Walking to get Fit and lose some Weight

Uncle Gizmo

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I have recently taken up walking to get fit and lose some weight. It's nice to walk along with a group of like minded people, hence I have joined several local groups on Meetup.

I often go with the Basingstoke Walking Group as they do weekday walks. I've done a walk with the Abingdon group and the Walk by Water Group based in London.

I've done several walks on my own, one around Abbots Ann and several around Newbury.

If you see a walk that you fancy doing in one of the Meetup Groups then you might like to let me know here and we could meet up which might prove interesting. I'd be happy to travel an hour or so from Newbury.
 
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Welcome to walking Uncle, it's a great way to spend a day with friends, but don't expect to loose weight as the intensity of the exercise is too low, unless you walk with a group similar to the Ramblers A groups, 16 miles , long steep ascents, eating on the hoof or short stops, but if I wanted to exercise to that extent I would go to the gym.
I'm a Wainwright fan " the mountains aren't going anywhere in a hurry so why should I"

To lose weight watch what and how much you eat.

For the record I expect to do 10 miles or so in the Peak District of Pennines with my mate tomorrow, and 7-8 in Cheshire with Liverpool U3A on Thursday.

Brian
 
Hi Brian thanks for the post. I'm using My Fitness Pal on my phone to keep an eye on my calories and I I'm booked in with a local gym. I have lost a stone and a half and it's still going down slow and steady! Pennines sounds interesting.
 
I have been dancing for the past 4 years, and have lost nearly 5 stone in weight across that time.
It is such an enjoyable way to lose weight and to make new friends also.

Check out www.Ceroc.com, for your nearest class..
 
Heh...my dancing has been compared unfavorably to an epiliptic cat getting electrocuted.

I have a compressed disk (technically - two of the verebrae actually touch at one corner), so walking long distances is excruciatingly painful for me. Once I get caught up on bills, I plan on purchasing an exercise bike instead.
 
Some big weight losses , but I guess it depends on where you are starting from, if I lost a stone and a half I would get blown away on a windy day. :D

It sounds like Froth and I could have a dancing competition. :)

Brian
 
Heh...my dancing has been compared unfavorably to an epiliptic cat getting electrocuted.

We have a famous old Aussie rocker who is a master of this style.

Peter Garrett was the lead singer of the band Midnight Oil.

Just check out any of their videos on YouTube.
 
Heh...my dancing has been compared unfavorably to an epiliptic cat getting electrocuted.

I have a compressed disk (technically - two of the verebrae actually touch at one corner), so walking long distances is excruciatingly painful for me. Once I get caught up on bills, I plan on purchasing an exercise bike instead.

Don't know if you have looked into medical help but there are some that have a program for decompression of the spine. It actually stretches you and it works. Best of al it it non-surgical. Better than major back surgery---believe me.

I walk all the time on the farm especially since the last time we spoke, I ran over my bordercollie. Have a new pup who I am starting to train. It takes a lot of walking. Have lost a bunch of weight doing it.

Blade
 
Some big weight losses , but I guess it depends on where you are starting from, if I lost a stone and a half I would get blown away on a windy day. :D

It sounds like Froth and I could have a dancing competition. :)

Brian

Everyone wondered why the older people are not heavy weights.Why? Simply because they would eat three times a day, and work about 12 hours each day out in the hot sun or cold snow. It tends to burn up the calories you eat. Also eating the last meal around 5 pm instead of 10-11 pm will benefit you as well. oh, by the way, there were no in-between snacks except maybe grapes or gooseberries.

Blade
 
I contemplated exercise after we moved to town a couple of years ago. My knees had had too much of a hard time to pound them with running. I tried bicycling but that was too boring or too dangerous depending on where I rode.

Then one day I saw a unicycle at a garage sale and remembered my childhood dream about riding one so I handed over the ten dollars and took it home.

It took me many hours to learn to ride it across the front lawn but I was determined and before too long I was venturing down the street. I bought a better one and was off to town. I now have five unicycles. The largest has a 26 inch wheel.

In Australia unicyclists are considered "pedestrians operating a wheeled recreational device" and are allowed to ride on the footpath. We can also ride on roads without marked lanes as long as the speed limit is not above 50 kph. Plenty of variety without the risk of traffic.

I now ride between ten and fifteen kilometres a couple of times a week and I have not been so fit since I was a long distance runner in my teens. I lost weight at first then put most of it back on as muscle. It completely cured my knee problems.

It is fantastic aerobic exercise because the rider pedals the whole time. I have no gears or brakes. At top speed the rev rate is phenomenal and hill climbing or descent is a matter of strength so there is plenty of variety in the repetition and it is a thorough workout.

