How Walking Can Help You Lose Weight

Walking is one of the easiest and most inexpensive ways to lose weight. Almost anyone can adopt a walking program and it doesn't take much to get started. It's also a great exercise if you haven't been active for some time. You decide when and where you walk and you can set a pace that's right for you. Walking can help you lose weight when you stick to it and endure.

  1. Make It Challenging

    • To add a challenge to your walking routine, try the 10,000 daily step challenge, promoted by Shape Up America. Ten thousand steps is approximately five miles, according to the Shape Up America, and this can be your goal. Investing in a pedometer is not necessary but it might make your walking a bit more fun as you track progress.

      If you decide not to use a pedometer, remember to walk briskly and monitor your steps by the distance you walk and how quickly you're walking. Two thousand steps is approximately one mile and that takes approximately 20 minutes of brisk walking.

    Plan for Endurance

    • Walking longer can burn more calories. Walking moderately every day for 45 to 60 minutes for five or six days a week burns more calories and "improve cardiac function, reduce weight and body fat," reports the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Additionally, walking can burn more calories than swimming or riding a bike because "walkers support their total body weight by themselves, rather than having a bike or water support their weight," says HHS. Increase intensity over time. Before reaching a plateau, plan to make your workouts more challenging. Make walking more difficult for your body with one-minute intervals of very fast walking followed by a minute of moderate walking and repeating this for several minutes. You may also need to find a more challenging terrain with hills.

    Stay Committed

    • You should also stay committed to your plan. Staying motivated is critical to your fitness and weight loss. Give yourself time to become accustomed to a new routine. The most critical time of any workout regimen is the first two to four weeks, according to Saskatoon Health Region. For this reason, you should stay committed for at least a month. Try to walk at the same time on most days and don't let other things get in the way of your routine. Treat walking as an important appointment you must keep with yourself. Keep a walking journal and write about how you feel each day after completing your walk. This can motivate you on days when you don't feel like walking.