Definitively. As someone who runs, I've been amazed at how many people think a MILE is a long distance to run or that people have very little conception of how much time it takes for an average human to simply walk a mile.
> in part because
I assume the other part is diet change from being in European countries.
In general, if you are very heavy, you can usually get away with significant calorie deficits through diet alone, as your base metabolic rate is so high. You should still be active for other health benefits, but your weight loss is best accomplished from from eating better and less. But the lighter you get, the more cardio matters, because at some point you'll start to have problems getting nutrition from not eating enough. This is especially true if you are getting shredded.
I think this is in part why there's so much conflicting advice on this. You have former fat people saying "nah, it's all diet", and you have very fit people saying "no way, it's totally cardio". They're both right, in their respective domain.
Assuming your diet (and thus your caloric intake) stayed exactly the same, burning an extra ~450 calories per day should net a loss of ~4 pounds per month. Over, say, a six-month span, that'd be roughly 20 pounds lost - easily within the bounds of "tens of pounds after several months."
Correct, but how many fat people are going to "reward" their efforts with a 450kcal treat?
Answer: Most.
On days that I go to an office, I don't (consciously) base my lunch decisions on whether I walked, took the train, or used a car service that morning, know what I mean?
Emphasis on consciously. Your leptin/ghrelin balance will do that for you, and you won't even think about it.
If they had reached some sort of "stable" level of obesity, that is if they had plateaud their weight gain naturally, then a sudden consistent 400kcal deficit would result in some change. Assuming they didn't eat more to make up for it.
Whenever I visit family in the midwest it can be a bit of a culture shock: by default you might find yourself walking a few hundred feet per day. With garages built into every house, few sidewalks and office parks/shopping centers that are only accessible by car, you have to make an explicit effort to get any exercise.
As a European who’s visited the states a few times, the portion sizes always amaze me. They are gargantuan in comparison to what I’m used to
Edit: Fun video - https://youtu.be/rg3Y3tCmBWo
The _smallest_ Burger King drink has 90ml more liquid than the _largest_ UK size
It ended up being a great walk and way better than using a cab to retrieve our car. I had hemmed and hawed for awhile about how to get the car back, looking into car seat options in a cab, the bus, asking a friend for a ride, and then I looked it up and realized it was a safe, 1.5 mile walk.
There are so many advantages to being active and fit. One of them is that it makes your world seem smaller and more accessible.
Any physical activity is good at the end of the day.For those who want a 'scientific' explanation: during movement (eg walking) the amygdala "turns off", and you become more relaxed, because that's responsible for emotions.For the rest,take it for granted: better pump for the entire day, you don't feel jittery after coffee, and you actually don't feel the need to eat as much.(as in frequency, you might want to eat more but fewer times during the day)
That seems weird to me. I find that as it gets colder my inclination is to go faster. I regularly go out in -5°C; after no more than 5km or so my hat and gloves are off, and not too long after that I'm wishing I could take off more without being indecent. It's in the summer that I need more breaks. It's an unending source of wonder how differently people can react to the same conditions.
Although years of not stretching has led to regular achilles tendon pain now (at least I think that's the cause). I'm stretching and doing calf raises.
Watch a kid run. You quickly realize that they have two paces - flat out sprint and walk. Pacing is something that you learn over time. The opposite extreme of that kid is someone's who's a really experienced runner - my wife for example; it's not that she's incredibly fast but she's amazingly conscious of her pace - if she wants to be consistent she'll run a mile pace that's within seconds for 10+ miles. If she's running a shorter distance she can calibrate her pace.
I think that's one of the things I like about running. The other nice thing about it - really about any form of exercise is the discipline it forces on you. Not "I go running everyday" but - I go running as often as it takes to keep me where I want to be while listening to my body to avoid injury. The more you ask of "where I want to be" the more you have to know about stopping not just going. It forces a self awareness that can be atypical.
Most people, especially past a certain age, don’t run distances. A mile is a long distance to run for the average person (across all ages). We don’t need to gatekeep physical activity.
But fortunately you don’t need to be a runner to be active. Walking is substantially better than sitting.
If walking is considered being active, we have vastly lowered the bar.
I know literal 70 year old people who could out-run 20 year old kids because they made the choice to stay active and healthy in old age
Even a casual stroll will raise it noticeable, and my normal medium-fast pace can easily bring it to 100+ bpm. (My resting heart rate is generally around 55-60 bpm.)
As for my estimate of my fitness, I think just the fact that my resting heart rate is below 60 might suggest something to that end.
Nope.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr041.pdf
Even for someone who's 60+ and in poor shape it's unlikely to be that high, so getting it up to 100 would be an improvement and have positive health effects. 100bpm doesn't even count as zone 1 for me, but even so a half hour or more of walking at a pace sufficient to sustain that is clearly better than remaining stationary.
Every physiologist who has ever taken quantitative measurements of these things would disagree. Walking is definitely better than remaining stationary, with significant measured benefits from even modest time per day, and GP is right that those of us who can do more should resist the temptation to gatekeep (usually done in this case as a low-key kind of bragging).