How far to walk each day?

ceridwen

I'm now "of a certain age" and catch myself out making excuses to myself sometimes not to walk distances that I did without thinking about when younger IYSWIM.

Fortunately - GoogleMaps has a feature whereby one can input starting point and destination and work out the exact distance it is to walk - so I can just input the walks I did as a teenager and think "I know I can/should do those distances" and can't tell myself that those walks are too long - I know they're not because I've done equivalent ones before regularly in the past.

I'm not going to let myself turn lazy - I don't want to be the size of a house to start with - so must keep up the exercise levels:rotfl:

What sort of distance do other people think its reasonable for a fit young woman in her teens/20s to walk daily?

I know it's reasonable to expect myself to walk up to 2 miles to get somewhere and that same distance back without even thinking about it...but how much further than that is reasonable for a standard daily walking distance? 3 miles there and 3 back again....4 miles there and 4 back again....

What do others think is a regular "walking distance" for a young, fit person to do without undue strain?

Gers

Have a look at http://walkit.com/ - the menu on the left hand side has various options, the 'health' one may be of some help.

I love walking, only problem with that site is that I have no idea what direction 'south' or the other three actually are, would prefer 'left' and 'right' - may have to invest in a compass!

ceridwen

Thanks. Will check that out.

I've just been calculating some distances for walks I did regularly as a daily thing when I was younger.

Parents home to school and back again and then going to a part-time job of an evening = 5.4 miles

A previous home of mine to a place I went to many days - twice - there and back again = 6.8 miles

So - I should be good to go for 7 miles a day regularly. I know I wasn't quite able to finish a Charity Walk I did as a teenager one time - I think I just about made it to 12 miles before I had to give up.

So - I've got some parameters to go on - to give me some sort of idea as to what I should be expecting myself to do - and less than that its a case of "Ceridwen - stop being so darn lazy and get off your butt...:rotfl:".

EDIT: Just had a quick look at that website. Its not got my area on yet - so still waiting for that to be added - but I can use GoogleMaps for everything at the moment till they do. I shall go back and have another look at the calories burnt - 500 calories burnt per 6 miles walked (that would explain why I lost weight without trying during a period of my life where I walked 7-10 miles most days - I would have been burning 3,000 - 3,500 calories a week just from that bit of walking I estimate). So far - it looks like I am looking for a range of places 4 miles from my home that I need or want to walk to and a walk like that each day should soon have me pretty fit - and slim.

ceridwen

Perfect - I've just checked GoogleMaps for one destination I thought might be about that 4 miles distance away (a winebar I used to frequent years ago) and its 3.8 miles away - a walk of 1 hour 14 minutes.

Thats one target to aim for then - and I won't be tempted to go into the Wine Bar as a reward at the end of it - as it's gone downhill since I used to go there:):(:) - and its on a bus route if I "flag a bit" to start with.

Queen_of_NO_MATTER_WHAT

instead of distance why don't you set a time to walk each day and slowly increase it, maybe starting with 10 mins each day for a week, then 20 mins, 30 mins, 45 mins. Stating small and working up makes it a bit more manageable, I often go into things gung ho and give up so this approach works for me hth

sweetserendipity

I agree with QofNMW & you could maybe invest in a pedometer - you're supposed to walk 10,000 steps a day for fitness.

jenniewb

The government suggest 30 mins of exercise per day every day. But on the other hand say you should walk 10000 steps a day every day. Confusing as they are two different things.

I tried walking 10000 steps just to see how long it would take me. 1hour and 15 mins (and I walk very quickly, like 6.5km per hour quickly according to the treadmill) I would say that 30 mins walking is the bare minimum and an hour is optimal but if you can, find some group exercises to join in with, its much easier to do without feeling its a chore.

Made me laugh when you first said "of a certain age where you make "excuses to myself sometimes not to walk distances that I did without thinking about when younger"...I thought you were quite elderly or middle aged and worried about the decline of your health- you then went on to ask for advice for late teens/early 20s. Your still in the same age group- your still young! Lol!

Look, its normal to notice your exercise level decline as you age, for a start most of your body has stopped growing and doesn't require you to bounce around to such an extent. I'm not saying don't exercise- far from it, you do need to keep healthy, but you will naturally reduce your exercise level as you age simply because there is not the time and not always the energy. Your focusing on other things and thats fine- it doesn't mean you will turn into a house just because you decided to not walk X miles every day. Whats more important: to die skinny/slim (not the size of a house) or to have a life well lived? make sure your experiencing things and living your life as you only live once.

Everything in moderation, walking too.

