If your goal is to lose weight, you could try switching up your walking technique to boost the amount of calories burned.
Losing weight can be incredibly daunting, especially if you're faced with a restrictive diet, which many people struggle to follow. We know that as well as being in a calorie deficit, we also need to make sure we're getting enough exercise - but what do you do when you simply don't have time?
As it's National Walking Month, this is a great time to introduce walking into your life. Sounds simple, right? Well, walking is actually one of the best ways to stay active and help with your weight loss journey is actually just to walk, and is even recommended by the NHS.
"Walking is simple, free and one of the easiest ways to get more active, lose weight and become healthier," states the NHS. However, it makes sense that in order to burn enough calories to lose weight, you need to walk at a brisk pace, and with a different technique. And by doing so, you can burn excess calories and even make your heart healthier.
It's worth noting that the amount of weight you lose all depends on how much effort you put into the workout, how long you walk for, and whether you also pair it with being in a calorie deficit, which means consuming less calories than you burn. Various studies have found that walking for just 30 minutes a day can slash your body fat - but it's all about the technique.
If you're just doing a casual stroll, you're probably not going to burn the amount of calories you want, but bursts of faster walking, known as interval training, or walking with weights or at an incline can really make a difference. Denise Miklasz, personal trainer at Northwestern Medicine Crystal Lake Health & Fitness Centre, recommends including "30-60-second bursts of faster walking every three to five minutes, followed by a 30-second recovery walk".
She added to Popsugar: "The intensity at which you walk plays a key role in helping your body burn more calories and improve your cardiorespiratory system. An interval-training workout will continue to burn more calories after your workout due to a physiological effect called excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, or EPOC. EPOC is sometimes referred to as the 'afterburn effect'".
In order to lose weight, you also need to be in a calorie deficit. According to Denise, one pound is equal to 3,500 calories. So in order to lose 1lb every week, you nede to drop 3,500 calories, which experts "consider a safe and healthy goal". In order words, you need to burn an extra 3,500 calories or remove 3,500 from your diet, spread over the whole week.
According to the NHS, the physical activity guidelines for adults aged 19 to 64 is 150 minutes per week. As a guide, an average man needs 2,500 calories a day, while a woman needs 2,000, but this could be different based on your age, weight, height and how much exercise you do.
A version of this story was first published on August 8, 2023.
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