Walking

[Alexia]

So,

As part of our manager's ever-so-amusing drive to keep us front-line staff nervous about our jobs, I have been shipped out of the busy city centre library and placed in two branch libraries; one in the middle of one of the borough's biggest sink estates, the other in a slightly more affluent yet slightly inaccessible area (it's slap bang on the main dual carriageway out of town.)

As I live approximately 3 miles from each of these libraries, I have decided to get up an hour earlier and walk to work, rather than shelling out £2.75 per day on a city-wide bus rover ticket (except when it's raining). Walking takes me approximately 45-55 minutes, depending on which library I'm working at, thus giving me an average speed, conveniently, of 4mph, which I understand to be usual walking speed.

Now, the crux of my question is this. I am slightly overweight for my 6'0" frame (as those of you who are my Facebook friends can see in the wedding photos from last weekend), and at present weigh something between 14 and 16 stone, I'm not sure. I don't really want to know. What I do know is I have a slightly bulbous gut and size AA man handles. I was just wondering how long I would have to carry on walking at my present pace twice a day, five days a week, before I saw or felt any visible improvement. (I do feel better two weeks in, some of my shirts are looser; sadly some of my waistbands aren't.)

Have any of my fellow Metropollers undertaken such a walking regimen? Should I increase the pace or just carry on as I am now knowing that in a few more weeks it will pay off?

PS - I am not a fitness person - I don't want to be fit, just fitter...lose a couple of stone and lose a few curves, so I won't consider the gym. Too bloody expensive anyway.

[Beep]

Walking burns about 8 calories a minute. So i imagine if it takes you an hour or so to walk there that'll be about 480 calories. Someone want to work out from that. Also, try doing 2 minutes jogging, 3 minutes walking, 2 minutes running, 3 minutes walking then repeat it, get your heart rate up!

You could lose about a stone in 2 weeks if you tried hard enough using the above method. Also, cut out unnecessary snacking and switch to diet fizzy drinks!

[Ebeneezer Scrooge]

I lost almost 1 stone last year, mostly from adding a 4.something mile walk to my work routine. Whenever possible, I will walk for my meal break and last year I pushed myself to up that to 4 miles in an hour (the close proximity of the canal means I can take the more pleasant route out to the Maggie Mash branch of Morrisons and then endure the long drag back down the main road to work).

Walking is one of the best ways to loose weight, given that your heart rate will increase at a brisk pace (4 mph+ should be adequate) and a sustained increase in heart rate is good for fitness and weight loss.
I'm not doubting that jogging or a mix of jogging and walking will help you loose weight, but if your intention is to loose a few pounds at minimal effort, walking is ideal.

I found an Adam and Joe podcast comfortably gets me around my normal route and makes the time fly... with that, I found walking a far more sustainable exercise routine since I enjoy it rather than forcing myself to go out for a jog, which would never happen!

[Alexia]

Walking burns about 8 calories a minute. So i imagine if it takes you an hour or so to walk there that'll be about 480 calories. Someone want to work out from that. Also, try doing 2 minutes jogging, 3 minutes walking, 2 minutes running, 3 minutes walking then repeat it, get your heart rate up!

You could lose about a stone in 2 weeks if you tried hard enough using the above method. Also, cut out unnecessary snacking and switch to diet fizzy drinks!

Thanks for the advice so far both.... If I've worked it out, that's 3600 calories per week. So so long as I ingest less than 720 calories a day, I should be fine.

Believe me, jogging is not an option until I'm sure I won't blind myself doing it! Also, not very gainly (is that a word? Oh well, it is now) in a shirt and trousers!

The one good thing is there's a lot of hills on the route, especially on the last part of the homeward leg (I live at the top of a hill), so getting my heart rate up isn't a problem.

[Beep]

Ah, well the hills mean you get a bit of an incline I suppose, so simulate the jogging/running effects on the heart. Just make sure you don't sweat badly

[WillPS]

It's not as simple as calorie maths though, also gotta take in to account how well your metabolism works and all that.

[WillPS]

It's not as simple as calorie maths though, also gotta take in to account how good your metabolism is and all that.

[Dr Lobster*]

i can't walk to work, but every lunch time just to get out of the office i walk a 3-4 mile round trip (which i can *just* about do in an hour).

i've been doing this for a few years and i started doing it when i got a bit podgy around the middle, within a couple of week i saw a big improvement - within a couple of months the fat was gone.

i used to be able to eat any old crap and stay skinny, i kind of lost that ability at around 25. now i'm in my 30s i do need to be quite careful.

i think i feel better for walking as well and very nice this time of year with all the flowers out and birds singing.

as long as you watch what you eat, along with your walking your weight should just fall off within the first few weeks.

[Sput]

Anecdotally I too can claim a 1.5 mile walk to and from the office and not being too much of a drinker have seen me retain relative slenderness compared to a lot of academics that have developed pot bellies since I have known then.

[Alexia]

Sweat? SWEAT?

That's what Sure For Men 100% Protection Up To 58 degrees C is for!!

[Nick Harvey]

Walking? Errrrrr, walking? Could someone please explain this concept to me? Is it a bit like that thing you have to do between the front door and the rapid racer?