The simplest way to lose weight is hidden in your daily life, and that is walking. However, if you want to shed fat through walking, there are considerations regarding speed and posture. In this issue of Health Headlines, we have summarized 4 tips to make walking for weight loss an easy task.
First, the first tip is to increase the walking speed. What speed is appropriate? Let’s look at some data. A scholar named McPherson conducted an experiment. He had participants walk 1,000 steps at a slow pace of 3.2 kilometers per hour and another 1,000 steps at a fast pace of 6.4 kilometers per hour. The calories burned at each speed were calculated, and the estimated calorie expenditure for walking 10,000 steps was determined. The results showed that the average calorie expenditure for the slow-paced group was 183 calories, while the fast-paced group burned an average of 336 calories. This means that under the premise of walking the same distance of 10,000 steps, fast walking burns approximately the calories of an extra can of cola. However, this faster walking speed is more suitable for young people’s overall health. It is recommended that middle-aged and elderly individuals walk at a speed of 4.8 kilometers per hour. If the intensity of fast walking exceeds your body’s capacity, it is necessary to slow down the speed or take a rest.
The second tip is to maintain an upright posture. We can break it down into 3 steps. First, keep your chest lifted, chin slightly tucked, and shoulders naturally relaxed and spread out. It’s important not to hunch your back or lower your head to use your phone because slouching disrupts the body’s sense of balance, and looking down increases neck pressure. Prolonged periods of this can lead to physical discomfort and affect the efficiency of walking. Second, engage your core and tighten your glutes to keep your muscles in a tense state. This effectively stimulates the muscles in the abdomen, glutes, and legs, resulting in exercise effects. Third, keep your core slightly engaged, use your hips to generate force, and lift your thighs upward. This prevents leg soreness caused by walking.
The third tip is to add weight while walking, such as carrying a backpack to work. This effectively increases the intensity of the exercise and enhances calorie expenditure. However, there are two points to note. First, try to choose a backpack that distributes the weight evenly on both shoulders. If you have a shoulder bag, alternate sides to avoid creating imbalanced pressure on your shoulders, which could lead to muscle tightness and soreness on one side. Second, it is recommended that the weight of the backpack should not exceed 20% of your body weight to avoid straining your lower back.
Finally, here’s a tip for those with decent fitness who want to achieve better weight loss results: incorporate cross-training into your walking routine. Adding intervals of slow jogging or short sprints while walking can help you burn more calories in the same amount of time. For example, you can intersperse 1 minute of jogging every 5 minutes of walking. If this training feels too easy for you, you can try adding 30-60 seconds of sprints for even better fat-burning effects.
Have you mastered this year-round weight loss method? Even if you’re not aiming for fat loss, you can still follow the above methods while walking because walking in the correct way is highly beneficial for your health.