Walking to lose weight – how much and how? Did you know that walking can help you lose weight? In today’s article, we will focus on this question, and the answer is certainly positive, but let’s go in order.
Regardless of your age and level of physical fitness, regular walking can help you to have a slender body and a great figure.
Walking, of course, combined with proper nutrition, can be a great way to lose weight.
To achieve this goal, you need to walk regularly, long enough, and with the appropriate intensity.
Only with perseverance will you be able to achieve the expected results, which are less weight and better physical condition.
Here are the top 4 most important things you need to know about hiking before you start practicing.
Walking to lose weight 4 most important things
Time spent walking and losing weight
According to the American College of Sports Medicine, one should practice moderate physical activity. These activities include (walking, cycling, brisk walking, etc.) at least 30 minutes a day or 150 minutes a week.
This will promote better cardiovascular health. Also the proper functioning of the organism in many aspects.
If you are trying to lose weight with moderate physical activity, which according to many studies is the right way, you will probably need to be more active than the above.
For individuals who are obese or overweight and trying to lose weight, ACSM recommends the following method.
It is necessary to increase the activity time from 150 minutes to 200-300 minutes per week. That would be about 3.5 to 5 hours a week.
Achieving this goal will require walks of 1 hour, 4-5 times a week.
Any extra time spent in physical activity will contribute to plus weight loss. But it will also cause an increased level of physical fitness on your part.
How fast should we walk to lose weight?
Not all walks outside or in nature are the same. If we just walk slowly, then it will have no effect on any weight loss.
It is very important to feel that your heart rate is accelerating while walking.
Accelerated walking rhythm for weight loss
The rhythm should be slightly higher than 50% of the maximum. Moderate physical activity is any activity that raises the heart rate to 50-70% of the maximum heart rate.
If you decide to increase the intensity of the walk there are several ways:
– whether by adding weight exercises
– or through short running intervals
In that case (70-85% of the maximum heart rate), you will need to cut the duration of the walk-in in half.
For example, if it lasts 1 hour, by increasing the intensity with the mentioned examples, it will have to be half an hour. The simplest way to determine the intensity of activity is to use a heart rate monitor.
Although it is not necessary, because the accelerated heart rate caused by the extra effort, and you will feel it yourself.
To make it easier to visualize what it is about, you can use the following example.
On a scale of 0 to 10 (0 is for sitting and 10 for the most strenuous activity), the moderate activity you need to reach is 5-6, and for an increased intensity everything above 7 is considered.
Is walking the same as running?
Walking can provide you with the same health benefits as running. In addition, the risk of injuries while walking is significantly lower.
This is especially important for seniors and those with less physical fitness.
For these people, it is of great importance and advantage over the classic running. When it comes to weight loss walking, duration and intensity are key.
So it all depends on the time and intensity of the walks. Running 5 km, at an average speed of 6 and a half minutes per kilometer, burns about 340 calories.
So about 11.3 calories per minute. Walking the same distance (5 km) consumes about 100 calories less and the activity lasts longer.
Or burn about 4 calories per minute. These are calculations for people who weigh about 70 pounds. It is obvious that running consumes a lot more calories.
But if you continue walking, which you can do much easier than continuing to run, you will get the same effect.
If we stick to the previous example, to burn 340 calories with a walk, you will need to walk an additional 30 minutes.
The fact is that in general, people are much more likely to opt for moderate activity than intense exercises such as running.
Moderate activity is easier to “maintain”, and easier to become a habit. We have already mentioned that it is safer (especially for the elderly and those with some health problems).
Walking can very easily fit into your daily routine (for example walking to work).
Diet is an important part of walking
Physical activity and diet are inseparable when it comes to the process of losing weight, but also in general, healthy living.
The activity itself will increase your need for food, so you will need to be more careful not to overdo it and eat much more than you spend.
To do this, you will need to monitor and record how many calories you are actually consuming. This will be true until you create a sense of how rich in certain foods you are eating.
It is also important to monitor how many calories are consumed. There are various smartphone apps to help you keep track of this.
You can track the time and intensity of exercise, and calculate for yourself with different equations available online.
Knowing how many calories you consume and how many you eat will make it much easier to maintain a calorie deficit, a condition necessary for weight loss.
Conclusion
If you intend to lose weight, be more active, walk a little more than before. In case you have not been active at all, 15 minutes is enough to start, but every day.
Duration and intensity are key, so increase your walks to at least 1 hour a day, 4-5 times a week.
Then, you can add some weight training during walks or intervals (for example, every 10 minutes of walking, 3 minutes of brisk walking/running).
That way you will lose weight faster, of course, if you have a proper diet. With perseverance and walking, you will achieve weight loss, you can be sure of that.
