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Everyone tends to overlook the power of walking to lose weight. Although it’s an activity we do each day, walking is extremely helpful in improving health and toning muscles, all while helping you burn more calories for that weight loss.
Walking a little more each week can help you lose one pound – or more – each week, or up to 20 pounds in five months. It all depends on how you do your walking.
The number of calories you burn in each walking session depends on your pace and your body weight. The faster you walk, the more calories you’ll burn in a shorter amount of time. Using a pedometer to track the number of steps you take each day – or even keep track of how many calories you burn – can help you maximize how you use your time.
With a pedometer recording your progress, you can actually calculate how many steps you should take in a day to help you lose weight.
On average, a person will take 2,000 steps in one mile and burn 100 calories. Losing a pound of weight requires you to burn 3,500 calories. If you want to lose one pound each week, you’ll have to burn around 500 calories each day. Therefore, you should take 10,000 steps each day to help you lose one pound in a week’s time.
Don’t let this number daunt you. It’s easy to increase the number of steps you take in a day:
Walk, rather than drive or take another form of public transportation. Park far away from the places you need to be so you can walk more. Purposely cut driving trips in half and walk the other half of the distance. Choose the stairs over escalators and elevators.
Walking is an easier form of exercise than most, but it’s still difficult to make changes to your routine, so try to motivate yourself by listening to music, establishing a new walking habit with a friend or family member, and changing paths so you don’t get bored.
Take it easy on yourself and don’t expect immediate changes in a day. Gradually introduce walking into your weekly routine by going on 15-20 minute walks about three times each week, then slowly increase it to 30-60 minutes of walking every day.
Happy walking!
