It’s amazing what frequent walking can do for your health, yet very few of us realise just how effective it is towards weight loss.
Research shows that you can lose 1 lb or more per week, depending on how often you walk. In other words, you can easily lose 20 lbs in less than five months without spending hours going jogging or sweating heavily at the gym, and without even going on a strict diet.
So How Can I Lose Weight by Walking?
As you would expect, the number of calories you can burn when walking is determined by your body weight and walking pace. For example, the average person walks at a pace of 4 miles per hour and by doing so, can burn roughly 400 calories per hour.
Keep in mind that every step you take daily counts towards burning calories, you don’t have to go for a 4 mile walk everyday in one go. One of my favourite tools to track steps taken each day and burn extra calories is the Pedometer. You can buy this small electronic device and wear it throughout the day to track how many steps you have taken each day. Alternatively, you can download one of the many free Pedometer apps from the iPhone, Android or Windows app store which are even better and can show you more graphic details about your daily walks and help you find out how many miles you need to cover to drop extra pounds, if you’re aiming to lose more.
How Many Steps Do I have to Take to Achieve Weight Lose
In order to lose weight the average person will need to take about 2,000 steps in the average mile. If you go on a one mile walk you can burn roughly 100 calories. So if you don’t always have time to do rigorous exercises, hooray for walking! Simply add steps to your daily routine if you don’t have time to do a rigorous exercise and start getting results. Here is a quick look at how it works.
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1 Mile = 2,000 steps and 100 calories burned
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1 Pound – 3,500 calories
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1 Pound weight loss per week = 500 calorie deficit per day
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To lose 1 pound per week you need to add 10,000 steps to your day
10,000 steps may seem like too many steps to you but in reality it’s not. Here are a few ideas on how you can to fit all that walking into your daily routine. Keep in mind you don’t have to start with 10,000 steps, go with what you can and gently increase your steps as you become able to do so. Here are a few ‘tricks’ to adding more steps to your busy daily routine to shed that weight off:
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Get off the bus early and walk the rest of the journey home or to work.
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At the underground or train station, take the stairs instead of the escalators.
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You can park your car further away from your destination and walk the extra distance to and from your destination.
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Choose to walk to the station instead of taking the car or bus.
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Take the stairs instead of the lift at any given opportunity.
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Walk the children to school instead of driving or taking public transport.
It’s nice to know that losing weight doesn’t have to be so difficult. However, as with any diet and exercise, whether at beginner, intermediate air advanced level, before you begin your walking routine make sure to consult with your physician.
Have you lost weight with walks instead of other rigorous excersices? Share your experience in the comments below or contact me with your own success story. We all love a good weight loss success story!
Photo credit: Pexels.com
