One Million Women Walking(1MWW)

A grassroots women’s health movement.

The 1MWW mission--to inspire and empower one million women to transform their lives by simply walking--is fulfilled through the 1MWW programs. Our  programs meet the challenge of women getting the exercise they need on a daily basis. We women know we need to exercise to be healthy but with the multiple roles we play on a daily basis, we find there’s little time to care for ourselves. That’s a problem. That’s where walking and the 1MWW programs come in!

We’re online at One Million Women Walking, and growing the movement on our 1MWW Facebook page. We talk our walk at Solvitur Ambulando, the 1MWW blog. (Solvitur Ambulando means, “It is solved by walking.”) We are based in Nashville, Tennessee, with team members in Hudson, Wisconsin, and Anna Maria Island, Florida.

Our Crowdfunding Campaign

The 1MWW fundraising goal is $5,000. We will use the money to create the video lessons for our Walk on the Wild Side program--approximately $2,000--and to create graphics for the Walk on the Wild Side Planner--$1,200. The remaining funds will go to ongoing marketing/business expenses such as website hosting, Lead Pages, Drip, Hootsuite, and Facebook advertising. We hope to raise enough to finish our programs, cover operating expenses, and reach women and businesses through social media and traditional marketing.

Our live events include:

Our programs are multiple live events and the hybrid e-course Walk on the Wild Side: 66 Days to A Happier, Healthier You.

Walk on the Wild Side, our hybrid e-course, guides women through creating and implementing a daily walking plan. This program has four primary components:

The Walk on the Wild Side Planner is mailed to women enrolled in the program. Walk on the Wild Side Video Lessons, ongoing support, and community are all found on our invitation-only Facebook page, Walking Women.

The 1MWW programs follow a step-by-step system that takes women who need to exercise from being worried about their health, frustrated that they’re not exercising (or exercising enough), feeling guilty and ashamed, to slimmer, stronger, sexier, and self-confident in just 66 days. By simply walking.

Did you know walking is the number one doctor-prescribed form of exercise in the United States? Why? Because walking works. A regular walking habit addresses the most prevalent and deadly health problems women face today. And walking is inexpensive, immediate, and highly effective. So why aren’t more women walking?

Why Aren't Women Walking?

There are plenty of suggestions out there about how to start walking or incorporate walking into your life. And there are great gadgets like standing desks and fitness trackers. And there are myriad research papers and reports on the benefits of walking. We know, we’ve read them. (They’re a bit dry . . . )

But, walking programs that educate, inspire, empower, and support women for the time it takes to form a new habit (66 days) simply didn’t exist. Until now.

We set out to create step-by-step, consumable, meaningful walking “products” delivered in doable chunks. We want the women in our programs to experience nibbles of success from the get-go. We’ve created a grassroots women’s health movement accomplished by walking and fueled by caring. Walking might not be as sexy as yoga or Pilates, but it is an incredibly effective and extremely powerful transformational workout. I call walking the women’s all-in-one multi-tasking miracle.

The 1MWW programs are perfect for women who:

The 1MWW programs offer a breakthrough in exercise--the same breakthrough I discovered in the absolute depths of a total life breakdown.

Walking got me through divorce, unemployment, leaving my home, and much more. Despite the mess my life was in, daily walking increased my strength and stamina, helped me lose weight, allowed me to problem solve and think more clearly--plus I was sleeping like a baby. Most telling for me was that I didn’t spiral into clinical depression during those years. That’s huge because I’ve suffered from depression since my teens. Walking literally saved my life and as a result, I’m a devoted daily walker.
Then when I started seeing scientific reports about the life-changing and life-saving benefits of walking, I became passionate about getting other women walking!
I’m an author, researcher and strategic planner so even though I wasn’t exactly sure how I’d get other women walking, I did what researchers do--I turned to the experts--you, other women! I talked to women who are daily walkers and found out what keeps them walking. I talked to women who’ve fallen off the walking wagon and found out what derailed them. I talked to women who know they should be walking and learned about their obstacles and what it would take to get them walking. Then I went to my two favorite collaborators, my sister and my mom, to brainstorm.

My sister Amy Bayard is a mechanical engineer, scientist, blogger, author, mom and private tutor. She’s a lover of research, process, and connections. Our mom, Donna Miller, is a retired educator, author, community activist, and amazing grandmother! Mom loves learning, teaching, and empowering others to have life-changing “a-ha” moments. Both my sister and our mother are walking women who live active, healthy, fulfilling lives. They are my team members in 1MWW who bring invaluable expertise to the movement. Amy lives on beautiful Anna Maria Island in Florida and Mom lives in Hudson, Wisconsin.

Together Amy, Mom, and I reviewed the scientific research on walking, my own walking breakthrough, the expert feedback I’d gotten from women, and my desire to get more women walking. We did a lot of walking, talking, strategizing, planning, learning, and creating. 1MWW is the result!

One Million Women Walking solves the problem of how women can get the exercise they need on a daily basis. But the benefits of walking go much further than our health. Walking transforms women’s lives physically, emotionally, mentally, socially, and spiritually. And that’s what women have told us they want. In very candid moments, women say they really, truly want to lose weight, get healthy, and feel good about how they look and feel. To like the woman they see in the mirror, maybe even love her . . .

Help us help women transform their lives by walking. Please contribute to 1MWW today.