an hour each way along the beach to the bus stop my end (prom in the winter when it's dark, on the beach itself in the summer). At the other end of the bus ride I then have a short but steep uphill stretch including a long flight of steps to work. Twice a week or so I try to go for a lunchtime walk up a nearby hill which is a brisk hour's walk with about 200ft of ascent. I've been doing this since about November, while eating carefully. I've gone from just over 15st in August to 9st 7 this morning (which was my target, yippee!). I know a lot of it's down to eating less, but the walk is really important too. Don't know how it works physiologically, but I love the time spent in the outdoors in all weathers, it makes me feel upbeat and good about myself, and if I'm walking along the prom it means I'm not sitting on the sofa thinking about how much I want a cake. I did try the gym and swimming back in August/September, but all that getting changed and faffing about wasn't for me, and I didn't enjoy it half as much as walking.