Can a dog lose weight by walking

Does Walking 1 Hour Every Day Aid Weight Loss?

Walking is an exercise that is accessible for many people and requires no special equipment. It not only contributes to weight loss but also provides other health perks.

Walking can aid weight loss and provide many other health benefits. However, compared with other forms of exercise, many people typically may not view walking as effective for weight loss.

This article explains how walking for 1 hour per day can help you lose weight. Heres how to get started.

Walkings simplicity makes it an appealing activity for many people particularly those looking to burn extra calories.

The number of calories you burn walking depends on numerous factors, but your weight and walking speed play a key role. The average walking pace for adults is 3 mph (4.8 kph). The faster you walk and the more you weigh, the more calories you expend (1).

This table estimates the number of calories you can burn per hour based on your body weight and walking speed (1):

Other factors that influence the number of calories you burn include terrain, climate, and your age and sex (2).

Summary

The number of calories you burn walking depends mainly on your weight and walking speed. Walking faster burns more calories per hour.

Walking 1 hour each day can help you burn calories and, in turn, lose weight.

If youd like to lose a substantial amount of weight (more than 5% of your body weight), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends getting at least 300 minutes of moderately intense physical activity weekly. Walking for 1 hour daily may help you meet that goal (3).

Additionally, many people tend to lose lean muscle mass when they lose weight. Walking can help you preserve lean muscle mass, which can help you maintain your weight loss results (4).

Factor in your diet

While walking can help you lose weight, its more effective when also following a calorie-restricted diet.

In a 12-week study, people with obesity restricted calories by 500800 per day. One group walked 3 hours per week at 3.7 mph (6 kph), and the other group did not walk (5).

Both groups lost a significant amount of body weight, but those in the walking group lost, on average, about 4 pounds (1.8 kg) more than those who didnt walk (5).

Whether you walk continuously or in shorter bursts might also influence weight loss.

In a 24-week study, women with excess weight or obesity restricted their calorie intake by 500600 calories per day and either walked briskly for 50 minutes or did two 25-minute bouts per day. Those who did the two shorter workouts lost 3.7 pounds (1.7 kg) more than those who continuously walked for 50 minutes (6).

But other studies show no significant differences in weight loss between continuous and intermittent walking, so choose whichever routine works best for you (7).

Summary

Multiple studies confirm that walking promotes weight loss, especially when combined with a low calorie diet.

To lose weight, you must consistently eat fewer calories than you expend each day.

You can do this by increasing the calories you burn via exercise, decreasing the calories you consume, or both.

Its often stated that 1 pound (0.45 kg) of body weight is equivalent to 3,500 calories. Based on this theory, you should reduce your calorie intake by 500 for 7 days to lose 1 pound (0.45 kg) per week.

Although this rule does not account for people with lower body fat percentages or the decrease in calorie expenditure that comes with weight loss, a calorie deficit of 500 calories per day is appropriate for most people aiming to lose weight (8, 9, 10).

You can achieve part of this deficit by walking 1 hour per day or by gradually decreasing the number of calories you consume.

Depending on your calorie intake, a deficit of 500 calories per day may lead to 0.52 pounds (0.20.9 kg) of weight loss per week (10).

Summary

A 500-calorie deficit per day is sufficient for most people to lose weight. You can burn some of these calories by walking for one hour daily.

Walking has many benefits, especially when you walk multiple times per week for 3060 minutes at a time. These health effects can include (5, 11, 12):

These benefits translate to a reduced risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and overall mortality, as well as improved quality of life (3).

Moreover, walking at least 150 minutes a week (about 22 minutes a day) along with your other daily activity can help maintain your current weight. This is noteworthy because adults tend to gain 1.11.8 pounds (0.50.8 kg) per year (13, 14).

Summary

Walking is associated with several health benefits, including improved mood and quality of life and a reduced risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

If you want to walk daily for exercise, start slowly, and progressively increase your duration and frequency. Once you can walk as long and as frequently as youd like, you can increase the intensity (3).

If youre just starting, walking fast for a long time can leave you fatigued, sore, and unmotivated. Instead, you may want to start by walking for 515 minutes 2 or 3 times a week at a comfortable pace.

When you are ready to increase your walking duration, frequency, or intensity, consider your age, fitness level, and prior experience. Youth and young adults can typically increase their activity in small amounts every week, while older adults can typically increase their activity every 2 to 4 weeks to prevent injury (3).

People who typically have a low activity level might consider increasing their activity at a slower rate to reduce injury risk. Also, consider whether your past fitness experiences have shown that certain progression rates make you susceptible to injury (3).

Summary

If youre new to walking as an exercise, you can build stamina by progressively increasing your walks duration and intensity.

