Is walking good for losing weight? Yes! Even going slowly will help you burn calories, but walking at a more rapid pace will be noticeably more effective for the time you put in. Still, one good thing about walking as exercise is that everyone can tailor it to their own needs, so even very overweight or unfit people can make an improvement by doing some walking. More fit people can walk faster and even get into powerwalking, racewalking, and other variations too. Here you will find some key points about the benefits of walking and how to lose weight by walking. If you aren’t already walking for health, do consider it, as it is the easiest and most versatile way to get more exercise into your life.
Benefits of Walking
Walking gives you numerous health and fitness benefits. Here are some, based on information from the Mayo Clinic and other medical resources:
- Reduce your weight.
- Reduce stress.
- Lower your blood pressure.
- Improve your mood. (Studies of the beneficial effects of walking indicate it helps anxiety and depression too.)
- Lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, the one that’s bad for you.
- Raise high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, the one that’s good for you.
- Make you stronger and more fit.
- Reduce your risk of Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, some types of cancer, hypertension, and more.
- Helps ease joint pain and swelling caused by arthritis.
- Helps you feel more energetic.
- Reduce belly fat, which is implicated in greater risk of a variety of serious health conditions.
Walking is a very safe activity… provided you walk in a safe location and in one where the air isn’t too polluted by traffic! It is easier on your body than than running, as the impact of your feet hitting the ground repeatedly can really add up and result in a variety of injuries, due to the extra force with which runners’ feet hit the ground compared to walkers’. Brisk walking burns about as many calories per mile as running, though it will take you somewhat longer to go that mile.
How to Lose Weight by Walking
To lose weight walking, create a routine that you will do most days. Five or six days a week is good. It’s helpful to have at least one day off a week.
Much research has shown that people who set goals are more likely to stick with their routines and to get the best results. It’s like the old Broadway song says,
You got to have a dream.
If you don’t have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?
(South Pacific)
Your goal can be simple, such as to walk 5 days a week. It can be to walk a certain number of steps… see the section further down about pedometers and steps. Of course you likely have a weight loss goal but since exercise is only one of the factors involved in losing weight, it’s good to have a goal that is specifically about your walking activities. After all, if you walk a lot more but eat a lot more too, you aren’t likely to see the numbers on the scales going down!
Before you start walking each day, do some stretches to limber your body, and be sure to include some that involve your legs. That will warm them up. An easy one is to lean against a wall, your arms touching the wall over your head. Put one foot out a ways behind you and gently stretch that leg, all the way through your torso and up into your arms. After a minute or so, reverse legs and do the other one. There are many other good stretching exercises to do before walking.
Start your walking at a pace that is easy, even slow for you. After walking for a couple minutes or so at the easy pace, you can step it up to something brisker. Walk for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, or longer. Then end your walk at an easy pace too.
One of the harder parts of walking for many people is keeping from getting bored. One way to make walking more interesting is to walk with a friend. But if your friend can’t come on a particular day, be sure to go out anyway! Also, carrying a small mp3 player such as an Ipod™ can make you look forward to your walk if you are listening to favorite music that is good for walking, or motivational weight loss material, or any interesting material.
Losing weight by walking can be a disappointment at first, because if you are doing a vigorous walking program you might be building muscle faster than you are losing fat. As muscle weighs more than fat, you might even see a weight gain on the scale. Not what you thought you wanted! But notice if your clothing is any looser or take your measurements with a tape measure, and you may be pleased after all.
Seven Tips for Walking Off Weight
[1] Be sure to get your doctor’s okay for any exercise program that is considerably more vigorous than you have been doing. The more unfit you are at present, the more important this becomes.
[2] Wear shoes that give you good support. Walking shoes are ideal, but there are also well made sandals designed for walking too. If you wear socks under the sandals, you won’t find yourself stopping to get pebbles out from under your foot! If you happen to have any kind of foot problem which makes it difficult to find good shoes, try Footsmart.com as it carries an extremely wide selection of practical shoes and the numerous readers’ comments can help point you in the right direction.
[3] You don’t want to become dehydrated while exercising so drink water before you go and carry a small water bottle along with you.
[4] It’s better not to be hungry while you are walking—indeed, the best weight loss plans have you eating often enough that you are rarely if ever hungry—but you also don’t want to be stuffed from a large meal. So hit the spot in between those two extremes for your walks.
