Ever since bad knees forced Susie to retire and move in with Becky and her husband, the sisters had shared a home office where they’d surf the web and plan adventures for their golden years.
Of course, at over 325 pounds each and in constant pain, they had limited options — unless they made changes. “Read what I sent you, ” urged Susie. “It sounds doable.” A lover of all things sparkly, Susie had stumbled on a free weight loss site called SparkPeople and decided it was fate. Becky wasn’t so sure. “No diets, ” she insisted. “I refuse to starve ever again.” Susie bit her lip.
She thought. Suddenly, Susie had an idea: “Tell me what you want to eat, and I’ll find a way to make it healthy.”
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Susie was the more hopeful one on that spring day in Wisconsin, but she understood how Becky felt. Both had battled extra pounds their whole lives, enduring failure after failure. Susie recently looked into gastric bypass but couldn’t even manage to lose 35 pounds to qualify.
So different, in fact, that the site calculated she could have 2, 200 calories a day. Was it too much? She read posts from other dieters; they seemed to be happily succeeding. So Susie put her doubts aside.
In the days that followed, Susie experimented with lightened-up chili, casseroles, and pot roast. She typed it all into her food log, which tracked calories and helped make sure her meals had enough energizing nutrients like protein and fiber. By the time Becky signed up for her own account, the pair were down an easy 12 pounds each. Becky was officially excited. Eyes shining, she turned to her sister and asked: “Should we try exercising?” Susie grimaced. “I can barely walk 30 feet, ” she said. So it was Becky’s turn to be the problem-solver.
A Guide To Walking For Weight Loss
Thought Susie, whose hips were now as bad as her knees. Still, Becky’s enthusiasm was contagious. They set out. By the end of the driveway, Susie’s lower half was on fire. “I have to go back, ” she said. Becky made it to the end of the block before collapsing beside her sister. “Let’s try to go a little farther each day, ” Becky panted. Susie just sighed.
Later that night, they told their oldest sister, Karen, what had happened. “Do you still have Mom’s old canes?” Karen asked. “They might help Susie.” Becky fished them out of the garage; using two at once, Susie made it half a block. Then Becky had a light-bulb moment: She’d gotten a job at Lands’ End, and they were offering employees a great deal on Nordic walking poles. Might the poles help more than canes? The sisters watched a video online and decided yes. Becky bought two pairs, and as soon as the sticks were in their hands, the movement felt natural. That day they made it four blocks! “I didn’t have pain in my hips or even my knees, ” Susie marveled afterward.
Block by block, Susie and Becky extended the distance they covered in their neighborhood, passing landmarks like a school, church, and hospital. People saw their walking poles and asked, “Are they worth it?” The sisters answered: “Absolutely!” The poles not only relieved pain but also helped them stay balanced and stand taller so they could step farther and faster. “It’s really so much easier than regular walking, ” Susie marveled.
Surprising Benefits Of Walking Daily
By the time the women could walk two miles, they felt gleeful — which made them extra-motivated to eat well. As pounds and health issues steadily disappeared, one day it hit Susie: “I turned to my sister and said, ‘We’re actually going to make it this time, aren’t we?’” The answer soon became clear: Susie lost 186 pounds in about two years while Becky ultimately shed 187 pounds. Becky got rid of her asthma inhaler and CPAP machine; Susie got off cholesterol medication and hasn’t felt hip pain since.
But look at us! We turned everything around just by eating food we enjoy and using gentle exercise.” Susie, 71, agrees: “Take one easy step at a time, ” she says. “You won’t believe how far you can go!”
Experts agree walking works best paired with a nutrient-dense, portion-controlled diet. To make it easy, Becky and Susie used SparkPeople’s free tools to keep calories at 1, 800–2, 200 daily. Want to follow their lead? We’re sharing some of SparkPeople’s most popular ideas to inspire you. Always get a doctor’s okay to try any new diet or workout.
