With the rising popularity of calorie counting and exercise apps, more and more people are asking if walking is enough for weight loss. Walking is a simple, natural, and healthy way to lose weight, and it is accessible to just about everyone. Walking is low impact, although it can still be strenuous over long distances, and it does not require a lot of equipment.
In this post, our weight loss experts at MediPlan Diet Services will detail whether walking is an exercise you can use to achieve your fat loss goals more quickly. We believe that all forms of exercise are beneficial, but when our experts discuss weight loss, they do so knowing our clients want to learn which ones can give them better calorie burns.
Is Walking a Good Exercise?
Most people think of walking as an essential everyday activity, similar to breathing, bending as you sit, or stretching after getting out of bed. Walking doesn’t register as an exercise activity for most people unless their hobbies include hiking, trail running, or cycling. But is walking enough for weight loss?
Walking an hour a day provides a broad range of health benefits for your cardiovascular and circulatory systems, and it’s an excellent tool for achieving weight loss objectives and countering depression.
According to the American Heart Association, over 75% of American adults live a sedentary lifestyle. Being inactive is a major contributing factor to obesity, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and the formation of many kinds of cancers.
Walking is an exercise that helps increase your heart rate, lower blood pressure, and strengthen your bones and muscles, and all you need is a pair of shoes and an hour or two of spare time.
Walking does not require an athletic level of effort. It lends itself to use in a broad range of physical therapy programs and functional fitness curriculums because of its aerobic benefits. Most of our clients can improve their health by walking just 20 minutes a day, and the health effects compound as they increase the distance and duration of their walks.
Is Walking Enough for Weight Loss?
You can find hundreds of calorie burn calculators online, but the calories you eliminate through walking depend on your total weight, speed, and terrain. According to most studies, a 180-pound person will burn 100 calories after walking a mile, and a 120-pound person will burn 65. Walking faster around a hilly area will burn more calories than leisurely strolling on flat city streets.
Walking is often not enough to make you lose weight by itself. Most experts recommend you use it to supplement your move to a healthier and less calorie-dense diet and a more active lifestyle. Many weight watchers use extra weights to increase their burn rate during walks and mix periods of brisk walking with a few minutes of recovery.
Our experts at MediPlan Diet Services can help you create a low-impact exercise plan to supplement a dietician-approved weight loss regimen. If you’re still wondering whether walking is enough for weight loss, call us today at 901-362-7546 and get a free consultation.