Walking Speeds To Lose Weight

Walking for fitness, weight loss and cardiovascular health requires more intense effort than casually walking your dog or strolling in your neighborhood. The speed and intensity with which you move will affect how many calories you burn and how much weight you may lose. As you walk for weight loss, walk quickly, keep your abdominal muscles tight and swing your bent arms. Combine calorie reduction with consistent walking to lose weight most effectively.

Benefits of Walking

Developing the habit of walking briskly four to six times a week can help you manage your weight. Walking can help you balance the calories you burn through activity with the calories you consume through food and beverages. A 2010 study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine compared bicycling to walking in over 18,000 women. Anne Lusk and colleagues found that women who walked briskly gained less weight over a 16-year period than those who walked slowly or rode a bicycle for less than four hours a week.

Calories Burned by Speed

The speed you walk makes a difference in the number of calories you burn per session. If you are cutting your calories by 500 each day, and desire to burn 500 calories through a daily walking routine, increase your speed to meet your calorie expenditure goals. If you weigh either 155 lbs. or 190 lbs., you will burn between 176 and 216 calories per hour if you walk at a slow 2 mph pace. Speed up to 3 mph, and you will burn 246 to 302 calories per hour, depending on your weight. At a 4 mph pace you can expect to burn between 281 and 345 calories, for body weights of 155 lbs. and 190 lbs. At the two weights, race walking burns about 457 to 561 calories an hour, according to the State of Wisconsin's publication "Calories Burned Per Hour."

Incline Speeds

Walking quickly up an incline not only burns more calories than walking on a flat surface, but you may be able to walk at a slower speed on an incline and avoid undue stress on your joints and skeletal system, if you suffer from obesity. A 2010 study published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise found that when the participants walked at a slower speed on an inclined treadmill, they experienced less stress on their joints while still burning calories and improving their cardiovascular function. If you are not obese, include fast hill walking to strengthen muscles and help you lose weight.

Walking Strategies

If you are unfamiliar with walking for exercise, build your speed gradually. Analyze your miles per hour by walking at your personal pace for one mile. If you walk a mile in more than 15 minutes, set a goal of quickening your pace by one minute every week to 10 days, until you can walk a mile in 15 minutes. You may find it difficult to maintain your brisk pace for the duration of your walk. If so, walk briskly for five minutes, slow down for five minutes and walk briskly again. With practice you will be able to maintain a 4 mph pace for 30 to 60 minutes, which will help you burn the most calories.