As with any exercise regimen, shake things up every so often to keep your routine engaging and challenging. Here are a few tips:

• Modify your route: Walk on bike trails, in a different neighborhood or at your local mall, or take your usual route in reverse.
• Split up your walking time: If your goal is to walk 60 minutes per day, you can split this time into two 30-minute walks.
• Change your walking times: If you regularly walk in the morning, try evenings, or vice versa.
• Walk with a partner: Walking with a partner provides accountability and can keep you motivated.
• Listen to an audiobook or podcast: Entertain yourself by listening to an audiobook or your favorite podcast.
• Reward yourself: Occasionally reward yourself with new walking shoes or attire.

If your goal is to lose weight, its also important to increase your walking intensity. Your body burns fewer calories to perform the same physical activities at a lighter body weight than a heavier one (9, 15).

For example, a 150-pound (68-kg) person burns nearly 50 fewer calories per hour walking at 3 mph (4.8 kph) than a 180-pound (82-kg) person walking at the same speed (1).

While it might seem insignificant, 50 calories burned per day amounts to 350 fewer calories burned per week.

Increasing the intensity of your workout can help you burn more calories. Try upping your pace or walking on an incline (1).

Walking with handheld weights or a weighted vest can also boost the intensity (16, 17).

Summary

Stay motivated on longer walks by switching up your routine. As you begin to lose weight, increase your walking intensity or duration to avoid weight loss plateaus.

How quickly you will see weight loss depends on numerous factors, including your walking speed, duration, intensity, and frequency. Your weight and diet also contribute to weight loss results (1).

For example, walking quickly through hilly terrain several days a week while following a reduced-calorie diet will deliver results more quickly than walking slowly on level ground once a week.

Most adults should aim to get at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity daily. If you are just beginning to incorporate walking into your exercise regimen, you may need to work up to this amount to prevent injury (18).

Walking every day is good for your body in many ways. It not only contributes to weight loss and management, but it lowers your risk of heart disease, dementia, Alzheimers, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, several cancer types, and mortality. It also improves sleep, cognition, and mental health (19, 20).

Walking is a great form of exercise, and doing so for 1 hour each day may aid in weight loss and provide other health benefits.

Walking is an effective way to lose weight because it helps you burn more calories, especially when you monitor your calorie intake.

Intensify your walking routine to progress toward your weight loss goal. Shaking up your regimen can help you stay motivated.

How Walking Can Help You Lose Weight and Belly Fat

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Walking may help you burn extra calories and develop lean muscle. Walking or performing exercise regularly may reduce belly fat and provide other health benefits.

If you want to stay fit and healthy, its important to exercise regularly.

This is because being physically fit can reduce your risk for developing health conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer (1, 2, 3).

In addition to helping you live a longer and healthier life, exercise can also be beneficial in helping to manage your weight (4).

Fortunately, walking is a great form of physical activity thats free, low risk, and accessible to most people (5).

In fact, walking is not just good for you its one of the easiest forms of exercise to incorporate into your day-to-day life.

This article explores how walking more often can help you lose weight and belly fat.

Your body needs energy (in the form of calories) for all the complex chemical reactions that allow you to move, breathe, think, and function.

However, daily calorie needs vary from person to person and are affected by things like your age, height, weight, sex, genes, and activity level.

Its well known that you need to burn more calories than you consume to lose weight (6).

Furthermore, people who are more physically active burn more calories than those who are sedentary (7, 8).

However, modern living and work environments may mean that you spend large parts of your day sitting, especially if you have an office job.

Unfortunately, a sedentary lifestyle can not only contribute to weight gain, but it can also increase your risk for health problems (9).

Trying to get more exercise by walking more often can help you burn more calories and reduce these risks (10).

In fact, walking a mile (1.6 km) burns approximately 100 calories, depending on your sex and weight (11).

One study measured the number of calories people of average fitness level burned after walking at a brisk pace of 3.2 miles (5 km) per hour or running at a pace of 6 mph for about a mile. Results showed that those who walked at a brisk pace burned an average of 90 calories per mile (12).

Furthermore, although running burned significantly more calories, it only burned around 23 more calories per mile, on average, meaning both forms of exercise contributed significantly to the number of calories burned.

To increase the intensity of your walk and burn even more calories, try walking on routes with hills or slight inclines (13).

Summary

Walking burns calories, which may help you lose weight and keep it off. In fact, walking just one mile burns about 100 calories.

When people cut calories and lose weight, they often lose some muscle in addition to body fat.

This can be counterproductive, as muscle is more metabolically active than fat. This means that having more muscle helps you burn more calories each day.

Exercise, including walking, can help counter this effect by preserving lean muscle when you lose weight.

Preserving lean muscle helps reduce the drop in metabolic rate that often occurs with weight loss, making your results easier to maintain (14, 15, 16).