Unicycling is also a meditation because it requires focus. New challenges are always available when it becomes too easy so it is never boring. I have barely scratched the surface of what can be done on a unicycle.
 
Hmmm...

After this morning, let me just add this:

Who needs to run when you can just spend twenty minutes chasing your cat around the apartment building? *grumble*
 
Walking can certainly boost your metabolism long term and help you lose weight. I took on a walking challenge at work and set a goal to walk at least 15000 steps every day. I certainly noticed a difference in my energy level and lost weight. Unfortunately, I've let it slip away since the contest ended. :D

I'm not severely overweight, but definitely have some extra cushion I could lose, not to mention it helps in getting in shape. I need to get back into it. I pay for a gym membership I haven't been using. :p

And anyone who has injuries can benefit from doing doctor recommended exercises to strengthen the muscles surrounding the injured sites. There have been countless stories of people with knee and back injuries who have been told they'll never walk without support again, or worse, only to prove the doctors wrong by starting with low impact exercises and slowly building those muscles up to where the injury becomes a smaller issue since the muscle is strong enough to assist. I think one of the most inspiring for me is still the army man Arthur who beat the odds with DDP Yoga. The video shows anything can be done with the right motivation and determination. The injuries he had and subsequent weight he gained when he "gave up" should have kept him paralyzed... but it didn't. If you haven't seen this, check it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX9FSZJu448
 
And anyone who has injuries can benefit from doing doctor recommended exercises to strengthen the muscles surrounding the injured sites.

Indeed. The knee is a perfect example.

Having originally evolved from fish fins, the knee joint is ill-suited to the job it is called to do on land. It relies on the muscles around it to keep it stable.

Without that support of the muscles the cruciate ligaments get strained resulting in "excruciating" pain, often leading the sufferer to further reduce the use of the knee.

That is exactly what happened to me after some cartilage damage from overuse. I continued to have knee problems after the cartilages healed.

Unicycling completely cured the problem though I had to do a lot of stretching as the muscles built up again. I know of a unicyclist who was using full knee braces to walk before he took up the sport.
 
Interesting that the TV Series "The Walking Dead" shows up on the Similar Threads.
I think if such a zombie outbreak did hit the US, the show would be called "The Couch Potato Dead".
I have a brisk walk and average 12 miles per week. Over a century ago, some Brit company bought and planned to cultivate a huge (50,000 acres) track of land in Eastern Colorado (flat part). It is somewhat arid. Then, the company (with out a government contract) took the Rocky Mountain streams and build the Highline Canal.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?oe=UTF8&ie=UTF8&msa=0&mid=zKv3nMUxS8Mo.kgnKU1jmWqg0
Light Green Trail with purple Park connections.

My house is a few blocks from a major interstate highway I-25. There is a tunnle iwth a big bike path to allow the canal to flow. I can get on the path about 3 blocks from my home and take it many directions to various parks. For the harder workout, I have a rowing machine. Yes, I live a mile high where there are no docks or harbors, and row.
In my younger days, a group of us use to take a 5 day cross country trip and stay in snow caves above 8,500 to 9,500 ft altitude. It was a US Forest Service license area, everything had to be packed in/out. We were lucky some Aussie guides were at the base camp. For $50.00 (today's value) they pulled a sled of fresh beer and rum to meet us mid-week. They also hauled the refuse. Otherwise the 40 pound backpacks at that altitude would have been... much heavier going up the slope.
Nowdays, I only make about 10 days of cross country sking in the shadow of Vail Colorado's comfort.
The bisk walks at Denver's altitude 5,280 ft, seems to do the job.
When I visit New York City, NY or Long Beach, CA - I really have a lot of perceived energy. It is like an oxygen mask down there.
Extra time is spent to prepare for my annual walk with my son. Vail Mountain rises from 8,120 feet (2,476 m) to 11,570 feet (3,527 m). We have walked up that many times. Once on the top, it is a free gondolla ride down from the ski lift!
Years ago, we started taking the gondolla to the top. From there, a set of paths goes along the ridges from mountain tops to mountain tops.
The alitude can make a medium grade challanging. I take great joy in walking by a group of 20 year old flatlanders who have to stop every 50 paces to catch thier breath. "You really should think about stop smoking kid" I say with as big smile. I don't worry about one of them getting mad and coming at me when we are way up there in the thin air. LOL
 
I used to live and work in Yosemite. Did not care much for my job (restaurant work mostly). But loved to do hikes. Still ride my bike a little bit and take short walks in the (pretty boring) central valley of California. Got to go on a little hike in Yosemite a couple of weeks ago. It was really nice.
 

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