If you’re looking for an easy, inexpensive, and low-impact exercise, walking is the way to go. Pounding the pavement won’t cost you a penny, and getting your steps in can be a massive game-changer for both physical and mental health.
In fact, according to the NHS website, there’s strong scientific evidence to suggest that your hot girl walk helps to reduce your risk of developing major life-altering illnesses, such as coronary heart disease and type two diabetes, along with busting stress.
For some, another draw of walking is that it can help burn a few extra calories without you even noticing (we’re not saying this is essential by the way - it’s just a bonus for those who want to work towards increasing the number of calories they burn a day as part of a steady, sustainable goal).
If you’re amongst the calorie curious, you might also want to know the healthy and realistic amount of weight you can lose by walking 10,000 steps – so, we asked a personal trainer and a fitness coach to break it down, along with share the answers to a few other common walking-related questions...
How many calories does 10,000 steps burn?
While we’d love to give you a one-size-fits-all answer to this question, it simply isn’t possible (sorry!). The calories you burn walking can differ depending on factors such as your body weight, fitness level, medical history, walking pace, stride length, and the incline of your walking path.
That said, on average, you tend to lose somewhere between 300 and 600 calories per 10,000 steps, with fitter or slower-paced walkers losing less compared to unfit or speedier striders, who lose more.
If you want a more exact figure, Jade Millner,a level 3 women’s personal trainer and the founder of EmpowerMe, suggests using a watch that tracks your steps and calories burned.
“I’d recommend a watch instead of an app. I think if you recommend an app, you’re then asking that person to have their phone with them, and if they don’t have their phone on them while walking, that would be beneficial. We live on our screens,” says Millner.
A fitness watch is a great way for you to capture real-time data, monitor your heart rate, and make sure you are getting the absolute most out of your walk. Using your height, weight, and fitness level as measurements, your watch can tell you how hard you should be pushing yourself to meet your fitness goals.
Fitbit Fitbit Versa 4 Fitness Smartwatch
Can you lose weight by walking?
If your fitness goals are entirely weight loss-related, walking is a great place to start, but it might not be the only way forward. You may find that you’re not losing a great deal by walking alone, and that more hard-hitting forms of exercise or a more balanced diet are needed.
“If you’re just walking and not doing any other exercise, you would lose weight at quite a slow pace. You’re probably looking at three pounds a month, but it varies by each person,” says Millner.
If you want to lose a few more pounds and do so at a healthy and realistic pace, Millner recommends incorporating other forms of exercise, such as weight training. She also advises focusing on the number of calories in and out, ensuring that you're burning more than you're consuming.
Fitness trainer and coach, Natalie Remee, agrees and says that the key is in balancing exercise with nutrition. This means hitting the gym regularly and not bingeing biscuits on rest days.
“If you’re going to the gym, possibly doing classes three to five times a week, and utilising walking, then you can lose one to two pounds a week. Potentially, if you have much more body fat to lose, then it could be between two and four pounds a week,” says Remee.
The NHS recommends that adults do either 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise, 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise, or a combination of both each week. A brisk walk (usually 3 miles per hour or more) falls within the brackets of a moderate-intensity exercise, and so you would only need to walk for two and a half hours at a heart-pumping pace to meet the weekly goal set by the NHS.
If you want to support your walks with other forms of exercise, it’s important that you don’t overdo it and injure yourself. You may find that you benefit more from a few calm, leisurely walks than you do from one long and intense walk. Sometimes a short stroll with your favourite podcast is all you need.
When should I start walking to lose weight?
The majority of a person’s steps are gathered through everyday activities, such as walking to the shop or going on the school run, but Remee recommends intentionally getting a quick walk in each morning if you can.
“At the start of the day, energy levels are higher, [whereas you're less likely to do it after] a full day of working,” she notes.
Millner agrees and says that a morning walk can “set the tone” for the rest of the day.
“Perhaps walk and just listen to podcasts – or nothing at all. That would really bring down stress/cortisone levels and start the day off in a nice way.”
Though if a morning walk is completely out of the question, there’s no need to worry. Millner and Remee both say that there isn’t much of a difference between a morning, afternoon, or evening walk, and that you should go at a time that suits you best.
Is it better to walk faster or longer?
There’s no right answer to this question as it purely depends on a person’s fitness goals. Those walking for weight loss may want to walk more briskly and get their hearts pumping faster to lose calories quickly, but they may also choose to go at a more leisurely pace so they can build up to more intense exercise over time.
Millner says that we often make the mistake of thinking that weight loss must be done at a hard and fast pace when the “real win is consistency.”
“If you can just show up and walk at a nice, slow, steady pace rather than trying to think that you have to go really fast, you’d be much better off,” she says. “It can create a great stimulus when you walk fast-paced or when you run and do things at high intensity, but the faster you do things, the more recovery it requires.”
While some may think that they need to pound the pavement for every walk, both Millner and Remee say that it can be more rewarding to take a little longer and do a nice, low steady state cardio, which gets steps in at a natural pace.
This article is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice or diagnosis. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
