How Many Calories are Burned by Walking

Burning calories is considered to be the main goal of exercises. We all know that walking is one of the best forms of exercises and it is good for the overall health. But many of us still do not believe that walking can indeed burn calories. May be walking may not produce faster and noticeable results as far as weight loss is concerned, but it is surely effective in the long run. In order to understand the role of walking in burning calories, we have to know about how many calories are burned by walking, and the actual effect of calories burned by walking.

Burning Calories

A calorie is the unit of energy, and the food we eat releases energy as it undergoes metabolism in the body. This energy is either used to fuel the day-to-day activities of the body or is stored as body fats. Working out can burn these calories, which in turn may lead to weight loss. But if you eat more calories than what your body needs, then weight loss is difficult. In order to achieve weight loss, you have to take in less calories, forcing the body to spend the stored calories. Hence, calorie intake and calorie consumption is very important. You can either burn more calories through intense exercises or eat less calories. It is advisable to balance and combine both methods to reach the end goal of weight loss. It is at this context that people start thinking of the right exercise. Even though there are many types of exercise programs which can assure you of faster results, walking is still one of the most preferred ones.

How Many Calories are Burned by Walking?

Walking is one of the best form of exercise and is associated with many health benefits. Apart from improving the fitness level, walking exercise is good for the bones, brain and heart, and it can prevent diabetes and some types of cancer. But walking can also result in burning of calories depending upon the body weight of the person and the speed of walking. So you must have a basic idea about how many calories are burned by walking, so that you can make sufficient amendments in your weight loss program. The following are some guidelines which can help you calculate the calories burned by walking.

• The most important factor regarding walking is the distance you cover by walking, which is usually measured in miles. Even though there are many factors like the body weight which can affect the calories burned by walking, it is considered that a person expends around 80 to 100 calories per mile by walking. A person with a 150 pound of body weight may burn approximately 100 calories per mile, whereas it will be around 133 calories for a 200-pound man and 166 calories for a 250-pound man. The more the body weight, the more calories you burn by walking, when compared to a person with lesser body weight.
• The other factors that can affect the amount of calories burned by walking are the speed of walking and the terrain that is selected for walking. While brisk walking can burn more calories per mile as compared to slow walking, rough terrain also helps in burning more calories. Brisk walking can burn around 230 - 345 calories per mile, but this figure may vary with the body weight and other factors.

What Should be the Average Walking Speed?

For a beginner, it is always advisable to start with slow pace and increase the walking speed gradually. The speed of walking depends upon the length and movements of the legs, but three to four miles per hour is considered a good average walking speed. However, it is very important to be regular in order to stay in shape and achieve your goal of weight loss. As far as walking is concerned, at least 30 minutes should be dedicated for this purpose. You can even increase the timing once you become more comfortable. You can even use a treadmill for walking, and in order to get the effect of a hilly terrain, you can make use of the incline feature of that machine.

Walking is considered to be a good cardio workout which can help you in burning calories, lose weight, stay in shape, and prevent some diseases to some extent. Never expect miracles as walking may not produce immediate results and you will always be wondering as to how many calories are burned up. Be consistent in your efforts and you can burn calories and lose weight by walking, and thus helps maintain overall good health.