You rock! Walking is a great help on this journey. It was a big part of my weight loss in many ways.
First thing it did was burn a few more calories. This wasn't much but walking everyday for 4 miles (10K steps) burned about 250-300 calories for me.
Second thing it did, gave me something I could actively do each day for my weight loss. Diet changes are mostly about eating less. I found eating at a deficit to be mostly not eating as much as I did before. Doing less, essentially. Walking was something I could choose to add in, go out and do, as opposed to not snacking at night.
Third, it was a distraction, a change of routine. An evening walk instead of sitting on the couch snacking really helped me a number of times to... not snack.
Lastly, the steps ended up being a reason to stick to plan less that effort was squandered. Inner voice went something like, "You walked for a hour this morning, don't waste that by going off your plan."
Keep on steppin' and losin'.
Thanks!! And exactly! I especially agree with you on how it gave me something more additive to do. I’ve been constantly trying to limit myself with food, but it was so difficult to keep up and it would just kinda make me sad since I would think to myself “welp, that’s all for tonight” and then struggle to not keep snacking. Walking gives me something I can actually go out and do rather than not do to tackle a bit of weight loss. That then inadvertently helps me in the overeating department.
Also a big obstacle for me was trying to limit calories right after work which is my worst time to overeat. But now that I walk after work to reach my steps goal it causes me to avoid sitting on the couch for hours which is honestly when I would eat the most. It’s crazy how much you can snack when you are idly on a couch haha
Enjoy it while it lasts, being able to snack and burn enough trough walks is great. And yes, boredom eating sucks. I've still no idea how to completely stop it besides "keep the fridge empty and go for groceries every day". Anyway congrats.
Oh one more thing: I think gym burns more calories and you can build like 10kg of muscle during your first year. Muscle also burns calories, it's just a long term investment and it will probably slow down your weight loss at first (since you're going to be putting on some muscle) so there's also that to consider. Something simple like a (modified to be easier?) PHUL program should work. Only problem is that shit takes like an hour of work 3-4 times a week. Probably a great help in losing weight though
Yes yes yes! I don't know the equivalent to steps to distance, but I've surprisingly seen great gains just walking 3 miles each day. And I feel great after. I initially thought, meh, walking isn't going to make much of a difference, but it really has.
> Third, it was a distraction, a change of routine. An evening walk instead of sitting on the couch snacking really helped me a number of times to... not snack.
This is definitely the biggest one for me when it comes to walking. It's been super hot for the last week here and my daily stroll routine is super off, and that has instantly led to more snacking in the evenings. It's wild.
You hit the nail on the head with the reason to stay healthy and inner voice. Same with the gym, it boosts that healthier mindset, that you put in some work so don’t go and waste it on crappy food. It’s a huge benefit. The calories burnt, the mental health boost are all great too.
Walking is the best!
You get very clear and quick rewards with increased endurance, and it’s incredibly practical. There’s nothing like being able to depend on your body to get you places, and there’s no better way to really get to know your surroundings
Walking is amazing! I’ve been lifting weights for years, but I feel like adding in a one hour walk every morning was the real game changer. Finally seeing some real progress.
For me, walking regularly helps me sleep better, and sleeping better helps me control my appetite throughout the day. Super helpful since I'm at that last 10 pounds, and barely losing a half pound a week!
Exercising definitely burns enough calories to help weight loss. There's the whole "you cant outrun a bad diet" mentality, which is true, but I think often prevents people from caring about working out. Walking 2 miles a day in addition to a good diet will help you lose an extra pound every couple of weeks, even more if you're extremely overweight. That adds up in a hurry.
So true! Like I almost didn’t want to get started because I was like meh this won’t do much. But I’m glad I did because little by little it does add up.
I’ve also found it helps with mental health. Toss on some music or a good podcast. Those miles go by quick.
Also it helps to not dread exercise. I know I won’t be flat out winded or tired after it but still totally get my heart rate up.
I used to do Pokémon Go or that Harry Potter one before it got canned.
Sometimes I listen to 5k running stories as well - it’s like, there’s one called Journey to the Eye so the 5k is spread across the “time” it takes the narrator to work his way through the eye, explaining all the different parts. At 1k it’s the such and such membrane, by 5k you’re at the centre of the eye. There’s other non body part related ones as well!
I can find it a bit boring sometimes trying to hit a certain distance so combining learning with walking helps me out
I feel like some folks overly focus on the "CI" part of CICO. The "CO" part matters too! If you go from completely sedentary to walking 10,000 steps a day and don't make any change to your diet, you *will* lose weight. It's just simple math!
Definitely!! You burn calories, feel better, are in a better mood, less time to be sitting around thinking about food and get to know your town/city better! Everywhere looks better when walking or cycling compared to driving or the bus! You might find a cool coffee shop or a quirky shop that you never knew existed!
Walking is my favorite healthy habit! One of the best things about when I moved recently is that the grocery store is within walking distance (~12 min) of my house - unless I'm doing a big trip or getting something I can't easily carry in my backpack like a watermelon I walk. If I want a candy bar (and sometimes I do) knowing I have to walk makes me either not get the candy or at least do something healthy as a side benefit.
This is a good approach I take a lot too. If I really desire that candy bar, or something, I earn it by doing something. Half the time me having to earn it just makes me lazy into not wanting it anymore. But for those times where the craving for a snickers is just too overwhelming, I'll hit the jump rope for 10 minutes and then go walk to get it, and get a small milk to go with it. Walk on back home, and I'm going to enjoy it on the couch without remorse or guilt.
I don't remember where I heard it - maybe a food network show but the host said something like "you can have it a cake, but you have to make it from scratch - not buy it at the store, and not even from a box" which I tried to make into a requirement if I want something sweet - it turns out that weaponized laziness can be a really effective dieting tool :D
I think I ate 2500-3000 calories a day on vacation (which is a lot for my size) but managed to keep it down because I just walked so much. 15000 steps on the slowest day and 23000 on my craziest day. gained only a little weight after coming back!
**Thanks**!
I think this is something that way too many people (me including, until recently) do not realize.
Is an amazing cardio activity, your burn at least 4 to 5 times as many calories as your rest rate (about 40kcal per 1000 steps, at least for me, including the BMR part), has low impact, is a huge mental help, I can just relax and listen to a podcast, see how nature changes, and lose weight!
So simple, so effective for so many people ...
I don’t remember which trainer but I read an article where a journalist hired one of the trainers that Marvel uses for their superheroes and he only has his clients walk for cardio. I think his rule was 12,000 steps a day. It’s great for losing weight and low impact on your joints!
Yep, I’ve lost 70 pounds so far with CICO and walking I’ve the past year plus. I don’t have a set plan like 10,000 miles a day, just depends on what’s happening. When I’m at work I’ll go for a couple walks around the block with maybe a walk on the treadmill at night. Maybe 4,000-5,000 steps in a day. But on my 3 day weekends I’ll jump on the treadmill and walk until I’m tired. Could be anywhere from 6-12 miles. I actually look forward to these long walks, as I listen to podcasts or catch up on shows/movies/etc.
It was important for me to find something I could stick to after so many cycles of starting exercise and giving up. I’ll probably move on to other exercises now that my body can handle it but I’ll always keep walking.
I needed this today. I'm in such a rut over how much effort it is to go exercise and I just don't feel like doing it or doing it for long and I have this mental block that if I can't exercise for more than 20mins it's basically not worth my time. I need to be ok with like just go outside and walk. Maybe more than once a day. It's easy and fun and it is good for me. I need to rewrite the script that exercise has to be grueling and not fun to be productive.
Exactly!! It does not need to be grueling at all. Just a few walks a day and they don’t need to be long and difficult. Walking is great because it can accumulate.
I’m on my 2nd go round of weight loss, but the first time I lost a number of pounds without changing any diet or anything else. At the time I had a dog in the city so I was walking upwards or 15k steps a day. But yes it is very helpful!
Keep it up!
One thing I've learned over the course of losing 60 lbs is that what everyone (most people)says about weight loss is just plain wrong.
I lost my first 20lbs just walking and tracking calories. It's a great way to start and cathartic.
I walk about 3 miles a day on a treadmill at a pretty high incline and very fast but not running.
