A brisk walk is an aerobic exercise.
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Walking is one of the simplest ways to get fit and maintain heart health. The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommends that healthy adults should aim to walk a minimum of 150 minutes per week, or 30 minutes every weekday.
Walking seven days per week will burn more calories, and you can add challenges to your walking workout that make it more of a cardiovascular or strengthening exercise.
Tip
How many calories you burn walking briskly in 30 minutes every day, for seven days a week, depends mainly on how much you weigh currently.
Do the Math
Walking burns anywhere from 90 to 200 calories in 30 minutes. You burn fewer calories if you walk at the strolling rate of a 30-minute mile. You burn more calories walking at the brisk rate of a 17-minute mile.
The more you weigh and the less fit you are, the more calories are burned walking for 30 minutes. At these rates, you burn between 630 and 1,400 calories per week walking briskly for 30 minutes every day.
Vary Your Walking Workout
Vary your walking workout to keep it interesting and you will also burn more calories. Incorporate a couple of inclines into your walking route. If you exercise on a treadmill, set it at a slope for part of the time.
Walking more extreme inclines makes your workout more like hiking, which burns twice the amount of calories than walking on a flat route. A 155-pound person hiking over hillier terrain than a flat road burns 223 calories in 30 minutes says Harvard Health Publishing.
Add Strength Training
Add strengthening exercises to your walking workout to build muscle. Even though strength training does not burn considerable calories, it replaces your fat with lean muscle mass. Your body works harder to sustain your muscle mass, raising your resting metabolism so you burn more calories throughout the day. Invest in light hand weights or wrist weights and pump your hands as you walk.
Build lower body muscles by lifting your knees high during part of your walk. Stop every five minutes and do a series of squats or lunges. Or if you don't mind looking unique, incorporate a series of walking lunges while carrying dumbbells. A long lunge will work your glutes, while a short one targets your quads, says ExRx.net.
HIIT or Interval Training
As you get fit, you burn fewer calories doing the exact same workout. Shift your walking workout into a higher gear by doing interval training.
Start at a warmup pace for a couple of minutes and then walk at a brisk pace. Every five minutes, increase your pace to a sprint level, either by speed-walking, running or skipping rope. Maintain this burst of speed for 30 seconds. Return to a slow walk for a minute and then back to your vigorous pace before the next sprint.
You dramatically boost your heart rate during the sprints, and it stays raised during the recovery period, resulting in more calories burned, reports ACE Fitness.
Walking is a great physical activity for those starting their fitness journey, regardless of their ability or physical limitations.
Walking is a low-impact activity so it won’t put too much stress on joints like running might, which means you’re less likely to get injured when starting out. And since most people don’t need any special equipment when they walk, there are no financial barriers to entry like some other sports.
However, some people erroneously believe that walking isn’t an effective exercise for burning calories. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Walking is an excellent form of exercise. The calories burned by walking can be surprising and can help the average person lose weight and support a healthy lifestyle.
So how many calories are burned when you walk?
As a really broad generalisation, it is estimated that going for a 30-minute walk can burn anywhere between 100 and 300 calories.
So a daily 30-minute walk is likely to help you burn between 700 and 2100 calories per week.
This is obviously quite a wide range, and people need a clearer idea of calories burned if they are working to a weight loss goal. So what impacts the amount of calories burned when you’re walking? There are two main factors:
Your walking intensity impacts calorie burn
The intensity of your walk can be broadly calculated by reviewing how far you walk and your walking speed in any given timeframe.
For example, someone that walks 3km in 30 mins (walking pace of 6km/hour) is likely to burn more calories than someone that walks at a more casual pace of 2km in 30 mins (walking pace of 4km/hour)
Your weight also impacts calorie burn when walking
This surprises some people, but your weight can have a significant impact on the calories burned walking. One of the reasons for this is that heavier people need to work a little bit harder to move their body weight.
Let’s assume that two people both walk at an average 5km/hour pace for 30 mins. One weighs 15 stone (95kg) and the other 10 stone (93kg). The 15 stone person is likely to burn approximately 175 calories in 30 minutes, whereas the 10 stone person is likely to burn fewer calories, at around 115.
How do I calculate how many calories I’m burning when walking?
If you’re interested in calculating the approximate calories you’re burning on your daily walk, there are some really useful walking calorie calculators available online.
You typically just need to enter the amount of time that you walked for, the intensity of your walk, and your weight, and they will present you with a relatively accurate guide.
The simplest and easiest to use walking calorie calculator we’ve found is at Caloriesburnedhq.com
The walking calorie calculator at shapesense.com is a little more advanced and allows you to incorporate the incline that you walk at, as you can expend more energy by walking uphill.
It’s also worth noting that the majority of modern fitness watches and their supporting apps can provide an accurate measure of the calories burned on your walking workout.
Some watches and apps even provide real-time feedback, so you can see how many calories you’re burning as you walk.
Are there any calorie-burning benchmarks by walking distance?
Some people will just want a broad overview of how many calories you burn by walking a set distance.
To help us provide a broad overview below, we’ve assumed that people will be walking at the average 5km/hour pace, on a flat walking surface and with an average stride length.
We’ve also used an estimate of average body weight from the Office of National Statistics for women in the UK (70kg) and men in the UK (84kg).
How many calories would you burn by walking 1km?
It is estimated that walking 1km at an average pace is likely to burn around 51 calories for the average UK female, and around 62 calories for the average UK male.
How many calories would you burn by walking 3km?
It is estimated that walking 3km at an average pace is likely to burn around 154 calories for the average UK female, and around 185 calories for the average UK male.
How many calories would you burn if you walked 10,000 steps?
Many people believe that trying to walk 10,000 steps per day is some kind of official health guidance that the average person should strive for. It’s not! The origins of the 10,000 daily step goal actually date back to a marketing campaign for a Japanese step tracker in the 1960s.
However, many fitness apps and trackers use this 10,000 step goal as a benchmark and it can be a good ‘stretch goal’ for many people. If you did complete your 10,000 steps it is estimated that this is equivalent to around 5 miles (or 8km).
It is estimated that walking 8km at an average pace is likely to equate to 429 calories burned walking for the average UK female, and around 515 calories burned walking for the average UK male.
How long would I have to walk to burn 1000 calories?
Looking at this the other way around, if the average UK male wanted to burn 1000 calories from walking it is estimated they would need to walk on flat terrain at an average pace of 5km/hour for approximately 3 hours and 15 minutes. This would cover a distance of approximately 16.25km.
If the average UK female wanted to burn 1000 calories from walking, they would need to walk for slightly longer – approximately 3 hours and 55 minutes. This would cover a distance of just under 20km.
How do I burn more calories when walking?
There is so much to talk about here, that it is probably best covered in a whole separate article! If you’re interested to start walking to lose weight, have a look at our article “How much walking to lose weight?” to get a broader list of tips.
However, as a quick tip, walking at a faster pace than normal is likely to help you increase the calories you burn walking.
Another quick tip to burn more calories walking is to try walking on an incline – it can get those muscles working that little bit harder!
What is the average walking speed?
How long does it take to walk a mile?