Steps and walking

Lestratcaster

I've done well losing 2.5 stone from training in the gym again about 4 years ago now. I've since kept up my training regime 2/3 times a week but I think on my non-working out days I'm not burning enough calories which is causing my weight to slightly creep back up again.

So in attempt to combat this I'm starting to do 1 hour walks at least 3-4 days per week on the days I'm not training. This is about 6500/7000 steps according to some shitty phone app I used earlier. So its taking me 10 minutes to do 1000 steps approx which is just under 3 miles.

I'm aiming to train at my new gym (the one I was using shut last weekend) 3 times per week with a good mix of cardio/weights and resistance exercises. Hopefully supplemented with the hourly walks I should see some improvements.

Are there good apps I can use to measure my steps with no bullshit adds and email sign up prompt things? Should I be walking more than 7000 steps?

It's my cousin's wedding in about a month's time so I'm looking to try to drop half a stone so I can get into my suit!

GoFish

No point obsessing on the exact number. 7000 in a go is fine, perhaps aim for a bit more or a faster pace if weight loss is your goal?

My phone does it automatically, as least as accurately as a shit app. It's a Chinese spy balloon   Huawei. You can get knockoff fit bit type things quite inexpensively on other famed spyware sites. All I wanted was a pedometer like a used to have on my bicycle when I were a lad.

Walk at a moderate to fast pace for about an hour = 6000 to 8000 steps = about 6 to 7km = 3 miles. As you'll know from gym, regularity is more important than exact effort.

....

I could do with losing 2.5 stone...

Lestratcaster

I walk quite fast already (sometimes have to run a bit when crossing roads and cars are coming). So maybe I need to do 10,000 lol.

I usually run 3k in about 20 minutes at least once per week in the gym so that'll help.

I think cos of the weights I've been doing I've kinda got bulky and I don't want to be, just slim and lean really.

paulcaye

I walk between 16,000-24,000 steps a day and don’t loose weight.  This is because I eat like a dickhead.  But when I take more interest in my calories the weight drops off really quickly.   

So my advice would be to ensure you keep the calories under tight control along with increased activity and the weight should shift. 

We all know that the tech when counting steps is not brilliantly accurate, but if you are increasing activity I would expect to see an uptick in the number of steps etc. 

Lestratcaster

24k steps?! Where the hell are you walking lol. I should be able to try to get to 10,000 then if I walk a bit quicker. 

My diet is pretty good though to be fair, lean white meats, wholemeal carbs and lots of fruits/vegetables. Snacking on low sugar protein bars and cashew nuts most of the time. No fizzy drinks or processed foods, well not very often anyway. Usually I drink water or herbal teas (green/peppermint/camomile etc).

I've only just started doing this so it will take a few weeks to see any results. 

Snags

You might want to check your numbers on the OP - you have very long legs if 1,000 steps =3 miles

I speak from a theoretical position only, but my understanding is gym to build strength, calorie deficit to lose weight. On your non-gym days it might just be easier to eat a bit less, or look at your calorie intake on a per week rather than per day basis etc. 

McSwaggerty

Weight control is 75% diet and 25% exercise, so stop eating crap and go for a walk.

stufisher

If you are basing your target weight loss on available time, rather than distance then you could wear a rucksack with something heavy in it and just walk your normal route but adjust the weight you carry and/or the speed you walk.

Actually, you can very easily do 'intervals' in the above too ... in an hour you could do say, 10 mins normal speed - 5 mins brisk and repeat that 3 times.

You can load the rucksack with heavy books or a few bricks or large stones or weights if you have them.

Weight loss is easier to achieve if you don't set a target for it but instead, focus on the mechanism/process to achieve it. Eat less and exercise more (better) and you WILL shed pounds.

guitars4you

My yearly figure shows just under 15k a day - that is 15,000 steps - Walk more in the summer, with longer nights - Probably 10K of those steps, at least, is with the dog - But never knew how far 15,000 steps a day is 

snowblind

Cut out the carbs altogether. Your body mostly runs on fats and protein. Carbs are an evolutionary luxury to some extent although we're designed to eat pretty much anything. Any you do eat should be unprocessed ie fresh fruit, cooked root veg and so on. Avoid anything processed if you can. Takes some of the fun out of eating so just decide where the priorities lie and draw the line accordingly.

Make sure you are getting enough sleep. Sleep deprivation is a sure way to put on weight.

Also bear in mind that as you get older the way you build muscle and therefore the way you use protein will change so you need less of it. Easy on the cashews.