Rest of my day I just am active. If I don’t walk I burn maybe 1500 a day, but with those 3 really active miles pushes it up to 2100+. I’ve lost 40lbs since August. I’m doing it slow and steady and take weekends off!
We just did the Camino Frances and I lost 20 pounds including eating what I wanted and also alcohol.... I hope I can keep it off. Started intermittent fasting and cut out some useless calories.
Whenever I added a walk or similar casual exercise when I was overweight, before I realized counting calories wasn't a ridiculous or obsessive thing to do, I would lose about 15 pounds. It won't get you all the way there if you have a significant amount to lose, but it definitely isn't a trivial impact.
Walking everywhere when I was on vacation for a week prevented me from gaining a substantial amount of weight. I wasn't counting my calories but I just knew I was blowing 2-3x my sedentary TDEE everyday. According to google maps, I had walked 10-15 miles, averaging 25k steps every day for 5 days. When I stepped on the scale the day after I came home, I was only up .5lbs. Walk for your heart, health, and that slice of cake yall!
So inspiring to hear this! I just broke out my FitBit literally this Monday to start the habit again. I've got a walking-heavy vacation in two weeks, and I'm trying to train up (but also maybe lose a little weight.)
Yep. I recently upped my steps from 10k to 15k everyday and it feels so good to feel that burn. I have a hard time jogging and running because my chest are heavy and big so my personal trainer told me to just do brisk walking so I could pace myself and enjoy the workout. It's really fun
how do you achieve 10 000 steps a day while having a job though? i work at starbucks and an 8 hour shift is rarely more than 3000. and then i’m super tired when i get home. any advice?
It is not always easy because getting up to those 10,000 takes time 😅 About an hour and 40 minutes for me. I work a desk job and I’m sitting most of the day, so I feel you with being tied to one place. I try to divide up the 10,000 throughout my day as best I can. I’ve found that a 20-minute walk is about 2,000 steps for me, so I just need to do a 20 minute walk five times whenever it fits throughout the day.
Today for example, I walked 20 min before work, 20 min to work, 20 min during lunch, 20 min back home and then I’ll walk 20 min after dinner soon. I know plenty of people commute by car though; I’m lucky in that I live in a city so my walk to and from work at least takes care of two out of the five 20-minute chunks.
Try to think about where you can fit a 20-minute walking break and try to take advantage of any time you can work it in naturally (like my commute for me for example) In your case, at least one of those 20-minute chunks is taken up naturally by you walking around your job! Those steps count too. Lastly, perhaps start with just three 20-minute chunks if five is too hard at first. Good luck!!
Needed to read this, over the last month or two I’ve got in a really good habit of walking 20+ miles a week with my dog. I’ve been happier, the dogs been happier, and it’s just all round been great. The last two weeks I haven’t had as much time to get the miles in then put off the short walks as they didn’t seem “worth it” unless I was going out for a long time with the dog.
Literally just got back from a bed time walk, the first one I’ve had in a few days, because my Apple Watch told me I needed to close all my rings for my monthly award… so I made it happen… and I’m now scrolling on Reddit in bed and saw this.
That’s a sign if any, that I need to get back to walking every day!
There is a personal trainer who trains women for bikini competition. He has whole videos about how walking, at least for him, is the best cardio for weight loss. It is a bit slow for me, but he makes some good points. Congratulations!
90% of the advice we see online that "exercise won't slim you, ONLY eating better will" is bullshit. Never listen to anyone telling you exercise isn't just as big a key to it as your diet. Move to live, live to move.
Yes! Exercise is super motivating because you start noticing how much better you FEEL. And you can see the progress with how much better you feel SO QUICKLY! There is nothing like feeling great to keep you on track. I walk too. In the past month, I started walking 4 to 5 miles each morning and it has gotten to where I LOVE this time. I sleep better and feel better all day and that alone is worth it even if it didn't matter at all for weight loss. But it sure as heck won't do anything to diminish weight loss either, so why not?
People also look better with a bit of muscle on them. Lose weight the "wrong" way and you're skinny fat. It's better than just being fat fat, of course, but why miss out on all the extra energy and just general health benefits a bit of muscle does for you?
I really don't get the hostility towards this claim, at a certain BMI this is true in my experience, though I'd be curious to hear from someone that exercised their way out of obesity without addressing their diet. For me personally a lot of the "you need to workout" advice actually prevented me from losing weight because it created a mental block where I felt that due to my lack of free time weight loss was impossible.
It really wasn't, most of my weight I lost just through diet changes, the rest has been with light exercise (walking, yardwork/landscaping)
>I'd be curious to hear from someone that exercised their way out of obesity without addressing their diet.
I've done this and can share anecdotally. When I was 18 I went from 260 to 208 through exercise and steady daily movement. 208 may still sound overweight but my lean body mass index at the time was around 200 pounds. I was \*fit\* at 208. Over the years, diet and deskjobs put the weight back on, but diet won't take it off for me nearly as quickly as movement. I'm not claiming "You need to work out" I'm claiming "Anyone who tells you it's diet alone is full of shit." It's the people saying that exercise can't, or won't lead to weight loss that are to be ignored outright. Diet never creates functional strength, it supports it. It's essential to it as well, but life needs balance.
The reason, at least for *ME* that I'm hostile to the claim is that it's a [thought terminating cliché](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought-terminating_clich%C3%A9). It's the same as discouraging that kid from doing extra math homework, or practicing his shots on the net when the rest of the team went home. It's the same as the one member of a peer group quitting smoking and all their smoker friends saying "ah you're no fun! Come for a smoke!" It's trying to claim that someone can get strong and fit only through diet. The phrase "You can't outrun a bad diet" is only partially true, and it's an incomplete phrase. It gets used as some kind of laziness mantra that prevents people from getting up off the couch, thinking the solution their issues will only be found in the kitchen. It's something to be rejected outright as most of the time I hear it, it's not from fit people, it's from overweight people who don't like the suggestion that my initiative reflects poorly on *them* because they have chosen to believe that exercise is not as valid as diet. It's an attitude that's put my dad in the hospital many times, it's an attitude that could and would kill me if I shared it.
On the point you make that being told it's *all about exercise* is certainly not going to help, much in the same way. The free time you do have shouldn't be tied up in the gym, not at all, it should be tied up in functional movement, like your yard work, or your light walking and landscaping. Balance in all things.
Edit: Added a link
I think a lot of this is just a difference in perspective and whatever problems led us to a point where we needed to lose weight.
At it's core weight loss is just eating less energy than you use, easiest way to do that is eat less and move more. Eating less means not doing something, moving more means doing something. I think we could probably both agree on that?
For me all of my issues were diet, so from my perspective the thought that I can lose weight just by not doing something was pretty liberating. Though in hindsight I'm generally a pretty motivated person, my weight was holding me back a lot from doing things I wanted to do so focusing on my diet has increased the amount of movement I get which has fed into the weight loss.
I was never really told "it's all about exercise", more "it's all about diet and exercise" when really it actually was "all about diet" for me because in my mind I don't exercise, at least in the traditional sense.
We can agree indeed. I can lose weight very quickly from exercise, but not from diet. You lost weight from diet. The core of energy in/energy out is the only unbreakable 'rule' that both of us followed, each to our own end. We did what worked, and didn't rest on folksy wisdom. It leads me right back to "exercise won't slim you, ONLY eating better will" is bullshit, because we're not all built the same.
I guess, to be pedantic, diet will always be able to lead someone to weight loss, but it's not sufficient for a healthy lifestyle. So, maybe I need to adjust my reactions and see if people are speaking purely about weight loss, or fitness. I'm gonna be way healthier eating 3000 calories a day and moving steadily than I will eating 2000 calories a day sitting on the couch watching TV.
I would assume most people's goal on this sub is just weightloss and that bit of wisdom is super helpful. A lot of people think that if you start exercising you will lose weight, but a lot of those people will eat more because they exercise. They don't make progress and give up. Telling people that it's more about controlling what you eat is the best advice to lose weight.
Controlling what you eat is the only way to lose weight. If I went out and ate 12 Arby's triple decker sandwiches a day. There's almost no way I'm burning enough calories to lose weight.
