Walking is often underestimated when it comes to calorie burn and its overall benefits. Not only can walking improve your physical health, but it can also elevate your mood, manage stress, and enhance your overall well-being. It's a fantastic, easy, and accessible form of physical activity. In this article, we'll explore how simply putting one foot in front of the other can transform your life and how walking can fit into a healthy weight loss plan.
Whether you’re new to exercise or a seasoned pro, walking offers benefits for everyone. This guide will delve into maximizing calorie burn, reducing body fat, and understanding how many calories you can burn by walking.
Table Of Contents:
- The Correlation between Physical Activity, Weight, and Calorie Burn
- Belly Fat, Health Risks, and Calorie Burn
- Mood Elevation
- Walking Can Prevent Regaining Weight
- FAQs about the benefits of walking
- Conclusion
The Correlation between Physical Activity, Weight, and Calorie Burn
Getting enough physical activity has always been important for managing a healthy weight. Many people in this day and age work sedentary jobs. This means that they are not getting enough daily activity to counteract the number of calories they consume. Physical activity is crucial because it can reduce your risk for a ton of different health problems. This includes everything from heart disease and diabetes to certain types of cancer. Research shows that people who exercise regularly burn more calories than those who are more sedentary. A sedentary lifestyle may cause weight gain. It can also increase your risk for health issues.
Burning Calories While Walking for Weight Management
When we move, breathe, think - really, whenever our bodies are functioning, we are burning calories. How much you burn is actually influenced by your age, height, genes, and more. To lose weight, you'll need to burn extra calories than you consume each day. This means that your food choices impact how easy or difficult it is for you to create a calorie deficit and lose weight.
Since calorie burn is one of the many benefits of walking, it's good to know that walking even one mile burns about 100 calories. You can even burn calories walking at a comfortable pace. One study had participants who were at an average fitness level walk briskly at 3.2 miles per hour. Other participants ran at six miles per hour for the same distance - about a mile. Those who walked briskly burned around 90 calories. This means that walking can be an excellent tool for achieving and maintaining a healthy weight.
While those who were running did burn a higher amount of calories, it was only about 23 more calories per mile than the brisk walkers. This means that walking is an excellent way to get in shape. It is perfect for people new to physical activity. It's more important to make walking a habit you can sustain than to push yourself too hard at the beginning and give up on it completely. It’s totally possible to lose weight fast, however this is not advisable or healthy. The best way to reach and sustain your goals is to make gradual changes that you enjoy.
Making Walking More Challenging
Try walking routes that incorporate hills or an incline on a treadmill. You can also take the stairs if possible, to get a more intense workout. Try parking a bit further from the doors than you need to whenever you go to the store, just to get more steps in. Taking a walk at lunchtime is another great idea. Even walking around while you’re on a call for work are some other small ways you can get in more steps and burn extra calories.
Protecting Your Muscles With Walking
Many people begin exercising in the hopes of weight loss. It's important to note that losing weight actually causes us to lose some of our muscle mass, along with fat. You want to preserve lean muscle as much as possible. This is because muscle actually burns calories, even when you are resting. Think about it this way: having more muscle helps your body be a fat burning machine.
Walking or performing other types of physical activity while you’re trying to lose weight is extremely helpful for retaining your lean muscle. Not only that, this will keep your metabolic rate where it needs to be. This will also help you keep the weight off once you reach your goals. Working out on a regular basis can also slow muscle loss that happens with age. Walking can benefit both fitness for years to come. Pretty cool, right?
Belly Fat, Health Risks, and Calorie Burn
Sadly, belly fat is associated with increased risk for type 2 diabetes and heart disease. If you’re a man and your waist measures 40 inches or more around, you have belly fat. For women, belly fat is typically determined by a 35-inch waist circumference.
Reduce Belly Fat by Walking
Walking is one of the most effective ways to reduce belly fat and improve your health. To maximize the calorie burn benefits of walking and make your walks more challenging, add hills and inclines or increase your pace burned.
One way to measure the effectiveness of calorie burn, is to monitor how much subcutaneous fat and visceral fat you have. Track this before you begin a walking regimen and throughout. In a study on the benefits of walking, researchers determined that women who were obese and had added 50-70-minute walks to their weekly routine at least three times a week for 12 weeks saw a noticeable decrease in both subcutaneous and visceral fat compared to the women who didn’t incorporate regular walking into their routine. It’s amazing what adding a regular walk a few times per week can do, right?.
Another study determined that individuals who incorporated a one-hour walk to their week five days a week for three months and were eating a lower-calorie diet saw a more pronounced reduction in both waist circumference and overall body fat versus those individuals who stuck to the diet but didn’t incorporate walking.
Mood Elevation
You probably already know that calorie burn impacts your physical health. This may inspire you to be more consistent with it - which will help you get in even better shape. A lot of people say they feel less stress and depression when they walk. Scientific evidence backs this up. It states that regular physical activity benefits not only your physical health but it’s known to lessen stress, depression, and anxiety too.