Whats more, regular exercise can reduce age-related muscle loss, helping you retain more of your muscle strength and function in later years (17).

Summary

Walking can help prevent some of the muscle loss that may occur when cutting calories to lose weight. This helps minimize the drop in metabolic rate that occurs when you lose weight, making the pounds easier to keep off.

Storing a lot of fat around your midsection has been linked to an increased risk of diseases like type 2 diabetes and heart disease (18).

In fact, men with a waist circumference greater than 40 inches (102 cm) and women with a waist circumference greater than 35 inches (88 cm) are considered to have abdominal obesity, which is considered a health risk.

One of the most effective ways to reduce belly fat is to regularly take part in aerobic exercise, such as walking (19, 20).

In one small study, women with obesity who walked for 5070 minutes three times per week for 12 weeks, on average, reduced their waist circumference and their body fat. The fat directly under the skin (subcutaneous) and the hidden fat within your abdominal cavity (visceral) were both significantly reduced in the exercise group in comparison to the control group (21).

Another study found that people on a calorie-controlled diet who walked for 1 hour five times per week for 12 weeks were able to lose inches off their waistlines as well as more body fat, compared with those who followed the diet alone (22).

Summary

Regularly taking part in moderate-intensity aerobic exercise like walking is associated with lower levels of belly fat.

Exercise is known to boost your mood.

In fact, physical activity has been shown to improve your mood and decrease feelings of stress, depression, and anxiety (23, 24).

It does this by making your brain more sensitive to the hormones serotonin and norepinephrine. These hormones relieve feelings of depression and stimulate the release of endorphins, which make you feel happy (25).

This is a great benefit in itself. However, experiencing an improvement in mood when you walk regularly might also make the habit easier to keep up with.

Whats more, some studies have found that if you enjoy a physical activity, it can increase the likelihood that you will continue to do it (26, 27, 28).

People tend to exercise less if they do not enjoy it, which can be a result of the exercise being too physically demanding (29).

This makes walking an excellent choice, as its a moderate-intensity exercise. Thats likely to motivate you to walk more, rather than give up.

Summary

Regularly taking part in exercise that you enjoy, such as walking, can improve your mood and make you more motivated to keep it up, which in turn supports weight loss.

Many people who lose weight end up gaining it all back (29).

However, regular exercise plays an important role in helping you maintain weight loss (30).

Regular exercise like walking does not only help increase the amount of energy you burn day-to-day, but it also helps you build more lean muscle so that you burn more calories, even at rest.

Furthermore, participating in regular, moderate-intensity exercise like walking can improve your mood, making you more likely to stay active in the long term.

A review estimated that to maintain a stable weight, you should walk at least 150 minutes per week (31).

However, if youve lost a lot of weight, you may need to exercise more than 200 minutes per week to prevent yourself from regaining it (33, 34).

In fact, studies have found that people who exercise the most are usually the most successful at maintaining their weight loss; whereas people who exercise the least are more likely to regain the weight (35)

Incorporating more walking into your day can help you increase the amount of exercise you do and contribute to your daily activity goals.

Summary

Staying active and moving more by walking throughout your day can help maintain weight loss.

Being more physically active has a host of benefits in addition to weight loss, including:

• improved fitness and mood
• a reduced risk of disease
• an increased likelihood of living a longer, healthier life

Because of this, its recommended that people participate in at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week.

In walking terms, that means walking for around 2.5 hours per week (at least 10 minutes at a time) at a brisk pace. Doing more exercise than this has additional benefits for your health (and you weight) and reduces your risk for disease even further.

There are many ways to increase the amount of walking you do and achieve this target.

The following are some ideas:

• Use a fitness tracker and log your steps to motivate yourself to move more (36).
• Make a habit of taking a brisk walk on your lunch break and/or after dinner.
• Ask a friend to join you for an evening walk.
• Go for a walk with family and kids.
• Walk your dog every day or join a friend on their dog walks.
• Take a walking meeting with a colleague, instead of meeting at your desk.
• Do errands like taking the kids to school or going to the store on foot.
• Walk to work. If its too far, park your car further away or get off your bus a few stops early and walk the rest of the way.
• Try picking new and challenging routes to keep your walks interesting.
• Join a walking group.

Every little bit helps, so start small and try to gradually increase the amount you walk daily.

Summary

Incorporating more walking into your day can help you burn more calories and lose weight.

Walking is a moderate-intensity exercise that can be easily incorporated into your daily life.

Simply walking more often can help you lose weight and belly fat, as well as provide other excellent health benefits, including a decreased risk of disease and improved mood.

In fact, walking just one mile burns about 100 calories.

If youre wanting to better manage your weight, combining your increase in physical activity with a nutrient-rich, balanced diet offers the best opportunity to help you achieve your goal.