Walking for Weight-loss? Anyone?

[CathrynRose]

Im not talking about dropping 300 pounds - but just toning up and losing anything (really).

Does anyone know or think it can be done with just fast "power" walking 20 or so minutes a day?

How am I supposed to walk? Im clueless to any sort of "exercise" program ... HELP!!!!

 

[Tiggerlover91]

Im not talking about dropping 300 pounds - but just toning up and losing anything (really).

Does anyone know or think it can be done with just fast "power" walking 20 or so minutes a day?

How am I supposed to walk? Im clueless to any sort of "exercise" program ... HELP!!!!

When I walk, I walk about 40 minutes round trip. I do walk quickly, but I don't power walk. I do make sure to swing my arms more especially going uphill as that makes a big difference. I can usually fill the "burn" in my legs after about 25 minutes....LOVE that feeling! I've lost weight walking and eating well, look at my second ticker!

Good luck! Keep us posted!

 

[goodeats]

Walking alone is not going to tone you up. You should get a strength training program like The Firm or join a gym and have a trainer show you how.

Walking can help you slim down, but it's not going to tone your arms or abs. Your legs may tone slightly in the quad area and maybe gluteal area if you are doing hills, but really you'd need a lot of walking to get the results you want. I enjoy walking with my DH as part of my overall well rounded exercise routine.

 

[agnes!]

Walk first thing in the morning, *before* you eat any breakfast. Start slowly & work up to at least 1 or 2 miles before your first meal. My DH swears that this is the best way to start losing weight. (And he's done competitive bodybuilding on the "Masters" level!)

Joining a gym, working out with strength-training equipment, etc will help as well.

Oh, and if you can, walk with someone. The extra talking adds additional aerobic exercise to your workout.

And get a pedometer! They make keeping track of how much you are walking during the day almost fun. It's actually sad how little I was walking *before* I got my pedometers.

agnes!

 

[CathrynRose]

Thanks all for the replies.

Im not looking to be some hard body - just looking to be "better". I used to waitress and bartend for 10 years - and since being an office worker, I can feel my butt widening upon every day, sitting in my office!

Just looking to get something moving around. Losing a little here and there...

Thanks again, so much, all you repliers!

 

[justjulie]

I took the plunge last July and joined the 5K Walking Clinic at the Running Room - from there I joined the 10K and am now training for a 1/2 Marathon. It works and walking with a group is great incentive. Pedometers are great for distance measurement but the thing I found very valuable was a heart rate monitor. It helps to keep you moving and you can monitor if you're going too slow or too fast for what you want to accomplish. I use it to train and it has become invaluable. I do one walk at a faster pace (raising my heart rate above the 70% up to the 85% level if I'm really working out) and one long, slow distance walk (called a LSD) where I maintain my heart rate below 70%. It has been great for me, I have toned, improved my physical endurance and my mental well being.

Try it, you won't be sorry. If you have a Running Room near you see if they have a walking clinic. All Running Rooms have free "club" days (Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday at 8:30 a.m.) that you can hook up with a group and walk ...

 

[KelNottAt]

I'm a walker. I try to do a fast walk for 45 mins 5 times per week. Sad truth is, 5x is unusual. I feel really good about myself if I do 4x. I'm pretty down if I only do 3x.

Anyway, I do find that it has "tone-up" benefits. Well, for me at least. Yes, my arms need some work, but my thighs do have less thunder in them.

Good luck!

 

[WDWFAN9]

check out this site, it has lots of info about walking... www.walking.about.com

I've walked two half marathons (WDW in January and Columbus in April) and while I haven't lost a lot of weight I do feel a lot better.

 

[KelNottAt]

I've walked two half marathons (WDW in January and Columbus in April) and while I haven't lost a lot of weight I do feel a lot better.

WHAT?!?! You can WALK in 1/2 marathons? I had no idea. This is definitely something I want to do. How do I find out more? I guess 13.1 miles would take just under 5 hours?

 

[justjulie]

Absolutely you can walk a half and even a full - you just need to find a "walker friendly" race - and they are out there. Walking is becoming a very popular sport (and we take it just as seriously as runners) so several running events are now creating walking divisions.

