My doctor said I need to walk 2 hrs a day to loose weight...
It's almost been a month since I started dieting and I have lost 21 pounds. I just got a new doctor and saw him for the first time today. I told him about how I've been dieting and walking on the treadmill an hr a day. He says if I just walk an hr a day I'm going to start to maintain my weight rather than loose it. My weight loss is starting to slow down a little but I new than would happen eventually. I started out at 209 and I am now 188. I've been eating 1200 calories a day. What does everyone else think? Anyone here walk 2 hrs a day and get good results? I also try to do 100 situps a day on the abb lounge.
did you tell him you only eat 1200 calories/day. how much do you burn each day?
your weight is slowing down because 1200 calories isn't enough.
how tall are you and how old are you? i'm thinking you need more like 1400-1600 a day. i know it sounds weird, but honestly.. in your case, if you increase your calories, you'll decrease your weight.
Yes I did. He said anything between 800 -1200 was good. I wouldn't go that low though. The burn meter says I burn 2510 calories a day. I am 5'7& 24 yrs old. I think I'll try 1400 for now and see what happens.
Between 800-1200 calories is not good imo, I'm not a doctor or a nutritionist, just someone who has lost 30 lbs by following advice from CC starting at 5'5" and 180ish pounds. Given your height, weight, age, and exercise level, 1500-1800 sound more appropriate to me.
Yes, your body will adjust to certain activities (it still doesn't negate the effort) so changing them around periodically will give you better results. Try an aerobics class, a dance class, a yoga class, spinning, switching between walking and a light jog, whatever you can do to mix it up. Add in a bit of weight lifting if that's of interest or start a challenge like couch to 5K, the 100 push ups, etc.
Walking is great exercise, and you can increase your time (if you've got that much spare time!) - I've done marathon walking (it takes about 7 hours to walk a marathon in case you wanted to know 
) If you're walking on a treadmill though a much easier solution would simply be to up the incline - walking on an incline is a great work out! In general you should increase the incline to get your heart rate up to the 150 range, use the target heart rate to evaluate if it's getting easier (since your heart rate will be lower if you're not working as hard).
Happy walking!
On your calorie intake... The only thing I know for sure is that 1200 is just too low... and 800 - 1200 is not 'GOOD' for someone of your height, weight and age. I know you mentioned you would never go that low but I wanted to reiterate the point..
Considering what your burn meter says (and without inputting your stats into any calculator) I would strongly suggest increasing your calories... With the cal intake you mention and the burn meter number you posted, you currently have a deficit of just over 1300 cals per day, which is simply too much for healthy, sustainable weight loss! please try to shoot for 1600 to 1800 cals per day at a minimum..
Check out these calculators to give you a different perspective:
Good luck!
Either there was a miscommunication or your dr has no clue when it comes to weight loss and maintenance for that matter! I had a dr once tell me too that I had to JOG for an HOUR 5 days a week to lose weight. Needless to say I never did that and I've lost all of mine and then some. One thing I do know is that if you start excercising that much one you will eventually not lose anymore. You'll be burning to much and not taking in enough and you'll have to get PAST starvation mode to continue to lose. Not clue how long that would take. THen IF you did lose all your weight doing this you would have to continue to do that 2 hr a day thing to maintain. Believe me I've done the excessive excercising, it gets some pounds off fast but eventually it slows down to nothing and it comes back REALLY fast!
yeah, your doctor's crazy. you need to eat more than that.
that said, if you get off the treadmill and walk outside, you'll burn more calories in less time.
Another thought to see where you're at would be to buy a heart rate monitor. That's a good way to see where your heart rate is when you're exercising. I recommend the polar F6 if that's of interest.
There has to be more to life than just exercising... it sounds like your new doctor is not being very realistic! (especially if he thinks that it would be okay for you to only eat 800 calories a day, which is ridiculous and just asking for binge-eating...) Who on earth has two hours a day to just walk on a treadmill?! Instead of adding yet more exercise time, increase the intensity if you need to raise your burn - walk faster, increase the incline on the treadmill, try jogging for short bursts etc.
heart: I agree with everyone that 800 calories is wayyyy to low. Your body needs/deserves proper nutrition. As for exercise, I was very successful with losing weight when I was on a balanced meal plan and walked 4.5 miles per day. To complete 4.5 miles every day, I broke up my walking into chucks. I walked a mile in the morning, another at lunch and then 2.5 miles after dinner. I also tried to walk as briskly as possible.
