How Much To Walk For Weight Loss?

Walking is a simple and effective way to lose weight. It’s low-impact, easy to do, and requires no special equipment. But how much walking do you need to do to see weight loss results? In this article, we’ll explore the optimal amount of walking needed for weight loss and how to make the most of your walking routine.

When you are not used to playing sports, starting to exercise can seem like a world. But we all know that it is also one of the main keys to maintaining a healthy life and a healthy weight. For this reason, this year in which we have proposed to try to take better care of ourselves and improve our weight, we are clear that it is time to start exercising.

One of the usual recommendations for beginners – or people with a very high weight – is to start small, so walking can be a great start. However, the question arises: will it be enough for us to walk for weight loss? How far would you have to walk? If I take the recommended 10,000 steps, would I be there? This is what we know.

The Benefits of Walking for Weight Loss

Walking is a natural and accessible form of exercise that can help with weight loss in several ways. First, walking burns calories. The more calories you burn, the more weight you can lose. Second, walking can increase your metabolism, helping you burn calories even when you’re not walking. Third, walking can help reduce your appetite, which can lead to a lower calorie intake and weight loss.

In addition to weight loss, walking has several other health benefits. It can improve cardiovascular health, reduce the risk of chronic diseases, and improve mental health.

How Much Walking is Needed for Weight Loss?

Walking and Calorie Burn

The number of calories burned during a walk depends on several factors, including your weight, walking speed, and walking terrain. On average, a person weighing 150 pounds can burn about 100 calories for every mile walked.

Recommended Walking Duration and Frequency

To see weight loss results from walking, it’s recommended to walk at least 150 minutes per week, which can be broken down into 30 minutes per day, five days per week. However, if you want to see quicker results, you may need to walk more.

It’s important to note that the 150-minute recommendation is for moderate-intensity walking. If you want to do more intense walking, you can aim for 75 minutes per week.

Tips for Maximizing Your Walking Routine

Incorporating Inclines and Intervals

To increase the intensity of your walking routine, try incorporating inclines and intervals. Walking uphill or on a treadmill with an incline can help you burn more calories and work your muscles harder. Intervals, where you alternate between walking at a moderate pace and a faster pace, can also increase calorie burn.

Finding a Walking Buddy or Group

Walking with a buddy or a group can make your walking routine more enjoyable and keep you accountable. It can also help you push yourself to walk further or at a faster pace.

Setting Achievable Goals

Setting goals can help you stay motivated and track your progress. Start with small goals, such as walking for 10 minutes per day, and gradually increase your goals as you become more comfortable with walking.

Is 10,000 enough? How many steps do we have to take?

One of the first keys to point out is that in order to lose weight, with whatever nutritional or sports strategy, it is necessary to have a caloric deficit. That is, we will have to burn more calories than we consume. Without this, we will not be able to lose weight regardless of the number of steps we take.

In any case, increasing our physical activity is a good strategy to burn more calories. And although walking seems like an activity that is too calm or not very intense. The reality is that it can be very effective, especially in people who are overweight or with very little physical activity. However, there is no set number of steps that work for everyone. What is recommended if we are thinking of starting to walk in order to lose weight is that we adapt to our needs and starting point. To be able to calculate how much walking we would need, we can start by knowing our level of activity.

In general, it is considered that if we usually walk less than 5,000 steps a day, we could be considered sedentary. We would be little active between 5,000 and 7,499 and from there up to 10,000 somewhat active. If we are sedentary, starting with 10,000 steps may be too much. This is where we will begin to adapt to our personal situation.

To do this, we need to know how many calories we normally consume per day, what calorie deficit we want to achieve, and our deadlines. Keep in mind that 10,000 steps would be the approximate equivalent of 30 minutes of intense exercise and allows us to burn an additional 2,000 – 3,000 calories per week.

At what pace will we have to walk:

Ok, we already know more or less how many steps we would have to take to help us lose weight by walking. But at what pace will we have to do it? The reality is that, once again, there is no specific rhythm recommended for everyone and it will depend on our needs and current state.

In general, we will have to take into account things like our current weight, our age, and our gender. Depending on this, walking a mile at a leisurely pace could burn around 100 calories. But, again, it depends on many things, including our physical state. According to research in this regard, if we are sedentary people who are not used to moving, walking at an approximate rate of 5km/h would allow us to burn about 270 calories per hour.

In any case, the evidence shows that the most effective way to lose weight would be to change your pace. If we vary the pace at which we walk. We can burn 20% more calories than if we always walked at the same pace.

How many minutes a day will we have to walk for weight loss?

As with the number of steps and the rhythm, the time we need to dedicate to walking will depend on the personal place from which we start. If we are very sedentary people, a shorter activity time can have a high impact when starting. For these people, walking 20 to 30 minutes a day can be a good place to start.

However, the US Government’s Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion recommends walking about 150 minutes a week. That is at least two and a half hours a week. We can distribute it as we want, but it is recommended that we go for a walk every day or, at least, once every two days.

As we progress and improve our physical condition. We will notice that we will have to increase the number of steps we take. The pace at which we take them and the time we dedicate to them so that they continue to help us lose weight. The good thing is that, once we adopt the habit, it will be much easier for us to increase it and even begin to complement it with other physical activities.

How many steps a day do you have to take according to your age

According to the American Heart Association, the recommended number of steps per day can vary based on age. Here are the recommended steps per day by age group:

• Children (ages 6-17): 12,000-15,000 steps per day
• Adults (ages 18-64): 10,000-12,000 steps per day
• Older adults (ages 65+): 7,000-8,000 steps per day

Conclusion

Numerous people can participate in walking because it does not call for any specialized equipment. It offers numerous health benefits in addition to helping with weight loss. Walk has a number of positive health effects, including weight loss. In comparison to other types of exercise, many individuals do not consider walking to be very efficient. Your weight and walking speed have the biggest impacts on how many calories you burn when walking. More calories are burned per hour by walking faster. 

Walking for an hour every day can help you burn calories and lose weight. A significant amount of weight loss requires an average of 150 minutes of physical activity per week. You might be able to achieve that objective by walking for an hour each day.

Numerous studies have shown that walking helps people lose weight, especially when done in conjunction with a low-carb diet.

Frequently Asked Questions