Looking to lose weight? Believe it or not, there is an effective workout routine that requires no equipment, no specific expertise or trainer and no gym fees — walking.
Walking for weight loss is low-impact and has many benefits, including reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke. It can also help you reduce belly fat by burning extra calories and developing lean muscle.
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Even a few thousand steps a day can help you shed pounds if you’re consistent, says Cedric Bryant, Ph.D., the president and chief science officer of the American Council on Exercise.
To lose weight, Bryant recommends walking 45 to 60 minutes a day, five or six days a week. But, he says, you can break up those walks into smaller walking sessions if that helps you to fit in the steps.
"The thing to understand is that it doesn't have to be an all-in-one walking session; you can break it up through the course of that day," Bryant says. "Maybe you go for a 30-minute walk in the morning, and then maybe it's another 15- or 30-minute walk following dinner or during your lunch break," he says.
"The idea is to try to accumulate about 45 minutes to an hour of walking, which tends to correlate best with reasonable weight loss or better weight control."
In addition, studies have found that a 15-minute walk can reduce cravings for sugary snacks, such as chocolate, and therefore decrease the amount of sugar that walkers eat overall.
Along with supporting weight loss, walking can improve mental health, increase metabolism and decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease and dementia.
Check out some of the amazing results from our Start TODAY walking group to get some inspiration.
How much weight can you lose from walking?
Several factors help to determine how much weight someone can lose from walking, including “how frequently you do it in terms of days per week, as well as the duration that you walk and also the intensity at which you walk," Bryant says.
He adds that people can expect every thousand steps to burn about a hundred calories.
A 2022 study published in the journal Nutrients found that postmenopausal women who are overweight or obese may lose more weight by walking at a slower pace than a rapid one.
Registered dietitian Samantha Cassetty explains that "the average 40-year-old woman who's 5 foot 4 inches and 165 pounds might lose five pounds in two months if she went from inactive to walking for an hour five times a week."
But you can't out-walk a bad diet, Cassetty says. "She would have to make some healthy tweaks to her diet, which result in a slight calorie deficit (around 100 calories a day)."
"Maintaining this workout routine and the healthy eating habits can help keep those five pounds off, but the walking alone isn't likely to result in additional weight loss," Cassetty says.
"Generally speaking, the average healthy adult will likely notice a difference in how they feel by incorporating more movement and sprucing up the diet," says Marisa Moore, a registered dietitian in Atlanta, Georgia. "You may or may not lose weight with diet and exercise changes, though. Whether you lose weight can vary with personal genetics and metabolism, age, overall physical activity level, stress levels and even sleep."
How can you start a walking routine for weight loss?
Walking is one of the easiest exercise routines to start — just pick a route and get moving! Bryant recommends wearing comfortable footwear, but there's no need to invest in fancy shoes or other gear.
A good speed to start at is walking at a pace of about 3 miles an hour, or walking one mile in twenty minutes.
If you're looking for a metric to compete with, Bryant recommends trying to work your way up to 10,000 steps, which will help you burn about 1,000 calories. Recent research showed that logging 8,000 steps a few days a week lowered mortality risk, so even if you can't quite hit the 10,000 step benchmark, you'll still be making strides for your health.
Tips from Start TODAY members to help build a walking habit include focusing on mental health benefits, documenting your journey with pictures, being flexible with changes to your routine, focusing on consistency rather than calories or distance, and using walking as a way to learn more about your community.
How can you burn more calories while walking?
If you're looking for a full-body workout, it's possible to amp up your walking routine by changing the terrain.
"Walking uphill or inclining your treadmill increases the intensity and challenge of the walk," Bryant says. "You can also introduce some intervals where you change your walking speed. If you're outside, maybe walk really briskly from a stop sign to a stop sign and walk at a normal pace until you get to your next stop sign. If you're on a treadmill ... walk comfortably for three minutes and then for the next minute or two, walk a half a mile an hour faster."
You can also add weights, though Bryant recommends avoiding hand weights and instead investing in a weighted vest, which can make you push yourself harder without putting stress on the joints.
If you're looking for an equipment-free way to burn more calories, you can try doing something as simple as waving your arms. A study by the American Council on Exercise found that moving the arms vigorously expends more calories.
"It may look a bit odd but but vigorously pumping the arm certainly adds to the intensity of the workout," Bryant says.
What are some other health benefits of walking?
Of course, there are more benefits to walking than just losing weight. Like any other aerobic exercise, walking will help improve the function of your cardiovascular system, boost blood sugar control and lower blood pressure.
"Any benefit you can get from other forms of cardio exercise, like cycling, running, swimming, you can derive all those same benefits while walking," Bryant says.
Walking can also have benefits for mental health. Bryant says that the exercise can help relieve and manage stress and anxiety.
"I would tell people ... to really pay attention and focus on how walking makes them feel, because I think that can serve as a great motivator to kind of keep them in the game in terms of continuing to walk," he says.