Walking

[crubio]

Just figured I'd share a little personal experience with weight loss.

For a time I tried to lose weight with different types of diets and the next best exercises routine. Literally nothing worked. I was stuck at a certain weight and could not get past it.

Suddenly I found myself working at a job which had me standing for 3-5 hours per day. This one change to my regimen, lost me over 10lbs in 3 months. I made no changes to diet or exercise. Just added walking/standing.

The best thing about this is that I can eat the foods I love, whole wheat bread, dried apricots, apples, salmon, meat and eggs, etc.

I think its funny that alot of recent studies show that high intensity interval training or (HIIT) is superior for burning fat. For me it was the ultra low intensity, i.e. standing, that did it. I did high intensity cardio, believe me.

I still walk .5-3 hours per day early in the morning. And may up the intensity by adding a weight vest someday. If it works, use it.

[Shaf]

I have two Siberian Huskies. I walk them every morning, rain, sleet, snow or shine, for about a half hour. I have done this for 3 years now and there has been very little benefit that I've seen, except happier dogs.

I finally have trained them to run alongside a bike, instead of pulling the bike. Now I run the dogs for a half an hour every morning, with me on a mountain bike. I keep the RPMs up, and my legs kind of burn a bit during this dog run. I don't get winded, but I have noticed a bit of weight loss doing this, plus, tired Siberian Huskies that have just sprinted for a mile are happy Siberian Huskies who dig less holes and tear less siding off the house.

Basically, what I am trying to say that additional walking, for me, didn't have an impact that it did for you. My job involves me being on my feet often, but I have office work to do as well. That's stayed constant.

I think the amount of walking you do is directly related to the benefits. Europeans bike or walk quite a bit during the day, especially the Dutch, and tend to be slim. But, they bike several miles or walk several miles to work. They also smoke, which has an impact as well. They also don't have to purchase 5000+ calories of food each day to maintain the fast food economy. Do I have 3 hours to walk? Nope. I have dogs, kids, and property to maintain, as well as making time for productive training.

So, walking's all fine and good, but it's no magic bullet, and I'd rather see someone spend 8 minutes doing tabata intervals with a jump rope or bodyweight calisthenics than a half hour "fitness" walking.

Shaf