Walking for weight loss - How to Lose Weight by Walking

Walking is a good way to start losing excess weight and body fat. Walking is easy on the body, doesn’t take special equipment, and can be done at your own pace. With all of the health problems associated with obesity, it is important that you do what you can to stay in shape.

How Long Should You Walk For?

How long you should walk depends on what shape you’re currently in. It is best to start out slow and see how you feel. Most health experts recommend that you walk at a brisk pace for 30 to 90 minutes each day at least five days a week. Others recommend 2.5 hours per week.

There are different ways to determine what a brisk walk actually is. What is brisk for you might be too brisk for others, depending on the fitness level of the person. A few ways to determine a brisk walking pace includes:

1. Walking at about 2.8 miles per hour
2. Walking 100 steps per minute
3. Walking at a pace of 3.5 miles per hour on a treadmill
4. Walking so that your heart rate is 60 to 70 percent of your maximum heart rate

Another interesting way to measure brisk walking is if you are breathing hard, you can still talk, but you couldn’t sing a song. Walking at a brisk pace for 30 minutes or longer can be quite a good workout.

How Many Calories Are You Burning?

For weight loss, you have to burn more calories than you eat. A combination of eating fewer calories and burning more calories each day is the key to weight loss.

How many calories you can burn while walking is dependent on how much you weigh and how long you walk. The more you weigh the more calories you will burn.

A few examples of how many calories a 150-pound person can lose walking at a pace of 3 mph or 20 minutes per mile.

• 119 calories at 30 minutes of walking
• 179 calories at 45 minutes
• 238 calories at 1 hour
• 357 calories at 90 minutes
• 476 calories with 2 hours of walking

The faster you walk the more calories you will burn. As you lose weight, you will have to walk longer to lose the same amount of calories.

Swinging your arms while walking can speed up your pace and give your upper body a good workout. You can wear a weighted vest while walking to increase the calories burned. Walking on a treadmill at a slight tilt will also burn more calories.

How Walking Burns Fat

When you first start your walk, your body is burning up glucose (blood sugars). When it runs out of glucose it will start to burn fat. This is why it is best to walk in the morning before you’ve had breakfast. You will burn more body fat this way when your body’s glucose levels are low. Eating a diet low in saturated fat will also help you burn fat.