If you’re trying to shed some extra pounds, you already know that it can be a real struggle to lose weight. However, there is some good news. Walking, an activity most people are already participating in each and every day, has full potential to help you burn fat.
While most people think of exercise and picture long hours at the gym, walking is one of the most basic forms of exercise and we can participate in it anywhere. Walking is extremely effective as a form of LISS, or Low Impact Steady State cardio, and you can burn potentially hundreds of calories per hour by walking at a brisk pace.
However, you don’t have to necessarily pencil in a “walking workout” in order to burn calories by walking. In fact, if you track your steps throughout the day, you’ll soon realize just how quickly they can add up. By walking 10,000 steps in a day, for example, you’ll be walking approximately 5 miles! That can really help you burn off the extra fat in no time at all.
Committing to a step goal is actually one of the most effective ways to burn fat and get healthier in your lifestyle, even if you don’t have a gym membership or time to go. Since meeting a step goal is generally one of the easiest things you can do, you can work towards it throughout the day, whether you have 5 minutes to spare or just 5 steps.
With time, you’ll begin to see your extra walking add up and pay off. Plus, if you do happen to have time to devote to walking (like walking in place in front of the television at night or even going on a walk after work), you’ll begin to see results even faster.
When it comes to how much fat walking is able to burn, the numbers are easy to understand. Since it takes 3,500 calories to burn one pound of fat, if you were to burn about 250 calories in an hour of walking, you’ll just need to walk for two hours every day in order to burn 1 pound of fat every week (because walking for two hours a day burns 500 calories a day).
If you’re walking at just 2.5 miles per hour, walking for 2 hours means you have walked 5 miles–or 10,000 steps! Think you can do it?
