5 Miles a Day, 5 Days a Week: A Simple Walking Plan for Weight Loss

Our lifestyle has changed a lot over the decades. While the changes are majorly progressive, some of them impact our health due to less physical activity. Being physically inactive and having unhealthy dietary habits have increased the risk of obesity around the world.

The overweight or obese condition is linked with many health hazards, including heart disease and metabolic syndrome. Improving your physical activity is an effective way to manage your weight and protect your body against chronic health conditions.

While having said that, you need to understand that you can involve in less intense exercises to lose weight rather than rigorous workouts. Walking is one such exercise that can aid in losing weight. It is the best way to start out and can provide notable health benefits in the long run.

When walking five miles a day, your body can be effective at burning calories, resulting in significant weight loss. This article elaborates on how to lose weight by walking 5 miles a day and its potential health benefits.

How Can You Lose Weight Walking 5 Miles A Day?

When planning to lose weight by walking five miles a day, you can utilize some helpful tips for effective weight loss. Following these steps can help you have control over your weight.

Maintain Calorie Burn

Burning calories is essential for weight loss. The more calories you burn than you consume, the more weight you can lose. How many calories you can burn from walking five miles depends on various factors, including intensity, weight, and the nature of the terrain.

In order to lose a pound of body weight, you ought to reduce your calories by 500 a day for a week. Walking five miles a day can be time-consuming, but it has a positive effect on your weight loss. According to Harvard Health Publishing, a person with a weight of 155 pounds can burn 133 calories while walking at a speed of 3.5 mph. This study also demonstrates that the same weighted person can burn 175 calories at four mph.

Before walking at a higher pace, you have to start at a lower intensity and then gradually increase your walking speed to let your body adjust to the exercise. Walking in this way can lower the risk of muscle injury. When walking to lose weight, you also have to limit your calorie intake by making dietary changes to reap the maximum benefits of walking.

Replacing healthy, low-calorie foods with calorie-rich foods can aid in reducing your calorie intake. Combining walking with a low-calorie diet can help you burn more calories and lose weight.

Manage Your Time of Walking

Walking at a moderate pace can reduce your time walking and increase the efficiency of burning calories. When you start out walking, you might find it hard to walk miles. This may lengthen the amount of time you walk to burn calories. In this case, you can walk five miles in intervals throughout the day.

The time it takes to walk five miles a day depends on factors like speed, weight, and the nature of the terrain. Walking at 3.5 miles per hour can take you 17 minutes to complete a mile. A 185-pound person can take one hour and 26 minutes to complete five miles at a speed of 3.5 miles per hour while burning 398 calories.

At the same time, increasing your pace to 4 miles per hour can help the same person complete five miles in an hour and 15 minutes.

If you find it challenging to walk five miles each day, five days a week, due to a hectic schedule, you can walk five miles each day, twice a week.

But engaging in any physical activity every day for at least 30 minutes can help you remain consistent in your weight loss goals. You can walk uphill for 5 miles twice a week to get better results.

Involve in Cardio Walking

Focusing on increasing heart rate during walking can help enhance the efficiency of walking for weight loss. Cardio walking is beneficial for supporting your cardiovascular health and weight loss goals. Increasing the intensity of walking can boost your heart rate while walking.

You check your pulse using a device to measure your heart rate during walking. Cardio walking for 30 minutes a day can support your weight loss.

The American Heart Association suggests turning walking into a moderate-intensity exercise by brisk walking for at least 2.5 miles an hour. Brisk walking is a cardio activity that increases your heart rate and supports your heart health by improving cardiorespiratory fitness. Therefore, adding cardio walking to your walking routine can be effective in losing weight. 

Besides this, you should wear suitable clothing and footwear for walking five miles a day. Walking with the right equipment can prevent you from having blisters. By following these suggestions and walking 5 miles each day, you can successfully lose weight.

How Much Weight Can You Lose Walking Five Miles A Day?

While it is possible to burn more calories through vigorous walking, it is best to begin at a slower pace to let your body ease into the exercise. Then, you can gradually increase the speed of walking five miles a day. Studies show that burning 3,500 calories will help you lose one pound of body weight.

