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Walking for fat loss: Does it work?

Yes - but you need to do a LOT of it to see any real results. Dr. Robert Ross and a research team from Ontario, Canada, tracked 52 obese men for three months. They split the men into four groups.

• Diet-only

• Exercise-only

• Exercise without weight loss

• No exercise or diet

Both the diet-only and exercise-only groups created a caloric deficit of 700 calories daily. In other words, each day, the diet-only group ate 700 calories less than normal. The exercise-only group, on the other hand, burned an extra 700 calories daily by walking on the treadmill.

Three months later, the diet-only group had lost 11 pounds of fat and four pounds of muscle. The exercise-only group lost 13 pounds of fat and three pounds of muscle. In other words, both groups got very similar results.

Unfortunately, the exercise program involved 60 minutes of brisk walking EVERY single day for three months. I don't know about you, but finding the time to train for 60 minutes every day isn't easy.

The majority of studies examining the effect of aerobic exercise on weight loss have used programs lasting 30-45 minutes, 4-5 days per week. Weight loss with routines of this type usually averages about 0.2 pounds per week (yes, the decimal point is in the right place!). Not much, is it?

So why are walking programs so ineffective at promoting fat loss (unless, that is, you're prepared to invest around seven hours of your time each and every week on the treadmill)?

It's a fact that walking burns only a modest number of calories. Each pound of fat contains roughly 3,500 calories. If we assume that 30 minutes of brisk walking burns around 350 calories, it'll take AT LEAST 10 workouts to get rid of just one pound of fat. If you do plan to use walking as a way to lose weight, make sure you're aware that you'll need to do a LOT of it to see real results.

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• Belly Fat and How to Beat It
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• The Myth about Muscle and Your Metabolic Rate

Reference
Ross, R., Dagnone, D., Jones, P.J.H., Smith, H., Paddags, A., Hudson, R., & Janssen, I. (2000). Reduction in obesity and related comorbid conditions after diet-induced weight loss or exercise-induced weight loss in men. Annals of Internal Medicine, 133, 92-103