And use the Les Paul more. If it is anything like mine you can make it part of your strength workout.

TTony

guitars4you said:

My yearly figure shows just under 15k a day - that is 15,000 steps - Walk more in the summer, with longer nights - Probably 10K of those steps, at least, is with the dog - But never knew how far 15,000 steps a day is 

I've always worked on the rule-of-thumb that 10k steps = 5 miles, so 1 mile = ~2k steps.  

That'll vary a little depending on how long your legs / steps are, but not massively.  

Similarly, a brisk walk = 4mph, so in an hour of fast, non-stopping, walking you should do about 8k steps.  

elstoof

10 minutes to walk 3 miles isn’t right, that’s just under 5k which is a 20 minute trip for a decent club runner 

UnclePsychosis

I walk a lot (average >2 miles a day, and that's just going about life - I don't do hillwalking or anything).

I find it has tremendous benefits to my mental health and general fitness but it definitely doesn't shed the pounds very effectively. 

Iamnobody

snowblind said:

Cut out the carbs altogether. Your body mostly runs on fats and protein. Carbs are an evolutionary luxury to some extent although we're designed to eat pretty much anything. Any you do eat should be unprocessed ie fresh fruit, cooked root veg and so on. Avoid anything processed if you can. Takes some of the fun out of eating so just decide where the priorities lie and draw the line accordingly.

Make sure you are getting enough sleep. Sleep deprivation is a sure way to put on weight.

Also bear in mind that as you get older the way you build muscle and therefore the way you use protein will change so you need less of it. Easy on the cashews.

And use the Les Paul more. If it is anything like mine you can make it part of your strength workout.

Whilst I agree with a lot of what you’ve written I don’t think cutting out carbs altogether is good advice. Not all carbs are equal, there’s probably a better argument for a low carb diet. 

Also I’d query your advice on protein  - need less based on what starting point?

There’s a school of thought that most people don’t eat enough - so I’d caution a statement like need less. As we age we lose muscle mass and getting enough protein is very important for maintenance of both muscle and bone, ideally from high quality sources if possible. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4208946/

TimmyO

"You can't outrun (or outwalk) your dessert fork"

...is something I could do well to remember 

strtdv

Get an inexpensive fitness tracker, they'll have heart rate monitoring which is probably more useful than measuring the steps you're taking is.

TBH if you're going to the gym 3x/week and putting on weight it's probably the diet you need to look at. When I was cycling in bigger way (~100 miles/week split over 3 days usually) I could eat pretty much anything and wouldn't put on weight. 
The other thing worth looking at is using a HR monitor and targeting the exercise you're doing to your fat burning zone (about 75% of your maximum HR), particularly exercising in a fasted state is good. Again, when I was cycling at least 50 of those miles would have been in a fat burning zone.

cm01

Walking in a fasted state, early morning works for me if I want to drop weight / fat.

Open_G

I tend to try and hit the randomly magic 10k steps every day. My general mooching around at work/home covers 5k. I do a mile there and a mile back through my village most days when I do no other exercise. It’s just over 5k steps for me. Can’t say it helps shift much weight but certainly stops it sneaking on so quickly. I am a big fan of my Fitbit. It helps keep me from leaving my arse on the sofa and there’s a few features on the app. 

Jaycee

Well done on the weight loss, I would tweak the diet a little, smaller portions, water instead of a snack and wear a backpack with 4 litres of water in it just for the added weight .

stufisher

This might be of interest to folks ... if nothing else it gives some useful numbers and background on various interrelationships and interdependences

https://buildyourbody.org/fat-burning-mode/#what_is_fat_burning_

Lestratcaster

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Sorry I think I mistyped my original post, I meant 1000 steps per minutes, 6000 for 60 minutes which equals around 3 miles after an hour's walking, not 10 minutes lol.

I don't think my diet is that bad to be fair, cutting down on carbs would be helpful but not ditching them completely as I need some energy to work out! I've tried measuring about half a plate's full of carbs (sometimes less) as a rough guide. 

Walking with a weighted rucksack is definitely a good idea, or try to carry some heavy gear lol.

It's the choice of either eating less or burning m ore calories, as I like my food I will go for the latter haha.

I don't think I'm putting on that much weight, less than half a stone, its more to maintain where I'm at now and make sure I don't slip up. Anyone who's seen me in the past year or so has complimented me on my weight loss, I don't think I'm fat by any means. Could be muscle to be fair that showing me as weighing slightly more.

Had my first workout in my new my gym earlier that I joined, was good, built up a sweat.