Calories Burned Walking Can Differ With Each Individual

Your calories burned walking differ from other people’s. For instance, how much you weigh is a primary factor. How fast and how far you walk will influence the caloric burn rate.

Basically, it is the balance of calories – how much you consume each day versus how many you burn through activity.

In order to lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you consume. Fewer caloric intake and high activity levels lead to weight loss.

Therefore, the best scenario is to stick to a healthy low-calorie diet and boost your activity levels.

Understanding Calories and Weight Loss

In order to understand the calories burned walking, you must understand calories themselves. Did you know that 3,500 calories equals one pound of fat? This can bode bad news for you if you decide to indulge in a juicy, thick steak in addition to a plate of Fettuccine Alfredo, a Caesar salad and a decadent dessert. Just one meal could ultimately add a pound of fat to your body – yikes!

Setting a realistic goal of losing one pound a week means that you will need to burn 3,500 more calories than you eat during that week. This could be increasing your walking intensity and distance, eating fewer calories or both. You can safely lose one to two pounds of weight with a combination of increased walking and decreased calories consumed. Counting calories to lose weight can be an effective weight loss method.

How Calories Burned Walking Is Determined

The formula is simple. The distance you walk multiplied by your body weight equals the energy you expend walking. Time is but a minor factor as distance is more important. In addition, the faster you walk the more calories you will burn per mile. If you are new to the “walking to lose weight�? scene, focus more on distance than on speed in the beginning. As the miles become easier, then you can focus on speed. The basic rule of thumb though is walking at an average speed of 3.5 miles per hour, a 140 pound person will burn between 70 to 75 calories. Power walking at a speed of 5 miles per hour, the same size person can burn about 100 calories.

There are several ways you can burn more calories while walking. You can boost the intensity of your walk by using walking poles, wearing a weighted backpack or add movements such as arm pumping or marching. In addition, if you build muscle through weight training, you will lose more weight as muscle tends to burn more calories. Of course, eating a balanced diet with the best nutrition possible benefits you with the calories burned walking too.