How Much Should You Walk a Day to Lose Weight?

You want to lose weight, but you don’t want to do anything that is particularly difficult or strenuous. If you can lose weight while avoiding the gym, that would make your day. One of the slower, but effective methods is to go on a long walk. If it is the only exercise that you do, how much should you walk a day to lose weight?

Amble your way to weight loss

With walking being a less active method of exercise, there are several factors you will need to take into consideration when determining how far you should walk every day. When you walk, are you moving at a more brisk pace, or are you slowly ambling your way along the path while you take in the scenery? The faster you move, the more calories you will burn. The more calories you burn, the more weight you gradually lose.

You will also need to walk for longer periods of time, as opposed to more cardio heavy exercise where you can get away with doing shorter sessions. In order to have a shot at effectively losing weight, you will need to walk for at least thirty minutes to an hour every day. Doing so will allow you to burn anywhere from 100 to 600 calories depending on how long you walk and how fast you are going.

Go the distance

Now that distance and time have been taken into consideration, what about how far you should walk? That will greatly depend on how fast you are going and what you feel like you can do. As mentioned earlier, since walking is less intensive exercise, you will need to do a lot more of it. Walking for only half a mile will not be anywhere near enough to get you to the point where you will be losing weight.

In order to get the most out of walking, you will need to be walking several miles a day. To be more precise, it is estimated that you need to walk five miles a day. Distance aside, the amount of steps you take is also an important factor. Getting in at least 10,000 steps per day will help you with your weight loss goals as well.

Balance is key

Walking several miles a day is certainly a viable method of losing weight, but it also requires you to be careful with your calorie intake. If you eat too many calories per day, then no amount of walking will help you lose weight. At that point, you would need to consider more active forms of exercise in order to counter your intake.

As long as you are able to keep your calorie intake to 2,500 or below you will begin to see your weight loss efforts come to fruition within a few months. So while it may not be the most effective or efficient method, you can lose weight from walking several miles per day.