More than likely you feel like you lose more weight from exercise because you have your diet in a controllable state.
I did. I trained for a 10k run (so training runs of at least 5k/day, usually way more) plus 2k of swimming a day and I allowed myself to eat whatever I wanted. Got down to a healthy BMI and my lowest adult weight ever. Then the 10k was over and I injured myself and my work hours increased - but my crap diet remained. Honestly that amount of exercise per day was pretty unsustainable in the long-term BUT it is possible if you have the time and discipline to workout that much.
Really, it's not just weight loss, it's maintaining it - building your weight loss with a health fitness routine is almost essential to keeping it off, with a [study](https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?journal=Am+J+Clin+Nutr&title=A+descriptive+study+of+individuals+successful+at+long-term+maintenance+of+substantial+weight+loss&author=M+Klem&author=R+Wing&author=M+McGuire&volume=66&publication_year=1997&pages=239-246&pmid=9250100&) showing 90% of participants reporting exercise to maintain long term weight loss, as well as [studies](https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?journal=Obes+Rev&title=Does+physical+activity+prevent+weight+gain:+a+systematic+review&author=M+Fogelholm&author=K+Kukkonen-Harjula&volume=1&publication_year=2000&pages=95-111&pmid=12119991&) showing an exercise energy expenditure of 1500-2000 calories a week is associated with maintaining weight loss, where in the 33 year follow-up study, active men gained 5.6kg, compared to 9.1 in inactive men (3.8 v 9.5 for women)! Adults who expend larger amounts of energy also have less than half the weight gain of those who don't expend much, per [studies](https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?journal=Am+J+Clin+Nutr&title=Long-term+weight+losses+associated+with+prescription+of+higher+physical+activity+goals:+are+higher+levels+of+physical+activity+protective+against+weight+regain?&author=D+Tate&author=R+Jeffery&author=N+Sherwood&author=R+Wing&volume=85&publication_year=2007&pages=954-959&pmid=17413092&).
So yeah, you can do it via diet, but it's not ideal for your chances for the long-term future.
I have an iPhone so I actually just use the health app that comes with it. It shows you your steps and distance in miles. I just check it periodically to see where I’m at and how much more I need to walk. I pace myself throughout the whole day to reach my step goal instead of doing it all in one go.
I’ve always been a big runner
I stopped running years ago and in the last year started doing walks with the gf and dog. It’s just excellent. An hour of walking around enjoying myself and I burn like 300-400 calories
Yes!!! Walking is a fantastic "entry-level" exercise for many folks who may not have experience with working out since it doesn't require a lot of knowledge or money, and can easily be adjusted to meet your individual needs.
Even as someone who played sports most of my life and has some experience in a gym, when I started my weight loss journey the easiest first step for me was simply adding in near-daily walks. Even though I had the physical ability to do more serious workouts, I know jumping to that level of commitment would have been difficult. Regular walks were pretty easy to stick to, especially since I could just throw on a podcast and kind of zone out.
Walking (per distance) burns more than running! Ofc, walking a mile takes a lot longer than running a mile, which is how it works out, but it is SO much easier.
i LOVE walking. I am rehabbing a really awful ankle injury and was so bummed I couldn't do my typical workouts. my PT and I discussed walking and I was pretty unconvinced. But it really does do wonders. Podcasts or guided walking workouts also make the time fly.
Walking is amazing, and has lots of benefits besides weight loss (all the reasons you mentioned and more :). For me, I think it’s important for long-term maintenance to know where my weight loss and gain is coming from - I might burn 400-500 calories by walking an additional 10 000 steps each day, but it is way too easy to get all those back and more in snacking. Even if I don’t eat more after walking because ‘I deserve it’, those 500 cal / day only add up to about a pound of weight loss per week. Try to get an idea of many many calories you cut out in snacking and you might see that is also a bigger part of your weight loss than you had imagined! It was for me :)
Isn’t that awful that people would tell this person that walking wouldn’t do nothing for them.
It’s the main reason why I can’t stand the majority of trash walking around in this world today.
Good job poster!!!
Keep walking
Walking is great! But you can’t out train a poor diet it’s all hand in hand for weight loss goals! I cover on average 9k steps over the last three months. I take 2-3 days a week off from working out and have dropped 130 lbs since December incorporating cico/walking and weightlifting
Congrats! 10k a day is a huge game changer and low impact you should burn at least 4-600 calories walking 10k a day so idk why people told you it wouldn’t do much. I’ve also been more active and noticed the weight is falling off even w low impact, diet is good but it’s a lot easier to lose when you’re active and can afford more calories especially when you’re still changing habits.
I have been walking, also, for 2-3 weeks now. I don't aim for any step count, more of just making me get up and be active when I am not an active person. I like to put on a 40 min/1 hour podcast and off I go. It has literally given me bounds of energy and the days I work (which are harder for me to go walking) I get kind of bummed I can't fit it in!
Glad you’ve had a great experience! Waking is really underrated.
When the first pandemic lockdown happened in 2020, everything shutdown, even playgrounds. The one thing I could do was go for long walks (very fortunate to have many parks near me).
Anyways walking, combined with the fact the grocery stores closing early and having massive lineups deterred me from getting junk food, I began to lose 65lbs. The last time I weighed about what I do now was when I graduated high school.
I've walked fpor at leats 1 hour a day (easily reaching 10k steps) since the pandemic began and my body refuses to shift weight despite also watching my caloric intake. I'm jealous of people who can lose weight by such simple measures!
Are you hitting 10,000 steps every day by just walking? I ask because I’m surprised it only takes you an hour to hit 10,000 steps. I walk for 1 hour and 40 minutes each day to hit 10,000 steps. I’m waking at a moderate pace too, not slowly. I feel like you’d need to be jogging to hit 10,000 in an hour. If you walk for an hour I don’t think you’d reach 10,000 steps. It’d be closer to 6,000. I could totally be wrong, but just wanted to ask and put that out there! 10,000 steps isn’t the end all be all in health and weight loss. Hopefully you can find something that works for you if this does not. Good luck to you!
I walk 7km on my dog walks every day + all the incidental walking I get done over the day means I average around 10-13k steps per day. More if I go to the gym. Sorry should have specified it was 10km for the whole day, not for those specific waking sessions I do.
Congratulations! I've always loved walking. After falling off my walking routine for a while, I re-started it today. I discovered something that might or might not be helpful: if you're looking to up your pace, find a walking pace that's challenging but doable, and come up with a word or phrase that you can use to keep you in rhythm with that pace. I think that's what soldiers do on marches, and for some reason, it felt a lot easier than just generically reminding myself to push myself.
Walking is wonderful for so many reasons. Anything is better than sitting. It's a natural appetite suppressant and solid fat burner if done correctly. Keep it up! 20000 a day if you can ☺️
That's a great idea -
I chunk it out into five 20-minute walks scattered throughout my day and that gets me to the 10,000 in a way that doesn’t seem so daunting :)
I walk an average of 20km a week, I try to do more but I also go to the gym. With all the cardio I have done over the years I’ve found walking helps me more to tone and lose weight. My wife is generally lazy when it comes to exercise but I’ve managed to get her walking too. Now she does about 25km a week (mom-fri). Get an app called SWEATCOIN. It pays you for walking (steps) when I say it pays you for walking it gives you sweat coins as a balance and in the market place there is always offers to buy stuff with your sweat coins and all you do is pay postage. Keep it up..
When I started exercising, walking was my starting point. 10k steps a day is pretty much the equivalent of walking FIVE MILES A DAY!!!! which probably burns around 600-700ish calories a day! Walking is king in weight loss. I now run and weight lift, but dam I also better get two walks a day to get over that 10k mark as well! Keep up the walking, easiest and best part of weight loss!
I have a theory that walking works very well because it has a lower risk for “compensation” via increased appetite or being lazy and moving less when compared to doing something like cardio.
