When I was a teenager, I took up running with my mom. She told all the kids that whoever would train to run a marathon, she would take to Montreal in the fall to run a race. Having not done much physical in my life and desiring to spend more time with my mother, I took her up on the offer.
It's been 33 years since that time. I did run and complete the Montreal Marathon, but I've not run another race since. The conclusion was that I really don't like to run.
But at the age of forty-six I lost fifty pounds. I didn't do it by standing still. I owe it all to putting one foot in front of the other. That's right, walking.
Let's face it. There's not much to putting some shoes on, stepping out the front door, and hoofing it. Even if you are not accustomed to walking for anything more than getting from one end of the house to the other, I've discovered there is so much to enjoy!
There is great benefit to living in a place where the climate allows for outdoors walking for the greater part of the year. Northern Colorado is a beautiful place to be and there is no shortage of sidewalks, bike paths, hiking trails and streets. Since we have the Rocky Mountain front range as a backdrop to many walks, there is always something to look at.
I try to do my walks first thing in the morning, but I will modify if the weather is not optimal for the day. I strap my iPhone to my belt loop, start the pedometer app and off I go.
I try to do a minimum of one hour each day. But some days I feel like I have more energy and I'll walk up to two hours.
I find that it is a great opportunity to do a whole person workout.
Phsyically, the case can be made that walking is better than running. Regardless, I usually walk at a 4 mph pace. That does a good job of getting my heart rate up and burning calories.
Emotionally, it's a documented fact that exercise releases endorphins in the brain. There is something cleansing for the soul that gets out and about. If you are suffering from depression, moving your body is one of the healthiest things you can do to change the way you view your circumstances. Doesn't it reason that it would be just as healthy as a maintenance goal?
Spiritually, I find that walking is a great time to connect with God. Whether it is by praying as I walk or listening to some teaching, I can engage my inner man as I take another step.
Sometimes I'll listen to music. Other times I won't listen to anything. Many times I walk alone. Other times I am joined by a family member with me. And there's an ancillary benefit... building relationships with others while staying fit!
No matter where I go, I take my walking shoes with me. After all, my legs and feet go where I go, so why shouldn't I be equipped to put them to work?
When I travel, I enjoy finding local walking paths or hiking trails. My pedometer app uses the GPS feature to map where I have walked, so I can always look back at my journey and see a physical representation of where I went.
It's true that sometimes walking becomes hiking. I do enjoy visiting places where I can get away from traffic and enjoy nature. Some of my favorite hikes have included the Giant Redwoods in coaster california, the desert mountains of Arizona and the front range of the Rockies. A little uphill climb is good for the heart and it offers wonderful panoramic views of creation.
A few weeks back I visited Las Vegas with my brother. We walked from the New York, New York Hotel all the way to Fremont Street. On the way we passed the pawn shop where Pawn Stars is filmed, along with a number of world-famous chapels where celebrities have married. There's always something to see when you visit somewhere new. I find it interesting and exciting to site see on foot rather than from the back seat of a cab or tourbus.
So how much walking do I do? My pedometer app doesn't work well on treadmills, and I have missed using it a few days this past year. However, according to the statistics reported by the app, I have walked over 1054 miles in the past 360 days. On those walks I've burned over 103,000 calories.
Which leads to my final reason for my daily walks.
I get to enjoy more of the foods that got me in trouble before.
As I was losing weight, I stayed away from all friend foods and rarely had deserts. Now that I am at a maintenance level, I can have a piece of pie, a trip to Buffalo Wild Wings or a waffle with syrup, and not feel like I am going to blow up to 225 pounds again.
I still try to watch my portions, but the daily discipline of walking has allowed me to enjoy more of what I like.
Some people prefer other kinds of workouts. Whatever works for you is what you need to do. As for me, I'm lacing up my shows and hitting the pavement. There's a whole world out there waiting for me to set foot on it.
Do you walk for fitness or do you enjoy some other activity? I welcome your comments and questions below.
Good write up, Joel. I lost 50 pounds in about a year and a half after age 38 using nearly the same method that you did.
Hi Joel,
I've been doing it for the past few months. I realized I'd just pace the house when I got a phone call (I work out of the house). I couldn't work on the computer.
I decided to put on my walking shoes when a long phone call started, and now I am doing 1 - 2 hours a day.
I have also got my family into it. We just got back from a 2 hour walk. Went to a local festival, and had a corn dog and a beer.
I feel your joy. Keep it up...
