Walking is much more than a way to get from one place to another. It is an extremely beneficial, low-impact exercise that can reduce your risk of stroke, improve your mental healthAnd help you achieve your weight loss goals. But exactly how many daily steps do you need to take to lose belly fat? As with many fitness goals, there is no one-size-fits-all approach and the answer is unique to each individual.
“THE [number] calories you burn with each step [depend] on your body weight, body composition, economy of movement and a few other personal factors,” explains Domenic Angelino, CPT, from the Trainer Academy. Your economy of movement is essentially a measure of how efficiently your body moves. This would tell us approximately how many calories you burn at each stage. »
To find the ideal number of steps to lose belly fat, you also need to determine how many calories you burn through other activities and how many calories you consume daily. With these key amounts, you will establish the difference between the number of calories you are already burning and those you are consuming.
“Once that’s determined, you can determine how many steps you’ll need to add to your day to meet the calorie deficit you’re looking for,” says Angelino. “If you want to lose half a pound of fat per week, go for a 250 calorie deficit. If you want to lose a pound per week, go for a 500 calorie deficit. Two pounds? Then aim for a 1,000 calorie deficit “
When in doubt, Angelino encourages you to think like “more is better.” This means you should try to include as much walking as possible into your daily routine.
Now that you know how to find your daily goal for losing belly fat, let’s explore how walking is beneficial for weight loss and Angelino’s pro tips for optimizing your routine.
How is walking beneficial for losing belly fat?
It is important to remember that spot reduction is a myth. However, regular exercise can contribute to overall body fat loss, including belly fat.
“[Walking helps] you burn more calories without being too strenuous,” says Angelino. “This means you can increase your calorie deficit more than if you didn’t walk the whole way. This also means that you will be able to easily incorporate walking into your life, as it is difficult for the average person to walk too much. »
Plus, walking is an incredibly versatile type of exercise. “It’s extremely easy to adjust without much planning or thought. You can always adapt what you do in your workouts to meet your needs on any given day, even if it’s not 100% consistent with the original plan that you had,” says Angelino. “This is a huge advantage when it comes to walking, unlike [to] other types of exercises. This helps you lose more belly fat in the long run because you’ll be able to exercise more than if you had planned to go swimming and skipped your workout altogether because it seemed too strenuous.
Here’s how you can maximize your walking routine to lose more belly fat:
Angelino shares his tips for making sure your walking program is optimized for weight loss.
1. Mark your walking workout at the end of a strength training session.
Consider doing your walking workout after a strength training session. Angelino says combining both forms of exercise will help you reach your goals faster.
“Ultimately, your goal is to slim down your stomach. One of the interesting things that people often overlook is that this happens when you have a certain fat-to-muscle ratio,” says Angelino. “You can look slimmer by losing fat, but also by building muscle. If you take action to do both, you’ll have a slimmer body much faster.”
2. Walk faster.
If you want to slim down and lose weight, pick up the pace! The faster you walk, the more calories you burn.
“There aren’t many downsides to walking as fast as you can,” says Angelino. “The exact ideal speed will depend on your current fitness level and the length of your stride. As long as you walk at a fast pace that you can maintain, you will improve the effects of your walking program.”
3. Incorporate slopes or hills.
Add hills or inclines to your walking workout when the opportunity presents itself.
“The more time you spend doing one or the other, the more calories you will burn. Indeed, your muscles [must] produce more force to propel your body with each step when you go up an inclined surface,” says Angelino. “If you don’t have hills near your walking route, that’s OK! You can also adjust most treadmills to your desired incline level.
4. Try interval training.
Along the same lines, Angelino recommends adding interval training to your walking routine, which requires steep inclines.
“Since it can be difficult to maintain a fast pace while going up a steep hill, try alternating between incline treadmill walking and normal treadmill walking whenever you get tired,” he says. “This can help you extend your incline walking workout well beyond the point where you would have felt exhausted if you stuck to incline walking alone. It can also give your muscles a little more breathing room during inclined walking, as they will feel much more taxed than if walking on a flat surface.
5. Walk more.
When in doubt, schedule more walks into your day and get creative with them! You can park further away from your errands, invest in a treadmill to keep at your desk, or plan “walks and talks” with your loved ones so you can both get some cardio in while catching up on the phone.
“Plan to do more activities that naturally involve walking, and you’ll burn more calories throughout the week with minimal added stress,” emphasizes Angelino.
6. Use a weighted vest or backpack.
Wear a weighted vest or backpack to add strength training to your walk. In fact, people are ditching regular walks to “hustle” to transform their bodies.
“[Using a weighted vest or rucksack] will increase the calories you burn during your walks because your body [carry] around a lot more weight,” says Angelino.[Given the way they distribute weight across your body], it is much more effective to invest in either of these tools than in ankle or wrist weights. Ankle and wrist weights aren’t very helpful, but backpacks, weighted vests, and other ways to distribute large loads across the upper body are. »
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