How do you prepare for all the walking?

[FryingPansWhoKnew]

I'm starting by altering my diet and trying to lose a few lbs. carrying extra weight around makes it tough. I am also using an eliptical and trying not to sit around as much.

The diet is really the largest variable here in my opinion so good for you. Last year I lost 50 pounds and have kept most of it off. The increase in exercise is important, but the diet is really the thing that will make a difference in terms of energy when walking around the park. It was a night and day difference for me after dropping the weight.

I am a man though, so my metabolism makes it (unfairly) easier for me, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

Good luck to you and the OP on your goals.

 

[Gisele]

Just be careful when going out for a walk, because the last time my Auntie Gert did that in preparation for our next trip to the land, well we still don't know where in the heck she is and she left a few weeks ago. So, if you happen to see her face on a milk carton, please call the contact number.

We just received post cards from Atlantic City, with what appears to be her chicken scratch like writing. She has special male friends in the city, so she should be fine, they might not be though. Lol
Now I need to make a few phone calls to her favorite haunts. I hope she wins big!

 

[Drusilla99]

I, can sometimes, get bored with the sane routine. I fully understand not wanting to go walking outside because of dogs, but do you have a mall close by you can walk laps at? I have one near my house, that opens a couple hours early, just for walkers & they've got a huge staircase I attack when I finish a lap. Just a little suggestion to mix it up a bit.

 

[mybestieismickey]

If you need a little extra motivation, the WISH board here on the DIS has a thread each month where everyone sets a goal for exercise and then we report it. It's sometimes helpful to be accountable to stay on track. I know for me, I am great at self regulating for a few days, but I fall off the wagon so to speak. Having to report it helps me to stay on track.

I've got a 4 month old, so my exercise mostly consists of walking while pushing the stroller, but we live in a rural area, so lot's of hills and trails. I know you are trying to avoid allergies, but consider hiking whenever possible. It provides the same benefits as walking, with the added bonus of engaging more of your core since you have to balance more on the uneven ground. I think I read once that hiking is just as beneficial as running because your core is so engaged.

Good luck to you!

 

[zanzibar138]

Walking is definitely a great start. Doing laps around a track will get boring pretty quick though. I like the PP's idea of seeing if a mall near you does walks. A few around here do. They're aimed at senior citizens, but I imagine they'd be suitable for anyone who wants a safe and stable environment to walk in.

Anything that gets your heart rate up is going to be good for fitness. Zumba and swimming would both be great (Zumba has the added advantage of working your core, and swimming has the added advantage of being non-weight bearing). Cycling would also be another one to try (unless you get motion sickness on a bike too ). If you enjoy classes at the gym, any of them can be tweaked slightly to be suitable for anyone.

Weights are useful for increasing your metabolism so you burn more calories when you do cardio. Body weight exercises are just as good, and any strengthening you can do for your legs would probably help (squats, lunges etc). Get someone to show you how to do them properly though so that you don't injure yourself.

Any weight you lose between now and then is going to make tackling the parks that much easier. It will also make exercising easier, so you can do more of it and even add some higher impact stuff if you want. If you can change your diet to help you lose more weight, power to you! For me, nutrition is the hardest thing in the world, and I have no willpower. But I know that any time I choose to eat a piece of fruit instead of a chocolate bar, or say no to that extra cookie etc is doing me good. One step at a time

 

[cinderbellasmom]

Great thread! Congrats on taking the steps to get healthy. I can really relate! 2012 was my first trip since 1999 and in between those 13 yrs I packed on 100+ lbs, of which, I felt in every step. I did OK, but just barely. I'm short ( 5'1) and I'm now 37 so it's high time I did something to feel better in general. I also want to feel better when we go again at the end of Sept. Personally, I started a cross fit type workout in January and although I haven't lost any weight per say my stamina has improved greatly. I'm far less winded and feel much stronger. That said, when we were preparing for our 2012 trip I read somewhere that to prepare for the parks you should be walking at least one mile a day. My workouts often have a one mile run at the beginning or the end and although I'm slow, I know it'll help.
Shoe wise I really like Keen's. They're really comfortable and they're waterproof which helped big time on Splash and Grizzly RR

 

[Gisele]

any time I choose to eat a piece of fruit instead of a chocolate bar, or say no to that extra cookie etc is doing me good. One step at a time

Here here! Please feel free to send those tasty snacks to me. Here is my mailing address.........



Lol.....no...really.....

 

[vladimir p]

Just be careful when going out for a walk, because the last time my Auntie Gert did that in preparation for our next trip to the land, well we still don't know where in the heck she is and she left a few weeks ago. So, if you happen to see her face on a milk carton, please call the contact number.