How I Lost Weight Walking
BREAKFAST: Make an omelet with three egg whites, half a cup of veggies, one-fourth cup of cheese, cooking spray, and seasoning to taste.
LUNCH: Brush eggplant with two teaspoons olive oil and season. Top with two tablespoons of pizza sauce and one-quarter cup of mozzarella. Bake at 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
DINNER: Broil a quarter pound of tilapia with one tablespoon of butter and seasoning to taste. Serve with half a cup of veggies and half a cup of brown rice.
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Use left and right arrow keys to navigate between menu items. Use right arrow key to move into submenus. Use escape to exit the menu. Use up and down arrow keys to explore. Use left arrow key to move back to the parent list.Yes, walking can help with weight loss — especially if your walks challenge you and you incorporate other healthy lifestyle changes, such as eating more healthfully.
It’s free, it’s simple, and it requires no special training or fitness prowess. It can also be enjoyable, especially if you have a chatty friend by your side or a fun podcast to listen to.
For a fit person who can tolerate higher-intensity forms of exercise, walking isn’t the most time-efficient form of exercise for burning fat.
Can Walking Really Help Make You Lose Weight?
But a fit person can still benefit from walking as a relaxing addition to a more intense exercise routine — it’s calming, it burns some calories, and it can be perfect for an active rest day.
According to the CDC, adults should get 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise per week, or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous exercise.
If you have a busy schedule, you can also break it up into smaller chunks — like 15 minutes, twice a day, five days per week.
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What you eat is the biggest factor in that equation, but exercise — including walking — can burn additional calories and help to create a calorie deficit.
“Walking is an easy and effective way to increase your daily activity level and burn more calories if you’re overweight, sedentary, or just beginning your weight-loss journey, ” says Trevor Thieme, C.S.C.S., Beachbody’s director of fitness and nutrition content.
The precise number of calories you’ll burn through walking depends on a variety of factors, including your height, weight, pace, terrain, and genetics.
Ways To Get 10,000 Steps A Day
Because walking is low-impact, it’s also an ideal activity for people who are recovering from an injury and can’t dive back into high-intensity exercise right away.
When it comes to weight loss, Thieme says, nutrition is key — but you’ll see results even faster if you combine healthy eating with regular exercise, like walking.
“Cleaning up your diet should always be your top priority if your goal is weight loss, ” says Thieme. “But combining walking with healthier eating habits can help you shed pounds faster than dieting alone — especially if you don’t limit those additional daily steps to workouts.”
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To get at least 10, 000 steps per day (don’t worry — that includes the steps you get during your workout!), Thieme recommends the following small but impactful changes:
If you notice your results start to fizzle, you’ll need to ramp up the intensity of your aerobic workouts by either picking up the pace or by adding strength training or high-intensity interval training (HIIT) to your workout schedule.
“Remember, walking is a gateway exercise — the goal is to increase your activity level and prepare your body for more intense forms of exercise, ” says Thieme.
Running Vs. Walking For Weight Loss
To maximize your results and avoid any aches and pains, there are a few things to keep in mind while you’re walking, says San Francisco running coach Danny Dreyer, author of Chi Walking.
Once you’ve made a habit of maintaining good posture and taking brisk strides, you’ll transform your body into a much more efficient walking machine.
There are a few things to keep in mind while you’re walking, says San Francisco running coach Danny Dreyer, author of Chi Walking performance books and DVDs.
Walk Your Way To Weight Loss
Once you’ve made a habit of maintaining good posture and taking brisk strides, you’ll transform your body into a much more efficient walking machine — and you’ll burn even more calories.
Walking shoes are specifically designed to handle the heel-to-toe movement of walking, so they’ll have better arch support and more flexibility in the ball of the foot than running shoes do.
Music has the power to boost your energy and keep you entertained — and research has found that listening to music during a workout can help to delay fatigue and increase performance and endurance.
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Simply add weight (dumbbells or bricks work well) to a daypack, and get walking. Start with a weight equal to 10 percent of your body weight and work your way up from there.
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