Anyone lost weight/gotten fitter since moving from a "car only" area? (San Francisco: neighborhood, calculator)

[luvmypug55]

Where I live we drive everywhere, like most places I guess. I'm excited to get out of this way of life and basically change my "lifestyle". I imagine most people who live or work in the city are pretty fit since you basically have to walk at least a few blocks either from public transportation to work, or from where you can park to work? Has anyone completely changed their lifestyle by moving to the Bay Area, gotten away from their car, and started biking or walking everywhere?

Would love to hear some motivating stories!

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by luvmypug55

Where I live we drive everywhere, like most places I guess. I'm excited to get out of this way of life and basically change my "lifestyle". I imagine most people who live or work in the city are pretty fit since you basically have to walk at least a few blocks either from public transportation to work, or from where you can park to work? Has anyone completely changed their lifestyle by moving to the Bay Area, gotten away from their car, and started biking or walking everywhere?

Would love to hear some motivating stories!

Actually, I've been through the opposite process. Living where I could walk to everything, or take the bus, then moving to a more rural area where I have to drive to most things. Pretty quickly I noticed a drop in stamina for long-distance walking. No radical changes, like weight gain or anything. But I had to start a dedicated walking program for exercise, to compensate for the car-based life. I FAR prefer living where I can walk to stores or appointments, and/or bus.

[HockeyMac18]

Originally Posted by luvmypug55

Where I live we drive everywhere, like most places I guess. I'm excited to get out of this way of life and basically change my "lifestyle". I imagine most people who live or work in the city are pretty fit since you basically have to walk at least a few blocks either from public transportation to work, or from where you can park to work? Has anyone completely changed their lifestyle by moving to the Bay Area, gotten away from their car, and started biking or walking everywhere?

Would love to hear some motivating stories!

Before I moved here, I did mostly live in areas where the car dominated and public transit was pretty lacking. I was always pretty fit because I played so many sports, liked to hike/do stuff outside and went to the gym somewhat often. But one thing that changed when I moved here is that I did start walking/biking to places more often, and I noticed that I didn't need to dedicate so much of my time specifically to "staying in shape" by going to the gym, etc. Now I can merge my "exercise" into my normal routine. I still do dedicate time to playing sports, and doing stuff outside; but the extra walking and biking is pretty beneficial.

That being said, you can move here and still have a lazy, car-focused life if you want it. A lot of people do still drive here, and you'll still see a lot of cars (this is CA, after all). But, most places in the Bay Area, especially in the core areas, have good options to avoid driving (walking, biking, public transit).

And, you'll notice that a lot of people do choose not to drive, and either walk/ride their bike or take public transit. Many people in the Bay Area are pretty health conscious/healthy, and a lot of that is a lifestyle decision (to walk/bike places, to exercise, to go hiking, etc), so you'll have a lot of support if you do make that kind of lifestyle choice.


I split my time between SF/and the peninsula, and even when I'm in San Mateo, I rarely get in my car (at most, once a week). But, I also planned my life to be convenient by choosing to live in the downtown San Mateo area, which is walkable/very bike friendly and has good access to public transit options (Caltrain and a few bus lines).

If you choose to live further from the dense areas, or choose to drive everywhere, you won't necessarily benefit from any extra walking. Ditching your car for more walking/biking is an idea you do need to kind of plan your life around, especially outside of SF.

[luvmypug55]

Thanks for the replies! I do some activities on the weekends and after work to try to get in shape, biking, and working out. But I've noticed if I skip a week or so for whatever reason it's really hard to get back into it. I would still want to bike on the wekends, and go for extra walks that are for fun instead of to get somewhere like work, I just feel like if I'm made to walk at least every day for at least a little bit, that, along with weekend activities would make me so much fitter. I'm not ready to give up my car completely, but I will enjoy relying on it much less when I have other options available.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by luvmypug55

Where I live we drive everywhere, like most places I guess. I'm excited to get out of this way of life and basically change my "lifestyle". I imagine most people who live or work in the city are pretty fit since you basically have to walk at least a few blocks either from public transportation to work, or from where you can park to work? Has anyone completely changed their lifestyle by moving to the Bay Area, gotten away from their car, and started biking or walking everywhere?

