Walking for weight loss?

[COcheesehead]

When calories are consumed is just as important as to how many.

Your body will get its energy first from what is in your gut. If you are consuming three meals a day and maybe a snack too, your gut never fully empties so your body is just on cruise control. If, however, you let your gut go empty, usually after about 16 hours of non consumption, your body will then turn to its fat stores. This is the beauty of intermittent fasting. The pounds will come off.

As to alcohol. I lost 14 lbs intermittent fasting while still consuming beer and wine in moderation. The problem with alcohol is what you end up consuming in addition to the alcohol. LOL.

 

[MRG]

My last two lipid panels stunk. I thought I had figured it out after the first one and then the second was worse, total cholesterol 250+.

My PCP assured me saturated fat was the problem and to reduce it. After logging my food into MFP I could see where it came from heavy cream, ice cream, brookside chocolate and outshine chocolate covered strawberry popsicles were all off limits. After 12 weeks my total cholesterol was 160!

I didn't replace the calories from the junk and 16 weeks later I'm down 15 pounds. I'm struggling to figure out how to add 500 calories a day of "healthy" foods.

 

[5Miler]

About 9 years ago, at age 58, I found myself wheezing when laying in bed at night, struggling to bend over to tie my shoes and at 5'11", tipping the scales at 198. My doctor put it succinctly, LOSE WEIGHT. I signed up for a 5K with DSIL and started walking on a treadmill DGF hung arts and crafts on in the basement. Two months to train and I just barely didn't die. Kept walking and progressed to running for the first time in my life since my annual Air Force fitness testing. Signed up for the same 5K the next year and the Georgia Peachtree Roadrace 10K. Came closer to death as the 10K was on July 4 and somewhat muggy.
I've been running ever since on my trusty treadmill. I've run as much as 7 miles a day but usually 5 miles (thus my user name) until my weight dropped to a low of 157. Doctor said stop losing weight. He is so predictable. The motor on my treadmill is screaming when I fire it up but I think i can get a few more miles out of it.

For the last few years I have leveled out at 176 lbs which I feel is perfect for me and continue to eat garbage as my habits never truly change that much. I run 5 days a week for between 3.5 and 3.75 miles each day so I don't lose so much weight. Yes, my friends hate me for it. I am the oldest of our little group of 7 by 3 to 9 years but am the most active by far. I can also add that it has brought all my labs back into line as my doctor had been talking cholesterol meds for a while but stopped when my numbers improved. Blood pressure not so much. It's a family curse.

 

[sengsational]

I have a Garmin sport watch. It estimates the amount of calories I use a day. I guess from my weight, height, and heart rate it estimates the calories I use while not performing some activity like running, cycling, walking, swimming, .... So far today it estimates that I have 45 active calories which makes sense since I've been laying around. My resting calories (BMR) are about 1800 calories a day. I don't count "calories in" at all, but I do weigh myself every day.

Does anybody else use a watch to get a number for resting calories? Do you believe the number?

I think it was Gary Taubes that wrote, in one of his books, that eating one M&M, or was it two... I can't remember. Anyway, if you ate one or two "extra" M&M's every day for a couple of years, a normal weight person would become obese. I'm probably getting the exact details wrong, but the principle is what stuck with me. The measures of calories from food are just estimates (it depends on how your body processes the food). And your resting metabolism changes in big swings too. For instance, when I'm fasting, my heart rate during sleep is significantly lower than if I'm not fasted. So estimated calories obtained from food is a very rough estimate, and calories consumed from resting metabolism is also a very rough estimate. So the whole idea of calories in / calories out might be valid, but the numbers are so bad, it's a GIGO situation.