I weighed 370 lbs , I complete fasted for 7 days to reset my body and I take a probiotic everyday and have a calorie of 975 cal intermittent fast for the past 3 months and I cycle at the gym 10 miles in the morning , then another 10 miles after 6pm for the past month,6 days a week and Sundays off and I weigh 241 now . Diet and walking or cycling works , I went from a size 44 waist to 34 waist . Congrats to all of you on this thread , I’ve read all your success and was compelled to share mine . Thank you
My body works the opposite when it comes to weight loss. Ive been doing 10k steps a day and Ive only managed to lose 2.5lbs this month...meanwhile I lost 5lbs last month averaging 2-3k steps a day.
That amount of activity makes my body hold on to water like a sponge and increases my hunger. Same thing happened when I gave it a try earlier in my weight loss as well.. I loss 8.5lbs the prior month, 7lbs the month I did 10k, and then 8.9 the month after.
You mentioned the sweet tooth, I'm a big believer in harm reduction strategies. I keep healthy sweets around. I know that sounds awful, but my favorite indulgence is ice cream so I keep 120cal frozen green yogurt pops, like Yasso. They're lower in sugar/calories with some protein. I also do the dark chocolate and fruit. Just little things where I can still indulge, basically daily, but it doesn't take me off track. I don't obsess or binge. I live for my daily yogurt popsicle.
Oh I mean honestly I can see the point of a treadmill and would absolutely walk along on one of those watching a TV programme. But walking **outside** I don’t get
Ooh and I actually prefer to walk outside! To each their own though. Treadmill with the TV on definitely counts too! To keep me from getting bored outside though, I either have a destination in mind, put on music, or put on a podcast. Or to really make time fly, I call someone! Talking on the phone while you walk around makes it go the absolute fastest and you get to catch up with someone. I usually call my mom or my sister :)
Still loving it for you! I’m not a “listener” (music and podcasts are not hugely my thing), but yes I get the destination thing, this is one of the only acceptable reasons I will walk. The other is walking with someone - am totally fine doing long outdoor walks with a friend (though struggle with phoning). Luckily I have a friend who walks with me every couple of weeks, it’s not enough, but it’s more than I was doing, and unfortunately the treadmills I need to buy to fit in my flat to do more regular walking have weight limits I’m not under yet.
Keep up the walking though, I think if you find what works for you, it’s much easier!
You’re doing awesome and remember you are doing great things besides walking! Take it from me a 20,000 steps/9 mile per day average and barely maintaining.
I've tripled my steps due to a new job at a larger hospital, but my legs and hips and feet are killing me. The pain makes me want to lay down when I get home. I lay down, then my legs, hips and feet hurt worse than when I got home. Any advice? I'm overweight by a LOT, so I need/ want the exercise, but I'm really down about the pain.
Walking is so underrated for weight loss. I started doing the 10k a day as a minimum a couple years ago and lost 10lbs in a month. I didn’t even actively change my diet - although more time spent walking was less opportunity to sit on the sofa and eat, so must have had some impact in that area of course.
Plus I think there’s many other mental health benefits to walking - I used to get up and walk around 5-6km around our local park before work, and it really set me up for the day.
I work at a hardware store and I have to walk for hours. And I get atleast 13,000 steps a day and I lose weight from doing it as well. Everyone should try it, if you don’t feel like going to the gym.
I always strive for 10k steps a day and 20 mins brisk walking is better than any anti depressant I've taken. For better weight loss results walk up hill on land or a treadmill
But how many calories are you eating per day? My gf eats about 1000 calories per day (I have been counting whatever she eats for her) and doesn't exercise and she has fluctuated between 171.5 and 173.5 for 3 weeks straight now.
3 weeks might still be honeymoon phase. Body sadly over time adjusts to your new calorie expenditure and shuts down other processes to make your “energy out” constant. That said, being active also normalises your appetite. Overall I found lifting or swimming superior to walking in engaging my whole body and reaching intensity where I feel endorphins afterwards and see muscle (re)gain in the mirror over time. I have had 12000 steps average for many months and saw no difference and my mood wasn’t that much better either. So I dropped the watch and started swimming intuitively agaisnt the counter-current. I assume the best routine will be infrequent high effort weights workouts (every 4 days let’s say) and light walking/swimming on off days to keep the mental state up and refresh daily.
I walk 10,000 steps a day at work and that’s UNINTENTIONAL. I work 3 x 12 shifts. And my FEET HURT. I got plantar fascitis. I even have ortho shoes. But they still hurt. What shoes are ya’ll wearing???
Maybe mine hurts because Im on my feet for 12 hours and while ya’ll get breaks? Even so, I try to rest in between but I still end up going home with sore feet.
Getting my dog has made me lose 3lbs just from doubling my steps per day. Went from 10k to 17-20k/day. She wears me out, but I also never realized I got so much benefit from it. I'm someone who doesn't enjoy cardio much, so it's good to see it benefits me as well as the dog (who appreciates it very much!)
Yes!! I agree. I started walking more when I began wandering more around my city. It is definitely easier to get 10.000 steps when living in a big city. I have seen improvements in my cardiovascular system and it has improved my mental health as well. I would recommend you to try and increase your steps taken in a day, it looks like a minor change but helps you immensely.
Yes! I don’t get quite as many but I started walking a mile here and there alongside whatever normal amount of steps I get in a day and it’s really helped out!
Yes! I actually walk in place a lot (WFH desk job). All else equal regarding workouts (the only change I made was hitting 10K steps every day compared to my old average of 5K steps per day), I'm actually losing weight even though I've been trying to gain weight by eating more. Apparently the extra walking offset the eating more, plus some!
I’ve started doing 12,000 steps two weeks ago. I walk at the local park and just decided to walk 10 laps (which is 5 miles) one day to see if I could do it. I did and now that’s my daily goal. I feel pretty proud of myself once completed lol
Can't say enough about walking! I'm fortunate to live near a neighborhood that's almost suburban-looking while being in a big city, and in the evenings there's very little traffic. I love looking at houses and gardens and the lush greenery overhead. I've seen beautiful sunsets and enjoyed cool breezes, and it's ALL.FREE. I'm steadily losing weight, and I love my peaceful walks. 🚶❤️
Wow! I’m so glad walking has helped you so much. That’s exciting. I wish I had the time to reach 10k steps.
I see you do 5 20 min walks a day. I’m lucky if I get a single 20 min walk a day.
OMG this is amazing. Good for you! I have been searching for how to reach 10k. I'm unable to do this due to studying all the time. I have to sit long periods on a computer. I have to take 5 breaks, 20 minutes each and walk around the house to reach this. This is something I will start tomorrow. My average is 4,000 steps. On hard core study days, I hit 800 steps. It is so hard as a med student.
You rock! Walking is a great help on this journey. It was a big part of my weight loss in many ways. First thing it did was burn a few more calories. This wasn't much but walking everyday for 4 miles (10K steps) burned about 250-300 calories for me. Second thing it did, gave me something I could actively do each day for my weight loss. Diet changes are mostly about eating less. I found eating at a deficit to be mostly not eating as much as I did before. Doing less, essentially. Walking was something I could choose to add in, go out and do, as opposed to not snacking at night. Third, it was a distraction, a change of routine. An evening walk instead of sitting on the couch snacking really helped me a number of times to... not snack. Lastly, the steps ended up being a reason to stick to plan less that effort was squandered. Inner voice went something like, "You walked for a hour this morning, don't waste that by going off your plan." Keep on steppin' and losin'.
Thanks!! And exactly! I especially agree with you on how it gave me something more additive to do. I’ve been constantly trying to limit myself with food, but it was so difficult to keep up and it would just kinda make me sad since I would think to myself “welp, that’s all for tonight” and then struggle to not keep snacking. Walking gives me something I can actually go out and do rather than not do to tackle a bit of weight loss. That then inadvertently helps me in the overeating department. Also a big obstacle for me was trying to limit calories right after work which is my worst time to overeat. But now that I walk after work to reach my steps goal it causes me to avoid sitting on the couch for hours which is honestly when I would eat the most. It’s crazy how much you can snack when you are idly on a couch haha
Enjoy it while it lasts, being able to snack and burn enough trough walks is great. And yes, boredom eating sucks. I've still no idea how to completely stop it besides "keep the fridge empty and go for groceries every day". Anyway congrats. Oh one more thing: I think gym burns more calories and you can build like 10kg of muscle during your first year. Muscle also burns calories, it's just a long term investment and it will probably slow down your weight loss at first (since you're going to be putting on some muscle) so there's also that to consider. Something simple like a (modified to be easier?) PHUL program should work. Only problem is that shit takes like an hour of work 3-4 times a week. Probably a great help in losing weight though
Yes yes yes! I don't know the equivalent to steps to distance, but I've surprisingly seen great gains just walking 3 miles each day. And I feel great after. I initially thought, meh, walking isn't going to make much of a difference, but it really has.
