One or two longer walks, or three or four shorter ones?

[CraigM]

What would be better for weight loss:  two medium speed walks of 10,000 steps, or something like four walks of 5,000 steps spread out over the entire day?

It "seems to me" more, but shorter walks may be better just because it would get me off the sofa more often.  

I'm a obese 69 year old that currently weighs 276 pounds, down from 320 a year ago.  I am limiting my carbs, but try to eat 5-6 times a day.  Between the three meals I might eat things like a small handful of nuts, < cup of cottage cheese, celery stick with peanut butter, small piece of cheese, etc.

Craig

[Dominique]

I don't think it matters much, whatever suits you best. If walking at the same speed, you will be burning the same amount of calories doing 1 x 20k, 2 x 10k or 4 x 5k. Of course, you may be able to walk faster during shorter walks.

[Adamina]

I do one big walk (1 hour) and then a few short power walks, I think it's easier to break it up. Use to try and get 10000 in one go, too tiring both physically and mentally. Either way, whatever you feel comfortable breaking up is fine 🙂

[LewWagner]

Craig,

How many mph or kph is "medium speed?"

I walk now about 6-10 miles a day, getting in anwhere from 42 to 48 miles a week.  I usually do a morning walk around a mall (2.5-3.5 miles, then a lunch walk (same distance) around the mall, followed by a 3.10 mile walk around my neighborhood and community lake path after dinner.

My walking speed at the mall while on treadmill mode (as gps doesn't work inside the mall) is around 3.2 mph.  My avg walking speed in the neighborhood is around 3.4 mph over the past 4 months.

My steps per day are usually over 15,000 and my weekly goal is to get in at least 105,000.  I often exceed that goal.

Don't know if breaking up the walks into "mini" walks makes a difference other than to insure you're always moving and exercising.  I do try to walk around in the evening in the house during TV commercials as well as fold in some pushups, situps, and 20 lb hand weights (2 of them) calisthenics.

It's worked for me.  Type II Diabetic, 58 years old, 5'8", weighed 300 in Nov 2013, and now down to 167.75 lbs. 

Keep at it.  And kudos on your efforts to lose weight.

Lew

[Colinm39]

---

@LewWagner wrote:

Craig,

How many mph or kph is "medium speed?"

I walk now about 6-10 miles a day, getting in anwhere from 42 to 48 miles a week.  I usually do a morning walk around a mall (2.5-3.5 miles, then a lunch walk (same distance) around the mall, followed by a 3.10 mile walk around my neighborhood and community lake path after dinner.

My walking speed at the mall while on treadmill mode (as gps doesn't work inside the mall) is around 3.2 mph.  My avg walking speed in the neighborhood is around 3.4 mph over the past 4 months.

My steps per day are usually over 15,000 and my weekly goal is to get in at least 105,000.  I often exceed that goal.

Don't know if breaking up the walks into "mini" walks makes a difference other than to insure you're always moving and exercising.  I do try to walk around in the evening in the house during TV commercials as well as fold in some pushups, situps, and 20 lb hand weights (2 of them) calisthenics.

It's worked for me.  Type II Diabetic, 58 years old, 5'8", weighed 300 in Nov 2013, and now down to 167.75 lbs. 

Keep at it.  And kudos on your efforts to lose weight.

Lew

---

@LewWagnerWell done on you journey, an amazing weight loss. I use the same, an early walk of 4000-5000 steps, accumulate during the day and then another 3000 steps at night.

But here is the definition of your walking speeds as listed in Fitbit and this link from CDC is the background.

                                            

[SunsetRunner · Accepted solution]

I went to a workshop on this a while back at the University where I work.  Their finding was that shorter, but more frequent had more impact than longer but less frequent (holding the mileage/steps to the same regardless of which strategy was followed).  I don't recall all the details but in general moving more frequently throughout the day keeps your metabolism at a somewhat higher level than fewer but longer walks.  It also helps if you are walking "with a purpose" i.e., not taking a lot of breaks to chat with whoever you happen to see along the way or are walking a dog and stopping at every other tree.  On the other hand, my thinking is it is better to do whatever works for you.  If that is a couple of longer walks per day and you'll actually take them that is way better than "hoping/planning" to take several short walks that just never seem to happen.

[SunsetRunner]

Craig - are you accurately tracking the food you eat, i.e., weighing/measuring and not guessing?  If you don't own one (or don't use the one you do own) a digital food scale is a highly useful tool and relatively inexpensive. 

