Weight loss from just walking 5 miles a day?

[pam46]

I walk to Leslie S. dvd 5 to 6 days a week 3 of them I do the 5 miles. I also go to the bike path and walk 5 miles. If I were to do this 3 days a week. Would I see results ???

[SteveH · Accepted solution]

Any exercise helps but it is not the whole answer. You'll only really see results if you burn more calories than you eat. So, exercise is good, but it depends how much you are eating.

[Maxit · Accepted solution]

You will certainly see results:  better cardiovascular fitness, more muscle tone in your legs, improved mood.  Whether or not you see a weight loss depends on what you are doing nutritionally.

[Heybales · Accepted solution]

To go along with the others think of it this way.

You must merely eat less than you burn to lose weight, hopefully a reasonable amount to keep it sustainable.

When you exercise you burn more daily, therefore you get to eat more daily, but still less than you burn.

With exercise it may be eating enough you'll adhere to it, compared to no exercise your daily goal could be so small you'd binge and cheat and basically not adhere well.

The exercise is going to help what the body looks like after the fat is gone, if you can keep a reasonable deficit to lose only fat that is.

Sadly walking is NOT going to help retain muscle mass in the face of a diet. You need resistance training too, strength training of some sort.

[SunsetRunner]

Yep, u should see results.. but honestly, its a numbers game. If u want to loss weight, u need to burn or not take in 3000 calories for every lbs u want to lose

[Heybales]

---

@SunsetRunner wrote:
Yep, u should see results.. but honestly, its a numbers game. If u want to loss weight, u need to burn or not take in 3000 calories for every lbs u want to lose

---

Well, actually, it's 3500 calories in a lb of fat.

As to what you are actually losing to know if that math applies correctly, big changes either direction fast include water weight, can't be all fat.

Long steady loss bigger than expected on an extreme deficit means it includes muscle mass, and it only provides 600 calories per lb. Easier to lose lb of muscle that lb of fat actually.

But it is indeed a numbers game. Hopefully reasonable numbers so it's just fat.

[WWDebbb]

5 miles a day is a great way to exercise and continue for the rest of your life. If you are not doing something you can do forever (provided your health holds up) then it is a lot of work for a moments glory. Losing weight requires the entire package. For tips on your diet,  I recommend Weight Watchers, but don't use the "d" word (diet) as they call it "a way of life" and it is a  reasonable way to eat for life. It is about making choices, you can have some foods in exchange for others, but not both at the same time. For example, if you want cake, you can have it, a very small piece,  but then dont drink a glass a wine that day. I dont think you will lose weight by exercise alone, unless you are under 30. Even then, it depends on your metabolism.