How Many Calories Are Burned in a Fast Walk?

Walking is an outdoor or indoor activity that can be enjoyed by nearly everyone. Whether you're doing it for health benefits, to lose weight or to enjoy the changing seasons in your neighborhood, find out how many calories you're burning during those walking sessions.

  1. Understanding Calorie Loss

    • The amount of calories burned will depend on your body weight and walking speed, as well as other factors such as incline and walking surface. The more you weigh, the more calories will be burned by any activity. It is important to know your proper weight to evaluate calories burned while walking.

    Walking Speed

    • Ideally, you should use a pedometer to verify your walking speed. If you do not have one, estimation will work. At a slow walking pace, you should be able to talk and breathe normally. A moderate pace is approximately the pace of walking a dog, and a brisk pace will be more physically challenging, making a conversation somewhat difficult.

    Calculating Caloric Burn

    • Walking at a slow pace, about 2 miles per hour, burns 0.0231 calories per minute. A moderate pace of 3 miles per hour, the equivalent pace of walking a dog, will result in a calorie burn rate of .0323 calories per pound per minute. For a 150-pound person, that equals nearly 291 calories per hour. At a brisker pace of 4 mph, the same person would burn about 331 calories in an hour (.0368 calories per pound per minute).

      To determine your caloric burn, multiply your weight in pounds by the rate per minute, and again by 60 if you want to know how many calories were burned per hour.