Spot on the walking, Joel! After losing 30 pounds just by walking and eating sensibly, I'm half-tempted to up the ante to jogging, but right now there really isn't any reason to.
I thought walking or exercising in the morning would make me more tired throughout the day, but it has been the opposite. I'm more alert and in a better mood the entire day, plus I sleep better at night. Win-Win.
You have to find something you like to do. Whether its biking, walking, running, swimming - whatever. Then stick with it. The results can be pretty dramatic if we all just put our minds to it.
Well Joel this is another very informative article for those who really want to lose those extra pounds. I was also over weight but then I figured out how to lose weight quickly without harming my body systems. I have figured out that brisk walking is the best way to lose weight quickly. It is also very important to design a detox diet plan and follow it properly. What exactly i did is that i took acai berry and colon cleanse on a daily basis twicw a day and i totally cut off junk food for almost a month and I could see considerable amount of change in my body. Lastly, please don't leave exercise no matter whatever you diet plan is.
Good luck
To keep myself in shape in general and for wrestling, I workout in the gym for about three hours daily (sometimes longer). I usually get on the elliptical for an hour, run on the treadmill for an hour, and lift weights for an hour.
Hi Joel,
Yes, walking does impart great health benefits! I've been walking every single day (rain, snow, or shine) for the past 30 years. I am 51, but don't have high blood pressure, am not overweight, and don't really have any health problems that I know of.
Walking is a great way to improve both physical and emotional health.
I'm glad to know that you are continuing your health and fitness plan and are still walking for fitness. I still can't get over how great you look after you lost all of the weight!
Hi Joel,
The walking thing was working pretty well until the accompanying Moosedawg decided to turn 13 and go deaf and half blind.
Walking with him nowadays is a very slow stroll designed to keep him alive.
If a car happens to be coming when we are crossing the street, it is like dragging a 100 pound bag of cement!
Guess I need to take a slow lap with the Moosedawg and then speed things up on my own for the real fat-burning exercise. It is a pretty area here in Titirangi, New Zealand, so the walk is uplifting and aerobic.
Bill
Congratulations on your weight loss AND for keeping it off. Losing weight is one of the toughest things in the world to do.
I love, love, love to walk. Fortunately, two of my daughters also love walking, so we enjoy wonderful long walks together. We solve a lot of the worlds problems on these walks! When I walk without my girls, I walk with God. He's also great company!
Not only is walking excellent for one's physical, emotional, and spiritual health, it's one of the best things you can do for your mind. Experts always list it on lists for preventing Alzheimer's disease. If more people would walk daily, we'd probably see an end to a lot of life's ills!
Bravo for your mom's efforts to get kids moving!! We need more moms and dads like that today. Childhood obesity breaks my heart.
Finally, you live in Colorado?! That's home to my much, much beloved Denver Broncos. This should be one amazing year!
Hi Joel,
I agree with you 110%. A little over a year ago I decided to start walking. I didn't know it at the time but I had the wrong shoes and got blood blisters on the soles of my feet. Ouch! I decided I'd start jogging maybe 1/10th of a mile from time to time (actually got up to 7/10ths this spring)during my 4 mile walk and ended up messing with an achilles tendon. I kept at it with bad knees, pulled calf muscle and an arthritic hip that has really hampered me this spring. I'm 52 and have lost 35 pounds since March 2011 in spite of everything. I have a post-it on my wall in front of my computer with my Labor Day goal weight. I aim to hit it through thick and thin. Walking the boardwalk along the Atlantic Ocean at the Jersey Shore is quite the incentive rain or shine! Thanks for validating my attempt to get healthy.
Brenda
Good reminder to exercise, Joel. I have been walking with my in-laws every morning. Dad is 90 and Mom a little over none-of-my-business but I was the one needing exercise.
They challenged me to walk with them and we also pick up bottles and cans on the way, usually amounts to over $100 per month!
What a joy to share with them about their faith, their history, and to spy on their health (for my wife.)
-Chaplain Paul Slater
Walking is definitly a great way to improve your health and an opportunity communicated with your innerself.
Come join me at the Boulder Boulder tomorrow.
Thank you Joel for that blog post! I am so glad to hear more people advocating walking versus the injury laden activity of running. I spend half of the day watching the final 6 episodes of the Next Internet Millionaire (I enjoyed them so much that I couldn't stop watching) and it is fantastic to hear that you lost all that weight you were wearing during the show.
I have a question Mr. Comm. Have you ever read about the paleo diet? Perhaps heard of Mark Sisson? Because paleo experts advocate walking, and other low impact exercises, while discouraging people to avoid running long distances.
