Walking for Weight Loss

Walking is by far the most underrated form of exercise for weight loss specifically.

And I would honestly take it a step further, and say that walking is the most underrated form of exercise for overall health and fitness.

But this article is going to be more so focused on the weight loss/fat loss aspect of walking.

If your goal is to lose weight, the most important tool in your toolbox (besides nutrition and eating in a calorie deficit of course) is walking.

But… Why is walking so ideal for weight loss?

There are multiple reasons, and I’m going to go through each of them in this article.

So let’s get into it…

HEALTH BENEFITS

If your goal is to lose weight, you need to get into a calorie deficit somehow. 

And while nutrition is the most important factor in eating in a calorie deficit…

Increasing your overall physical activity/energy expenditure is also an extremely important and effective way to get in a calorie deficit. 

And walking is the easiest way for most people to increase overall physical activity.

Simply by walking more on a daily basis, you will increase your energy expenditure and make maintaining a calorie deficit much easier.

But the health benefits of walking don't stop there.

Walking has been shown to…

• increase cardiovascular strength 

• improve respiratory strength

• improve endurance 

• increase longevity 

• increase energy levels 

• reduce overall stress

So ON TOP of helping achieve a calorie deficit and contributing to weight loss, walking also has the ability to improve numerous overall health markers.

AND it has the ability to not only lengthen your lifespan, but drastically improve your overall quality of life.

If you haven’t picked up on it yet, I am a HUGE proponent of walking lol.

LOW IMPACT/LOW STRESS

Now, all of these health benefits are great, but what’s the trade off?

There are a lot of things in health and fitness that may improve some aspects of your life, but they also carry disadvantages.

For example, HIIT training may improve heart health, but it also creates a lot of stress on your body (both from a physical and CNS stress perspective).

Walking, with ALL of its health benefits, pretty much carries no disadvantages.

Let me explain why…

It is EXTREMELY low impact and low stress.

What I mean by this, is you aren’t putting very much stress on your joints that could cause soreness or pain.

Further, walking also doesn’t cause very much muscle soreness either.

Especially compared to other exercise modalities, you can walk at a very high frequency (every day even) without being plagued by joint pain or soreness.

And on top of all of that, walking doesn’t require intense focus like a lot of other exercise modalities.

This is important for a few reasons, one of which being that you can legitimately multitask while walking.

Take phone calls, listen to podcasts/audiobooks, whatever you want.

But further, less focus required means less CNS (central nervous system) stress, and this means you will feel much less overall fatigue.

And less overall fatigue, means more bandwidth to focus on the other important aspects of health and fitness.

Such as nutrition and strength/resistance training for example. 

So, not only does walking have the potential of all of the health benefits that I mentioned previously…

But it doesn’t carry really ANY of the negative side effects that some other exercise modalities do in terms of overall impact and stress. 

EASILY ACCESSIBLE/LIFESTYLE FRIENDLY

The other very important aspect of walking, is that it is probably the most easily accessible form of exercise in the world.

Anyone can walk.

You don't need a gym, and you don't even need a treadmill.

Most people can just go outside of wherever they live, and walk around the neighborhood.

And if you unfortunately live in an area where walking around your neighborhood is unsafe, you can always just walk around your house (it does get boring after a while but it works just the same). 

All you need to walk is a decent pair of shoes, even though the barefoot movement has become more and more popular in recent years. 

And if you’re walking outside, ideally you need some clothes (possibly a warm jacket if it's cold out).

A lot of people get hung up because they don't have a fitness tracker or a pedometer to track their steps exactly.

Don’t get me wrong, trackers are great, but you don't NEED one to get started.

You can always just bring your phone, or an old analog watch, and walking non-stop for a set amount of time.

Which brings me to my next point…

SO… HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU BE WALKING?

With all of that being said, how much should you really be walking for weight loss?

Or just in general?

The most popular recommendation that’s been thrown around in recent years is 10,000 steps.

You’ve probably heard it at some point “get 10,000 steps/day.”

While this is a great recommendation and a great number to strive for, it’s not a great ‘one size fits all’ recommendation.

Because there are plenty of people who already get 9,000 steps/day, and increasing to 10,000 likely wouldn’t make much of a difference. 

And on the other hand, there are people who only currently get 1,000 steps/day, and increasing to 10,000 would be a tall task. 

My general recommendation for people in terms of steps is to find your average daily step count, and add 3000-5000 steps per day.

Now, if you’re unable to count your steps (which is completely fine btw)…

My recommendation is to add a 30 minute walk per day ON TOP of whatever you’re doing currently.

So if you currently walk 0 min/day, add 30 min, if you currently walk 30 min/day, make that 60 min.

And, just to clarify, it doesn’t have to be all at once!

Two separate 15 min walks, three separate 10 min walks, whatever works!

So in the end, if your goal is to lose weight…

Walking is one of the BEST forms of exercise to help you crush your goals.

(and even if your primary goal isn’t weight loss, walking is still SUPER beneficial)

Walking is beneficial for your overall health (in multiple examples, it's very low impact, and it's easily accessible. 

So if you want to lose weight, or just improve your overall health, get walking!

If you have any questions, or are struggling and need some words of encouragement, please feel free to reach out!

Thanks so much for reading!

I hope this article helps you and if you have any follow up questions (or any other questions) please don’t hesitate to reach out! 

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