When she was 22, fitness enthusiast Kaylah Ann Price decided she needed a lifestyle overhaul. ‘At this point, I’m [148kg]. Everything hurt,’ she recalled.
‘I remember standing up in the shower for more than five or 10 minutes feeling as though I just wanted to plop on my bed because it took so much out of me. Taking my trash out and going down and up one flight of stairs [felt] like I was in the Olympics.’
She decided she’d had enough: ‘I knew that that was not a body I wanted to be living in anymore.’
Adjusting key aspects of her health included reassessing her nutrition and finding a complementary exercise routine. However, Kaylah opted for walking over a ‘crazy paid programme’ or hiring a PT – here’s how it helped her lose nearly 73kg.
1. Walking is manageable at any fitness starting point
Between sitting and walking to the shower or front door, Kaylah’s day usually involved little movement. ‘My day was probably 500 steps,’ she noted.
She therefore started with a baseline of half an hour of walking. ‘Thirty minutes was extremely hard at first,’ she said. ‘When you are so big, just carrying your body weight around [while] walking is exhausting, as if you’re doing 30 minutes of running on the treadmill.’
Walking allowed her to set achievable targets. ‘Right now I don’t have a step count goal. I’m not even thinking about 10k steps per day,’ she recalled. ‘I’m thinking, “I’m going to keep on doing this until it doesn’t hurt after five minutes, until I feel like I could have walked more.”‘
It became easier, which kept her going: ‘I remember that day when I finally started getting those steps up and stopped walking because my break was over, [not because] I felt like I just ran a marathon. I felt energised.’
Within weeks, she went from struggling to walk a few minutes to moving comfortably for longer. ‘After about a month, I was walking for at least 45 minutes to an hour,’ she said.
2. It fits easily into your daily routine
‘When we think of exercise – especially as big people – we think of high-intensity sweating, heart-pumping, can-barely-move-after movement,’ Kaylah explained. ‘It does not take that. I started walking 30 minutes a day on my lunch break.’
At the time, she was working in a call centre, but from home, which was ‘extremely emotionally taxing and draining’. She then decided to use her 30 minutes to ‘do anything besides sit there and dread getting back’, and started walking instead. ‘I was simply walking around my apartment complex parking lot.’ She was therefore able to fit the habit in alongside her working schedule.
If physically walking outside isn’t an option, Kaylah pointed out that chores can be an efficient choice. ‘Clean that sink out. Scrub that tub out. Wash those walls. Physical movement around your house will help get your step count up as well,’ she noted.
Kaylah Ann Price//YouTube
3. It’s an accessible way to start moving
Kaylah didn’t require a gym, equipment or money – just the willingness to step outside. ‘I was not going around the block, walking on a treadmill, or using a walking pad,’ she said. Finances especially needn’t be a limiting factor. ‘Pads can cost [up to £1200], but you don’t need it.’ A free app on her phone was enough to track her steps.
As for feelings of self-consciousness, she reminded viewers to value improvements in key health markers over the discomfort of unwanted stares, as difficult as that might be. ‘[Someone else is] not going to get you to lower blood pressure or from diabetic to non-diabetic,’ she reminded.
If the embarrassment became too much, she advised starting off with walking inside or just a short way: ‘Walk around your apartment or complex, or one way up the block and one way back. You don’t have to go long distances.’
4. It supports your nutrition goals
Kaylah reiterated one of fat loss’ core principles: ‘As a disclaimer, weight loss comes down to eating less calories than it takes to maintain your current weight.’
While she made an effort to ‘work on’ her eating, walking helped her remain in a calorie deficit by regulating her appetite. ‘It doesn’t feel like any type of high-intensity cardio,’ she said. ‘So when you’re done, you don’t feel the need to go home and gorge.’
A stroll after eating can also aid digestion. ‘[It’s an alternative] to eating dinner and then trying to lay down and wondering why you can’t sleep because your body is still working trying to digest that food,’ she explained.
5. Walking is low impact and safe for injuries
Walking allowed Kaylah to move without making her joint pain and limited mobility worse. ‘I had knee injuries, as I’ve dislocated them playing volleyball,’ she said. Simply putting one foot in front of the other meant she could include a safe, gentle form of exercise. ‘The best way you can get some type of movement in is simply walking,’ she said.
Kaylah Ann Price//YouTube
6. It improves your mental health
Moving and having time away from stressors helped restore Kayla’s energy and overall emotional wellbeing. ‘I was in a studio apartment the size of a box,’ she said, ‘working at a call centre wreaking havoc on my mental health, and I wasn’t getting any light.’
Her weight was also an unyielding source of frustration. ‘When I was morbidly obese, I did not even feel alive,’ she lamented. ‘Getting outside and walking, feeling the sun, [I felt like] a human and a working member of society.’
7. It builds habits that compound over time
Small daily walks turned into higher step counts, more movement, and lasting lifestyle change. ‘I remember the first day I saw that 10k,’ she said, reflecting on her progress. ‘I actually hit that today. I’ve probably walked the whole length of Long Beach, California. There are days now where I’ve hit 25,000 or 30,000 steps. It’s so nice to see yourself building up to that point.’
After several months, she added in strength training. ‘It took me a bit to get into lifting weights, but now it’s more of my focus,’ she explained. ‘Walking still goes hand in hand as that steady fat burning consistently over time, though.’
And she urged viewers to be patient: ‘Do small things every day that add up to your goal. It’s the little stuff you do over time and that sticks around as a habit that really matter.’
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