Why is this? This is because the brain releases endorphins during physical activity like walking. If you already like physical activity you are more likely to continue with it. The endorphins that are released boost your mood and elevate those feelings of happiness - meaning that you'll feel so much better after even just a short walk.
Enjoying Physical Activity Matters
People tend to continue activities they enjoy. A good alternative to intense workouts like weight training is to make walking part of your daily routine. If people don’t enjoy physical activity, they are less likely to do it. If something’s too challenging, we get tired or we get frustrated with our results.
Walking Can Prevent Regaining Weight
There's nothing more disheartening than regaining weight after putting so much time and energy into shedding the pounds. When it comes to nutrition, it can be super helpful to find ways to exercise that help you stick to your plan long term. Being consistent with physical activity can increase motivation to make healthy choices when it comes to an eating plan.
Many people regain any lost weight eventually. Being more active results in your body burning more calories each day. Regular physical activity, like walking, is extremely important in keeping off lost weight. Research has also found that the more frequently someone exercises the less likely they are to regain the weight, whereas those who are less active are more prone to gaining the pounds back after losing it.
A helpful guide states that if you have lost a significant amount of weight, you may have to do more exercise each week to maintain your goal weight. Aim for somewhere in the ballpark of 200 minutes per week, or around 30 minutes most days.
The Importance of Exercise for Lasting Results
What helps keep off the weight once we reach our goals? Physical activity of course. Regularly engaging in physical activity, including walking, makes it much more likely you will be successful at keeping weight off. Walking helps build up lean muscle. Lean muscle in turn helps increase our metabolic rate, and that also benefits calorie burn. It's sort of a 'win win,' wouldn't you agree?
Increase Daily Walking with These Ideas
Adding calorie burn from walking into your life is really quite simple. To improve your chances of success in all areas, including achieving and sustaining your health and wellness goals, a minimum of 150 minutes a week, or a little under 20 minutes most days, is ideal.
Start by making sure you’re walking for at least 10 minutes. Try one of these ideas if you’re having trouble figuring out where to work in those extra steps:
- Walk your dog.
- When the weather's nice, why not have a 'walking meeting' with coworkers instead of being cooped up inside?
- Join a local walking group - they're everywhere nowadays.
- Rather than riding the bus for the whole trip, think about getting off a couple of stops before you need to and walk the rest of the way.
- Use a fitness tracker to stay accountable - plus, a visual reminder to get those steps in always helps.
- Use your lunch break for walking.
- Take an after-dinner stroll.
- Rather than meeting up for coffee indoors, find a pretty trail and invite your friends along on a walking meet up.
A research study in JAMA showed how increasing your step count lowers your risk for mortality (Association of daily step count and step intensity with mortality among US adults). But do you have to strive for that magical 10,000 step mark? Interestingly, another study in the journal JAMA Network Open actually found that middle-aged adults, both men and women, saw a significantly lowered mortality risk by increasing their steps from around 5,000 steps (a very sedentary level) per day to 7,000 - 9,999 steps. Even adding just a few thousand steps a day lowers your overall mortality risk.
FAQs about the benefits of walking
Can you lose belly fat by walking?
Absolutely. Walking can be a great exercise for those hoping to lose belly fat. If you're wondering how to burn calories, walking is a great place to start. It is a great form of moderate-intensity exercise and can help reduce belly fat.
How many calories do 30 minutes of walking burn?
The amount of calories burned walking for 30 minutes varies based on weight, terrain, and walking speed. However, as a rough estimate, you could burn approximately 100 to 200 calories. Walking burns calories and is a great addition to any fitness plan.
How to lose 2 pounds a week by walking?
Although this will vary by person and you should consult your doctor or other healthcare provider before making changes to your eating or physical activity plans, to lose two pounds a week, you should create a calorie deficit of 500-1,000 calories per day. Incorporating daily brisk walking for a minimum of 30 minutes, while making healthy food choices, can make this attainable. Keep in mind that creating healthy changes that you enjoy and can stick with long-term is always more beneficial than pursuing any sort of “crash diet”.
For optimum results and personalized advice, consider contacting a personal fitness trainer. They can help tailor a walking and nutrition plan to suit your specific needs and goals, ensuring you stay on track and achieve sustainable weight loss.
Will I lose fat if I walk every day?
Yes, you will definitely lose fat if you walk every day. If you have only recently added regular walking to your routine, you will notice faster results than those who have been more consistent over time. Adding hills to your walking routine will increase how much fat you lose. This is true whether you walk outdoors and incorporate an uphill hike or even use the incline feature on the treadmill. Be sure to wear shoes that properly support your feet.
Conclusion
The benefits of walking are immense, ranging from boosting heart health and muscle strength to lowering the risk of serious health issues such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease. It can also help you better manage your weight. With just a bit of commitment to walking a few times each week, you can lose fat, become more toned, feel less stressed and anxious, and reap all sorts of amazing benefits for both your mental and physical well-being.
Are you ready to experience the benefits of walking for yourself? Simply slip on those comfy sneakers, step outside and feel yourself transforming with every step. You’ve got this.
