Walking 3-8 miles a day outside!!

mkh5683 · September 20, 2007

Does anyone walk several miles a day and drink a lot of Water? Will that help a lot with rapid or faster weight loss?

Melanie

katalin.e. · September 20, 2007

Melanie,

I walk (Nordic walking) 5 miles everyday, 7 days a week ... and I drink lot of Water also.

I do not see so much difference on the scale, but the inches are melting off me.

Nordic walking:

Nordic walking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

katalin.e. · September 25, 2007

I have just Nordic walked 8.71 miles today, outside ...

Yes, I feel wonderful tonight.

mini goal to reach by Oct. 31:

blahblahblah · September 26, 2007

I also do a lot of walking...I push my girls in the stroller. This Sunday we did 8 miles...It felt great.

Right now I am in bandster hell...so I'm not losing weight..but I am rapidly dropping waist sizes.

Walking is very good exercise for your heart...and it helps you lose weight.

Best of luck

Lorraine

babygrl1234 · September 26, 2007

Right now I am in bandster hell...so I'm not losing weight..but I am rapidly dropping waist sizes.

I would rather be 200 pounds and wearing a size 12 than 185 and wearing a 16. Just sayin =)

scgirl81 · September 30, 2007

I would rather be 200 pounds and wearing a size 12 than 185 and wearing a 16. Just sayin =)

LOL. That is so true.

Jachut · September 30, 2007

It will help enormously, more than that I personally believe exercise is the most important factor.

I run - simply because I prefer to run than walk - but good hard walking daily is going to be fantastic for you.

I always notice my weight loss picks up when I run AND walk - a shortish run of 3 miles and a lot of walking during the day such as we tend to do on holidays and I lose lots. Its just finding time to do both hey?

EricCharbonneau · October 4, 2007

My surgery date is 10/26. My initial appointment was 6/26/2007. Since my initial appointment, I have lost 48 lbs walking, getting ready for surgery.

Since I'm a guy, I expect to lose weight a bit more quickly than the ladies, but walking has enabled me to go from 290 lbs to 242 lbs in 100 days.

I started slowly, walking 25-40 minutes every day. Now I can walk 8 - 10 miles over hilly terrain at speed uninterrupted. I've learned a few things along the way.

Music will help you walk further. I use an MP3 player with rock music.

I'm 49, so I'm not as spry as I used to be. I try to walk at least 60 minutes a day now, I often walk 90 minutes or more though every day with a day off every two weeks or so.

I used pedometers, but I recently purchased an accelerometer watch, which I like better and is more accurate. I can track my steps, distance walked, average speed, calories burned, and total time exercised. I find this is a useful tool for holding myself accountable.

Walking is great exercise - most people consider it moderate exercise, but if you increase your speed interesting things happen. Humans have two gears for locomotion - walking and running. Walking is inefficient at speeds in excess of 4 mph - in other words, at 4.5 mph you will burn more calories walking than you will running. Since we're here to burn off fat, not win races, walking fast is very good exercise.

As I've lost weight, I've been able to slowly increase my speed. You will find that you need to change your walking techniques if you want to walk in excess of 4mph. You have to change your arm swing (half pendulum versus the full pendulum swing) and you have to transition from a parallel stride to a more linear stride - you can search the Internet for race walking techniques to push yourself to higher fat burning levels.

My interim goal is to drop another few pounds before my pre-op appointment next week. I figure if I can lose 50 pounds before surgery, I will recover more quickly and I'll be halfway to my goal. The band is just a tool. It makes sure we don't go back to the bad place. You still have to eat properly and exercise. The more we can exercise the faster we can get to our goal - the happy place.

Jachut · October 4, 2007

So true. The key to walking is effort and speed. Even as a runner, I walk too. Not for a break from exercise but just for a break for my joints.

The main reason I run is I like to be even MORE out of breath, for that endorphin rush. And I find with walking, its difficult to maintain the speed, I tend to slow down and end up strolling, have to keep picking up the pace again.

In fact, when I'm really trying to lose - getting those very last kgs off at the moment, I run AND walk almost daily.

If you walk right though, there's never any "need" to run.

lawanda jessica · October 10, 2007

How do you nordic walk without snow?

I walk 4-5 miles as well.

pbrown · October 22, 2007

I have been banded about 14 months now and have lost 80-85 lbs so far. My goal weight is to lose another 15 lbs. I enjoy fast walking on my treadmill. I have it set at a 5% grade and walk at about 3.2 mph. I can get in 2 and a half miles in 46 min. I walk as fast as I can as I am not a runner as I have some back problems. I usually listen to music as I exercise. I have noticed since I have lost weight it is easier to keep going and I can go at a faster pace without being winded. I try to do this most days of the week except on the weekends.