so ive heard of people who have taken up biking or walking to work and gradually/unintentionally drop 10 or 20 pounds.

ive walked ~7 hours since wednesday - to and from work, school, shopping, etc. i know it doesnt do for me what a 60 min spin class can, but i really enjoy how it just works itself into my day without planning/prep/showering after, ha! it makes me feel like im not trying soooo hard.

soooo i know that any amount of exercise is better than none, but im wondering if this is enough for what i want to do. um meaning, if i walk an hour or more a day do i really need to go back to the gym?

basically: does anyone attribute their weight loss success to the introduction of plain old walking into their daily routine?

Walking can burn a relatively decent amount of calories. At your weight, walking at 2 MPH, for an hour, you can burn about 290 calories.

Walking is great exercise, but I'd recommend doing some cardio, strength training, etc. Try doing simple exercises at home, possibly but some hand weights and exercise DVDs. This will help build muscle.

Right now I do a 30 minute DVD work out & 30ish minutes of walking to/from work.

Here are my two scents. I use walking as my main form of exercise. You need no special equipment, can do it basically anywhere, and it's a nice low impact way of getting yourself moving. I expect myself to walk everyday and try to get at least 30-45 min in a day. As a bonus, I have an elliptical at home and like to throw that in as "extra" exercise. Bascially if I can squeeze it in I do it, but if it's a busy day and I don't get to I don't beat myself up. I think the main thing is is to do what you think you'll be able to maintain.

Yeah, I to use walking as my main form of exercise. It's actually THE BEST exercise you can do, you work every muscle in your body.

I used walking as my main form of exercise for the first ten months of my weight loss. It was all I could do at first and seemed like the safest activity for me. It worked just great and I lost. For the past seven months I've had access to a fitness room in my apartment complex so I work out there now, but I still love to walk.

I just started exercising last week and have chosen to walk instead of run like I have in the past. I found this walking routine from prevention magazine that looks like it will work pretty well. I went to the gym this morning before work and was walking, and after about 10 minutes my legs were killing me! My calves were so tight that it was difficult to finish. Is this normal?

That same thing happens to my calfs if I don't walk for a while, then go for a walk. I feel your pain!

I am not sure if the amount of calories burnt is correct. The number of calories burnt by walking varies wildly from one source to another. On Sunday, I walked 48 min on my treadmill, 30 minutes out of it were at 4.0 mph and the remaining time was for warmup/cool down at gradually increasing/decreasing speed. According to my TM, I burned somewhere around 350 calories (I forgot the exact number). It is a well known fact that exercise equipment typically overestimates the number of calories burnt.
I don't know which number is correct I am just saying that it really varies from one site to another.

To the original poster: I walk my dogs every day, our usual route is 3 km long and last year, I did not lose an ounce (although I have to admit that my body is probably used to that because I have been doing this for years).

My right calf gets REALLY tight and drives me nuts. I think if I had better shoes it wouldn't be so bad but I wear a size 1 in childrens and they are not at all made for actual exercise.

Last year (before changing my diet) I walked my dog AT LEAST 30min/day 5days/week. I gained weight... so if you're doing A LOT of walking I think it's great as your only form of exercise but a big key to getting all of the benefits of exercise is getting your heart rate up. As long as you're getting the rate up and keeping up at your target area then it's just fine to do only walking.