Walk Away Weight

There are dozens of gadgets on the market to help you lose weight but summer is a great time to take in some good old fashioned walking. Studies show it is still one of the best ways to drop extra pounds. The only gadget you may want to invest in is a pedometer which can go a long way in helping gauge how many miles you walk in a day and how many more you might need to walk in order to lose weight.

The average person has a stride that is 2.5 feet long. Using this stride length, there are roughly 1,500 steps in the average person’s mile.  Each mile you walk, you are burning about 100 calories. If you commit to walking 4, 500 extra steps per day, or roughly 3 extra miles, you would be burning an extra 300 calories a day. That will lead to a weekly deficit of 2100 calories. After a month, that’s about 9000 calories burned which equals approximately 2.6 pounds lost.  Keep it up for a year and you are looking at over 31 pounds lost!

Getting in those three extra miles a day could be as simple as making small changes such as parking further from the stores you shop at, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, or even pacing while you’re talking on the phone. Even if you were to do the 3 miles all together, it would only take an extra 45 minutes out of your day.

Remember, it’s all a simple math equation. Here are the basic numbers:

1 Mile = 1500 steps
1 Mile walked = 100 calories burned

1 Pound = 3500 calories
2 Pound weight loss per week = 7000 calories, or a 500 calorie deficit per day

1 Pound weight loss per week just by walking = 5 extra miles walked per day – or 7,500 extra steps (in addition to the distance that you are currently covering while maintaining weight)

1 Pound weight loss per week with diet changes and walking combined = 2.5 extra miles walked per day (3750 extra steps), and 250 calories less consumed per day, for a total daily caloric deficit of 500 calories.

Also make sure that you are also doing some strength training. Don’t wait until you lose weight. The longer you avoid strength training, the longer you are putting off easier weight loss and maintenance. Strength training is absolutely essential to losing weight, keeping a fast metabolism and a healthy body.