Brisk walking can aid in burning 100 calories per mile. Therefore, you can burn 500 calories while brisk walking for 5 miles. This indicates that you can lose one pound of body weight per week by walking five miles every day for seven days.

Increasing your intensity of walking might lead to even more weight loss. Walking five miles on a regular basis can assist in losing nearly four to six pounds a month based on your intensity of walking. You can also include strength training in your walkout routine to get better results.

How Much Time Can It Take to Walk 5 Miles?

Walking five miles a day can aid in losing weight effectively. How long it takes to walk 5 miles a day is dependent on a variety of factors, including step length, age, intensity, weight, and the nature of the terrain. On average, it would take adults two hours to complete 5 miles of walking at a speed of 2.5 miles per hour.

At the same time, brisk walking at a speed of 4 miles per hour will take one hour and 15 minutes to complete 5 miles of walking. If you could brisk walk at a moderate pace, you can take about 13 to 20 minutes to walk a mile.

Walking five miles at the same speed can so take anywhere from one hour and five minutes to one hour and forty minutes. Increased intensity can also enable some people to take 75-90 minutes to walk five miles briskly.

Health Benefits of Walking 5 Miles

Walking for five miles a day provides you with much more health benefits than weight loss. We shall look into the major health benefits of walking 5 miles a day.

Improves Mood

Walking for long strolls helps to reduce stress and improve mood. When walking for five miles a day, your mental health improves. This is related to increased blood flow to the brain while walking. Walking for long distances can help you reap the stress-relieving benefits of endorphins. Aerobic exercise like walking can reduce the risk of depression and anxiety.

Boosts Energy

When walking for five miles a day, your metabolism boosts. A fast metabolism helps you burn more calories for energy. Moreover, walking assists you in retaining energy levels throughout the day. You can utilize the energy for involvement in any more intense workouts. Increased calorie burn and weight loss may result from this energy use.

Improves Cardiovascular Health

Engaging in any aerobic activity, including walking, assists in reducing blood pressure and cholesterol levels. In this way, walking for five miles improves your cardiovascular health.

Brisk walking can improve your heart health by regulating your cholesterol levels. Studies show that walking at a moderate pace can lower the risk of cardiovascular events in people who walk consistently.

Supports Your Joint Health

Since walking is a low-impact exercise, it does not place a lot of pressure on your joints like running. Besides that, walking helps to maintain the flexibility of your joints. Your joint discomfort will lessen and your bone health will improve after a 5-mile walk.

Walking, an aerobic workout, boosts blood flow to cartilage, which helps to protect the ends of bones in your joints. Furthermore, walking lubricates your joints, which reduces stiffness and joint pain.

Boosts Cognitive Function

Walking for five miles boosts your cognitive function and lowers the risk of dementia. Increased blood flow to the brain during brisk walking supports your brain health and reduces symptoms of mild cognitive impairment. People with cognitive deterioration can benefit from an aerobic activity like walking.

Improves Your Immunity

Brisk walking can boost the production of immune cells that combat pathogens in the body and protect it against infectious diseases. Studies show that people who have a walking routine have a lower risk of immune-related health conditions than people who do not walk.

Supports Your Digestive Health

Walking for five miles a day improves the health of your gastrointestinal system by utilizing your core and abdominal muscles. A regular walking regimen can also promote digestive health and enhance bowel movements.

Improves Sleep

Sleep is essential for all bodily functions. Lack of sleep is associated with a variety of health hazards, such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease, stroke, and kidney disease. Walking for five miles a day can boost the effects of the sleep hormone melatonin and improve sleep. Your sleep quality and length of sleep improve by walking five miles a day.

The Bottom Line

Walking for five miles a day can be an effective way of starting out your weight loss. While you walk for 5 miles a day, your muscles and joints strengthen. Having a walking routine can aid in losing weight while enhancing your overall health.

Since it is a low-impact exercise, it can be suitable for people of all ages and gender. Walking five miles a day for a month can aid in losing nearly 8 pounds of weight. Therefore, experts recommend walking 5 miles a day consistently to lose weight.

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