The headline got you to click, didn’t it.
Sorry if it seems a little “clickbaity” but then again, I’m not sorry.
The reason?
While many health and fitness blogs, magazines, and experts will each week share some killer exercise to reduce body fat, studies show there is one true killer exercise for fat loss: walking.
That may make you want to say, “Well, duh!”, but how often are you actually walking? We run, swim, row, use the elliptical, or even do HIIT, but those types of cardio exercises typically require us to carve out time in our calendars and then fight the inner demons that throw excuses to disrupt our path to better health.
Walking, on the other hand, is something we can do just about anywhere and at any time. Walk to the end of your street. Park further away from the store. Walk up the stairs instead of taking the elevator. Walk around the house.
How much walking do you actually need to do each day in order to improve your health?
Studies show that simply adding 20 minutes of brisk walking each day can reduce the risk of mortality by 24% in people of normal weight and by 16% in people who are obese.
Walking 20 minutes a day can burn around 120 calories.* Do that 6 days a week and you’ll burn enough calories to drop 10 lbs in a year!
Raise your hand if you would love to lose 10 lbs a year???
That’s not too daunting, right? Just remember, you still need to be in a calorie deficit in order to lose body fat. So don’t add an extra snack just because you walked an extra 20 minutes.
Need further convincing? The video below will throw even more scientific evidence at you that supports walking as a means to lose weight.
* Brisk walking for a 180 lb person. Your calorie burn may be higher or lower.