New to walking (in any predictable manner)...

I've been walking since I was about 13 months old, but other than periods
where I lived close enough to work (say, within 5 miles) to walk regularly,
it's not been very scheduled or anything like that.

I'm almost 6' and about 220 these days, and although I'm "big-boned," I'd
prefer to be a good bit lighter than that. My schedule is such that I don't
have the time to go walk for 10 miles, either. My lungs are in pretty good
shape, so I go hiking (crazy places, like by lava flows, and above 10,000
feet) when I can, but that's not regular enough to have an impact on weight.

So I used my bike to measure the distance around the block, which nicely
turned out to be right about a mile (1.01, minus a smidge due to my feet
cornering tighter than my bike) and have decided to walk around it in the
morning and at night. This morning I walked with my wife and it took 15:08;
this evening before dinner I walked solo, went as fast as I could, and it
took 13:20. (I'm not "speedwalking," "racewalking" or whatever that I
*know* of.)

I'll probably see what I can accomplish weight-wise with just walking for
a while -- I really don't want to subject my knees to running with this
much excess weight.

Anyway, just figured I'd say hi and stuff.

--
Perfer et obdura; dolor hic tibi proderit olim. | http://dan.birchalls.net/

Dan,

Your thinking not to run at your current weight is good. I'm about 5'11" and
about 200 lbs. at this point but was about 220 4-5 months ago. Fortunately
for me I was very active for a couple of months and lost about 10-15 lbs.
before I began to walk/run so I did begin to jog a little at first and have
increased the amount I jog slowly since then.

You will get most all of the same benefits from walking only. When you have
lost some weight and begin to feel a bit lighter then you can start to jog
very short distances then gradually increase the amount of jogging. I
started with only a couple of 10 second jogs and now after a couple of
months I'm doing 11 - 1 min. 50 second jogs during my 60 minute workout.

Listen to your body and don't push it too fast. The most important thing is
to develop a very strong habit of walking and to stick with it. Sooner or
later your weight will begin to drop although it might not drop that much
initially because you'll be gaining muscle while you are losing fat. After a
while though the muscle build up will lessen and the fat burning will
continue so you will lose weight.

Hang in there and don't do too much too soon. I doesn't matter if it takes
you 6 months or 2 years to get into shape. Once you get there, you'll be
able to enjoy it for the rest of your life .

Good luck!!

Doug Gilliam

"Dan Birchall" <nobody DeleteThis @localhost.localdomain> wrote in message
news:slrnbsb6be.2ug.nobody@g5dual.birchalls.net...
> I've been walking since I was about 13 months old, but other than periods
> where I lived close enough to work (say, within 5 miles) to walk
regularly,
> it's not been very scheduled or anything like that.
>
> I'm almost 6' and about 220 these days, and although I'm "big-boned," I'd
> prefer to be a good bit lighter than that. My schedule is such that I
don't
> have the time to go walk for 10 miles, either. My lungs are in pretty
good
> shape, so I go hiking (crazy places, like by lava flows, and above 10,000
> feet) when I can, but that's not regular enough to have an impact on
weight.
>
> So I used my bike to measure the distance around the block, which nicely
> turned out to be right about a mile (1.01, minus a smidge due to my feet
> cornering tighter than my bike) and have decided to walk around it in the
> morning and at night. This morning I walked with my wife and it took
15:08;
> this evening before dinner I walked solo, went as fast as I could, and it
> took 13:20. (I'm not "speedwalking," "racewalking" or whatever that I
> *know* of.)
>
> I'll probably see what I can accomplish weight-wise with just walking for
> a while -- I really don't want to subject my knees to running with this
> much excess weight.
>
> Anyway, just figured I'd say hi and stuff.
>
> --
> Perfer et obdura; dolor hic tibi proderit olim. |
http://dan.birchalls.net/