Eric_Pisch

jenniewb wrote: »

The government suggest 30 mins of exercise per day every day. But on the other hand say you should walk 10000 steps a day every day. Confusing as they are two different things.

I believe these are two separate things, 10000 steps is a guide to general mobility, the 30 min exercise is meant to be at a cardio type level where you are breathing deeply but still able to talk

ceridwen

jenniewb wrote: »

The government suggest 30 mins of exercise per day every day. But on the other hand say you should walk 10000 steps a day every day. Confusing as they are two different things.

I tried walking 10000 steps just to see how long it would take me. 1hour and 15 mins (and I walk very quickly, like 6.5km per hour quickly according to the treadmill) I would say that 30 mins walking is the bare minimum and an hour is optimal but if you can, find some group exercises to join in with, its much easier to do without feeling its a chore.

Made me laugh when you first said "of a certain age where you make "excuses to myself sometimes not to walk distances that I did without thinking about when younger"...I thought you were quite elderly or middle aged and worried about the decline of your health- you then went on to ask for advice for late teens/early 20s. Your still in the same age group- your still young! Lol!

Look, its normal to notice your exercise level decline as you age, for a start most of your body has stopped growing and doesn't require you to bounce around to such an extent. I'm not saying don't exercise- far from it, you do need to keep healthy, but you will naturally reduce your exercise level as you age simply because there is not the time and not always the energy. Your focusing on other things and thats fine- it doesn't mean you will turn into a house just because you decided to not walk X miles every day. Whats more important: to die skinny/slim (not the size of a house) or to have a life well lived? make sure your experiencing things and living your life as you only live once.

Everything in moderation, walking too.

Oh - I am a "certain age" - its just that I "set my standards" by a younger age group as to what I expect of myself:)

1 hr 15 mins for you to walk 10,000 steps - I'm wondering how your "very fast" walking compares to my walking speed. According to Googlemaps thingie - that would mean 10,000 steps is about 3.8 miles - so allow a bit of leeway for you being a bit faster walker than me - I'm guessing the 10,000 steps guideline is about 4 miles. I certainly find the idea of 10,000 steps very confusing and one would need a pedometer to work that out - whereas a specific distance can be assessed a lot more easily - so I would prefer the Govt to state a distance rather than a number of steps. I would think that would work better for a lot of people.

Sequeena

I'm 21 and walk around 6 miles or more a day with my dogs

jenniewb

ceridwen wrote: »

Oh - I am a "certain age" - its just that I "set my standards" by a younger age group as to what I expect of myself:)

1 hr 15 mins for you to walk 10,000 steps - I'm wondering how your "very fast" walking compares to my walking speed. According to Googlemaps thingie - that would mean 10,000 steps is about 3.8 miles - so allow a bit of leeway for you being a bit faster walker than me - I'm guessing the 10,000 steps guideline is about 4 miles. I certainly find the idea of 10,000 steps very confusing and one would need a pedometer to work that out - whereas a specific distance can be assessed a lot more easily - so I would prefer the Govt to state a distance rather than a number of steps. I would think that would work better for a lot of people.

Well I tend to walk to the beat of the music I listen to. I go to the gym, walk on the treadmill (fast) to warm up, gradient 3% and manage 6.5km/h easily.

I then decided to see how fat 10000 steps would take me and took a pedometer out with me (was only a trashy cheap one so could easily have been incorrect- had no GPS or anything.) It took me 1hr 15mins to get it to turn to 10000 steps. I did it all in one go and managed almost half a London bus route (53 bus). I am assuming I walked around 6.5km an hour but could have been less.- Think the most amazing thing was I only got stopped at one traffic light!:T

I don't think there could be a government distance suggestion as people walk with different strides and with different speeds- no one I know walks as fast as I do (very frustrating trust me!) and I also walk with big wide strides. I think its part and parcle of doing most of my exercise at the gym where normal walking is harder to measure with a beat pumping and several people around me sprinting, makes my walking feel sloooow but in actual fact in real life its much faster then my friends walk.

Don't get too het up on distances, the most important thing is to find something you enjoy and can do every day, if possible with friends or walking a dog. Saying "I must walk x miles a day" is a pushing at obsessive and trust me, this will do you no favors. Learn to enjoy what you do and when your no longer enjoying it, its when you need to switch and find something better.

Whatever form of exercise you do, your body will become used to it after a very short while (a few weeks or months) meaning you need to change or add more to it. Miles really are insignificant when you consider actual fitness and health as both require variety rather then obsessivly trying to keep to a goal. Especially when there are little grounds for that goal- how I walk is very likely to be different to how you walk.