Ditch the car and walk to work

[Jonpitt]

Since February this year I've decided to look after myself more. I wanted to find a way to get more active and do something I could easily do.

A friend told me they walk to work. It's 5.4 mile to work and same back.

I began by doing half of that and now do the full trip on foot.

I was 17 stone 2lb when I began. Today I weighed myself at Boots and I am 15 stone 2lb.

In addition to this I started doing sit ups and push ups each morning and night. As daft as it sounds I started at 1 sit up and 1 push up and add an extra 1 to both each week. I'm now up to 16 of each twice a day and my arms are getting bigger, so is my chest, (almost lost my man boobs now) and my stomach is getting flatter.

These aren't the only benefits. I'm saving about £60 per month in fuel.

I also find after a stressful day at work, the walk home let's me clear my head.

At first the temptation to just jump in the car was fairly strong. It would take me about 45 mins to get to work each morning in traffic and about an hour to get home. Walking there and back takes me just over 2 hours a day. So for the price of about 20 minutes lost time by walking, I'm fitter and better off financially and emotionally so I'd say that's a bargain.

I am finding I'm not losing weight as quickly as I did at first and I'm not sure why that is. I can still grab an inch so there's still plenty to lose but I manage to lose maybe one or two pound a week if I'm lucky.

I tried to compensate the slow weight loss by eating only 1,000 calories a day, but that made me feel ill so I've gone back to 2,000 calories a day.

All in all its a win win and I find it so easy to fit into my day now. The walk to work and back is getting slightly quicker each week on average but the weight loss isn't as fast as it once was.

Anyway, if you find you sit in traffic why not ditch the car and walk to work or park up half way to work and walk.

I now cycle of an evening with my son for about 30 mins 3 or 4 times a week, we swim on Sundays and when he plays hockey Saturday mornings I walk round and round the hockey field till its time to go home.

I do feel hungry pretty much all the time now and after a cycle a little light headed. Someone told me to increase the calories I take in and I guess I might have to, though that seems to be defeating the object.

I'm going to swap walking for cycling to work when the weather breaks, would have done sooner but umbrellas and bikes don't go well together lol.

Anyway, if anyone knows why weight loss might slow down, even though there's plenty there to lose still, please let me know.

I use the same scales at Boots and now wear shorts and a Tshirt when I weigh myself each week. I'd go down to my birthday suit but i don't think Boots customers are ready for that sight yet....lol

Thanks for reading and any tips on how to maintain a steady weight loss each week, please let me know.

[runswithdogs]

Well done on your walks. It sounds like walking for your commute to work is positive in many aspects.

I can't comment on the weight loss front, but I can comment on the lightheadedness. I suffer from low blood sugar, and when I was running had some scary times with feeling faint. To combat this on my longer runs I'd bring some dilute sports drink, or a diluted oral rehydration therapy from WHO (I believe the recipe is on Wikipedia - it's just sugar, salt and water). It helps immensely. You could probably figure out the calories and make it work for you. I also eat a little before exercise. I know some people can't because it wrecks their guts. But if you can manage a banana or something similar it might help.

Happy walking

[Jonpitt in reply to runswithdogs]

Thank you. I'll have a look at that and eating a little something sounds like a good idea

[HubbysMissMouse]

Hi Jonpitt my weightloss has slowed after I lost my first stone but if you mean after the first couple of weeks it does slow down anyway as most people can lose any high amount in there first couple of weeks but then it tends to go down to one or two pounds for almost everybody. Also you could be creating muscles which would also weigh more anyway.

[Jonpitt in reply to HubbysMissMouse]

Hi, thank you. Never looked at muscle weighing more than fat, but just googled it and it does. I think your right as I'm replacing fat for muscle after a while.

[Fran182716]

Losing one to two pounds a week after initial higher losses is a normal and safe amount to lose, it isn't slow. If you eat too few calories to fuel the amount of walking you do as well as calories your body uses just to keep alive (your basal metabolic rate or BMR) your body will start to break down lean muscle to use as fuel which I imagine is the last thing you'd want. Ideally you want to aim for a deficit around 500 cals a day below what you use including exercise (your total daily energy expenditure or TDEE )which will give you enough nutrition to fuel your body but still lose steadily.

If you head on over to the weight loss forum there's a helpful chap called Mr Nice Guy who can explain all this better with the correct maths!

You can also enter your stats into the NHS BMI calculator online and it will give you a calorie range to eat which will allow you to lose weight safely without too much loss of muscle tissue.

Great job on the walking to work though, I would do that sometimes if I didn't need my car to do my job

[Jonpitt in reply to Fran182716]

Thank you. Definitely don't want to burn muscle as I'm only just starting to get some lol. I think that's what it was and reducing my calorie intake to 1,000 now looks like a daft thing to do. I'll have a look at the NHS calculator. It's just a case of being sensible and I'd imagine having more to lose to begin with makes sense about losing less the more time passes. Thanks again that's really helpful.

[Fran182716 in reply to Jonpitt]

Don't worry Jon, many of us have tried daft diets at some point, I've still got over a stone and a half to go and it's hard not to wish it away quicker, but from seeing successful folks on the weight loss forum they've all achieved their losses by the safe steady route so I'm following their example. Also though I don't do as much exercise as you I have definitely noticed a difference to my energy levels if I go much under 1500 cals and that's me as a very short 52 yr old female. Good luck 😀