Burning Calories - How to Walk for Weight Control

Weight is determined mostly by the balance of calories - how many you burn vs. how many you eat each day. To lose weight, you need to increase your activity to burn more and/or eat fewer calories each day.

Calories and Weight

A pound of fat equals 3500 calories. To lose 1 pound a week you will need to expend 3500 more calories than you eat that week, whether through increased activity or decreased eating or both. Losing 1-2 pounds of fat a week is a sensible goal, and so you will want to use the combination of increased activity and eating less that will total 3500 calories for 7 days.

How You Burn Calories

Your weight x distance = energy used walking. Time does not matter as much as distance. If you speed up to walking a mile in 13 minutes or less, you will be burning more calories per mile. But for most beginning walkers, it is best to increase the distance before working on speed. A simple rule of thumb is 100 calories per mile for a 160 pound person.

Note About the Calories Chart
You burn more calories per mile at very low speeds because you are basically stopping and starting with each step and your momentum isn't helping to carry you along. Meanwhile, at very high walking speeds you are using more muscle groups with arm motion and with a racewalking stride. Those extra muscles burn up extra calories with each step. Running may burn more calories per mile as there is an up and down motion lifting your weight off the ground as well as moving it forward.

The Best Way to Burn More Calories: Walk Further

Build up to walk more miles/kilometers. Concentrate your training on building distance before you build speed, and walking five or six days a week. The calories burned by an extra few minutes of walking far overcome any other changes you can make.

Burn Calories While You Sleep

You can burn more calories, every hour, every day, even while sleeping by building up muscle. When you add muscle to your body, you are increasing your basal metabolic rate - the number of calories you burn each day at rest. We aren't talking about Schwarzenegger-like muscles, just toning your legs, arms, stomach and shoulders.

Absolute Beginner Walkers: You build leg muscles as you increase your walking time and distance. Concentrate on building the amount of time you spend walking.
Seasoned Walkers: For those who have been walking for months or years, you will need to alter your walking style to build more muscles just from walking. Learning to racewalk, you would be building new muscle and burning more calories per mile.
Not Interested in Racewalking: For those who are not interested in racewalking to build muscle, you should add some strength training to your weekly exercise schedule in addition to walking in order to build muscle.

Burn More Walking Calories per Mile

Learn to Racewalk: At speeds over 13-minute mile rate you are burning more calories per mile as you use more muscle groups, as well as building muscle. How to Walk Faster
Use Walking Poles: Fitness walking poles such as Nordic Walker, Exerstrider sticks or Leki poles is an option for those who cannot walk fast and want to burn more calories per mile.
Carry Extra Weight: I do not recommend doing this, but if you do it you should add no more than 10 pounds and wear it in a backpack or at your hips so your body can remain balanced and your posture is not thrown off. Walking with poor posture or adding weight to your arms or legs can lead to injury.

Fewer Calories Mean Less to Burn

That Old Math
A candy bar equals 3-5 miles worth of walking. A Big Mac is worth 10K. If you have fallen into eating habits where you are taking in more calories per day than you use, you will not lose weight.

Eating Well
Most of us are not aware of how much we really eat per day. Make a food diary for a week and take a look. Make small changes and add them up to get lifetime results.

Eat the foods you enjoy but in smaller portions.
Replace processed snack foods with vegetables and fruit.
Eat 5-10 servings of fruits and vegetables per day
Restaurant portions are 2-4 times the amount you should eat at one meal. Eat out less often, and take home half of the food on the plate when you do.
Make changes you can live with the rest of your life. Try new foods, new recipes. Eat to live.

Fit and Fat
When you walk 6 hours a week you achieve better fitness and decrease your chance of heart disease, breast cancer, stroke, and diabetes. Medical research shows that disease attributed to obesity is in many cases caused by inactivity rather than just being overweight. Enjoy life better at any weight by maintaining your active lifestyle.

How fast to walk to burn fat

Warm-Up

First, you want to wake up your muscles and let them know you plan to be active for awhile. Walking at an easy warm-up pace for 5-10 minutes tells your muscles they can't just sit back and burn up the available sugars, they need to call on the fat reserves.

This is why you should not start off at a high speed - when you do that, your cells don't get the signal that this is a long-term activity, so instead they burn up sugars only.

Work-out

The speed to walk for optimal fat-burning is a "determined" pace.

At this rate, you should be breathing noticeably but able to carry on a conversation in full sentences.
Heart rate 60-70% of your maximum heart rate.
Marilyn L. Bach in "Shapewalking" describes this as if you are on your way to an appointment, or up to 10 minutes late for an appointment.
Walk at this speed for 30 minutes at a time, once you have built up to that duration. See the Absolute Beginner tutorial to build up to that duration.

Raising your Metabolism

Good work, you've tricked your body into dipping into your fat stores for energy. You are also building muscle and raising your basal metabolic rate so you are burning more calories all day long. Absolute Beginners Tutorial

Faster and Faster

Walking with racewalk style at paces under 13-minute miles will burn more calories per mile. I recommend this if you are already walking 20 miles a week as described above. In your case, to achieve more results purely from waking you may want to build speed as well as duration.

