How To Lose Weight By Walking

Walking has always been a simples form of exercise, and basically, everyone can do it. Plus, walking requires almost no equipment and it can be done more or less anywhere. Walking is not only good for WEIGHT LOSS but also for overall BETTER HEALTH. Here are 5 EASY ways you can lose weight by walking.

Walking to lose weight is entirely possible. Just because you don't sweat-your-soul-out while you're doing simple walking exercise that doesn't mean you're not affecting your metabolism and makes you burn calories.

I'm a living proof that you CAN lose weight by walking! A couple of years back, when I started my healthy lifestyle, walking was the only form of exercise I could do. I was morbidly obese, and at that point, walking was the only form of exercise that I could perform. I followed few simple rules, and next thing I knew, I formed walking habit that helped me lose serious weight. 

Walking is one of the safest and simplest forms of exercise known today. Basically, everyone can do it. But walking is not only great for shedding pounds and inches from your body. It's great for toning our muscles and improving our overall health.

There are only two simple rules you need to understand if you want to start losing weight by walking:

• you need to know how many steps you need to take every day,
• you have to commit to this step count on a daily basis.

Simple, right?! Here's how you can lose weight by simply walking.

How To Lose Weight By Walking

1. Walk at least 10.000 steps / day

The number of calories you can burn by walking is determined by your body weight and walking pace. On average, if you walk at a pace of 4 miles per hour (a common pace), you can burn roughly 300 - 400 calories per hour. To lose weight the average person needs to take about 2,000 steps in the average mile.

1 Mile = 2,000 steps and 100 calories burned
1 Pound – 3,500 calories
1 Pound weight loss per week = 500 calorie deficit per day

Mathematic is simple here: to lose 1 pound per week, you need to add 10,000 steps to your day.

Remember, you don’t need to start with 10,000 steps right away. Begin walking three days per week for 15 to 20 minutes. Then gradually increase the frequency until you are walking 30 to 60 minutes per day every day of the week. Also, you don't need to hit 10,000 steps in one session. You can break your walking sessions into two sessions during the day.

2. Walk at a brisk pace

Brisk walking refers to your exertion rather than your speed - although according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a brisk walking pace is defined with 3.0 miles per hour or about 20 minutes per mile. But I like to measure my brisk pace with my heart rate and breathing rate. Let me put it this way - for your walking pace to be brisk, you need to be breathing harder than usual - you should be able to speak in full sentences, but not sing for example.

If you find your usual walking pace doesn't reach the level of brisk walking and you want to speed up, then work on your walking technique to increase your speed.

You can also swing your arms while walking - vigorous arm pumping not only speeds your pace, it also provides a good upper body workout. Arm swinging while walking cause you to burn 5 to 10 percent more calories.

Remember you get an added benefit of burning fat when you walk at a brisk pace for longer than 30 minutes at once after warming up.

3. Practice interval-walking

Walking faster isn't the only thing that burns calories. Changing the pace increases calorie-burn too. You don’t have to have to follow some speed plan, though. Just try walking as fast as you can and then slow down. Then, speed back up again and so on.

You can even do short jogging session, just to build up your heart rate - if you're in condition to do it of course.

4. Add walking uphill

Walking uphill, or upping the incline on the treadmill, or adding climbing to a staircase with your walking exercise will help you build more muscles, increase your heart rate and overall help burn more calories. That's a pretty good reason to add some incline intervals to your walks.

You can do uphill walking two to three days per week or you can add some incline walk into your everyday walk - that's if you have hill near place you walk or if you're doing walking on the treadmill.

5. Add strength training

Walking is a great way to lose weight, but to make sure that you aren’t losing metabolism-boosting muscle mass, you need to integrate strength training into your routine. Why? Well even when we are at rest, our body is constantly burning calories. In fact, 75 percent of the calories that we burn each day are being used up just keeping you alive. “Resting metabolic rate” is much higher in people with more muscle. So build up some muscles people!

You can either stop every 10 minutes during your walks to perform a few sets of pushups, lunges, or squats, or other bodyweight exercises or you can incorporate strength training into your morning routine.

Pair that extra strength training with 30 minutes of brisk walking once a day and you’ll start cutting down on your extra fat deposits in no time.

• You may be interested to read this: How To Start Walking For Weight Loss 

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You may want to lose weight fast, but losing excess body fat is often the real goal. And you can do that with walking - easely. Consistency in eating a healthy diet and enjoying exercise are what will keep you on course and get you to the finish line.

Establish a good exercise schedule and find joy in activities that will make you healthier at the end.

Do you practice walking daily? Have you tried any of these strategies? If so, how have they worked? What are your favorite tips for walking pounds off? Let me know in comments below.