Hello, I am brand new to this site! It looks like a lot of fun!

Well, I am an American, but I am spending four months in China as an English teacher! It is super fun, but the five or so pounds I have gained this last month weren't suppposed to be included on the agenda! There are no gyms or fancy equipment here, but the school I am at DOES have a track. It is just dirt, but it works. So, my plan is to walk at a brisk pace for one hour a day, five days a week while eating 12-1300 cals a day. I walk five miles in one hour. Is this regimen doomed to fail? Can just walking make a difference in a month? Help!

Thanks!!

Miss Fair (as my students know me)

I'm sure adding an extra hour of brisk walking will help with weight loss. But how much are you eating now that you think you need to eat only 1200-1300 calories to lose the pound a week you want? That sounds pretty low to me. You only need to create a 500 calorie deficit between more exercise and less food to lose one lb per week.

Sounds good to me. Except I think you might be eating a little less than what you need. I don't think you're supposed to take your calories under 1300, but if you stay right at it you should be fine!

One way or the other, I think your plan sounds great!

Anything MORE than you were doing before is better than nothing... You'll have to experiment with your calorie intake to see what works for YOU...Walking for an hour is perfect you could even walk a minute, jog a minute for more calorie burning effect...after a while bring up the jog/run up to 2 minutes or more along with walking 1 minute... Jogging for me, and many people I know, burned the fat really quickly and leaned the legs and butt out really nicely... If you can get some weight training incorporated in your regime that would help the calorie burning too...

good morning,
newbie here, but this sound like wonderful thread,need encourgment to do exercise.
we are on a bowling league but hard to count your activity point on that ,but we do have treadmill and my hubby is fixing it at the present time,so when we get it fixed i want to start on it. it shouldnt be too much longer.maybe have to work up to an hr but it shouldnt take all that longto do and of course that walking. we weigh in every thurs so i keep ya posted,have a good week.mandy

Sounds good to me. I have been running five days a week for three weeks now and I have lost 7 lbs officially (Weigh in is Friday) and 10 lbs unofficially. I don't think your regiment is doomed to failure, you have to make it a part of your lifestyle and be committed to doing it. If you're not committed THEN you're doomed to failure.

Keep us all posted as to how you're doing.