We just received post cards from Atlantic City, with what appears to be her chicken scratch like writing. She has special male friends in the city, so she should be fine, they might not be though. Lol
Now I need to make a few phone calls to her favorite haunts. I hope she wins big!

 

[starshine514]

OP, you mentioned that you have kids. Are your kids small enough that you will be pushing a stroller at the parks? My legs used to get so sore when we went to the parks. I thought I was just out of shape, bought a pedometer and started walking at least 10,000 steps a day. Still, I got sore shins every trip. That is, until my girls outgrew the stroller. After that, I never had sore legs again (just sore feet sometimes). The problem was, we didn't use the stroller at home, just at Disney. So, if you're going to be pushing a stroller at Disney, train for Disney by pushing a stroller.

 

[wakica]

Lots of great suggestions here!! I had NO CLUE that you could actually get shin splints from lots of STANDING?!?! That's crazy but does explain a lot.

For my plan I am going to do one REALLY long walk a week (did 60 min last week and will work up to as much as 2.5 hours close to the trip) and a 2 or 3 short walks as well (30 - 45 min).

Last week here is what I did...

Day 1 - 60 min walk
Day 2 - 50 min walk
Day 5 - 40 min walk
Day 6 - 30 min walk

I got in 17k!!!!!!!!

I did feel my shins a bit after day 2, not sore really but just starting to get sore so I think by getting out 4 times a week to walk will help make my shins stronger. I guess I better start standing more too. I definitely sit every chance I can. LOL

How is it going OP? Keep us posted

 

[BensWife]

How is it going OP? Keep us posted

Going good. Today was the first time I went to the gym. I walked 45 minutes. The track I walk on is small and takes 22 laps for a mile, and I lost count. However, I do have a fitbit, and I logged in 2 miles. I'm proud of myself. I just hope I keep it up. My 2 boys didn't like the day care; they said the other kids were mean. I hope things get better after going a few more times, but if not it might throw a kink into the works. Hopefully it will get better for them.

 

[wakica]

Glad its going well. I hope the kids come around and start to enjoy the daycare. I know how hard it can be to work out with little ones around.

I think I've had a breakthrough! I did a walk/jog yesterday and then a walk today and a few hours later started feeling my shins. I think my problem comes when I don't have a day of recovery between long stints of walking and/or jogging. So, I will need to gradually work up to walking longer amounts back to back days. Tomorrow though it's going to be a rest day because my shins are aching more and more as the night goes on!!!

 

[tamiandryan]

You are definitely on the right track (haha...track...)! Walking is great exercise! You can also incorporate strength training. It increases the calories you burn. You will not believe how much easier everything is when you are in better shape! I have lost 125 pounds, and it makes my travel so much more enjoyable. Even before I lost the whole amount, it made a huge difference! Just keep your eye on the prize! Let your trip motivate you!

As for music, runhundred.com is a good place to find music suggestions. You can search by genre or beats per minute.

Congrats on your 20 pounds, Astylla!

Grats to you on 125lbs! That is awesome!!!

Having good supportive shoes is often overlooked as well. I love New Balance trail style athletic shoes personally. Remember endurance takes time but you will feel better once you are in a regular routine. Good luck.

I agree here. Shoes are a big deal. If you are uncomfortable or your body and feet hurt, you will loose the motivation to keep working. Invest in a good pair. Plus if you spend a lot of money on them, you will feel obligated to use them (at least I do)

Exercise is great and it does wonders with losing weight, but at the very core of what will change your body is nutrition. A majority of battles are in the kitchen and how you prepare food. Exercise is important, but diet and good nutrition is the biggest obstacle of all. I'm using my fitness pal to help me log my food and exercise. It truly helps you see what you're eating and helps you reach the goals you're trying to reach. Good luck on your quest and I will be your support through the internet .

For me personally, I hate to diet! That is the worst kind of swear word. But... I have found success in just making healthier choices. Snacking less, or eating fruit instead of a ding dong. Drinking more water and less soda. Not eating 2nds. All of those healthier choices add up and make a BIG difference. Compliment the better eating along with your walking and you will see results faster.

I did running shoes do make my feet awefully sweaty and hot though so I even tried taking a pair of sandals to swap to for a little portion of the day. I just seem to get shin splints so easily. It's weird bc the shoes I ran with never gave me shin splints while jogging and during our race but with an entire day of walking a few days in a row it just ends up doing me in.

I get shin splints as well. Walking almost aggravates them worse than running. Slow down the walking pace a bit, it seems to help me. I also saw a chiropractor and he worked on my ankles. Seemed kinda voodoo'ie, but it worked and has alleviated them a lot!

