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Does Walking Burn Fat: A Closer Look
Does walking burn fat? When planning on losing some extra pounds and body fat, you probably haven´t thought about walking. But you will be surprised that even a good walk can really get your body in a significant fat and calorie-burning mode without having to subscribe for a gym membership or put your joints under pressure and/or stress. It is not always necessary to put you through an intense workout for your body to burn fat effectively.
So is walking an effective way to help you lose weight and burn fat? Definitely! However, in order to achieve satisfying results you have to work long and hard enough to get results!
Comparing to other forms of exercise, walking is (along with swimming) the one workout that most people can do without much effort or stamina. You won´t need any fancy exercise machines or a membership for your nearby gym. You don´t have to be in great shape to start weight loss with your walking regimen. Your shape can change a lot within few weeks of walking on a regular basis.
A proper walking plan can help you achieve weight loss success. Combined with a good diet plan like The Custom Keto Diet and a potent natural weight loss supplement like ExiPure you will be amazed how much weight you can lose with this easy and light workout. Also your mood and soul will benefit from your exposure to nature and fresh air, and if you´re a dog owner, your little friend will be happy for every single minute outside with you.
In fact, walking does burn fat and is an excellent way for weight loss. Although there are many other exercises that you can do to lose weight, walking is a very easy to follow and safe exercise, that is able to produce about the same fat loss effects. If you are able to spend 40 minutes walking for 3-4 times per week, you can force your body into burning it´s body fat reserves for energy and burn stored fat.
The Key here is you have to walk fast and long enough during each session. If you can do this you might experience outstanding fat burning and weight loss, without the need for expensive equipment or a gym membership!
Do you feel excited already? Continue on reading to find out why and how walking is an excellent workout, as well as a easy to follow one week walking plan that will target your fat stores.
How Long Do You Have To Walk Before You Start Burning Fat?
If you want to maximize the effectiveness of your body to target its stored body fat depots, you should set your goal to walk for a minimum of 40 minutes. Putting enough time into your walking regimen will do your body very good. The longer you are able to walk, the better.
Start nice and slow! You don´t have to start right away with a brisk pace as soon as your feet touch the concrete. Instead, aim for warming up your body for the first 5-10 minutes to prepare for a faster walk. This gives your body the ability to burn up any stored glycogen (sugar) in your body that you consumed as food.
As soon as your body used up your glycogen reserves and depletes your glycogen stores, your body can enter fat-burning mode for the remaining minutes of your walk. Real fat-burning begins after you glycogen stores are used up. This is the reason why it is so important to plan enough time for your walk in order to make this process happen.
Glycogen is sugar (carbs) which get used up as a primary source of energy before your body goes into fat burning mode. That´s why Low-Carb Diets like The Custom Keto Diet work so well for weight loss. Lesser amounts of carbs consumed = lesser glycogen stored.
Does Walking Burn Fat When Going For A Shorter Walk?
Before you start, you should make sure that you have enough time to complete your walk. Although a 15-25 minute walk might be better than not walkng at all, you are minimizing the fat-burning effects of your time walking. Try your best to make sure to walk at least for full 40 minutes.
Once you have completed your 40 minutes, give yourself another 5 minutes to bring your heart rate back down and enter a cool down phase.
If your body is not used to walking steadily for at least 40 minutes, don´t lose patience with yourself. You will need a few days to get your body used to the time and pace you eventually want to aim for.
Try to start light with 15 minutes per day, than increase your time by 5 minutes every other session until you are able to walk 40 minutes (or beyond!) without effort. Though walking itself is a very injury risk free workout, allowing your body to get used to walk, can minimize the chances of injury and will aid in keeping you motivated with the little but steady improvements you make every day.
Does Walking Burn Fat When Going Slow?
Your actual speed at which you take your walk isn´t really a key factor. However, more important is your heart rate that should be measured. Whatever speed brings your heart in the targeted heart rate zone is what you should going after.
If you want to maximize your body capability of burning fat, you will need to work at a moderate intensity pace that brings your heart rate within 55-65 percent of your maximum heart rate. Several studies found out that maximum fat oxidation (which is the process of your body burning fat for energy) happens within this range.
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So, how you find out your maximum heart rate? How can it be calculated and how can you measure that you remain working within your fat-burning mode?
Everyone is different and has their own range of maximum heart rate. Factors which need to be considered are your age and your level of fitness. To calculate your maximum heart rate, you can use this simple calculation: Subtract your age from 220.
For example, if you are 25 years old, your maximum heart rate would be 195. Although this is a very simplified calculation which doesn´t take other factors into consideration, it´s an easy way to start. Once you calculated your number, you can then, you can then calculate 55 percent and 65 percent of your result to give you the correct heart rate range to work with.
If you want to take it a step further, consider getting yourself a heart rate monitor of fitness watch to monitor your heart rate while you are on your walk, so you don´t need to constantly check for a pulse. If you see that your heart rate is still too low, you can either walk with a faster pace or with an incline.
As long as you stay within your fat-burning range, you’re on a good way to fat loss!
Does Walking Reduce Belly Fat?
As we already showed you that walking does burn fat, how about reducing belly fat? Is walking a good way to target fat around your midsection?
Yes it is! In fact, there are studies which came to the conclusion that brisk walking on a regular basis is especially good for losing belly fat! Not only will this aid in looking and feeling better, but it can also aid in reduciing your risk of developing diabetes and heart disease that are often times connected with excessive amounts of belly fat.
