Walking - Fort Worth, TX

You will have to walk 6 laps every night or every other night and do 30 jumping jacks.my mom and i used to run 6 laps every night and do the jumping jacks.

Before I got pregnant I had lost 10lbs in a month without realizing it, just because I had started walking my daughter to school. Which round trip was only 30 minutes max!

Walking is great exercise! Prevention magazine has some walking programs. You can probably find something on their website.

K.

B.,

Yes! Walking is great for weight loss!!

I suggest getting "Leslie Sansone" walking videos. She is great, you can adjust the walk according to your body, and it is NOT complicated!

I have struggled with weight loss for a very long time. About 5 years ago, I was doing great, then had some hard times within the family... all the weight came back. Recently, I decided to change that.

I decided I wanted to walk 300 miles from January 1st to June 30th. I made a chart that I could color in each mile that I walk, and also weight resistance training as I go along. It comes out to 50 miles per month, and 12 weight training workouts a month. It is flying by. On the chart, I have marked certain goals where I get something special for my hard work - a spa day, new face cream, hypnosis, etc. I am loving it!

I can't tell you how much I have lost because I decided to go on how I FEEL this time, and not make it about weight. I can tell you that I am feeling great. My body feels tighter, my underwear fit better, and it is working.

If you live in the mesquite area, maybe we can get together and walk!

What works for me is to walk twice in a day 30 mins in the morning and 30min in the evening, What it does is raise the metabolism and it is raised longer if I walk twice than if I just do one solid hour of walking.
I have done this in the past to lose weight and keep it off, but hit a bump in the road a few years ago and put some weight back on and have just started back on track, also I cut what I eat down by 1/4 and add fiber to my diet. It is not that hard to do and makes a big difference.
Good luck.

Walking is great exercise! I walk at least 2 1/2 miles per day and it keeps me in wonderful shape. My mother and aunts who are in their 60's and 70's have also walked for years and look great!

As far as weight loss goes, it helped me get rid of 10 pesky pounds that refused to budge after having twins! However, it wasn't just the walk, I also had to tweak my eating habits. I set a weight loss goal on January 19 and by February 19, I had lost the 10 lbs! I don't do diets but I'm now back down to LESS than my pre-pregnancy weight! It's all about eating right AND exercising!

Walking is GREAT exercise and will really make you feel good, even if you don't lose weight. I HIGHLY recommend Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pounds videos. They are a great in-home walking workout that you can do when the weather is bad (or even if the weather is good but you don't feel like getting out of the house). If you have a membership to netflix, they have lots of her videos that you can try and see if you like them enough to buy them. I also agree that a pedometer is a great way to challenge yourself. If you've been walking for 30 days and haven't noticed the numbers on the scale changing, then it's probably your diet that's the culprit. (note: don't weigh yourself more than 1 time per week or you'll go crazy. I like to do it on Wednesdays because it's half way between the weekends and that's when I'm most likely to indulge a but more than I should)

Since 2007, my husband and I have lost 135 pounds combined (50 lbs me and 85 lbs him) and have kept it off and our biggest key to success - counting calories. I try to eat no more than 1300 calories per day, unless I have been very active, in which case I'll eat about 1400-1500. Yes, I'll eat a little more on special occasions, but I try to never go about 2000. If I do, I actually end up feeling sick to my stomach because my body isn't used to that much food anymore. I've still got about 16 more pounds to go until I reach the low end of the "overweight". I'm losing at a rate of 1 pound per week which experts will tell you is the healthiest pace to lose at.

The true key to weight loss is to burn more than you consume. A sedentary person generally burns 10 calories per every pound they weigh (so, if you weigh 175 lbs, your body burns approximately 1750 calories per day just to exist. The more active your daily routine is, the more calories your body burns). To lose one pound, you have to burn 3500 calories more than you consume. If your goal is to lose 1 pound per week, then divide 3500 by 7 days (that's 500 calories). So... you have to burn 500 calories more than you consume every day for 7 days and then you'll lose one pound. How do you do that? Well, you can either workout a lot to burn 500 more calories than you eat; you can eat 500 calories less than your body needs; you can do a combination of the two. How do you figure that out? Try joining a free calorie counting website and use the tools available on the website to keep track of your food and to determine how many calories you burn in your daily activities and your exercise. (I have used about.caloriecount since 2007 and it really helped me). Don't ever eat less than 1200 calories per day - that's not enough nutrition to sustain you and your metabolism will take a nose-dive, which is exactly what you don't want to happen.