I agree with you, running marathons suck, and hiking/walking is way better! Thank you for sharing your success with us!
How coincidental... I saw your post on the way back from my walk. I'm still on the weight loss journey - but have been walking 4 miles a day (10,000 steps for me) for about three month. Easy (and my dogs are losing weight too.
Bought a fitbit pedometer - really easy to use...
Hello Joel,
Thank you for sharing, and congratulations on doing something you really enjoy and making such accomplishment!
I agree with you totally and I do a lot of walking too, and really enjoy it. I travel a lot. Whenever I get to a new place, I explore the place on foot, many times even when I was offered transportation. You get to see things you just don't get to see in a car or on a bus. It's an excellent way to keep fit, too. People often complain about lacking time to exercise, yet they use elevators to get to the second floor, drive to places even when it's only 10 minutes' walk, email their co-workers in the next cubicle when they can stand up, walk over and talk ... Why not integrate walking into our daily life and rip all the benefits it brings (good health, clean environment, energy conservation, plus saving money while getting things done - five birds with one stone, good deal!!!)?
Good job, Joel. Enjoyed reading your post, as always.
Jacqueline
Quite refreshing to know you are a walker and that there are walkers in your list. I am a hopeless walker, rain or shine, unless there's a thunderstorm, an urgent meeting, etc (which means I have to re-schedule my walking time). I walk not only for fitness and to collect Vitamin D for my skin but to say "hello" to nature, to plants and flowers, to birds and familar walkers. I also like to go mountain climbing. When I was a student at UCLA (of course that was decades ago), I occasionally joined the Sierra Club to see the great Sequoia. Today, I still climb hills and mountains (with local herbalists) to collect samples and pictures of herbs for my next book on herbal remedies.
Isn't it wonderful what walking and nature can offer us? Thank you for letting me see you from a different angle.
Joel, as I have been a caregiver for everyone these past years except myself, I have seen the scale pass 200 and know that it is time to get serious. Since I can no longer care for my Mom who we had to put in hospice in nursing home recently, I decided to get my body fixed so I can walk. I am not a runner, used to be a dancer many years ago and messed up my feet.
Did you know that your body always wants it to be in balance? I had heel spur that continued to get worse and I was unable to do anything about it. Then my body grew another spur to balance it out - on my ankle - and it did it in both feet! Well the ankle spur started messing with my Achilles tendon. I just had the left foot operated on by one of the best doctors who has also invented things and has patents, but it is an 8 week process in a cast, in a wheelchair and no walking cast for a while. I didn't have a lot of help caring for me so I had put too much weight on it so he casted me after 2 weeks and we are praying that it did not mess up the Achilles and I have to go through another operation to repair the tendon. But...I plan to use the remainder of this summer to get the right foot completed after that and depend on my 17 year old to drive me whereever I need to go before school starts. It's not going to be a great summer but.....I'm getting ready to hit the trails again and do something positive about regaining my health, confidence, and overall 'curb appeal'. LOL I have watched your journey and you have really inspired me - Thanks!
Great article. Headline brought me right over.
I love hiking and biking.
One thing I learned is to not over do it and to scale up. As we get older over doing it can cause a rehab time and that's depressing.
Way to go Joel.
Joel,
I love walking in the morning and it's great for you to share this joy with others. Most people are unaware of the many benefits of walking. For myself, if I go walking first thing in the morning, I seem to have more energy for the rest of the day. Also, walking helps to balance the right and left hemispheres of the brain. Walking is great for stress, problem solving, weight loss and it's better on the knees!
I love walking. I just do it without even knowing that it is good for my health
Glad you decided to "get Moving" Joel. It helps both body and mind and helps you deal with life's ups and downs even easier.
And having an occasional cheat meal won't hurt ya' none either.
Colorado sounds like a great place to live and get in walks,biking and hiking.
I either ride my bike or walk for exercise daily.
greatest thing in the world.
Keep up the good work Joel.
Mark in Canada
Hi Joel, I, too, am an avid walker. I've been at it for nearly 6 years. I'm actually training to do my 4th marathon, here in Baltimore. Putting one foot in front of the other is good for the heart, good for the soul and clears your mind on a daily basis. My goal is t do my 50th marathon when I'm 100 years old. I hope to see you there!
Really a good article Joel! I do encourage my friends to go for a walk, because when you are moving, your blood begin to flow faster and this helps people to warm up their bodies. I am telling you this because in my country now is 0 degrees of Celsius - it's not a big deal, but people think that THIS SI COOOOOOLD!))