I know you can walk the following:

Arizona Rock and Roll
Nashville 1/2
Niagara Ultra
Chili Half (Burlington, Ontario)
Nova Scotia Blue Nose

 

[justjulie]

The Baltimore Marathon is scheduled for October 14, 2006

 

[ckay87]

I'd like to second the walking before eating breakfast suggestion. I actually thought I was imagining it. There was a point in time where I set up my schedule so that I'd walk before breakfast. Weight was just falling off, I'm not kidding. It's nice to hear someone else can attest to that.

I should get back to that, but it's soooo hard for me to be that motivated that early in the a.m (5:30 !)

Good luck....you can't go wrong. Don't let anyone tell you "that's not enough." I hate to hear that. I had a good walking program going, then I'd read certain things like - you really need to walk 30 minutes at a time, you really need to walk every day, you really need to walk an hour every day, etc . I got to one point where I just thought, "oh the h**l with it." And, uh, that didn't work out for me at all.

 

[CathrynRose]

Good luck....you can't go wrong. Don't let anyone tell you "that's not enough." I hate to hear that. I had a good walking program going, then I'd read certain things like - you really need to walk 30 minutes at a time, you really need to walk every day, you really need to walk an hour every day, etc . I got to one point where I just thought, "oh the h**l with it." And, uh, that didn't work out for me at all.

Thank you! It does get frustrating reading the "no-no's". I had read that you should be doing a mile in UNDER 15 minutes - well, Im AT 15 minutes, and Im hustling. My little stumpy legs can only go so fast.

So Im thinking the whole time - Im taking twice as many steps as a long legged person - how can my itty bitty quick steps, be worse then long legged strides.

Yes - I hope youre right. Anything IS better than nothing.

 

[Pixiedust34]

You might be interested in this:

http://www.ava.org/

Volksmarching gives the opportunity to join a walking club and to participate in walking events.

 

[justjulie]

CathrynRose:

Pump your arms - seriously it makes a world of difference - especially when going up hill. Our instructors told us - if you want to go faster - pump your arms faster - feet are stupid - they just naturally follow the arms, so you have total control.

Something is better than nothing and you'd be amazed how your endurance builds us. Last year I could barely do anything - this year I'm training for a full and/or half.

I cannot walk in the morning - it's not not possible for me. I have two children to get up and ready for school and an 1.5 hour commute so I'm not walking in the wee hours of the morning. Walking at night is not bad, it's the only time I get to do it so that's when I go.

Enjoy but be careful, it's addicting!

 

[CathrynRose]

Enjoy but be careful, it's addicting!

AHHHH! I really really hope I *do* get to the "addicted" part - cuz right now I am SO still in the -dread- stage!!!

Thank you all so much!

 

[DaisyD]

Since I started Weight Watchers 8 weeks ago I also started walking. I walk 5 mornings a week with a neighbor. We walk 3-4 miles a day and it takes us from 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. For us that is a pretty good clip. I think you really have to go a good speed to get any benefit from. That and dieting has put me down over 22 lbs so far.

 

[Virgo10]

I started walking on the treadmill 6 weeks ago. At first it was only 5 minutes at 2 mph. Now I'm up to 10 minutes at 3 mph. I also started REALLY watching what I was eating because of a bad cholesterol report. In the past 6 weeks I've lost 13 pounds. I was able to get into shorts that haven't fit me in over a year the other day. The husband says I am noticeably thinner.

Taking things slow is what has worked best for me but you have to do the walking everyday if you're going to power walk. Eventually I'll probably do some distance walking (if my stupid back will cooperate) but that won't happen until after the summer's over. It's too hot to go out when the sun's up and too buggy when it's not.

 

[WDWFAN9]

Different events have different time limits. The WDW half marathon has a 3 and 1/2 hr time limit, which is a 16 minute per mile pace (they also allow for the time it takes the last participant to cross the start line - this year it took over 20 minutes). The Columbus half is a John Bingham (author of Marathoning for Mortals) and has a 4 hr time limit. So it all depends. There are also walker only events too. Check out the events/competition subforum on the W.I.S.H. board. All kinds of information and encouragement from our fellow Dis'ers.