How Long is Enough?

30-60 minutes at 50-70% of your maximum heart rate is recommended.
Start with walking at an easy pace for 5-10 minutes.
Stop and do some stretches and flexibility exercises.
Walk at your target heart rate for 30-60 minutes.
Cool down at a slower pace for 5 minutes.
Finish with some gentle stretches.
For longer walks, walk 30-60 minutes at your target heart rate and slow a bit to complete 90 or 120 minutes at a comfortable pace.
Heart Rate Calculator

What if I Can't Walk for 30 Minutes?

Start with the Absolute Beginners Tutorial or our daily Let's Get Walking 4-Week Beginners Course to build up your time and endurance.
If your schedule doesn't permit it, break it up into walking twice or three times a day for shorter periods. Always warm up for 5 minutes at an easy pace no matter what duration you will be walking.

How Often Should I Walk?

For weight loss, walk most days of the week.
Time spent walking per week should be 5-10 hours.
On your non-walking days, try some strength training exercises.
If you find yourself worn out, take a day off. But be sure to get back walking the following day.

Short Day:
Warm up 5-10 minutes. Stretch. Walk at target pace (determined, 50-70% of maximum heart rate) for 30 minutes. Slow to easy pace for 5 minutes. Finish with gentle stretching. Heart Rate Calculator
Long Day:
Warm up 5-10 minutes at easy pace. Stretch. Walk at target pace for 60 minutes. Slow to easy pace for 5 minutes. Finish with gentle stretching.
Long Easy Day:
Warm up 5-10 minutes at easy pace. Stretch. Walk at target pace for 30 minutes. Slow to easy pace for additional 30 - 90 minutes. Finish with gentle stretching.
Day Off:
When walking for weight loss, you should take no more than 1 to 2 days off a week.

Alternate these days to fit your personal weekly schedule.
Example: Day : Workout - Time at Target HR
Sun.: Long Day - 60 min.
Mon.: Day Off - 0 min.
Tue.: Short Day - 30 min.
Wed.: Short Day - 30 min.
Thu.: Long Day - 60 min.
Fri.: Short Day - 30 min.
Sat.: Long Easy Day 30 min. at target HR, 30-90 easy.

The Long Easy Day may be spiced up by joining in a local non-competitive volkssport walk or a charity walking event.

Feeling Worn Out:

If your walking workout leaves you feeling sore or worn out the next day, take a day off. If this happens each day that you walk, check your heart rate to be sure you are not overdoing it, and drop back to 50% or less of your target heart rate and cut back on the number of long days in preference for short days.

Stretching will add flexibility and can make your walking more comfortable.

Warm up for 5 minutes at an easy walking pace before stretching, never stretch cold muscles or you risk tearing them. Incorporate mobility exercises designed to take a muscle and joint through its range of motion. You will start at the top of your body and work your way down.

Find an upright pole or fence or wall that will support you for leaning into on some stretches.

Stretches and Mobility Exercises for Walkers

Head Circles: Make 1/4 circles with your heat. Start with your ear near your shoulder on one site, rotate your head around to the front, ending with your ear near the shoulder on the other side. Roll your head back to the other side. Repeat 5-10 times.

Arm Circles: With one arm at a time, make backwards arm circle with your palm facing out, thumb pointed up.
Repeat 10-15 with each arm. Then make forward arm circles with palm facing in, thumb pointed down, repeat 10-15 times.

Hip Stretch: Stand up, take a half-step back with the right foot. Bend your left knee and shift your weight back to your right hip. While keeping the right leg straight, bend forward more and reach further down your right leg. Hold for 15-30 seconds. Switch sides.

Quadiceps Stretch: Stand erect, holding onto a wall for support. Bend your knee behind you so that you can grasp your foot, holding your heel against your butt. Stand up straight and push your knee gently back as far as you can, the hand just keeps the heel in place. (For some, it is more comfortable to use the hand from the opposite side). Hold for 15-30 seconds, then switch.

Calf Stretch:

Stand an arm's-length from the wall/post. Lean into wall/post, bracing yourself with your arms.. Place one leg forward with knee bent - this leg will have no weight put on it. Keep other leg back with knee straight and heel down. Keeping back straight, move hips toward wall until you feel a stretch. Hold 30 seconds. Relax. Repeat with other leg.

Achilles Stretch: From the calf stretch position, bend the back knee so that the angle is changed to stretch the Achilles tendon. Keep your heel down, hold 15-30 seconds. Then switch legs.

Leg Extensions:

Facing the pole, hold on with both hands. Bending at the knee, bring one leg forward, then extend and swing that leg back and behind. Repeat 10-15 times, then switch legs. Be cautious of hyperextending your lower back.

Cross Over Leg Swings: Holding onto the pole or fence rail with both hands, face forward. Swing one leg in front of your body gradually swinging higher. Swing about 10-15 times with each leg.

After stretching and mobility exercises, now you are ready to walk the main portion of your walk at your desired speed.