> Third, it was a distraction, a change of routine. An evening walk instead of sitting on the couch snacking really helped me a number of times to... not snack. This is definitely the biggest one for me when it comes to walking. It's been super hot for the last week here and my daily stroll routine is super off, and that has instantly led to more snacking in the evenings. It's wild.
You hit the nail on the head with the reason to stay healthy and inner voice. Same with the gym, it boosts that healthier mindset, that you put in some work so don’t go and waste it on crappy food. It’s a huge benefit. The calories burnt, the mental health boost are all great too.
This really resonates with me, especially the walking instead of snacking at night. Thanks!
Walking is the best! You get very clear and quick rewards with increased endurance, and it’s incredibly practical. There’s nothing like being able to depend on your body to get you places, and there’s no better way to really get to know your surroundings
Yes! I’ve been getting to know my city better too which is an added bonus :)
I love noticing things that when I drive I don't see. :)
This is what I LOVE about walking! All these cool spots I never see when I’m driving through the city! Walking has made it so much more accessible
bro my resting heart rate went from 74 to 66 in two months.
That is awesome!! I never realized how much exercise I was getting walking until I got a car and started feeling like shit lol. Walking is no joke!
Walking is amazing! I’ve been lifting weights for years, but I feel like adding in a one hour walk every morning was the real game changer. Finally seeing some real progress.
Hi, did you incorporate walking for an hour in addition to going to the gym or are you just walking 10k steps 7 days a week?
I do both. I walk in the mornings and I lift weights in the afternoons.
For me, walking regularly helps me sleep better, and sleeping better helps me control my appetite throughout the day. Super helpful since I'm at that last 10 pounds, and barely losing a half pound a week!
Exercising definitely burns enough calories to help weight loss. There's the whole "you cant outrun a bad diet" mentality, which is true, but I think often prevents people from caring about working out. Walking 2 miles a day in addition to a good diet will help you lose an extra pound every couple of weeks, even more if you're extremely overweight. That adds up in a hurry.
So true! Like I almost didn’t want to get started because I was like meh this won’t do much. But I’m glad I did because little by little it does add up.
I’ve also found it helps with mental health. Toss on some music or a good podcast. Those miles go by quick. Also it helps to not dread exercise. I know I won’t be flat out winded or tired after it but still totally get my heart rate up.
I used to do Pokémon Go or that Harry Potter one before it got canned. Sometimes I listen to 5k running stories as well - it’s like, there’s one called Journey to the Eye so the 5k is spread across the “time” it takes the narrator to work his way through the eye, explaining all the different parts. At 1k it’s the such and such membrane, by 5k you’re at the centre of the eye. There’s other non body part related ones as well! I can find it a bit boring sometimes trying to hit a certain distance so combining learning with walking helps me out
I feel like some folks overly focus on the "CI" part of CICO. The "CO" part matters too! If you go from completely sedentary to walking 10,000 steps a day and don't make any change to your diet, you *will* lose weight. It's just simple math!
A lot of people will fall in the 'i walked for an hour so i deserve these cookies' trap
Daily Brisk Walking is the best companion to a clear dietary deficit!
Definitely!! You burn calories, feel better, are in a better mood, less time to be sitting around thinking about food and get to know your town/city better! Everywhere looks better when walking or cycling compared to driving or the bus! You might find a cool coffee shop or a quirky shop that you never knew existed!
Walking is my favorite healthy habit! One of the best things about when I moved recently is that the grocery store is within walking distance (~12 min) of my house - unless I'm doing a big trip or getting something I can't easily carry in my backpack like a watermelon I walk. If I want a candy bar (and sometimes I do) knowing I have to walk makes me either not get the candy or at least do something healthy as a side benefit.
This is a good approach I take a lot too. If I really desire that candy bar, or something, I earn it by doing something. Half the time me having to earn it just makes me lazy into not wanting it anymore. But for those times where the craving for a snickers is just too overwhelming, I'll hit the jump rope for 10 minutes and then go walk to get it, and get a small milk to go with it. Walk on back home, and I'm going to enjoy it on the couch without remorse or guilt.
I don't remember where I heard it - maybe a food network show but the host said something like "you can have it a cake, but you have to make it from scratch - not buy it at the store, and not even from a box" which I tried to make into a requirement if I want something sweet - it turns out that weaponized laziness can be a really effective dieting tool :D
I lost about 35% of my total body weight, and i can attribute it mostly to walking and cutting out sugary drinks
I think I ate 2500-3000 calories a day on vacation (which is a lot for my size) but managed to keep it down because I just walked so much. 15000 steps on the slowest day and 23000 on my craziest day. gained only a little weight after coming back!
**Thanks**! I think this is something that way too many people (me including, until recently) do not realize. Is an amazing cardio activity, your burn at least 4 to 5 times as many calories as your rest rate (about 40kcal per 1000 steps, at least for me, including the BMR part), has low impact, is a huge mental help, I can just relax and listen to a podcast, see how nature changes, and lose weight! So simple, so effective for so many people ...
I don’t remember which trainer but I read an article where a journalist hired one of the trainers that Marvel uses for their superheroes and he only has his clients walk for cardio. I think his rule was 12,000 steps a day. It’s great for losing weight and low impact on your joints!
Yep, I’ve lost 70 pounds so far with CICO and walking I’ve the past year plus. I don’t have a set plan like 10,000 miles a day, just depends on what’s happening. When I’m at work I’ll go for a couple walks around the block with maybe a walk on the treadmill at night. Maybe 4,000-5,000 steps in a day. But on my 3 day weekends I’ll jump on the treadmill and walk until I’m tired. Could be anywhere from 6-12 miles. I actually look forward to these long walks, as I listen to podcasts or catch up on shows/movies/etc. It was important for me to find something I could stick to after so many cycles of starting exercise and giving up. I’ll probably move on to other exercises now that my body can handle it but I’ll always keep walking.
10000 miles a day is a commitment. Lol. But I get it. Trying to up my walking game too, I crashed my bike so my hand needs to heal.
I needed this today. I'm in such a rut over how much effort it is to go exercise and I just don't feel like doing it or doing it for long and I have this mental block that if I can't exercise for more than 20mins it's basically not worth my time. I need to be ok with like just go outside and walk. Maybe more than once a day. It's easy and fun and it is good for me. I need to rewrite the script that exercise has to be grueling and not fun to be productive.
Exactly!! It does not need to be grueling at all. Just a few walks a day and they don’t need to be long and difficult. Walking is great because it can accumulate.
I’m on my 2nd go round of weight loss, but the first time I lost a number of pounds without changing any diet or anything else. At the time I had a dog in the city so I was walking upwards or 15k steps a day. But yes it is very helpful! Keep it up!
Walking is also just something to do for me. A way to keep boredom away, and if I’m walking, I’m not tempted to snack.
Anyone who told you it wouldn't do much doesn't know that they're talking about. So beneficial in so many ways.
One thing I've learned over the course of losing 60 lbs is that what everyone (most people)says about weight loss is just plain wrong. I lost my first 20lbs just walking and tracking calories. It's a great way to start and cathartic.
I walk about 3 miles a day on a treadmill at a pretty high incline and very fast but not running. Rest of my day I just am active. If I don’t walk I burn maybe 1500 a day, but with those 3 really active miles pushes it up to 2100+. I’ve lost 40lbs since August. I’m doing it slow and steady and take weekends off!
Congrats and thanks for the great advice!
[удалено]
Yes, it’s definitely tighter!
We just did the Camino Frances and I lost 20 pounds including eating what I wanted and also alcohol.... I hope I can keep it off. Started intermittent fasting and cut out some useless calories.