I use MyFitnessPal (have used Weight Watchers in the past) and feel that these types of web sites are a real help.  I also found it very easy to underestimate what a serving size was when I don't weigh or measure what a typical serving size for me was.  For instance a serving size of nuts is 1 ounce and that has 170 calories and 16 grams of fat; peanut butter is 2 Tbs per serving and has 190 calories and 16 grams of fat; one ounce of cheddar cheese is 114 calories and 9 grams of fat.  Any one of these may not be too much, but having two or more per day will add up quickly.  I have found that if I keep some fresh vegetables cut and washed and ready (or some fresh fruit) I am happy grabbing those along with some low fat dressing for a dip and I will snack on that instead of whatever is handy but may be much higher in calories and lower in nutrition.  I also found that what I thought was a serving size was different when I measured it than I had thought.  For instance a serving size of granola barely covers the bottom of a small bowl.  A "serving" of gin to me is 3-4 ounces not 1 1/2 so my gin gimlet is about 350-400 calories. I now save this for a Friday or Saturday splurge not an every evening treat.  I've found that red wine, at about 70 calories, is as good as the gin most days.

[CraigM]

Lynn,
Thanks for the comments. I've used my food scale in the past when I was on WeightWatchers. WeightWatchers worked well, going from 320 down 290. I switched to another style diet last year (limited carb) and have been more watching the type of food than the actual weight.

I'm doing OK on my current diet and extra walking. Received my weekly Fitbit report and my weekly steps totaled 168,000 and a 2.4 pound loss.

We also eat a LOT of raw vegetables! My go to snack had been a celery stalk with a smear of peanut butter.

Slightly off topic, but I use my food scale for my dog's meals! Annie has been diabetic for nearly 7 years and gets a measured 1.9 ounces of her kibble. Measuring cups just didn't seem to be repeatable enough to keep her blood glucose in a good range. She seldom gets anything between her two meals, but her main treat is a frozen green bean straight from the freezer!

Craig

[SunsetRunner]

Craig - one of our cats is diabetic but we don't bother trying to limit his diet.  With two cats they go back and forth between dishes and the diabetic one is a picky eater and may take 30-45 minutes to finish a meal.  We just monitor his glucose level every so often and give him insulan shots twice a day based on our best guess as to how much he ate.  Seems to work OK with him and is doable for us.

Your weekly steps total is outstanding!  I try to get about 90K per week but slacked off when the temps and humidity soared locally and when I was out of town for a while and got off track.  Trying to get back on a schedule now that the weather is cooperating again.  The gym is always an option but after getting home, seeing what's up, eating, feeding the animals, walking the dog...getting ready and going to the gym at 8:00 or later does not seem like a lot of fun.  Perhaps when I retire in 4-5 months I will set my schedule to go mid-morning/mid-afternoon when I can't do something outside.

I tried the low carb/high fat approach earlier this year.  It worked pretty well and a blood test I did after being on it for 4 months was great.  However it was not something that I thought I could do for the next 30 or so years so I've been trying another approache.  Mainly "Eat real food, not too much, mostly plants" as advocated by Michael Pollan and more importantly by Dr. David Katz and Dr. Joel Fuhrman.  Weight loss has slowed but I have not gained anything back and this is doable for me for a longer term.

I assume you have done a lot of reading about what a healthy approach is but if you want something else to read try The Annual Review of Public Health and search for "Katz"  His research study "Can we say what diet is best for health?" is available as a free download.  I am in the process of reading it but in summary it makes the case for a diet of minimally processed foods close to nature, predominantly plants as being one that is best for health promotion and disease prevention.

[CraigM]

Sorry about your cat.  I understand cats usually are like type-2 humans, whereas dogs are more like type-1 diabetics.  I blood test annie at least twice a day before her meals, and sometimes do an all day "curve" testing every 2 hours to see the full range of glucose.  I'm sure there a big difference between cats and dogs, but just a little difference in her meals would make a big difference in her readings.

I just finished my second walk of the day and have just over 10,000 steps so far.  Will have to go out another two times to get my goal of 20K for the day.  Being retired, don't have anything better to do, and this keeps out of the wife's way for a while 🙂   Yea, I tried the gym a year ago, but that only lasted a month!

We are both trying to follow The Metabolism Miracle diet.

Craig