Something almost everyone of us can do today to enhance our permanent weight loss journey is walk. Walking promotes weight loss, and it is often easy to maintain a walking program, especially since the cost is minor, and a walk can begin as soon as you step outside your door. The amount of weight you lose depends upon your metabolism, the amount of calories you are consuming and the type of walking. A ten minute walk daily will not likely result in much weight loss. Walking an hour, five days a week, at a pace of about 2-4 mph can, however, burn quite a few calories.
Studies find that a combination of reduced calories and walking are most effective in promoting weight loss. Walking alone may still provide some weight loss benefits, particularly if your calorie consumption is not overly high to begin with. If you add calories to your diet because you are walking, you may not see weight loss benefits.
Walking at 2 mph, a relatively slow pace, burns about 26 calories per 10 minutes. In 30 minutes the benefits increase and the average person burns about 79 calories. Walking at least thirty minutes is considered better than taking three ten minute walks a day because greater time spent walking means elevating your heart rate. As your heart rate increases, more calories are burned.
Picking up the pace and walking about 3 mph almost doubles the benefits of a half hour walk. You’ll burn about 125 calories in a thirty-minute period. As you get more comfortable walking at slower paces, you can begin to burn even more calories by including a few minutes of extra fast walking to increase heart rate. When you can walk a mile in 15 minutes, you’ll burn about 370 calories in an hour.
Walking more quickly and for longer time periods also contributes to greater calorie burning abilities for the rest of the day. Any type of cardiovascular exercise gets the heart pumping at maximum heart rate for your age and health means the body treats calories differently for the rest of the day. Generally, even if you are sedentary after a walk, you’ll burn calories at a higher rate.
Most fitness experts recommend beginning a walking program slowly, and further, most say it helps to use a pedometer to measure speed and distance. The first week, the only goal is to walk thirty minutes a day, five days a week, at a comfortable speed. Week two should include a minute of fast walking each day in your thirty-minute workout. Week three should include two minutes of fast walking or jogging. You should continue week by week to build ability to walk very quickly to increase calorie burn. As fitness increases, you can also increase time of walks, with an ideal goal of one hour of walking, five days a week.
I wonder what thinking and dreaming we could do on our walks? Not only does walking burn calories and aid us in our weight loss endeavors…it helps our mental attitude which has EVERYTHING to do with how we act. Put on your runners and head out this weekend!
Always encouraging you,
Letha
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