10 Ways to Lose More Weight Walking

To be successful with weight loss and keep it off long term, it’s important to create healthy habits that are part of a lifestyle, including walking. Fad diets love to promise quick fixes but usually backfire and lead to weight gain because they require drastic changes that aren’t sustainable. Often, it’s the little things (like sipping more water or adding veggies to every meal) that end up making the greatest difference.

Walking is one of the easiest and most effective ways to improve your overall health and support weight loss. To amp up your calorie burn, try these expert tips:

HOW WE CALCULATED THE NUMBERS

Calculating calories burned can be tricky, as it depends on factors like body weight, intensity and diet, which can vary greatly from person to person. For these calculations, we input the body weight of a 155-pound person into our exercise calorie calculator. Since general guidelines state to lose 1 pound you must burn 3,500 calories, we’ve used this total calorie number to determine how much weight you might lose in a year by adding these extras into your routine. Keep in mind to lose a pound of fat, you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you eat. So, if you ate 14,000 calories for a week (2,000 calories per day), you’d need to burn roughly 17,500 total calories to lose 1 pound of fat that week. With that in mind, as long as you’re eating nutrient-dense foods while in a calorie deficit and completing your daily walks, these extra calorie burners will make a difference.

A moderately paced walk at 3 miles per hour for 45 minutes burns about 173 calories. But if you hit the trails instead, a similar pace over the same time burns 315 calories, which is an additional 142 calories. Replace one of your weekly walks with hiking on trails, and you’ll burn an additional 638 calories for the month.

Weight loss for the year: 2.1 pounds

The objective when you head to the store is probably to get in and out as quickly as possible. However, there’s some benefit to looking around, including shopping the middle aisles for pantry staples at the grocery store. Or, the next time you’re in the mall, do a few laps and window shop. An extra 30 minutes of shopping burns 81 calories. Do this twice a week, and you’ll burn 162 calories. For the month, that totals 648 calories.

Weight loss for the year: 2.2 pounds

A leisurely walking pace at 2.5 miles per hour for 5 minutes burns 17 calories. If you up the pace and walk at a 5 miles per hour pace, you’ll burn about 47 calories in the same time. While you may not be able to hold this pace for long, adding several short 1-minute efforts of fast walking during a longer walk burns an additional 30 calories from your slower walking pace. Do this 4–5 times a week, and you’ll burn around 150 additional calories per week or about 675 calories a month.

Weight loss for the year: 2.3 pounds

Include a 10-minute set of stepups on a park bench or walking lunges to your routine and you’ll increase your calorie burn by 50 calories. Do this four times per week, and you’re up to an additional 200 calories. By the end of the month, you’ll have burned an extra 900 calories.

Weight loss for the year: 3 pounds

Whether you’re at your apartment building, the office or shopping, taking the stairs instead of the elevator raises your heart rate and burns extra calories. By climbing stairs for just 5 minutes a day, you’ll burn an extra 47 calories. Another option is an outdoor track with stadium stairs. A quick 10-minute session in the middle of your workout burns an additional 100 calories. Two sets of stairs mid-walk twice a week yields an additional 900 calories per month.

Weight loss for the year: 3 pounds

Taking a few shorter walks throughout the day is a good way to boost your calorie burn and step count while combating the negative consequences sedentary habits can have on weight gain. By taking a quick 15-minute walk before dinner at a 3.5mph pace, you’ll burn an extra 67 calories. You can also break it into three short 5-minute walks before each meal. Adding just 15 minutes of walking per day yields an extra 469 calories each week, and just over 2,000 for the month.

Weight loss for the year: 6.8 pounds

It’s hard to beat quality family time and horsing around with the kiddos. The good news is you can spend time with loved ones and lose weight at the same time. Playing a few games of tag or hide and go seek for about 30 minutes per day burns 150 calories. Do this three times per week, and you’re up to 450 calories. Over a month, this total rises to about 2,000 additional calories.

Weight loss for the year: 6.8 pounds

Doing chores around the house like laundry and organizing your kitchen make more of a difference than you might think. Every minute counts and these small tasks all burn calories under the NEAT category (aka non-exercise activity thermogenesis). Picking up clothes and taking multiple trips to the washing machine, for example, burns around 47 calories in 15 minutes. Thirty minutes of chores per day means 700 calories burned per week or about 3,100 calories per month.

Weight loss for the year: 10.6 pounds

Walking or playing with a pet is a great way to bond and burn calories at the same time. A quick 15-minute walk with a dog at a leisurely pace burns about 53 calories. Do this twice per day, and you’re up to 106 calories per day, 742 calories for the week, and about 3,300 calories for the month. Even if you don’t have a pet yourself, see if you can volunteer at a local shelter or walk a neighbor’s dog.

Weight loss for the year: 11.3 pounds

If you live in an urban area, walking at least part of the way to work can be a good way to get some exercise, destress and boost creativity. Or if you’re working from home, take the time you’d normally commute and go for a walk. A 30-minute walk burns 140 calories. Do this at the end of the day, too, and you’ll burn 280 calories per day. If you make it a habit at least three times per week, you’ll burn about 840 calories for the week, or 3,780 calories for the month.

Weight loss for the year: 12.9 pounds

Originally published June 2017, updated with additional reporting