I love walking, for me walking cures everything, I need to clear my mind, I go for a walk. I feel overwhelmed and need to call down I go for a walk, the question I get every day is that can you lose belly fat walking? In this post, I am going to answer this question.
Why do I love walking?
The main reason I love walking is that walking is a great way to simultaneously get physical and mental benefits! You can walk every day because it is super low impact and not rigorous on your body.
Can you lose belly fat walking?
The simple answer is yes, you can lose belly fat by just walking. I have been doing this for some time now and the result has been amazing.
When I started walking I was about 245 pounds ( that is about 111 kg). I started walking around the house, then around the block, nowadays I walk for at least 30 minutes every day, and in less than 8 months, my weight was 185 pounds (about 84 kg). And my belly fat was gone.
That is almost 2 pounds lost per week, ( this was not just walking it is a combination between walking and eating healthily), also I do not recommend losing more than one pound per week it is not healthy.
How to lose belly fat walking?
We know that you can lose belly fat by walking. In order to lose belly fat you need to go for a walk on a consistent basis, you can not go for a walk 2 or 3 times and expect your belly to go away.
According to experts, you burn about 100 calories for every mile you walk. One mile is around 2000 steps.
At moderate speed, one mile is about 10 minutes, so if you walk for 30-45 minutes you should be able to complete 6000 to 7000 steps. You will burn 250 to 300 calories.
If you walk three days a week, that’s 900 calories, and for the month, that’s 3,600. One pound is 3,500 calories.
Once you get up to walking three days a week with 7,000 steps comfortably, try to increase your steps by 300-500 steps each week.
How long does it take to lose belly fat walking?
it took me 8 months to lose my belly fat, it is very difficult to estimate the exact time that will take for you to have a flat belly.
Losing belly fat or any fat at all depends on three things, how many extra pounds of fat do you have, the intensity of your walk, and your diet.
Most experts recommend that you lose 1 pound of fat per week, that is four pounds per month, if you have 20 extra pounds it should take you 5 months to lose those extra pounds.
Losing weight is about exercise but predominately about what you eat. If you are not changing your diet and consuming extra calories, it will make losing weight harder and longer. Weight loss from walking will require you to eat well too.
Can you lose belly fat walking on a treadmill?
The simple answer is yes, personally, I prefer to walk outside but treadmills are easier on your joints, and if you’re obese like I was, you can start by just walking on the treadmill.
The treadmill will help you to burn belly fat, but one of the long-term effects of regular treadmill sessions is that belly fat will go away for good.
How to lose belly fat walking on a treadmill?
I will recommend you to start slow, just walk at a slow pace, do 5 minutes per day, increase the time and the intensity with time. I will recommend walking on the treadmill for between 30 minutes and one hour per day.
Take it easy, start small, but be consistent and in a few months, you should get your flat belly.
Do you need to walk 10000 steps to lose belly fat?
There is a myth that you must walk 10,000 steps to lose weight and belly fat, that is not entirely true, the amount of steps you need to walk depends on how many calories you need to burn and the walking intensity.
Walking 10000 steps is great but you do not need to stick to that number, start small, walk 1000 steps per day, each week increase a little bit until you reach your magic number, this should be your goal.
How do you count steps?
I am a big believer that you can not control something you can not measure, if do you want to control your journey to the flat belly you need to count how many steps are you working each and every day, this way you will know if you are improving or not.
You can count your steps by using a watch or using an app on your phone, for me I prefer to install an app and since I take my phone everywhere it will do the counting.
There are a lot of apps that can you can use to count your steps, for me I use the Google fit app, it is free, no ads and it is by big google themselves.
Go to your favorite app store and get a step counter app.
Walking or running which one is better for belly fat loss?
I wrote about running for belly fat here. I used to run a lot when I was in college ( i stopped and life got away then I became obese), now days I do not run a lot, I just walk around.
What is have found is that walking and running help burn calories in the body, but they also help reduce belly fat, it depending on the intensity. However, running may help reduce belly fat more effectively.
Conclusion
Yes, walking can burn belly fat. walking is a great way to simultaneously get physical and mental benefits
Unlike many other types of exercise, walking requires little outfit, sometimes I just go for a walk wearing sandals, and can be done anywhere.
If do you want to lose weight my recommendation is to combine walking and eating right, make this your lifestyle and not a once in a while thing.