I sometimes wonder where I'd be now if I had not adopted my walking regimen. I sort of had to. When I eat low carb I am compelled to get up and move. After I started eating right for my body it did not take long before I'd end up getting fidgety if I sat around too long. I'm still that way. I find it hard to sit through a movie. At work I get up at least 4 or 5 times a day for a water break. The water is on the other side of the building and while I do like staying hydrated the main reason I do it is so that I can get up to move around. So even if I wasn't going out of my way to get a good walk or two in each day, I'm sure I'm laying down 2x or 3x the steps I used to do when I was a carb eater. My desire to get up and move happened when I still weighed 400 pounds, had lower back pain, and sciatic nerve pain if standing on my feet too long. This WOE made me do something that I never wanted to do when I was eating carbs. Move.

But in addition to normal everyday activity I go above and beyond. I walk 90 minutes a day on average. Weekdays I walk 2 miles at lunch and then 2.5 miles in the evenings. On weekends I walk 5 miles/90 minutes if I can. I don't think that it had any effect on my weight loss. If it did it was more likely that it just helped me maintain a decent metabolism during my 30 months of sustained weight loss. When I reached goal I expected issues with a slow metabolism. But as it turned out I can eat what one would expect I can eat to maintain. No significant reduction in metabolism as far as I could tell.

Some people at work and at home consider me a little OCD with my walking. But I enjoy it. It relaxes me. My after dinner walk gives time for satiety so set in after dinner. It has made me more fit. I can do more and not feel the strain. I can out-hike my teenage kids. Not bad for a 54 year old. Had I not made walking an essential part of my day I think I'd still be at or near the same weight that I am today. But I'd be mushy, wimpy, and soft. I much prefer being fit and capable.

My other family members spend much more time sitting in front of the TV than I do walking. How is that not being OCD. I guess that is considered 'normal' these days. When my wife griped about my walking habit - saying that she thought that I was 'carrying it too far', I simply asked her how much time she spends watching television each day. She never complained about my walking regimen again.

My BG has remained good since I resolved my insulin resistance. I was walking regularly for months before my IR was resolved. I had higher than normal BG in spite of doing lots of walking. It was just not dangerously high as I was eating low carb. At about a year into this WOE my BG levels dropped to normal levels. They float up and down a bit for no apparent reason. But generally I'm happy with my BG. I don't know that walking has much of an impact either way.

With regards to that study Teaser posted... I have a major CVD risk factor. I have the calcified arteries of the average 70 year old man. My diet may have put the breaks on that. I hope so. But I'm hopeful that my active lifestyle and supplementation will actually reverse my risk for a heart attack. If moving a couple of hours a day helps as this study seems to indicate, then that is just one more reason for me to keep up with the walking.