Yeah, it's been pretty successful at driving additional walking for me. I'd been meaning to get more exercise, but finding difficulty getting motivated -- now I pretty routinely walk a couple extra miles per day.
Anecdotal, but I have been walking to work for the past 2 months and it helps a lot. I get around 12km of walking and 2 hours of exercise out of it.
It has helped a lot to balance my sleep as well since I'm usually too tired to stay up late. I highly recommend it to anyone who works long hours behind a desk.
My walking schedule evolved somewhat naturally once I started. I had always been active, but normally sports or weightlifting. So when I started walking I didn't expect to gain much, I figured I was already fit. I was wrong, I gained so much cognitive clarity that I drifted toward walking more and more until I could easily be walking 3+ hours a day. It works incredibly as a clarifier, even if I don't figure anything out on the walk, when I come back to it later things tend to seem much simpler.
Personally I found walking to improve my fitness/activity levels to such a degree that I will often naturally transition back into a regular jogging habit just to get rid of all the extra energy from the walks.
I agree it's a great feeling. I started walking 45 minutes a day, 6x a week, a few months ago. My wife convinced me to try it after pointing out that the health benefits were not insignificant (I was mainly biking until then, but losing my enthusiasm because of my rides getting longer and longer and requiring more prep). The gains have been pretty great--in just three months I'm down at my waist by two belt notches and when I get back to work I'm usually in a better mood.
Next I just need to conquer this stress eating thing. The exercise has really put my compensatory eating habits into stark relief.
I made it a point to walk 3 or more miles every day this year. Haven't missed a day this whole year so far (knock on wood). It's been a great decision, although it is hard to compare it to what I would have felt like if I didn't walk, though.
Stopped using the car and started going (almost) everywhere by foot and public transport. I probably end up walking about 1 or 2 hours per day.
The best motivation is the fact that I save money, don't have to worry about traffic, and feel more awake after walking. The physical fitness side of it doesn't concern me that much, even though I know it should.
If the only exercise you were getting before really was what you got from the walking you did at work why not incorporate walks around your neighborhood into your day?
You may have been more active than usual, also? Even just walking to get places each day, instead of spending your entire day sitting at a desk or in a car, makes a huge difference.
This is very anecdotal, but recently I moved to live a 15 minute walk from my office. Since the car keys went away and the walk to and from the office was introduced, I feel much healthier and happier.
Now it could be that I moved, so there are certainly possible external factors that are not the walk, but I really do feel it is the walk that is the major contributor to my days feeling so much better.
I've even found myself justifying silly things to myself just to keep the walk up. For example, the other day I was running late but I still wanted to walk. Walking in and not being late was impossible, so I caught a taxi into the office, just so I could walk home without worrying about leaving my car behind.
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