September 11, 2014
by Sárka-Jonae Miller
(The Best Years in Life) Eating well is crucial for long-term health and wellness, but it’s not enough to keep you trim and toned. For people who don’t have time or money to hit the gym every day, walking offers a free and enjoyable way to lose weight and stay in shape. Walking is also one of the gentlest forms of cardiovascular exercise yet is still weight-bearing, so it’s good for maintaining bone density.
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If you’re serious about losing weight, a simple way to use walking to shed pounds is to aim for burning 500 calories per day every day. One pound of fat comprises 3,500 calories, so if you walk off 500 each day you’ll lose around a pound a week. Double up your workout one day if you want to have a day off that week.
There is a catch. Five hundred calories is more than you think and taking the dog for a walk around the block isn’t going to burn anywhere near that amount. One of the main reasons people do not lose weight is overestimating how hard they’re working out and underestimating how much they eat. So, if you want to get to five hundred calories you’re going to have to use some tricks.
Add an Incline
A 165-pound person burns only 225 calories walking for an hour at a moderate pace of 3mph. But that’s okay, because if you add an incline to your walking workouts you burn up to 50 percent more calories. Examples of inclines include hills, stairs, and a 7 percent incline on a treadmill. You’re going to want to work up to this though depending on how fit you already are.
Pick up the Pace
If you don’t live anywhere hills and don’t like stairs, another option is to pick up the pace. Walking at a brisk pace of 4.5 mph for an hour burns 472 calories for a 165-pound person. Throw in a few extra minutes or some stairs at the end and you’ll get to your 500 mark. Or, just go a tiny bit faster. Walking at just 0.2 mph faster, so 4.7 mph, burns as many calories as running.
Kick it Up Nordic Style
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