Losing weight while walking is possible when combining proper nutrition and a healthy lifestyle. But how to start? What is the right time? How many calories do you burn? Here’s everything you need to know about walking correctly to lose weight and feel fit. Walking to lose weight is possible but not as simple as it might seem: walking alone does not burn enough fat to lose weight significantly. Therefore, it is not precisely ok to think of losing weight by walking without doing anything else to trigger the weight loss process.
Such mild physical activity necessarily goes (much more than for other sports) associated with good dietary management. It is, therefore, wrong to associate walking with a simple slimming result. On the contrary, however, walking is an excellent strategy to help us increase our energy expenditure (and therefore lose weight ) and promote a state of psycho-physical well-being. Combining all this with good nutrition, which is right in quantity and as good as possible in overall quality, will undoubtedly make a difference in our weight as well.
How To Get Started
Starting to walk to lose weight is not difficult: but there are some precautions that it is essential to consider. Although it is one of the relatively safe and quiet activities that anyone can practice at any age, it is necessary to pay attention mainly to three key factors: hydration, clothing, and the type of terrain. To walk, it is not necessary to take infinite recovery times. Be wary of those who try to teach the rule for which it would be required at least one day of recovery between one workout and another. It is a lie.
Unless you run or walk uphill (there the situation is entirely different), walking is a physiological movement present in the daily life of each of us, which does not promote the accumulation of lactic acid and can therefore also be supported on long distances or for several hours without experiencing any discomfort. It serves to train the heart (which is the most important muscle in our body, but the one we often care less about!) And can bring immense cardiovascular benefits, which will affect both well-being and any other type of physical activity that we’re going to do, whether it’s skiing, weightlifting or a team sport.
The walk also promotes well-being by releasing a whole series of hormones, including the potent endorphins, capable of making us feel serene, satisfied, and fulfilled, but not only. Bioenergetics (one of the most famous branches of modern psychotherapy) explains that focusing on alternating support between one leg and the other is an excellent way to induce a 360 ° relaxation to lower the stress threshold. And gain greater focus to face everyday life.
When Is It Better To Do It?
If your goal is to walk to lose weight, the idea is to do it on an empty stomach or no earlier than 3-4 hours after the last meal. In reality, the calorie expenditure between walking on an empty stomach and walking on a full stomach is identical; the number of fatty acids in the bloodstream changes. We all know that our body prefers glycogen as an energy source, that is, the primary reserve sugar of the human body, which is synthesized starting from carbohydrates and starches of all kinds.
Inside the human body, glycogen is stored as a reserve inside the muscles and liver and “released” into the bloodstream constantly, even at rest. Night fasting allows a net depletion of glycogen stores (which cannot be “replenished” through gradually oxidized food). It causes the body to support organic functions to break down fat, reducing it in fatty acids, which will be used as an energy source. Here then, in a context in which the blood sugar has returned to its basal levels (and therefore 3-4 hours after eating) or better still after the night fast, which is inevitably more prolonged, the circulating fatty acids will be many more, and you will be able to consume a slightly larger share.
Therefore, you will burn the same kcal, but many of them will be obtained from your fat and not from your body’s sugar stores. Minimum expense, maximum yield. The trick of walking to lose weight on an empty stomach will not make a difference in 2 or 3 sessions, but you will undoubtedly see many benefits in the medium / long term, especially if you are constant.
How Many Calories Do You Burn While Walking?
Walking burns approximately between 0.5 and 0.8 / kcal / kg / km. The closer you get to the rhythm considered a “power walk” (we will talk more about it in a moment), the higher the expenditure. To calculate the energy expenditure of a good walk, multiply your body weight by 0.8 and then by the number of km traveled. A half-hour walk at 7km / h will allow you to travel around 3.5km in total. This will mean, for example, that if your weight is 70kg in half an hour of walking at a brisk pace, you will burn approximately 196kcal (70kg x 0.8 x 3.5km), the equivalent of a substantial snack!
Lose Weight While Walking: How To Do It Correctly
The most effective walk for weight loss, for the reasons we talked about earlier, is the so-called “power walk.” By power walk, we mean a fast walk, not too tiring but at the same time not too light, which seriously tests the cardiovascular system and which increases the heartbeat within 60/65% of the max. The “how much power” must be subjective: an athlete will reach 60% of their FCMax at speeds far higher than those of an untrained boy, who may already find a simple walk a little more challenging and super challenging quickly. If you want to monitor your heart rate to lose weight during training (considering that, in principle, HRMax = 220 – age), you can use a heart rate monitor or a brilliant band.
Walking To Lose Weight: How Many Times A Week?
Thirty minutes a day of walking are enough to have a strong conditioning impact on the heart, breathing, and blood circulation. Having more oxygenated tissues will make you feel more active and help you start the day with an edge. It is also the minimum daily physical activity recommended by doctors worldwide.
To start walking to lose weight, remembering the promise made at the beginning of the article to control your diet, you can start with three simple 40-minute sessions a day and then move on to 6 sessions/week if you feel like it. Don’t forget to drink a lot and, in the hottest season, replenish the lost mineral salts with a good magnesium and potassium supplement. The clothing for walking must be comfortable and breathable, and the shoes must be suitable for the purpose: yes, therefore, with tennis shoes or running shoes.
Other Benefits Of A Walk
Walking to lose weight can bring multiple benefits to the body beyond energy expenditure. It has been proven that an active lifestyle and, in particular, brisk walking can significantly increase the immune defenses, improve the production of thyroid hormones and increase productivity and creativity by over 50%. A good habit, in this regard, would be to walk during lunch break during work or school activities to feel immediately regenerated. Walks in the countryside are by far the most relaxing activity you can choose to keep fit and lose weight.
Also Read: THE ‘FAT BURNING’ DRINK AND SALAD THAT HELPS YOU LOSE UP TO 4KG
