Walkers- How far do you walk and at what pace?

[bayareanan 24]

I have a band but am switching to a sleeve in February, just for background.

I weight 300lbs (down from 340 pre band weight or all time high of 369)

I have started trying to walk most days of the week, at least till the weather turns here in Sunny CA. Today I made it 3.01 miles in 70 minutes. I am quite tickled with myself as my longest distance had been 2.3 miles. I dont know if I will work towards going longer or going faster.

What is a reasonable distance to walk and get results?

Nan

[Thomas CPA 496]

Just walking at a normal pace is fine. Typically if you get in 30 minutes per day is good and 70 is great. Concentrate less on distance/speed and more on time spent walking.

[LindaS 316]

If I walk outside, I usually get at least a couple of miles in -- the shortest route I do is 2.5 miles. If I use my treadmill, I walk for at least 30 minutes. When I use my treadmill, I also vary the incline. I try to walk at a "dog walking" pace at least. On the treadmill, I vary my incline from flat to the 3 setting.

I'd work on going a bit faster first and then you can go longer for the same amount of time.

[RickM 1,747]

A good pace and distance is whatever you are comfortable doing, and is working your heart some. I don't walk a lot since the immediate post op period, preferring gym and pool work to our boring SoCal neighborhood, but I do walk more when I'm up in Monterey (like next week) since there's more interesting places to walk. They occasionally have nice 5k walk/runs that are fun to do - I just did one about three weeks ago in Pebble Beach.

You're working at a good pace and as much time as you can spare for it is great. A suggestion on finding a healthy pace is to get a heart monitor - the cheaper ones (maybe $50) are just built into a watch and you put your fingers across the face when you take a short break. The general guideline is that you should try to work your heartrate to around the 80% of maximum rate for good cardio workout and calorie burning. A rule of thumb max heartrate is 220 - your age.

One of the things that sneaks up on you as your weight drops is that the walking becomes easier and it's a bigger challenge to get your heartrate up into that zone by simple walking - it doesn't feel like it's any easier, but your body can sure tell the difference. During the first couple of months post-op I would have no problem getting my heartrate up into the low 130's, which is that good working zone for me, but a couple of months later I could barely break 100 when walking as fast as I could without breaking into a jog (which the knees still don't like) This is one of the reasons that the weightloss slows down as we progress - our daily activities and purposeful exercise burns less calories unless we make a significant effort to ramp it up as the weight comes off. Some people on these forums have reported that their docs don't even consider walking to be exercise after a few months because of this effect.

Good luck and keep it up - you're off to a good start.

[ProudGrammy 8,322]

A good pace and distance is whatever you are comfortable doing, and is working your heart some. I don't walk a lot since the immediate post op period, preferring gym and pool work to our boring SoCal neighborhood, but I do walk more when I'm up in Monterey (like next week) since there's more interesting places to walk. They occasionally have nice 5k walk/runs that are fun to do - I just did one about three weeks ago in Pebble Beach.

You're working at a good pace and as much time as you can spare for it is great. A suggestion on finding a healthy pace is to get a heart monitor - the cheaper ones (maybe $50) are just built into a watch and you put your fingers across the face when you take a short break. The general guideline is that you should try to work your heartrate to around the 80% of maximum rate for good cardio workout and calorie burning. A rule of thumb max heartrate is 220 - your age.

One of the things that sneaks up on you as your weight drops is that the walking becomes easier and it's a bigger challenge to get your heartrate up into that zone by simple walking - it doesn't feel like it's any easier, but your body can sure tell the difference. During the first couple of months post-op I would have no problem getting my heartrate up into the low 130's, which is that good working zone for me, but a couple of months later I could barely break 100 when walking as fast as I could without breaking into a jog (which the knees still don't like) This is one of the reasons that the weightloss slows down as we progress - our daily activities and purposeful exercise burns less calories unless we make a significant effort to ramp it up as the weight comes off. Some people on these forums have reported that their docs don't even consider walking to be exercise after a few months because of this effect.

Good luck and keep it up - you're off to a good start.

I broke my femur over a year ago, haven't really been able to exercise. Now my left leg is 1inch shorter than the other, so i have a built in lift on my bad foot. (shoe) Its hard to go to the gym and exercise.

I am able to walk slowly on my treadmill though kathy- isn't some walking better than nothing at all? I'm sure it is, getting off my behind is better than sitting on the couch making a permanent dent on the couch from not moving!! - kathy

[meggiep 57]

I walk an hour a day, every day, as well as six Water aerobics classes a week. I usually maintain about a 2.8 mph pace for the hour (I could do more but my husband complains lol!). I have lost 91 pounds in 24 weeks and though I can't say the exercise is the only thing that has accomplished this as I totally work the program- low carb, high Protein, lots of water, etc. but I know it has helped a lot. It has also helped me tone so that I do not have a huge loose skin issue yet and as I am 58 I was afraid I would have more of a problem than I do.