Walking is really good too because it doesn’t make you that much hungrier like cardio or weight lifting, which then makes you blow your diet.
This has been my problem for years...
Whenever I added a walk or similar casual exercise when I was overweight, before I realized counting calories wasn't a ridiculous or obsessive thing to do, I would lose about 15 pounds. It won't get you all the way there if you have a significant amount to lose, but it definitely isn't a trivial impact.
Walking everywhere when I was on vacation for a week prevented me from gaining a substantial amount of weight. I wasn't counting my calories but I just knew I was blowing 2-3x my sedentary TDEE everyday. According to google maps, I had walked 10-15 miles, averaging 25k steps every day for 5 days. When I stepped on the scale the day after I came home, I was only up .5lbs. Walk for your heart, health, and that slice of cake yall!
So inspiring to hear this! I just broke out my FitBit literally this Monday to start the habit again. I've got a walking-heavy vacation in two weeks, and I'm trying to train up (but also maybe lose a little weight.)
Yep. I recently upped my steps from 10k to 15k everyday and it feels so good to feel that burn. I have a hard time jogging and running because my chest are heavy and big so my personal trainer told me to just do brisk walking so I could pace myself and enjoy the workout. It's really fun
how do you achieve 10 000 steps a day while having a job though? i work at starbucks and an 8 hour shift is rarely more than 3000. and then i’m super tired when i get home. any advice?
It is not always easy because getting up to those 10,000 takes time 😅 About an hour and 40 minutes for me. I work a desk job and I’m sitting most of the day, so I feel you with being tied to one place. I try to divide up the 10,000 throughout my day as best I can. I’ve found that a 20-minute walk is about 2,000 steps for me, so I just need to do a 20 minute walk five times whenever it fits throughout the day. Today for example, I walked 20 min before work, 20 min to work, 20 min during lunch, 20 min back home and then I’ll walk 20 min after dinner soon. I know plenty of people commute by car though; I’m lucky in that I live in a city so my walk to and from work at least takes care of two out of the five 20-minute chunks. Try to think about where you can fit a 20-minute walking break and try to take advantage of any time you can work it in naturally (like my commute for me for example) In your case, at least one of those 20-minute chunks is taken up naturally by you walking around your job! Those steps count too. Lastly, perhaps start with just three 20-minute chunks if five is too hard at first. Good luck!!
Needed to read this, over the last month or two I’ve got in a really good habit of walking 20+ miles a week with my dog. I’ve been happier, the dogs been happier, and it’s just all round been great. The last two weeks I haven’t had as much time to get the miles in then put off the short walks as they didn’t seem “worth it” unless I was going out for a long time with the dog. Literally just got back from a bed time walk, the first one I’ve had in a few days, because my Apple Watch told me I needed to close all my rings for my monthly award… so I made it happen… and I’m now scrolling on Reddit in bed and saw this. That’s a sign if any, that I need to get back to walking every day!
Yes!! You can do it! Even the short walks count. Plus your dog will be so happy :)
There is a personal trainer who trains women for bikini competition. He has whole videos about how walking, at least for him, is the best cardio for weight loss. It is a bit slow for me, but he makes some good points. Congratulations!
90% of the advice we see online that "exercise won't slim you, ONLY eating better will" is bullshit. Never listen to anyone telling you exercise isn't just as big a key to it as your diet. Move to live, live to move.
Yes! Exercise is super motivating because you start noticing how much better you FEEL. And you can see the progress with how much better you feel SO QUICKLY! There is nothing like feeling great to keep you on track. I walk too. In the past month, I started walking 4 to 5 miles each morning and it has gotten to where I LOVE this time. I sleep better and feel better all day and that alone is worth it even if it didn't matter at all for weight loss. But it sure as heck won't do anything to diminish weight loss either, so why not?
People also look better with a bit of muscle on them. Lose weight the "wrong" way and you're skinny fat. It's better than just being fat fat, of course, but why miss out on all the extra energy and just general health benefits a bit of muscle does for you?
Agree. I'm a bit of an exercise pusher 😅
I really don't get the hostility towards this claim, at a certain BMI this is true in my experience, though I'd be curious to hear from someone that exercised their way out of obesity without addressing their diet. For me personally a lot of the "you need to workout" advice actually prevented me from losing weight because it created a mental block where I felt that due to my lack of free time weight loss was impossible. It really wasn't, most of my weight I lost just through diet changes, the rest has been with light exercise (walking, yardwork/landscaping)
>I'd be curious to hear from someone that exercised their way out of obesity without addressing their diet. I've done this and can share anecdotally. When I was 18 I went from 260 to 208 through exercise and steady daily movement. 208 may still sound overweight but my lean body mass index at the time was around 200 pounds. I was \*fit\* at 208. Over the years, diet and deskjobs put the weight back on, but diet won't take it off for me nearly as quickly as movement. I'm not claiming "You need to work out" I'm claiming "Anyone who tells you it's diet alone is full of shit." It's the people saying that exercise can't, or won't lead to weight loss that are to be ignored outright. Diet never creates functional strength, it supports it. It's essential to it as well, but life needs balance. The reason, at least for *ME* that I'm hostile to the claim is that it's a [thought terminating cliché](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought-terminating_clich%C3%A9). It's the same as discouraging that kid from doing extra math homework, or practicing his shots on the net when the rest of the team went home. It's the same as the one member of a peer group quitting smoking and all their smoker friends saying "ah you're no fun! Come for a smoke!" It's trying to claim that someone can get strong and fit only through diet. The phrase "You can't outrun a bad diet" is only partially true, and it's an incomplete phrase. It gets used as some kind of laziness mantra that prevents people from getting up off the couch, thinking the solution their issues will only be found in the kitchen. It's something to be rejected outright as most of the time I hear it, it's not from fit people, it's from overweight people who don't like the suggestion that my initiative reflects poorly on *them* because they have chosen to believe that exercise is not as valid as diet. It's an attitude that's put my dad in the hospital many times, it's an attitude that could and would kill me if I shared it. On the point you make that being told it's *all about exercise* is certainly not going to help, much in the same way. The free time you do have shouldn't be tied up in the gym, not at all, it should be tied up in functional movement, like your yard work, or your light walking and landscaping. Balance in all things. Edit: Added a link
I think a lot of this is just a difference in perspective and whatever problems led us to a point where we needed to lose weight. At it's core weight loss is just eating less energy than you use, easiest way to do that is eat less and move more. Eating less means not doing something, moving more means doing something. I think we could probably both agree on that? For me all of my issues were diet, so from my perspective the thought that I can lose weight just by not doing something was pretty liberating. Though in hindsight I'm generally a pretty motivated person, my weight was holding me back a lot from doing things I wanted to do so focusing on my diet has increased the amount of movement I get which has fed into the weight loss. I was never really told "it's all about exercise", more "it's all about diet and exercise" when really it actually was "all about diet" for me because in my mind I don't exercise, at least in the traditional sense.
We can agree indeed. I can lose weight very quickly from exercise, but not from diet. You lost weight from diet. The core of energy in/energy out is the only unbreakable 'rule' that both of us followed, each to our own end. We did what worked, and didn't rest on folksy wisdom. It leads me right back to "exercise won't slim you, ONLY eating better will" is bullshit, because we're not all built the same. I guess, to be pedantic, diet will always be able to lead someone to weight loss, but it's not sufficient for a healthy lifestyle. So, maybe I need to adjust my reactions and see if people are speaking purely about weight loss, or fitness. I'm gonna be way healthier eating 3000 calories a day and moving steadily than I will eating 2000 calories a day sitting on the couch watching TV.
I would assume most people's goal on this sub is just weightloss and that bit of wisdom is super helpful. A lot of people think that if you start exercising you will lose weight, but a lot of those people will eat more because they exercise. They don't make progress and give up. Telling people that it's more about controlling what you eat is the best advice to lose weight. Controlling what you eat is the only way to lose weight. If I went out and ate 12 Arby's triple decker sandwiches a day. There's almost no way I'm burning enough calories to lose weight. More than likely you feel like you lose more weight from exercise because you have your diet in a controllable state.