Once I got under 200 pounds and felt stronger, I started adding small periods of jogging to my walks. The main reason for the jogging was to help cut down the time it took to complete my daily routine. Each day I added more jogging until I was able to jog a mile without stopping. Eventually I transitioned from being a walker to a runner. I owe my maintenance success in part to running.
The main thing to keep in mind is that you need to be active every day for good health. Live can get busy and makes taking time for yourself hard. Even after a year, I still have to remind myself that taking time for exercising is one of the most important things I need to do for myself and family.
Good luck with your journey.
hey! First of all, congratulations on your weight loss so far!
I would agree with the other posters that you are eating way too little. Unfortunately a lot of the medical community is stuck in the "as long as you eat less calories you will lose" mind set and whilst this is true to a certain extent, it doesn't literally mean that the fewer cals you eat the more you will lose, especially if you want to be healthy and maintain your loss. Could you live on 800 - 1200 calories forever? You would certainly be pushed to get all the nutrients your body needs as the general accepted lowest for a woman (think short and slim!) is 1200 cals to get all the vitamins and minerals her body needs.
I am also 5'7 and started my weight loss journey at pretty much the same weight as you are now. I was eating around 1300/day and after a couple of months my weight loss stalled. I did some research (as well as speaking to the wonderful people on here!) and decided to up my cals (to 1500) as it seemed (gasp!) that I was eating too little. After an initial small weight gain (as my metabolism kicked back into gear) I lost the weight I had gained and more. I have continued to lose.
Try entering your statistics here: http://www.phord.com/cc/ (sorry don't know how to link - you'll need to copy and paste) to gain a calorie count which will be healthy for you and also a lot easier for you to follow.
Personally I'm all for 1200 but I would't START OUT with 1200. BAD IDEA. your body will adjust and you'll just have to go lower and lower. I have no idea what your overall goal is but I'm guessing like most people, once you start losing the weight you'll want to lose alot so its going to be awhile.
I would start off with safe 1400-1600 and zig zag my calories. What you do is you eat about the average of 1400 a day in a week but you switch it around so your body's confused... like go 1200 one day, go 1600 the next day and so on. I usually have a cheat day (well everyday's like my cheat day now adays.. fail) on friday or something and eat something with huge calories (in 1600-1800's)
Lose, not loose. D:
Mix it up by doing high-level cardio for a min or two, followed by pushups, then a min or two of cardio, followed by 10-20 abs; repeat 10-15 times for a 30-45 min workout, and you should see great results. Limit carbs later in the day (after 3pm-ish). The mixed workout will keep your body from getting used to the movement and you'll burn quickly. Limiting carbs that are digested quickly and turn into fat quickly later in the day helps prevent building fat later in the day as you slow down. Email if this doesn't make sense. My sis is a trainer - specialty: weight loss. It's really worked for me so far! Down 12 lbs since the first of September.
Thanks, this calculator is awesome!
I read somewhere that weight loss was 80% diet, 20% exercise. Maybe it was 70/30. In any case, for myself, this is true. I can lose weight with diet and no exercise, but not visa versa. In fact, at a certain threshold, I start to gain weight with exercise.
I have found that the best bet for me is to exercise 1 hour, 5 days a week. About half brisk walking and half Hatha Yoga. But the exercise is more for feeling good and clearing my mind. Stress management. I need to keep my calories to average about 1400 a day to lose.
I took everyone's advice and upped my calories. Ive been eating 1400 and have lost more weight! :) & feel better too!
great choice! I started at 1300... but after reading multiple posts here... I upped it to 1500. I started off excersizing and what not... but even with a deficit you lose weight, so Ive been slacking and still losing. when you stand still with losing you need to try new things or up your minutes. 2 hours is kinda extreme.... I wouldnt walk for 2 hours. I only walk for 30 minutes. but It all depends on how QUICK you want to lose. at 30 minutes for me.. loss is gradual.. I know if I busted my butt doing 2 hours I would lose faster.. but also blow-out sooner and then completely stop.
