Can you lose weight walking?

How intensely and how long do you need to walk to lose weight? It was reported in the 2003 September issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association that fast, slow, long duration or short duration walking all lead to weight loss. This study investigated 200 women in a weight control program who were normally sedentary. They were assigned to one of four walking groups using a motorized treadmill for 5 days a week:
1. moderate intensity
2. vigorous intensity
3. moderate duration
4. high duration
The exercise was designed to burn either 1000 or 2000 calories a week for 12 months.
Women in all groups lost 8-12 percent of their starting weight after 12 months and there were no significant differences among the four groups. However, the women who walked at least 40 minutes a day lost more weight than those who walked less than 30 minutes daily. But, the women who walked the least maintained a six percent weight loss.

Walking reduces waistline(without reducing body weight overall)

Do you want to reduce your waistline or reduce your tummy fat, but you are not sure which is the best exercise? A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association vol 289, p 323, 2003 (Irwi M et al) showed that brisk walking or riding a stationary bike for about 3 hours per week for a year (without going on a diet) resulted in a loss of almost 7% of intra-abdominal fat even though total body weight did not change much. 173 sedentary overweight menopausal women took part in this US study aged between 50 and 75. Abdominal body fat is associated with diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and heart disease. Try walking for at least 30 minutes daily.

Other articles on walking click here

Walking is good medicine

A new study on 2896 adults with diabetes published by The Archives of Internal Medicine (Gregg et al, 2003;163:1440-1447) reported that people who walked at least 2 hours a week had a 39% lower risk of death from any cause and a 34% lower risk of heart related death than those who didn't walk at all. People in the study who walked at least 3 hours a week reduced their risk of death by more than 50%. The benefits of moderate walking appear to be even greater than current diabetes treatments. The protective
association of physical activity was observed for persons of varying sex, age, race, body mass index, diabetes duration, comorbid conditions, and physical limitations.

Last Updated: August 2003