Do You Lose as Much Weight Walking as Running?
How effective is Walking for Weight Loss?
Sep 26, 2008
Can walking really help you lose weight? The answer is unequivocally yes - in fact according to the National Health Service in the UK, latest scientific evidence shows that walking one mile in 15 minutes, burns as many calories as running a mile in 8 and a half minutes! In other words, it isn’t the speed but the distance that counts, when it comes to burning calories!
As well as burning calories, walking has many major health benefits, including reduced risk of:
- Coronary heart disease
- Diabetes
- Stroke
- High blood pressure
- Cancer
- Osteoporosis
- Arthritis
It can also help to ease anxiety and stress, and studies point to the fact that it may reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease.
Walking also has the added benefit of being a low-impact exercise, which means it doesn’t put strain on the joints.
And as well as improving your health and burning calories, walking makes you look better because it helps to keep your legs and bottom toned and trim!
What is great about walking is that it can be part of your daily lifestyle, and doesn’t have to feel like exercise. You don’t have to walk for excessively long periods of time either - so fitting in two 15-minute strolls is as good as walking for half an hour without stopping. As the Health Service site LiveWell points out - walking is also free, saves on bus and fuel costs and is good for the planet!
It is recommended that we all try to do 10,000 steps a day. Most of us only do 4,500! To reap the benefits of walking, lose weight, have more energy and have firmer and trimmer legs and thighs, try these ways of adding to your daily number of steps:
- If you have kids, walk them to and from school every day - a lot of schools now actually have reward incentives for children who walk to school rather than come in the car, so you might find the children as keen as you are to start walking!
- Really try to avoid popping round to the corner shop in the car
- Get the family out for a country walk at weekends
- Have a short stroll during your lunch break
- Buy a dog!
Do bear in mind that you will only gain the benefits of walking if you do it regularly - this means some walking (even if it really is only walking to the shop or bus-stop) every day.
Remember, you can walk anywhere, anytime; it’s free, you don’t need any special equipment - and you don’t need anybody to show you how to do it!
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