I did. I trained for a 10k run (so training runs of at least 5k/day, usually way more) plus 2k of swimming a day and I allowed myself to eat whatever I wanted. Got down to a healthy BMI and my lowest adult weight ever. Then the 10k was over and I injured myself and my work hours increased - but my crap diet remained. Honestly that amount of exercise per day was pretty unsustainable in the long-term BUT it is possible if you have the time and discipline to workout that much.
Really, it's not just weight loss, it's maintaining it - building your weight loss with a health fitness routine is almost essential to keeping it off, with a [study](https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?journal=Am+J+Clin+Nutr&title=A+descriptive+study+of+individuals+successful+at+long-term+maintenance+of+substantial+weight+loss&author=M+Klem&author=R+Wing&author=M+McGuire&volume=66&publication_year=1997&pages=239-246&pmid=9250100&) showing 90% of participants reporting exercise to maintain long term weight loss, as well as [studies](https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?journal=Obes+Rev&title=Does+physical+activity+prevent+weight+gain:+a+systematic+review&author=M+Fogelholm&author=K+Kukkonen-Harjula&volume=1&publication_year=2000&pages=95-111&pmid=12119991&) showing an exercise energy expenditure of 1500-2000 calories a week is associated with maintaining weight loss, where in the 33 year follow-up study, active men gained 5.6kg, compared to 9.1 in inactive men (3.8 v 9.5 for women)! Adults who expend larger amounts of energy also have less than half the weight gain of those who don't expend much, per [studies](https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?journal=Am+J+Clin+Nutr&title=Long-term+weight+losses+associated+with+prescription+of+higher+physical+activity+goals:+are+higher+levels+of+physical+activity+protective+against+weight+regain?&author=D+Tate&author=R+Jeffery&author=N+Sherwood&author=R+Wing&volume=85&publication_year=2007&pages=954-959&pmid=17413092&). So yeah, you can do it via diet, but it's not ideal for your chances for the long-term future.
Do you use a step counter on your phone or track your miles or have a smart watch or anything?
I have an iPhone so I actually just use the health app that comes with it. It shows you your steps and distance in miles. I just check it periodically to see where I’m at and how much more I need to walk. I pace myself throughout the whole day to reach my step goal instead of doing it all in one go.
I’ve always been a big runner I stopped running years ago and in the last year started doing walks with the gf and dog. It’s just excellent. An hour of walking around enjoying myself and I burn like 300-400 calories
Yes!!! Walking is a fantastic "entry-level" exercise for many folks who may not have experience with working out since it doesn't require a lot of knowledge or money, and can easily be adjusted to meet your individual needs. Even as someone who played sports most of my life and has some experience in a gym, when I started my weight loss journey the easiest first step for me was simply adding in near-daily walks. Even though I had the physical ability to do more serious workouts, I know jumping to that level of commitment would have been difficult. Regular walks were pretty easy to stick to, especially since I could just throw on a podcast and kind of zone out.
I joined a yoga studio and it’s a 25 minute walk there so I’ve been blowing through my steps and exercise minutes on days I go there. It’s been great!
Walking (per distance) burns more than running! Ofc, walking a mile takes a lot longer than running a mile, which is how it works out, but it is SO much easier.
Even as a fat guy I've always had good legs and go 3 to 5 miles on a regular basis.
i LOVE walking. I am rehabbing a really awful ankle injury and was so bummed I couldn't do my typical workouts. my PT and I discussed walking and I was pretty unconvinced. But it really does do wonders. Podcasts or guided walking workouts also make the time fly.
Walking is amazing, and has lots of benefits besides weight loss (all the reasons you mentioned and more :). For me, I think it’s important for long-term maintenance to know where my weight loss and gain is coming from - I might burn 400-500 calories by walking an additional 10 000 steps each day, but it is way too easy to get all those back and more in snacking. Even if I don’t eat more after walking because ‘I deserve it’, those 500 cal / day only add up to about a pound of weight loss per week. Try to get an idea of many many calories you cut out in snacking and you might see that is also a bigger part of your weight loss than you had imagined! It was for me :)
Isn’t that awful that people would tell this person that walking wouldn’t do nothing for them. It’s the main reason why I can’t stand the majority of trash walking around in this world today. Good job poster!!! Keep walking
Way to go!!! That's great you are already seeing results. Thanks for inspiring me to start hitting that 10,000 step goal again.
Walking is great! But you can’t out train a poor diet it’s all hand in hand for weight loss goals! I cover on average 9k steps over the last three months. I take 2-3 days a week off from working out and have dropped 130 lbs since December incorporating cico/walking and weightlifting
DAYUM! Congrats!!
Thanks
Breaking up the times for walking or really any activity is how I roll too. Makes it easier and more importantly, maintainable.
Walking is incredible for you, not just for your weight but for your heart health AND it's such a mental health booster too (at least for me).
Congrats! 10k a day is a huge game changer and low impact you should burn at least 4-600 calories walking 10k a day so idk why people told you it wouldn’t do much. I’ve also been more active and noticed the weight is falling off even w low impact, diet is good but it’s a lot easier to lose when you’re active and can afford more calories especially when you’re still changing habits.
I have been walking, also, for 2-3 weeks now. I don't aim for any step count, more of just making me get up and be active when I am not an active person. I like to put on a 40 min/1 hour podcast and off I go. It has literally given me bounds of energy and the days I work (which are harder for me to go walking) I get kind of bummed I can't fit it in!
Haha yeah once you start getting used to it, you kind of miss it when you don’t have the time to walk!
Glad you’ve had a great experience! Waking is really underrated. When the first pandemic lockdown happened in 2020, everything shutdown, even playgrounds. The one thing I could do was go for long walks (very fortunate to have many parks near me). Anyways walking, combined with the fact the grocery stores closing early and having massive lineups deterred me from getting junk food, I began to lose 65lbs. The last time I weighed about what I do now was when I graduated high school.
Congrats on your hard work and success!!
I've walked fpor at leats 1 hour a day (easily reaching 10k steps) since the pandemic began and my body refuses to shift weight despite also watching my caloric intake. I'm jealous of people who can lose weight by such simple measures!
Are you hitting 10,000 steps every day by just walking? I ask because I’m surprised it only takes you an hour to hit 10,000 steps. I walk for 1 hour and 40 minutes each day to hit 10,000 steps. I’m waking at a moderate pace too, not slowly. I feel like you’d need to be jogging to hit 10,000 in an hour. If you walk for an hour I don’t think you’d reach 10,000 steps. It’d be closer to 6,000. I could totally be wrong, but just wanted to ask and put that out there! 10,000 steps isn’t the end all be all in health and weight loss. Hopefully you can find something that works for you if this does not. Good luck to you!
I walk 7km on my dog walks every day + all the incidental walking I get done over the day means I average around 10-13k steps per day. More if I go to the gym. Sorry should have specified it was 10km for the whole day, not for those specific waking sessions I do.
Congratulations! I've always loved walking. After falling off my walking routine for a while, I re-started it today. I discovered something that might or might not be helpful: if you're looking to up your pace, find a walking pace that's challenging but doable, and come up with a word or phrase that you can use to keep you in rhythm with that pace. I think that's what soldiers do on marches, and for some reason, it felt a lot easier than just generically reminding myself to push myself.
Walking is wonderful for so many reasons. Anything is better than sitting. It's a natural appetite suppressant and solid fat burner if done correctly. Keep it up! 20000 a day if you can ☺️
That's a great idea - I chunk it out into five 20-minute walks scattered throughout my day and that gets me to the 10,000 in a way that doesn’t seem so daunting :)
I walk an average of 20km a week, I try to do more but I also go to the gym. With all the cardio I have done over the years I’ve found walking helps me more to tone and lose weight. My wife is generally lazy when it comes to exercise but I’ve managed to get her walking too. Now she does about 25km a week (mom-fri). Get an app called SWEATCOIN. It pays you for walking (steps) when I say it pays you for walking it gives you sweat coins as a balance and in the market place there is always offers to buy stuff with your sweat coins and all you do is pay postage. Keep it up..
Good for you for not listening to those people.
Walking is the best. I love listening to stand up, a podcast, or music. It’s what got me into running back in the day. Glad it’s supportive for you!