Lastly for OP: I saw some other suggestions for workouts using YouTube. The Wife follows several workout channels and they have plenty of fun music based workouts she can do. It mixes up your routine. This is fun and an added health benefit (muscle confusion helps them develop better). So shake things up. Good luck, and keep at it. It doesn't off fast, so stay motivated!

 

[Jennafoo]

One tip I have is to remember that distance/endurance are different than speed and weight loss. There are lots of skinny people who get winded walking too far; I'm considered overweight, but I walk ALL the time and can walk for miles with no problem. To get ready for DLR, you'll want to make sure you are looking at endurance. You mentioned you can't go very fast, but is that really a problem? If you're walking slower, but can walk further without getting tired that might be best. So, if you slowed down a bit but walked LONGER, that might be good training for DLR...

 

[FryingPansWhoKnew]

Any weight you lose between now and then is going to make tackling the parks that much easier. It will also make exercising easier, so you can do more of it and even add some higher impact stuff if you want. If you can change your diet to help you lose more weight, power to you! For me, nutrition is the hardest thing in the world, and I have no willpower. But I know that any time I choose to eat a piece of fruit instead of a chocolate bar, or say no to that extra cookie etc is doing me good. One step at a time

It's hard. I wouldn't say you have no willpower, it's just so gosh darn hard to do. I quit smoking cold turkey 4 years ago, and the diet I was doing was pretty close to that level of difficulty. Each time, I had to set a lofty reason for why I was deciding I wanted to change my life. For the smoking, it was just so expensive. I could not afford a mortgage if I kept smoking. So it was either smoke or buy a home. That kept me motivated.

For the weight loss, I went a different direction. In Australia, this may not be such an epidemic, but here in the US, we have a serious childhood obesity problem. My motivation for losing the weight was telling myself I had to set the example for my children. It's not enough to tell them they had to eat more fruits and vegetables, I had to walk the walk so to speak. Anytime I wanted to cheat, I asked myself if this was the example I wanted my children to follow. It's pretty heavy-handed, but it worked for me. The truth of it is that no one approach will work for everyone. Just got to find something that resonates with you and use that to motivate yourself.

I would also warn in a general sense about going into a new workout or diet regimen with other people with the idea that this will be extra motivation. For me, I have to do it solo. Sometimes I'll humor my wife and "include" her in my routines. I'm not trying to be selfish or mean, but I find that the extra motivation can be there, but I also find there is extra motivation to cheat because your partner gave you "permission" to. It's hard enough to battle my own willpower without having to overcome someone else's. Again, people might have different experiences, but this was mine.

Side note. I spent 5 weeks in Melbourne on a business trip last year. Your city is beautiful. I don't think I will ever get the image of rhinoceroses on skateboards out of my head for the rest of my life.

 

[hootey]

I walk on a treadmill several times a week. 1.25 to 2 miles each time. My main concern for walking all day at DL is quality, comfortable shoes. I used to hate treadmills but, after moving to the greater northwest ten years ago, I've had to adjust. It rains for about nine months at a time here. So, I had to adjust to treadmill life. We take several breaks during the day to get off our feet(watch a show, ride the train for two or three laps, or just find a seat in the shade somewhere). TREADMILL, COMFORTABLE SHOES, AND TAKE A COUPLE BREAKS. That's how we do it

 

[zanzibar138]

Side note. I spent 5 weeks in Melbourne on a business trip last year. Your city is beautiful. I don't think I will ever get the image of rhinoceroses on skateboards out of my head for the rest of my life.

For anyone confused, this is what the PP is talking about.

 

[purplecrush]

Im glad I found this thread and will be watching it closely! We are planning a trip for december, so im starting to prepare myself now for all the walking we will do. Its just a trip for the hubby and I this time and I cant wait. I have a fitbit and have been aiming for my 10k (which I havent hit for weeks, due to life getting in the way . It seems like no matter how much preparation ive done in the past, my legs and feet KILL me by the end of the night

good luck all!!

 

[hootey]

One more thing I do when walking a lot like at DL. I wear only white 100% cotton socks and I put on a clean pair every afternoon after pool time. Clean dry socks are a key to having healthy, happy feet(at least for me).

 

[Astylla]

It all adds up. Everyone has had some great suggestions so far !

Endurance really is key I agree and sometimes challenging yourself cna help too. I know for me doing full cardio - even 30-45 minutes a day helped me in all areas of doing the parks from walking to how I felt during the day to waiting in lines. Eating better along with consistent activity has yielded results in inches and weight and health of course.

Just for an example here is a comparison photo of my journey so far