How can you burn more calories as you walk? Walk farther, walk faster or walk harder. Those are basically your options, right? But let’s take the scenic route on this answer because walking is fast becoming a hot research topic among health scientists.
It’s arguably the most accessible form of exercise available to us and mounting research shows it’s good for heart health, blood pressure, mental health and more. Walking three times a week nearly halves the recurrence of back pain according to research published in 2024, while another study from that year found that hitting 10,000 steps a day lowers your risk of heart disease.
You can also walk off excess body weight – to an extent. In terms of burning calories and weight loss more generally, the research unsurprisingly shows that walking is less effective than more intense forms of exercise, like running or weightlifting.
The amount of calories you can burn depends on a number of factors, but the average person gets through a modest 250 calories walking for an hour at a moderate, unstrained pace.
If walking is the only thing you’re doing, it’s unlikely to move the needle very far on the weighing scales. Research shows that it can improve the effects of a calorie-restricted diet, however.
A 2017 study in the Journal of Nutrition found obese and overweight people who walked 2.5 hours a week, along with following a diet, lost more weight and fat mass than people who just followed the diet.
There are ways to step up your walking, of course. The most obvious is distance – walk further and you’ll burn more calories. The journal Obesity reports that out of people on a long-term weight-loss programme, the ones who lost more than 10 per cent of their starting weight were clocking 10,000 steps a day at the six-, 12- and 18-month intervals. You have to keep it up, in other words.
Next, pick up the pace. Apparently, there’s a big difference between a gentle stroll and a purposeful walk. Exercise scientists class slow walking as light exercise, but increase your exertion and it becomes moderate exercise, which is better for your heart, lungs and muscles. Experts usually suggest that a pace of 5km/h (3–4 mph) is moderate. As a rule of thumb, aim for a level where you can still talk, but can’t sing.
Anything else you can do to make the walk harder will also increase the number of calories you burn. Swinging or pumping your arms is a good example. So is walking on uneven terrain or into a headwind.
Walking up hills or on an incline can also dramatically increase the number of calories you burn because it ramps up your heart rate and the muscle activation in your legs. One study in the Journal of Biomechanics suggests that an incline of five per cent increases the metabolic cost of walking by 17 per cent, while a 10 per cent incline increases it by 32 per cent.
Lastly, sling a rucksack on your back. A recent fitness trend known as ‘rucking’ sees people walking or running with weighted vests or bags to increase the demands of every step they take.
Little research has been done to quantify the effects, but proponents claim you can burn 200 or more extra calories per hour, and it is a cornerstone of basic military training.
This article is an answer to the question (asked by William Ayliffe, via email 'How can I burn more calories when I'm walking?'
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