Would love to hear some motivating stories!

It was a "wash" for me because in my last car orientated city, I lived in a neighborhood that was very nice to go jogging. I also had a private pool and wasn't far from the beach. In San Francisco, walking around doesn't seem to do anything for my weight. Instead, I go hiking quite often, which is something I didn't enjoy much in my previous city.

[Tor_Nado]

No. Simple walking doesn't burn many more calories than just lying on the couch and breathing. You'd have to walk 5 miles to shed 200 calories

[HockeyMac18]

Originally Posted by Tor_Nado

No. Simple walking doesn't burn many more calories than just lying on the couch and breathing. You'd have to walk 5 miles to shed 200 calories

I don't know...that seems pretty off to me.

Calorie Burn Calculator, Most Accurate

I'm not saying this is entirely accurate, but with my weight (170), I would burn around 530 calories if I walked at 2mph (the most leisurely walking pace the site has) for 150 minutes (the time it'd take to go 5 miles).

Reading (the only activity I saw that wasn't active) for the same amount of time would burn around 200 calories.

This also doesn't take into account walking around with things in your hands, or having to walk up/down any hills, which would certainly add to the calories burned.

I definitely wouldn't say just walking would get you to being completely healthy, but mixed with an active lifestyle, it certainly helps a great deal. It supplements other activities and lets you not worry as much about having to go to the gym as often to just "stay in shape," since you're getting exercise just doing normal/every day stuff.

[04kL4nD]

All that walking is going to be off-set by all the great Bay Area food available

[Tor_Nado]

Originally Posted by HockeyMac18

I don't know...that seems pretty off to me.

Calorie Burn Calculator, Most Accurate

I'm not saying this is entirely accurate, but with my weight (170), I would burn around 530 calories if I walked at 2mph (the most leisurely walking pace the site has) for 150 minutes (the time it'd take to go 5 miles).

According to that tool you posted, a 180 pound person who walks for 60 minutes at 4mph would only lose around 250 calories, so my estimate wasn't off by that much. Most people walk slower than 4mph

[HockeyMac18]

Originally Posted by Tor_Nado

According to that tool you posted, a 180 pound person who walks for 60 minutes at 4mph would only lose around 250 calories, so my estimate wasn't off by that much. Most people walk slower than 4mph

Either you're not entering in the information correctly, or I'm not. I just re-did it a few times for each walking speed, though, using 180 lbs, and I'm definitely not getting what you're getting.

60 minutes for walking at 4mph would burn 421 calories. If you walked a full 5 miles (75 minutes), you'd burn 526 calories.

Yes, 4mph is pretty brisk. I walk very fast and usually average around that. So, to walk the full 5 miles, the more relaxed/normal paces of 2mph would be 567 calories (150 minutes), and 3mph would be 594 calories (100 minutes).

Comparatively, if a 180 pound person read for 150 minutes, he/she would burn 216 calories. I checked other sedentary activities, such as studying (378 cal), talking on the phone (216 cal), and writing (216 cal).

If you don't think this page is accurate, here's another one I found: Calculate Calories Burned Walking
180 pounds
2.5 mph for 120 minutes = 514 calories
3 mph for 100 minutes = 500 calories
3.5 mph for 85 minutes = 522 calories
4 mph for 75 minutes = 536 calories

My point is the same as before, walking can burn a lot more than just sitting around on the couch and breathing. It appears that it can potentially burn more than 2 times more calories, actually, which is pretty significant.

It won't necessarily get you in amazing shape, but it definitely helps fill in the gaps and reduces ones dependency on having to do specific things to burn most of your calories (e.g. going to the gym). And this is the kind of information the OP is after.