Exercise is imperative to losing weight, and we’ve all heard that walking is a great form of exercise, but can men really lose weight walking? If you’re ready to burn some fat and improve your cardiovascular fitness level, a walking program might just be for you.
Lose Weight Walking?
Walking is a great form of cardiovascular exercise for anyone, but can men lose weight walking? The answer is absolutely! Many men hold the false belief that they need to run or do some extreme form of cardio in order to lose weight, but that’s just not true. Walking burns calories, and calorie burn is what’s required in order to lose weight, whether you’re a man or a woman. A 200 lb. man can burn over 300 calories walking 3 miles at a speed of 20 minutes/mile. A diet that cuts just 250 calories a day along with a 3 mile walk amounts to a 550 calorie deficit for the day. Do this all week and you’ll lose a pound a week without low calorie dieting or extreme exercise. While 1 pound a week might seem slow, it’s very effective because it’s easy to stick to. If you want to increase the rate of weight loss, simply cut more calories from food, or increase the intensity of your walking workout.
How to Increase Calories Burned Walking
If you want to increase the calories burned walking, you can do so in several ways. The first way is to increase the distance you walk. A 2 mile walk burns around 200 calories, but a 3 mile walk burns around 300 calories. (200 pound man walking a 20 minute mile) You can also increase the calorie burn by walking faster. While a 2 mile 20 minute/mile walk burns around 200 calories, that same 2 mile walk will burn 227 calories if you increase the speed to a 15 minute mile. Other ways to increase the calories burned during walking include walking up and down hills, using walking poles, and adding higher intensity intervals. You can do this by simply adding several spurts of faster walking speeds for a couple of minutes at several points in your walking workout.
For men who need to lose weight, but feel overwhelmed by more intense forms of exercise, walking is a great way to get started exercising and burning fat. Men can definitely lose weight walking, so why not get started?
