walking for weight loss

How Many Calories Do I Burn Walking – The Facts


If you’ve ever wondered to yourself when strolling along your favourite walking route just exactly ‘how many calories do I burn walking,’ then here’s the answer for you right now.

It's probably a little more than you thought you would!

First though I just want to explain exactly what happens when we exercise or more basically move around. Every time we move we generate heat, and this heat is omitted from the body as kilocalories (units of heat).

The more movements we make, then the more heat we generate and the more calories we expend or burn off.

Any type of movements that are more challenging will create more heat and therefore burn off more calories.

So the Answer to the Question – How Many Calories Do I Burn Walking, Isn't Just as Straightforward as it Seems...

There are many other factors that come in to play. Here are the most common influences on the rate at which we burn through the calories stored on our bodies when we walk...

  • How fast we walk 
  • What style of walking we use, are we simply strolling along or getting the arms involved as well? 
  • What surface do we mostly walk on? A level surface will burn off fewer calories than walking over rough terrain for example. 
  • Whether the routes we walk are mainly flat or contain gradients. 
  • How much we weigh, or carry with us. For example, you’ll burn off more calories if you carry a backpack that weighs 25lbs... because it takes more effort. 

Are you following me so far?

Basically if something feels more challenging and increases your heart rate in order to cope with it, then the chances are very high that you’ll be burning more calories doing it that way.


Click Here NOW To Discover How YOU Can Get In To The Best Shape Of Your Life By Using These Unusual BUT Incredibly Effective Walking Techniques

Therefore the secret to using walking to lose weight or to get fitter is to make it a little more challenging for yourself by using any of the tactics I’ve just listed.

Going back to your initial question however, walking at a pace of around 3.5mph for an hour on a flat surface will typically burn around 345kcals per hour.

Add in your arms for some higher intensity power walking or use some poles to get your arms and shoulders involved and you could easily take this total to around 450kcals burned in an hour. Take it a step further and walk up hills at this pace and you’ll burn even more.

The next time you’re wondering ‘how many calories do I burn walking’ have a think about the speed you’re walking at and the journey you take and see if you can think of ways to make it a little more challenging for yourself.

You’ll reap the rewards if you do.

If you'd like to ramp up your walks and lose weight, get fit and tone up at the same time, they why not try Walking For Weight Loss - it's a great new walking program which uses unusual walking techniques and weight loss tricks to supercharge your fat loss.

Read all about it here - Walking For Weight Loss