The only way to lose weight is cut cals., walking will only speed up your metabolism, and tone your body! To lose one - two pounds a week, 1500 cals, and 3 miles 3 days a week. I lost 60lbs.

You likely will not be able to lose weight just walking. You need something more aerobic to burn the fat. That's not to say walking isn't healthy - it is - it has alot of health benefits, it just isn't quite enough (unless you can walk hours a day) for aggressive weight loss. Also, you don't mention eating habits - I assume you'll be cutting calories - removing weight foods, not eating processed, etc. I personally found cycling to be an exceptional way to keep weight off. Jogging/running can be better, but my knees can't take much of that. I do find that I burn alot more calories when walking my dogs every nite if we jog part of the way. So, perhaps, you could start walking with the intent to add jogging and then running, in which you should be able to meet your weight loss goals - at least for the first 20 or so pounds. After that it gets more difficult and as we all know that last ten pounds is the toughest. And, the only way to keep it off long term is to permanently change your diet and make exercise a regular part of your day.

I heard from a friend that you should walk 10,000 steps a day for weight loss. I am not sure how much weight that is, but there are some great pedometers out there that would help you keep track of it!! I hear you on the weight loss..maybe after this 5th baby I will finally find my body again:) Good luck!!~A.~

1-2 pounds a week is a pretty aggressive goal. Be prepared to be happy with any negative number some weeks, even if it is .5 pound. Don't let that discourage you. Combined with an eating plan including mostly veggies, some fruit, some protein and some whole grain carbs and healthy fats, walking can be effective. Especially if you speed walk, or combine walking with short bursts of running (interval training). Try to work your way up to a 10 or 12 minute mile.

Good luck!

M.
P.S. For an easy solution to getting all the nutrition you need while losing weight with zero calories, salt or sugar, check out my Mamsource profile...

Always remember that weight loss is 75% diet, 25% exercise. Go with a practical eating plan (like Weight Watchers) and add in the walking which will excel your results. Best wishes!!!

B.,
I am a certified personal trainer and I think this is the very best way to start a weight loss program. Get a pedometer and get in 10,000 steps per day. Keep a food log. Also, make sure your walking shoes fit properly.
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Good luck to you!
Victoria

Hi B., You will need to walk about 30 minutes or so each day 5-6 times a week and I do this myself and I also on a meal replacement diet as well and I'm on Xndo and have a shake each morning and at lunch and we have our main meal at night. My wife and I are on the same and we are both loosing about a kilogram a week. I walk 3 km each morning and it and I drink lots of water as well. Before I have breakfast I drink 1.2 liters of water and I drink a cup of water with my shake and I go to the chemist each week to weigh in and get 14 meals for the next week and it costs me $41.80 a week for this and its a good way to loose weight and a kilo per week is the same as about 2 pounds. I live in Australia and grew up in the Denton area and left there in 1970 and came to Australia in 1972. All the best with loosing your weight and I hope that you can get this meal replacement diet at your chemist and there are several and the Xndo is the cheaper option and it gives you more freedom as you can snack on nuts, cheese and crackers and have as much salad you can eat or we eat a lot of fried tomatos, onions, cabbage, or any other vegies with lintels or beans. I wish you all the best. Ed

Walking can be a great way to lose weight, but it has to be challenging to you (not just strolling along). You also have to be mindful of your diet and how many calories you eat versus how many you burn. Intake<output= weight loss. If you add some strength training you'll lose weight more quickly. Self magazine does a "Self Challenge". go to www.self.com and sign up! They give you workouts, recipe ideas, etc...and are a wonderful resourse and support system. good luck!

B.,
Congrats on your decision to exercise and good luck. The minimum you should be doing is 30 minutes 3X a week which will improve your cardio vascular system. To lose the weight, I would shoot for 45 minutes of Brisk walking 4 times a week. Another way to really jump start weight loss is intervals. For example walk 4 minutes, run/jog 1, repeat. The next week walk 3 minutes, run/jog 2, repeat, etc....If you can do any type of weights or strength training, even really light stuff, again this will keep your body guessing and help you get the weight off.
Good luck!

Between child 1 & 2 I walked 3 times a week during the summer and lost 20 lbs. About 30-45 minutes each time.

I built up to 10,000 steps each day and also take a nutritional food supplements that had helped me loose 16 lbs. Your craving goes and you will have more energy.

