Walking to lose weight - what should I expect?

Question

I am 46 years old have had hysterectomy and I am over weight.

I started taking Karate about a year ago and trying to lose weight. I just cant seem to do it.

The first of June my co worker and I decided to start walking everyday at lunch no less than one mile, sometimes more than 2 and 2-3 days a week we walk a route with a 95'grade up in the first 1/4 mile and down in the last.

My co worker and I are having the same struggle not losing weight. Plus our calves hurt more now than when we started. It is also very hot, so what do we need to do to help with weight loss and stop the burning and cramping on the front of our shin and ankle?

I feel like I should really have lost significant weight. My karate class is brutal and I can now do 10 sets of 10 push ups on my knees but I can barely grunt out the sit ups due to my belly. HELP !!

Answer 1

Diet. Don't fall for the BS low-carb, only eat watermelon on a full moon, except when dark chocolate has been conjured by a sorcerer diet. Those diet systems might work, but they're hard to sustain long term. What you are seeking... what anyone should be seeking.... is a LIFEstyle change - not a short term fix.

Eat what you want. The only catch is that you get fanatical about logging your calories. If it goes in your mouth, you log it. Then try to burn 500 more calories a day than you take in. You'll lose about a pound a week and you'll quickly see where you're probably taking in extra calories. Usually it's sodas and lattes. For others it's that "cheat" donut they have every single morning for breakfast.

The FitBit, which is what I use, and other fitness monitors, will help you keep track of your calorie burn and intake. As long as you're willing to commit to tracking what you eat, weight loss isn't that hard. Walking 2 miles, while good for you, isn't really going to do a whole lot for weight loss - especially if you say "I was good today, I walked 2 miles. I can eat that pizza." I'm not saying you do that, but it's the mentality most people have.

Simply put: Be disciplined about your diet and exercise.

Answer 2

The secret to weight-loss is actually really simple: Calories in vs Calories out. Of course, we can go way more in-depth than that, and drinking 10 beers in a day for about 2000 calories vs eating healthy food for the same amount of calories isn't the same, but the gist of things is that if you need, say, 2,5k maintenance calories and eat 2k calories per day, you're in a caloric deficit and you are thus losing weight. Slowly, but surely.

As far as walking goes - It's not a bad way to lose weight, but it has to be coupled with a decent diet. Lower your processed sugar intake as much as you can (remove it completely if you can), and try to eat healthier food overall. Don't go for keto, don't go for other extreme "eat only an apple per day" types of diets - just try to lower your food intake so that you're in a caloric deficit and try walking at least 10km/6~ miles per day.

It's gonna be a slow burn, but it's way better to lose weight that way than any kind of extreme training or diet because maybe like 0.1% of people can stick to such rigorous methods.

Answer 3

Know Yourself & Stay Slow

The key to your issue is to figure out how much you are taking in, and how much you are burning.

Even though you are exercising, it may not be enough to offset the intake of calories.

This is especially true if your caloric burn is low - we all know that some people burn 2000 calories a day just by staring at a wall! ;) But, for the rest of us, we need to know how much we burn or at least a rough estimate.

The easiest way to get results is to slowly reduce your caloric intake - keep everything else the same. Monitor your weight. Once you begin to lose weight at the rate you want, stop reducing your caloric intake.

The key here is SLOW - too fast and your body will think something is wrong which will cause it to react in an unnatural manner, messing up the process.

Then, once you have reached your weight target, increase your caloric intake until you are neither gaining nor losing weight.