Does Walking Burn Fat Better Than Jogging?
Jogging and walking are both excellent ways to burn body fat. However, many people tend to believe that jogging is more effective when it comes to burning fat simply because of its higher intensity. It is a fact that if you make your body work harder, you will use up more energy in a shorter period of time when compared with lower-intensity exercises.
However, walking at high intensities also can result in similar fat-burning levels. Some studies showed that exercise performed at approximately 65 percent of VO2 maximum (maximum consumption of oxygen) is able to burn almost twice as much fat as activites that are performed at 25 percent of the VO2 max.
If you keep working hard enough to stay within the fat-burning zone, you will be able to burn a lot of body fat during your walking routine. The Key here is consistency. However, in order for you to see results, you will need to implement a routine and maintain it in the long run (no pun intended).
Does Walking Burn Fat: The Ultimate Plan to Burn Calories and Fat!
To get you on track to a leaner future self, we have found a one-week walking routine that you can follow each day to achieve good results. Be sure to get yourself a proper pair of walking shoes before you head outdoors in order to avoid not being comfortable and annoying blisters on your feet.
Don´t underestimate the psychological effect of a good pair of walking shoes. If you feel like you are walking on clouds with your feet, you are much likely to enjoy your walk and stick to it in the long run. In our experience, the best walking shoes for this purpose are equiped with a so called “cloudfoam” sole.
Not only does walking burn fat, it can be fun and exciting if you know how and doesn´t necessarily have to be boring and mundane. Change things up every day, to keep your walking regimen motivating and interesting.
Does Walking Burn Fat: Warm Up Routine
Before you hit the pavement, test yourself out the first day. It is good to take things slowly the first day since you are just starting out. Taking this approach you can avoid overexerting yourself or get injured in the process. To prevent early exhaustion, begin slowly and work your way up.
Make time for about 40 minutes for your walking work-out and start with a 10-minute warmup session and walk at a light pace. You don´t need to raise your heart rate to the fat-burning zone right away. It is better to ease your way in.
Once you have loosen and warmed up, raise your pace a little. Bring your heart rate up to 55-65 percent of your maximum heart rate within the next 10-15 minutes. Slow down if you find that it exhausts you much. If you happen to do well, keep the pace! After 40 minutes, you should get a feel of how swiftly you should be walking and how hard you should exercise to hit your target.
One Week Fat Burning Walking Regimen
First Day
Day 1 of your routine involves a steady-state walk. You should aim to maintain a steady pace that will keep your heart rate within 55-65 percent of your max. heart rate to achieve optimal fat burning effects.
Second Day
To spice things up on your second day, try intervals. Once you have finished your warmup, walk for 10 minutes at a moderate pace. After that, head for an area with an incline and walk uphill for at least 5 minutes.
Try to repeat this exercise four times, then slow yourself down to bring your heart rate back to where it was before you started. This One Week Walking Routine does help you to burn fat and it is designed in a way that you should see improvement on how long it takes you to complete these rounds, everytime your repeat this workout.
Third Day
On this day you will also make use of intervals, some with higher intensity and some with lower intensity intervalls. This time however, the intervals will not involve a incline or decline. Instead, you will alternate your pace.
Aim to perform six intervals, each of which should last at least 7 minutes:
- Medium Intensity pace
- Moderate Intensity pace
- Lower Intensity pace
- Moderate Intensity pace
- Medium Intensity pace
Cool down for approximately 9 minutes until you heart rate returns to baseline.
Fourth Day
Congratulations, you have completed the first half of your walking regimen. The fourth day is active rest day, you deserved it. No exercise or physical workout should be done seven times per week. Your body needs rest in order to grow stronger and to keep you motivated and free of pain. But rather than doing nothing all day, your rest is going to be active by doing other light physical exercise.
Go for activities that you enjoy but are still lightly engaging to your muscles. For example, you could do some stretching or yoga, or just a light 10-minute stroll to keep your body fresh without exhausting yourself and burning yourself out from your walking regimen.
Fifth Day
Alright, on the fifth day you continue to do moderate intensity walks. No surprises this time, this day will involve a 40-minute stroll within your optimal heart range for fat burning.
Sixth Day
On the Sixth day try to throw in a few extra moves every few minutes to strengthen your muscles while keeps things fresh. After every eigth minutes, do the following:
- Do 5 Lunges
- Do 25 Seconds of high knees
- Do 25 Seconds lateral shuffle
- Do 10 Air squats
- Do 25 Seconds of booty kickers (touching your heels to your buttocks, while jogging on the spot)
- Do 25 Seconds of jogging
Seventh Day
Complete your does walking burn fat plan by adding a few more minutes to your workout. Try to go for 60 minutes instead of the traditional 40 minutes. At this point you are able to test yourself and motivate yourself a little more to increase your endurance, stamina and your fat loss. You need to push yourself in order to improve.
Does Walking Burn Fat: Conclusion
So the answer on does walking burn fat seems to be quite apparent. Maybe you thought that walking is boring and its intensity is not enough to burn fat effectively. Well we hope that our article proved you otherwise. Walking along with swimming is one of the most easiest ways to start your weight loss journey.
Have you enjoyed reading this article on does walking burn fat? Or do you have already successfully lost weight with walking? Let us know in the comments!
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Thank you – Your WLJ-Team
Greetings,
Your WLJ-Team