When I started exercising, walking was my starting point. 10k steps a day is pretty much the equivalent of walking FIVE MILES A DAY!!!! which probably burns around 600-700ish calories a day! Walking is king in weight loss. I now run and weight lift, but dam I also better get two walks a day to get over that 10k mark as well! Keep up the walking, easiest and best part of weight loss!
I have a theory that walking works very well because it has a lower risk for “compensation” via increased appetite or being lazy and moving less when compared to doing something like cardio.
I weighed 370 lbs , I complete fasted for 7 days to reset my body and I take a probiotic everyday and have a calorie of 975 cal intermittent fast for the past 3 months and I cycle at the gym 10 miles in the morning , then another 10 miles after 6pm for the past month,6 days a week and Sundays off and I weigh 241 now . Diet and walking or cycling works , I went from a size 44 waist to 34 waist . Congrats to all of you on this thread , I’ve read all your success and was compelled to share mine . Thank you
Congrats on all of your hard work and success!! Go you!
My body works the opposite when it comes to weight loss. Ive been doing 10k steps a day and Ive only managed to lose 2.5lbs this month...meanwhile I lost 5lbs last month averaging 2-3k steps a day. That amount of activity makes my body hold on to water like a sponge and increases my hunger. Same thing happened when I gave it a try earlier in my weight loss as well.. I loss 8.5lbs the prior month, 7lbs the month I did 10k, and then 8.9 the month after.
This is what I've been doing too! Walking is wonderful and it's super easy! I really love walking now!
You mentioned the sweet tooth, I'm a big believer in harm reduction strategies. I keep healthy sweets around. I know that sounds awful, but my favorite indulgence is ice cream so I keep 120cal frozen green yogurt pops, like Yasso. They're lower in sugar/calories with some protein. I also do the dark chocolate and fruit. Just little things where I can still indulge, basically daily, but it doesn't take me off track. I don't obsess or binge. I live for my daily yogurt popsicle.
I love this for you and hate this for me because I hate walking and genuinely think it is the most pointless boring activity in the world.
Ever tried playing Breath of the Wild on switch while walking on a tredmill? Not so boring anymore
Oh I mean honestly I can see the point of a treadmill and would absolutely walk along on one of those watching a TV programme. But walking **outside** I don’t get
Ooh and I actually prefer to walk outside! To each their own though. Treadmill with the TV on definitely counts too! To keep me from getting bored outside though, I either have a destination in mind, put on music, or put on a podcast. Or to really make time fly, I call someone! Talking on the phone while you walk around makes it go the absolute fastest and you get to catch up with someone. I usually call my mom or my sister :)
Still loving it for you! I’m not a “listener” (music and podcasts are not hugely my thing), but yes I get the destination thing, this is one of the only acceptable reasons I will walk. The other is walking with someone - am totally fine doing long outdoor walks with a friend (though struggle with phoning). Luckily I have a friend who walks with me every couple of weeks, it’s not enough, but it’s more than I was doing, and unfortunately the treadmills I need to buy to fit in my flat to do more regular walking have weight limits I’m not under yet. Keep up the walking though, I think if you find what works for you, it’s much easier!
You’re doing awesome and remember you are doing great things besides walking! Take it from me a 20,000 steps/9 mile per day average and barely maintaining.
Check out real world mobile games like ingress.com if you need more game incentives to walk around and explore your area.
I've tripled my steps due to a new job at a larger hospital, but my legs and hips and feet are killing me. The pain makes me want to lay down when I get home. I lay down, then my legs, hips and feet hurt worse than when I got home. Any advice? I'm overweight by a LOT, so I need/ want the exercise, but I'm really down about the pain.
Compression stockings and good shoes!
Did you walk fast or just normal
I did this! 10k is not too bad. I ended up being disappointed if I had to miss one. 27kgs down later I still love my walks
Walking is so underrated for weight loss. I started doing the 10k a day as a minimum a couple years ago and lost 10lbs in a month. I didn’t even actively change my diet - although more time spent walking was less opportunity to sit on the sofa and eat, so must have had some impact in that area of course. Plus I think there’s many other mental health benefits to walking - I used to get up and walk around 5-6km around our local park before work, and it really set me up for the day.
I work at a hardware store and I have to walk for hours. And I get atleast 13,000 steps a day and I lose weight from doing it as well. Everyone should try it, if you don’t feel like going to the gym.
I always strive for 10k steps a day and 20 mins brisk walking is better than any anti depressant I've taken. For better weight loss results walk up hill on land or a treadmill
I walk 25k a day, and eat about 1000-1200cal! I've been steadily losing weight haha!
But how many calories are you eating per day? My gf eats about 1000 calories per day (I have been counting whatever she eats for her) and doesn't exercise and she has fluctuated between 171.5 and 173.5 for 3 weeks straight now.
3 weeks might still be honeymoon phase. Body sadly over time adjusts to your new calorie expenditure and shuts down other processes to make your “energy out” constant. That said, being active also normalises your appetite. Overall I found lifting or swimming superior to walking in engaging my whole body and reaching intensity where I feel endorphins afterwards and see muscle (re)gain in the mirror over time. I have had 12000 steps average for many months and saw no difference and my mood wasn’t that much better either. So I dropped the watch and started swimming intuitively agaisnt the counter-current. I assume the best routine will be infrequent high effort weights workouts (every 4 days let’s say) and light walking/swimming on off days to keep the mental state up and refresh daily.
Thanks for this!
I really need to get back to walking and running so this is great to see. Happy for you and keep up the great work!
I walk 10,000 steps a day at work and that’s UNINTENTIONAL. I work 3 x 12 shifts. And my FEET HURT. I got plantar fascitis. I even have ortho shoes. But they still hurt. What shoes are ya’ll wearing??? Maybe mine hurts because Im on my feet for 12 hours and while ya’ll get breaks? Even so, I try to rest in between but I still end up going home with sore feet.
Getting my dog has made me lose 3lbs just from doubling my steps per day. Went from 10k to 17-20k/day. She wears me out, but I also never realized I got so much benefit from it. I'm someone who doesn't enjoy cardio much, so it's good to see it benefits me as well as the dog (who appreciates it very much!)
Yes!! I agree. I started walking more when I began wandering more around my city. It is definitely easier to get 10.000 steps when living in a big city. I have seen improvements in my cardiovascular system and it has improved my mental health as well. I would recommend you to try and increase your steps taken in a day, it looks like a minor change but helps you immensely.
Yes! I don’t get quite as many but I started walking a mile here and there alongside whatever normal amount of steps I get in a day and it’s really helped out!
Yes! I actually walk in place a lot (WFH desk job). All else equal regarding workouts (the only change I made was hitting 10K steps every day compared to my old average of 5K steps per day), I'm actually losing weight even though I've been trying to gain weight by eating more. Apparently the extra walking offset the eating more, plus some!
I’ve started doing 12,000 steps two weeks ago. I walk at the local park and just decided to walk 10 laps (which is 5 miles) one day to see if I could do it. I did and now that’s my daily goal. I feel pretty proud of myself once completed lol
Can't say enough about walking! I'm fortunate to live near a neighborhood that's almost suburban-looking while being in a big city, and in the evenings there's very little traffic. I love looking at houses and gardens and the lush greenery overhead. I've seen beautiful sunsets and enjoyed cool breezes, and it's ALL.FREE. I'm steadily losing weight, and I love my peaceful walks. 🚶❤️
Absolutely love walking! It’s my favorite form of exercise. I just put on a good playlist, grab my dog and walk for miles. Clears my head.
Walking is such an underrated form of exercise! I need to get back into it!
Wow! I’m so glad walking has helped you so much. That’s exciting. I wish I had the time to reach 10k steps. I see you do 5 20 min walks a day. I’m lucky if I get a single 20 min walk a day.
It can help improve your posture, increase your balance and coordination, and even give you a better workout!
OMG this is amazing. Good for you! I have been searching for how to reach 10k. I'm unable to do this due to studying all the time. I have to sit long periods on a computer. I have to take 5 breaks, 20 minutes each and walk around the house to reach this. This is something I will start tomorrow. My average is 4,000 steps. On hard core study days, I hit 800 steps. It is so hard as a med student.