Check out www.sparkpeople.com
It is a free fitness and nutrition website that totally helped me after I had my second son get back to my pre pregnancy weight.

I would give yourself some time to browse the site because there is a ton of information. You can put in your height, weight, along with your activity level they can help you find out how many calories a week you need to take in as well as burn.

You've got some great advice here. You can walk until your legs fall off but if the eating habits aren't right then nothing will come of it. That's the hardest part (for me). Best of luck!

Hi B.,
I have lost between 1 - 2 pounds a week by walking 1 hour or more every other day. I also reduced my calorie intake.

I recommend finding someone to walk with on a regular basis so that you can look forward to walking and talking accomplishing a combination of good things at one time: exercise, talking, getting fresh air and vitamin D from the sunshine if you walk during the day.

I hope you are successful at walking often and loosing all the weight that you would like to loose quickly!
R. C.

I walk an hour a day and I've lost 42 pounds since October 27. I'm also eating right and have a plan that I'm following that includes: Costco premier nutrition protein shakes when I'm hungry between meals, Balance Carb Well protein bars also for snacks and then limiting carbs (kind of like south beach but not because I eat one serving of fruit at each meal, and other things. Originally the plan was called Healthpointe 2.0 from Amway, but I've morphed it into something that works for me. I did the Walk away the pounds video (on VHS!) while my two toddlers napped and now I do the routine but in front of a tv show or something I want to watch on the internet. You can do it! I have 38 more pounds to go to be back at a size 8! I really think walking and not eating after 7 at night and limiting carbs has worked for me.

You have some very good tips from everyone. I work with a trainer and he suggests walking an hour a day but make sure your heart rate is about 70 %. In order to determine that you take 220 minus your age times .07. This speed is about a brisk walk not too fast, not too slow. This will help you burn fat. Any exercise is good especially if you haven't been exercising. Diet and exercise together will give you what you're looking for. Eating mini healthy meals every 3 hours will also help your metabolism. Watch carbs...carbs turn to sugar. Two pounds a week is a healthy way to lose weight.

Exercise of any kind is great for weight loss, but there isn't any set amount of any type of exercise that will help you lose X# of pounds a week.

It will all depend on the intensity level, your body weight, your metabolism, and your calorie intake.

You can usually find all kinds of beginer walking plans online to help you vary your intensity and keep you from getting bored as well.

Walking and swimming are some of the best exercises for weight loss...

Good luck
A. J

I will add something to the mix that nobody has said - buy a heart-rate monitor. This tells you how fast you need to be walking to really do some good. Many responders said to walk 10,000 steps, 1 mile, or for one hour, etc; that is good, but not if you are strolling at a leisurely pace. The heart rate monitor tells you how fast your pulse is during that time so you know the pace is beneficial, but not over-exerting yourself.

I walk in the Breast Cancer 3-day which is a 60 mile walk to end Breast Cancer. I have found that if I watch my eating and walk, I lose weight in the middle of our training. That is, we start at 3 to 5 miles a day three days a week. I don't lose weight then. When we move to 4 to 5 days a week and a varied pace of 3mph for 8 miles to 4mph for 6 miles, THEN I lose weight. Surprisingly, when we move to 8 miles on weeknights and 15 to 18 miles on the weekends, I usually stop losing weight. I can't figure it out, but that seems to be the way it works.

Of course, everyone is different. The experts at the 3-day tell us that you burn about 100 calories for every mile, whether you walk slow, medium or run. Running just burns it much faster. You have to burn an extra 3500 calories to lose a pound.

D. Kimbriel
Grandma to 2 beautiful boys

I did the Susan G Komen 3 day last year and walked about 25 to 40 miles a week before the event. I lost some weight. I would think if you walked about 5 miles a day and watched what you ate you would lose weight.

Walking is a wonderful way to lose weight! After my son was born, I started walking and after 4 months, I had lost most of the baby weight (about 60 pounds). I started out at a mile a day and was up to 4miles a day (15minute miles) twice a day when I finally stopped walking so hard. My dad weighed himself the day my son was born - he started walking (not anything dramatic like I was doing) and lost 100 pounds in a year. He did not change his eating habits - just added walking to his daily routine. He has kept the weight off for more than 20 years (my son will be 23 this year). I am starting the walking routine again - not just to lose weight, but because I feel better and have more energy - it naturally raises your metabolism, helps shrug off a sleepy brain and naturally raises your energy level.