[5] As easy on your body as walking is, pay attention to how you are feeling as you decide how far to go and how vigorously to walk on any given day. Many people push through pain when their bodies are trying to indicate it would be better to slow down or to take a day off. Just noticing how you are feeling helps you make better decisions.
[6] Consider using a treadmill if you have the space, the money, and the desire to do a good bit of your walking while watching TV, keeping an eye on young children, or something else you can only do at home. Rebounders are much cheaper, weigh less, and take up much less space in a home—they are also a good option for walking at home, indoors or out. (Stay away from the very cheapest rebounders as they tend to be hard on your knees, but the Needak, the Reboundair, and the Jumpstart brands are among the good ones.)
[7] Pay attention to your posture as you walk.
The Benefits of Walking with a Pedometer
You walk all day long, not just when you go out for your official exercise walk, and wearing a pedometer is an enjoyable way to keep track of your total steps per day.
There are many different pedometers and some are easier to set up than others. But once you just go through the manual, it’s not hard to figure out even the more complex ones. For example, I have worn an Omron HJ-112 Digital Pocket Pedometer for several years now.. At first, I was not sure if I was measuring the length of my steps correctly, but then I realized it really didn’t matter in terms of counting steps. In fact, the simpler pedometers only count steps and don’t require any setup. But I like setting the Omron to also show the time, and I have even stopped wearing a watch since I always have the pedometer in my pocket. (Yep, stopped wearing clothes without pockets except for fancy dresses now and then.) I also really like knowing how many miles, as well as how many steps, I have walked in a day.
There is a popular book on walking called 10,000 Steps a Day to Your Optimal Weight: Walk Your Way to Better Health, by fitness trainer Greg Isaacs. The book comes with a simple pedometer, all you need to get started. It’s a good book to have around and pick up when your motivation to walk needs a boost. It’s just as useful if you are walking considerably less than 10,000 steps, as the principles are the same. But to see any significant weight gain, keep increasing the amount you walk. The pedometer is great for keeping you honest!
Walking with Weights?
Sometimes people want to get more out of their walking workout by carrying weights in their hands or wearing wrist weights, or they may be interested in ankle weights or weighted shoes.
But these are all bad ideas. Experts seem to be essentially unanimous that they are not worth the risk of strain or other injury. For example, you are likely to use your arms and hands in a way that isn’t good for them if you add weights there. If you are on a computer a lot, your hands may already be compromised by the typing and use of a mouse, so it’s better while walking to just swing your arms in a way that is comfortable for you.
There is one way to add weights to your body that may be suitable, though you should probably check with your doctor before spending any money on the device. This would be through using a walking vest. The best known is the Walkvest but there are others. I’m not adding a link to Amazon because I am a bit dubious about walking with weights. You can burn way more calories by just moving faster!
Another device you might consider would be walking poles, rather like ski poles. They are much safer than weights and are known to reduce strain on your body while walking. These are most commonly used by hikers. Click on the image to read about an inexpensive pair of walking poles at Amazon.
Interval Walking to Lose Weight
Interval walking is good for doing a more energetic walk and thus burning more calories. It can be done in a variety of ways, according to your fitness level. The basic principle is easy to follow: once you are walking, alternate walking at a regular pace, whatever that is for you, with shorter periods of walking a lot faster. Start with 30 seconds or less at the fast rate. Not to worry if you don’t have a stopwatch, just guess or pay attention to how your body feels. During the faster pace, you are pushing it so that your heart will be beating faster and you’ll be breathing deeper. Then slow back down, for at least twice as long or for several minutes. Don’t do your next fast segment till your breathing is back to normal.
The fast parts are getting your body used to a more strenuous workout and you will find over time that you can do more.
Some experts, such as Dr. Arthur Agatston who created the South Beach Diet, state that your metabolism will stay elevated for many hours after doing interval walking. Other fitness experts disagree about that particular benefit, but it does appear that interval walking is an excellent way to get more out of your walking time, if only because you are working harder during part of it.
Design Your Own Walking Program to Lose Weight
From what you have read, and from how you like to walk, you can figure out what you want your own walking program to be. Of course, you could just wing it day to day, but the clearer a walking and fitness goal you have, the more likely you will be to carry on when you don’t really feel like it! Here from the U.S. National Heart, Blood, and Lung Institute, is a long term walking program. (Clicking on the image will take you to their website.) This particular plan is designed for lowering blood pressure but it or a variation of it might suit your weight loss plans.
So when someone asks you “Is walking good for losing weight?” maybe soon you can say from your own experience, “Yes, definitely!”