Does walking tone muscles? What muscles does it tone? Can walking be used to solely lose weight along with strength training?

--Sara

Hey SaraD.
I had to dig back a little, but here is a thread that will hopefully answer some of your questions.
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=119842

Yes and yes.

Walking is excellent exercise, but be sure to work up a sweat. Otherwise you're just taking a leisurely stroll which won't help you as much. Strength training is also great exercise and will help you to maintain bone density as well as strengthen and tone your muscles.

Yup! I know for sure it can help someone just like me to lose ... oh about 40 lbs. And even very casual weight training can make you pretty small and lean for your weight.

All of my weight loss is from walking - at first just around my neighborhood - and then as of the end of January I do the treadmill everyday. My lower legs are rock hard - not sure about the top half since with so much weightloss my thighs are just too loose. My butt is non-existant (not sure if it was big or not but it is hard).

Walking is the best exercise as far as I'm concerned - and most doctors will tell you this is a great way to start.

My wife walks a lot ~ she is not overweight ~ she has GREAT legs!

I think walking works!

I've been walking average 40-60 min for 2 months now and love it! My legs are definetly getting leaner and more defined. Better yet, walking is easy to manage (no special equipment etc.) just go to a track, park etc. and you're set. Hey you can even just step right out your door and just start going!

Hi there! I think walking is great. It definitely tones your legs and back side. As for the rest of the body (abs, arms), I think strength training is key. It doesn't take much time and you only need to work them a couple of times a week, but you can starting seeing the difference in just a few weeks. Good luck!

I walk 2 miles a day, not as fast as I would like, but I am seeing a difference in my legs after a month. So I agree, walking does tone our legs.

This is probably a terrible example, but I know there was some reality TV show where they just had the contestants walk... and walk... and walk. For miles and miles. It was eventually deemed unhealthy because they didn't ease the contestants into it, and it didn't end up airing because of that. However, it's an example of walking to lose weight. I think it was called "Fat March" if you want to Google it.

They did air Fat March on ABC. (We watched it against the DH protests) The contestants walked about 584 miles in about 8 weeks, IIRC. You are right they didn't ease them into it hardly at all. Within a week they were walking like 11-13 miles a day or something like that. But all they did was walk, walk, walk, and they did loose a lot of weight.

http://abc.go.com/primetime/fatmarch/index?pn=index

Thanks for the correction zinke